July 25 - In Search of Goulash

Today was the best ride of the week so far. We aren't as sore as when we first started, and the ride was flatter too. Today we road through a protected UNESCO bird sanctuary in Austria. The areas which weren't sanctuary were vineyards, creating some beautiful riding. This picture is of our guide Tomas, Sean and Margaret at the Austria-Hungarian border. It was quite humorous, the bike path in Austria was about 3 meters wide and well maintained, and in Hungary was so over grown in areas that only an 8 inch wide trail remained.

After the first flat of our trip we reached the lunch stop about 20 minutes behind everyone else. Margaret decided to explore a nearby palace with half the group, and Sean continued on for another 20 kilometers of riding. After returning to town we went shopping (WHOO-HOO), and got a lovely hand sewn table cloth for a future holiday dinner.

Tonight we stay in the small baroque village of Sopron, and are meeting the rest of our bike group in about 50 minutes in search of Goulash which is a traditional beef stew. We are so close to Austria that most people speak Hungarian and German, which is a relief to us because both Sean and Margaret know enough German to be able to figure out what is what on menus, what signs mean, etc.

July 24 - The Blue Danube

That would be the Blue Danube in the background of this photograph =). Today we rode through Slovakia. Our original bike path was impassable due to a severe storm the night before, so we got alot lost, but all ended up at lunch just the same. Tonight we stayed in the town of Sopron. Many of riders were a little whiny today due to different levels of hangovers from the night before.

July 23 - I can't believe old people can drink so much

Today we had a lovely ride through South Moravia which is part of the Czech Republic. We stayed tonight in the village of Hlohovec, our outside dinner along a lake was beautiful. After dinner our tour group went to tour a local winery. We met Joannes at the entrance to a small building, built into the hill side. This was the most unique winery we had every been to. Joannes and his family have been making wine here since the 15th century. He considers it to be his hobby, and works the vinyards part time in his retirement. The cellar itself had different casks, one for each type of wine which were ready for drinking, so six casks on each side, and besides the casks there was barely enough room for our group of 14 and Joannes.

Upon entering the cellar we were each given a small glass, about the size of a double shotglass (we didn't realize at this time that we would be trying 12 wines). We started with the whites, and made it through about 4 types before Joannes fessed up to having a dump bucket. He poured us each our wine using a device called a 'wine thief'. The 'wine thief' was about a three foot long glass cylinder, with what looks like a big bubble about 2/3 up. He stuck the long end of the thief in the casks, and just sucked out enough wine up the cylinder for our entire group, and wouldn't move onto the next wine until the entire thief had been consumed.

Fun was had by all, the night ended up in a sing along to the 'gambler', even the guides sang along to the song in Czech. One person didn't know the words, so we semi-jokingly accused him of not really being an American. Sean and I bought a bottle of red wine, which was delivered to us in a used, but clean plastic soda bottle.

Moravian wine is AWESOME.

July 22, 23 Riding in Telc

Today we had a short ride, and explored the town of Telc. It's famous because it was preserved even during Communist rule, and many of the very very ornate gingerbread has been restored in more recent years from the Baroque area.

We started a morning with a tour of the local palace which was used until the early 1950's. After the Nazi's came, and after the Communist came, many people found themselves displaced from their original homes, and the Czech government is letting every family have their property back from pre Nazi-time. However many of the aristocrates sided with the Nazi's so that their homes and villages wouldn't be destroyed, and because they were Nazi supporters they don't get their palace back. Instead the Czech government now owns it and we were able to do a tour of the lovely rooms.

A shorter ride today was follwed up with some shopping in Telc, pizza for dinner...they put wierd things on their pizza, and beer with the bike crew at a local pub.
Today we rode through Bohemia to the historic town of Telc (UNESCO). Along the way we stopped for photos as a castle which is the backdrop for many Czech story tales. For dinner this evening we had very traditional Czech food.

July 20 - PURE JOY

Today is the type of day that dreams are made from.

This morning we followed the plan and went to the front desk to check out, check our bags, and figure out where the hell the box of our cycle gear ended up. The receptionist was about as helpful as a molding vegetable, and as we don't speak any Czech our situation quickly became complicated. We decided to take a shot in the dark, and ran out of our hotel at 8:12 and caught a taxi directly to the customs office (whom according to our molding vegetable had no idea where our package was and recommended that we come back in a few days for it). And praise be, our box was there, and by 8:40 we were back in the same taxi and enroute to meet our group at 9 am (due to rush hour we were a few minutes late). We made sure to ask the molding vegetable for a pair of scissors so we could open the box that she couldn't seem to locate, and then asked her fine colleauge to even throw it away. Sean's mom had packaged the box such that we were easily and very quickly able to move it's contents into our luggage and join the tour just as they were leaving the hotel.

Now comes the PURE JOY. We drove 45 minutes out of the city, and started in the town of Benesov and rode to the village of Seldec-Prcice. Sean rode into the Hussite town of Tabor for our evening hotel (up a 1000 foot hill, and went an additional/optional 10 miles), and I rode in the van after lunch. Our 40 kilometers before lunch were the most beautiful roads we have ever ridden bikes on. Our tour group mates are 9 of the nicest people we have met on our trip. The road was rolling hills, ancient small Czech villages, fields of green wheat turning golden, corn, cow and horse pastures and emerald colored trees. It was 4 hours of breathtaking. Anyone who has ever enjoyed riding a bike, would LOVE this place. At times our faces actually hurt because we were smiling as much as possible (with closed lips as there were quite a few bugs busy pollinating all those fields).

July 19 - Czeching out Prague

Today is proving to be a wonderful day. Our hotel is right on Wenceslas Square, right in the action of this beautiful busy city. I think that is the thing that is most striking about this city, is the beautiful architecture.

We started off the day by sleeping in, and then heading to an incredible continental breakfast at our hotel. I was especially excited about the roasted vegetables (vegetables have been hard to come by in some cities), and the marshmallow tasting pancakes with raspberry syrup and shaved chocolate!

We headed out to the post office and mailed a box to Mom of stuff that we didn't want to continue to carry around any longer, and then continued on to a shopping mall in search of bicycle gear for our REI bike tour which begins tomorrow. We didn't find any good bike gear, and decided that we would just have to extract our bicycle gear which we had shipped to our hotel but which has gotten snagged up in Czech customs before beginning our ride (please cross your fingers, we don't know how this will end up!). But we did successfully find an optician to fix Sean's sunglasses, and a Starbucks to get a Czech Republic mug.


We then made our way to the old town square to watch the astronomical clock ring noon. It was pretty neat.

We then walked up to the Jewish quarter, and then across Charles Bridge with all the lovely statues. We sat by the river and enjoyed a lunch made up of all the lovely meats and cheeses we had taken from breakfast.

We made our way back to our hotel where we checked on our drying laundry. We are now sitting a lovely little cafe on the square by our hotel, enjoying a liter of tasty Czech beer, and catching up on the internet. Tonight we will slurge and go out to a nice dinner.

July 18 - Going to Prauge

Today we woke up and after a speedy breakfast headed for the Berlin train station. This church is by the Berlin Zoo train station, and has been stabalized in this bombed out condition as a memorial of WWII. We caught a train, and five hours later we were in Prague. We shared a car with two lovely retired people from Australia, and a young German family.

Once we arrived in Prague we caught the subway to our hotel, and set out to figure out our bike gear/customs issues. We did laundry in our hotel room as the local laundromats were already closed. We were lucky that Sean brought a little bit of rope with us, shown is about 2/3 of our drying laundry, the remainder is roped up inside the bathroom not shown. All in all it was a very effective and creative effort. Margaret rinsed and washed with soapy water in the sink, and then threw the clothes into the shower with Sean who rinsed them all off, rung them out, and then Margaret hung them up.

July 17 - Exploring Berlin

After waking up just a little behind schedule, we hopped the Schnell-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, which is East Berlin's TV tower area. We poked around Karl-Marx-Allee, the old main street of the East. It was pretty grand in that communist gothic and communist-modern-blockhouse sort of way. Rick Steves calls it legoland hell, but I guess he just doesn't like modern architecture.

We had lunch by the fountain at Alexanderplatz, then crossed the river to the German History Museum. We spent a couple hours browsing the exhibits, which were very interesting and educational.

After strolling Unter den Linden for a couple blocks, we hoofed it down to Checkpoint Charlie and saw the museum of the wall. There were stories and artifacts about the wall itself, but more amazingly all the escape attempts and successes. After weathering a thunderstorm in the museum, we braved the rain and headed to Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial. The Holocaust Memorial was very abstract and offered a chance to ponder the lives of those who were murdered. It was made of narrow gray passages between faceless cubes...fitting representation of oppression.

We walked along the edge of the Tiergarten back to the Zoo area and dined on bratwurst, beer, and a Nutella-lined crepe from the street vendors.

July 16 - Arrival in Berlin (And a toast to Mom)

After just a few hours in Berlin we have decided to add Germany to the short list of countries that we want to come back to. We took an early train from Copenhagen this morning and traveling most of the morning through Denmark. About 2.5 hours into our trip the conductor made some announcement about a crossing, and we weren't really sure what was going on, but stayed in our train seats figuring that if we were supposed to be doing something, that someone would come and make us move. That's when our train pulled onto a ferry. If your jaw hasn't dropped yet let me say that again...that's when our high speed train pulled onto a ferry...it was so weird. I mean I guess our busses sometimes go on ferries...but a train? It even had tracks. So we got a boat ride out of the deal, and a great deal of entertainment.

Out train ride continued on uneventfully, and we arrived at our hotel in Berlin around 4 pm. The German train system is awesome, and it has been very easy to travel around the city this afternoon. We found a brewery in East Berlin on the river for dinner, and had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer. We raised our glasses and toasted my Mom, when she was in the army she wasn't allowed to come here. I have no doubt that she would be pleasantly surprised to see what has become of the city, at first glance there is no noticeable difference between east and west, tomorrow we are going on a more detailed tour, but 20 years has been good to make two cities become one.

July 15 - Copenhagen

We arrived in Copenhagen about 7:20 this morning, and our hotel let us into our room not long after (bless them). We were able to take a quick nap before heading out to explore the city. Copenhagen is this far the most expensive place we have been, and there isn't really much to do there but shop and eat, so it was very easy to see all the big sites in a single day.

We did a walking tour of the city, and particularly enjoyed the amount of pedestrian only streets, I wish Seattle would do that! The older parts of the city were absolutely beautiful, painted brightly to bring cheer during the long dark winter days. We made it to the palace just in time to watch the changing of the guard at noon, and then moved on through some of the beautiful local parks on our way to see the famous statue of the little mermaid. The weather was beautiful, we both got a little pink, in all it was a wonderful day!

For dinner we headed out in search of authentic Danish food, but we ended up going for italian instead and were spoiled to some of the finest capresa we have had in a very long time. And hands down, the best tiramisu (I just love tiramisu).

July 14 - Oslo in a Day

July 13 – Bergen to Oslo

We had a very relaxing and wonderful day today. After waking up we were treated to another wonderful breakfast by Bibbi, Svien led us on a walk in the nearby mountains. The hills were covered in evergreens and bursting with wild flowers and heavily-laden blueberry bushes (we ate a few, and they were tasty!). From the top of the mountain, we enjoyed sweeping views over the fjords and islands, as far as the eye could see. The walk took a couple hours, after which we returned home to a wonderful lunch with Bibbi's son Alexander, his wife, and two sons. We had traditional sour Norwegian porridge as well as the tasty meat cakes that we had made earlier in the week. Svien and Bibbi drove us the train station in Bergen after generously loading us up with food. Bibbi walked us to the train to make sure we got on the right one.

Our train ride to Oslo has had spectacular views of the mountains; we can see why there are tours and why Rick Steves recommends this train ride. The high alpine terrain is literally awash in waterfalls and the bright little villages are so charming. We enjoyed our train ride and arrived safely at Oslo Sentral in the evening. A short tram ride to our hotel, and off to bed so we can explore Oslo tomorrow.

July 12 – The Valley of Lavik

Svien and I (Sean) woke up early and took a run on the local trails. We started off a little quicker than I am used to running, and within 10 minutes I felt like a total wimp for wheezing and sputtering up a low hill while Svien didn't seem to even break a sweat! A little later Svien talked about how much he loves running, and about how he was on a running team which had taken gold six times in a relay race in Oslo – now I don't feel so bad :). Our friend Lance recently ran a ½ marathon in 1 hour 48 minutes, and we are so impressed...well Lance, Svien has beat you too: just 1 hour and 24 minutes! Lance is pretty much the fastest person that we know at home, so Svien is like lightning! Sean and I would like to return to Bergen to run the Knarvik ½ marathon some day...finishing hopefully not more than an hour behind Svien.

Today was a very special day. We took a road trip with Svien and Bibbi to Eksingerdalen and found the place called Lavik (for those who don't know, Lavik is Miriam's maiden name). This is the place for which our family is named, and the place they lived before some emigrated to the United States. Eksingerdalen is a steep-sided valley high in the mountains, with a narrow, flat, and grassy floor which seems ideal for raising cows and sheep; there is plenty of room to graze, but animals can't really escape because there are waterfalls in the narrow spots at each end of the valley. Svien was able to point out where the old family house once stood – a small and nondescript spot at the side of the road which is now home to another family's garage.

We got out of the car for a little while to wander and take pictures. It was nice to be able to walk in a field which so many generations might have walked in, breathe the fresh air, and contemplate what life must have been like up there. It was a charming and peaceful place, and I think it is a good history.

The drive was especially stunning. We followed the fjord nearly the entire way, through Modalen and Eksingerdalen, over a mountain pass, then along a river which fed the same fjord by a different route. The houses along the way were brick red, mustard yellow, olive green, white, and blue. It makes sense to paint everything so brightly when rain falls 300 days of the year, and the sun is visible for only a few short hours during the winter.

When we arrived home, Bibbi treated us to another wonderful traditional Norwegian dinner. We ate venison, which Svein had hunted himself, with the best gravy that has possibly ever existed (sorry Patrick, she's got you beat...I thought it was impossible too!). There were sides of mushrooms in sauce, potatoes, cauliflower, and a berry relish made from a Norwegian relative of the cranberry.

July 11 – Exploring Bergen

With an early start we explored Bergen. It is a beautiful city. We were spoiled today -- in a place where it has been known to rain 300 days a year, we had a cloudless sky and temperatures in the mid-80's. Bergen has a population of around 252,000 people, which is quite a lot of the 4.5 million people of Norway. Bergen began as a trading port up the fjord. There is a waterfront area called Bryggen, built by the German trading contingent, which consists of wooden warehouses built shoulder-to-shoulder. Like most traditional buildings in Norway, they are painted in bright orange, green, blue, and red. The wooden foundations were free of rot for many years because they were soaked with salt water. When the new stone esplanade was built in front of Bryggen (“new” is a very relative word here...), fresh water began to pool up around the foudations and slowly rotted them away. As a result, the charming frames of this technicolor UNESCO site are gently falling over onto one another.

We walked around the center of town a bit and enjoyed browsing the waterfront fish market -- it is similar to Pike Place market, but a little smaller and focused almost entirely on fish. It was a little bit of a tourist trap (especially the prices...), but very fun!

Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains. We rode a funicular to Føien, a spot at the top of the mountain nearest the city center. There was a nice viewing platform, a restaurant, and access to an expansive network of hiking trails. We could see all of Bergen and many of the surrounding islands and waterways. It was quite a treat to be there without rain or fog. Svein and Bibbi pointed out a house just below the tramway, about halfway up the mountain, which belongs to another Lavik.

After coming home Bibbi taught us to make a traditional Norwegian meal of meat cakes, which are similar to meatballs.

July 10 – Scotland to Norway

We woke up in Scotland today, praying to the internet gods that we might actually be able to connect. The connection was very poor, so we barely got a “we're alive” email off to the folks before it was time to head to the airport.

Today was mostly a travel day: airplane from Edinburgh to Oslo, and Oslo to Bergen, where Svien and Bibbi were waiting for us at the airport!

Bibbi, I believe, just might be able to read minds. Just as we got home she told us that she had made taco's for dinner, and was hoping that might be alright with us. Taco's happen to be Margaret's very most favorite food, and she was estatic! I think Bibbi may have thought we were just being polite, but 3 tacos later there was no doubt we were sincere :)

July 9 – Siteseeing in Edinburgh

After a slow start we spent the entire morning at Edinburgh castle. We stopped for some tasty fish and chips for lunch, then continued on to climb Arthur's Seat, a nearby volcanic plug (that means “hill” in English). It was a great walk, and we enjoyed the pseudo-highland terrain of grass, heather, and gnarled pine. The views from the windy summit were breathtaking. We could see all of Edinburgh and it's seaport; east to the Bass Rock and the North Sea; and west to the Firth of Forth bridges -- even all the way to Stirling, where we could just pick out the William Wallace monument on the Abbey Crag (we had to break out the 300mm lens to see that one, so maybe it's cheating).

We climbed back down just in time for dinner and headed for our now-favorite pub, “The World's End”, which has been a fine establishment of Edinburgh from the 1500's. The name comes from the location next to the former outer wall of Edinburgh, which has since been taken down and marked with brass plates in the street. We started off by tasting some Scotch Whiskey: a very strong single-cask Ardbeg, and a very smooth whiskey that we just can't remember the name of. The whisky made us brave, and for dinner we had haggis. Haggis, as it turns out, is very similar in taste and texture to meatloaf. We loved it! It was served with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes. This particular haggis was made with “normal” cuts of lamb and beef – rather than the oft-feared “don't ask” parts. Yum.

July 8 – Monarch's, Mountains, and Malt

The perfect trifecta: Monarch's, Mountains and Malt! Not only is this a good description of our day, it was the name of the minibus tour we took. Since we had such a short time in Scotland, we thought we would see the nearest Highland-esque terrain (an area in central Scotland called “the Trossachs”) and tour a distillery on the same day. Stirling Castle, and our tour guide's stories about William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Rob Roy, were an excellent bonus.

The day began with a history lesson about Mary Queen of Scots (well the day really began with two mochas from Starbucks) , and her history with Stirling Castle. Mary was raised there for her own protection, and claimed her throne after returning from France some years later. We then heard about William Wallace and his famous assault on Stirling Castle. He was reportedly 6'8” inches tall, so maybe Mel Gibson wasn't the best pick of an actor! We then arrived at Stirling Castle, picked up an audio tour, and followed that around for nearly 2 hours.

We took some pictures of the next hill over, the Abbey Crag, which is where William Wallace allegedly rallied his band of soldiers before taking Stirling Castle from the English. It sports an impressive monument to him.

After visiting the castle, we drove to Callander, and along the way visited Hamish the highland cow. He was very cute, and obviously knew how to work the crowd for treats :).

We drove through the Trossachs and over Duke's pass, then broke in Aberfoyle for lunch. We had packed our own lunch, giving us extra time to walk along the river and take some pictures.

Loch Lomond, the second most famous lake in Scotland, was next on our tour. Our guide told us it was the longest loch in Scotland, though not the deepest, nor the most heavily populated by sea monsters. It was a pretty lake, though the spot we went to was a little odd because most of the loch was obscured by the headlands of the small cove we were at. I guess it was convenient because it had a parking lot...

We finished off the day with a visit to Glengoyne distillery, the southernmost 'highland' distillery, and the only one with the seemingly-unimportant distinction of distilling in the highlands and bottling in the lowlands (the road in front of the distillery is the border for whiskeys, and the bottling area is across the road). We enjoyed a tour, especially the tasting of their fine 10- and 17-year single malts. Our tour guide explained how whisky was made, which was fun to learn about.

July 7 - We Just Aren't Ad-hoc Travellers...

We were sad to leave England today, and should have scheduled more time here. Nonetheless, we headed north to Scotland. The views of the ocean along the way were stunning, and at some points we were just a few meters from the beach! We think we spotted the Holy Isle, but we're not certain. Our first stop in Edinburgh was the tourist information center, where we booked a small guesthouse 15 minutes walk from the station (Scots must walk a heck of a lot faster than us...). We arrived and were immediatly dissapointed. This disappointment with non-internet-researched lodging, combined with our trouble with trains, has caused us to just plain accept the fact that we aren't the type of people who can travel entirely without a plan. Although there was nothing technically wrong with the guesthouse, we knew that, for the price, lodgings with much more to offer were available. Now that we have accepted this fact, we believe that the rest of our trip will go much more smoothly.

We ate dinner at a fabulous pub called “The Worlds End” and enjoyed a Scottish meat pie and a salad for dinner. On our way back, we booked a super fun tour for tomorrow, and explored Edinburgh's main street, the Royal Mile. Sean headed to Burger King to squeeze just enough connectivity out of the barely-working free wifi to book a better place through Expedia, then we spent the night at the dissapointing guesthouse.

Bonus points for commenting on this picture (we didn't take any pictures from the train, so this is what you get today!).

We are family...Brothers, Sisters, Second Cousins Twice Removed, Aunties and Me! - July 5

In this picture: Back Row: Mattieu, Ben, Mel, Sean, Philip, Front Row: Paulette, Melissa, Kathrine, Clare, Auntie Lil, Margaret

Sean and I woke up early in London (a wee bit jet lagged, but not too bad), and were treated to a wonderful breakfast by Tom. He made bacon, toast and poached eggs. I've only ever had poached eggs once before, and they were not nearly as wonderful as these! Also this bacon makes our bacon at home look like we are eatting slices of fat, it was so lean, and so flavorful, absolutly wonderful. He had Jamie Oliver books we had never seen before, and after flipping through, and after such a tasty breakfast, we are inspired to be better cooks when we get home.

Tom took us to the train station, and Clare, Sean and I went on the train to Matlock, which is where Clare's parent's live. Clare's dad Phillip picked us up from the station. When we got there I got to see Mom's Auntie Lil, now a young 95 and more mobile than those 15 years her junior. I was happy to see that she is still very very sharp, does stairs on her own, and that she seems very healthy and happy. Everyone was there, I tried to start and write a little about each of them only to find my blog was getting VERY long so I will summarize by saying that we are blessed with a very educated, interesting, humurous and joyful family.

London in the Summertime - July 4

WHOO-HOO, finally in the UK (after experiencing the second major hick-up in our travel plans this time with the trains). We arrived in London station on the train to find my cousin Clare waiting for us with a sign that she decorated with red and blue stars for the forth of July. It was so nice of her to remember!

She and her boyfriend Tom let us stay with them in their London flat which is right by the river, and is totally darling. After showers (much needed), and running a load of laundry (yeah, a real washing machine!), we headed out for a walk. We went to the old Navy college, and then made our way up to Greenwich where the meridian is kept at an old observatory high on a hill overlooking all of London. At night they shoot a laser out of the observatory to show where the meridian is, it was so cool to see! The city is getting ready for the 2012 summer Olympics, and construction was under way to get everything ready. Here is a picture of Clare and Tom , and the bread we just bought from a British Bakery, in front of the old British Naval school. =p.

We then went to a pub for fish and chips and had a drink called Pimms. It's something with alcohol which you mix with fruit, cucumber, mint, and a pitcher of lemonade, it was very nice. We then walked to a cafe for dessert, which they call pudding =). Even though it wasn't so very late, Sean and I had a teeny bit of jet-lag, and crashed quickly when we got back to the flat (or as Clare says, we were 'shattered')

Clare was my pen-pal when I was growing up, and I was able to visit her once before when I was a senior in high school with my Auntie Ellie. She is just about to start her second masters degree at a university in Venice to get a degree in human rights, and is currently working at a not-for-profit to provide, and do research on the impact of, providing low-cost solar-powered LED lanterns to rural parts of Africa, and she has been all over the world for different reasons, it was very interesting to talk with her about it!

Singapore Sling - July 3

We had a one day lay over in Singapore, and had a full day to go and explore the city. Turns out it's really not a very exciting place, but we made the best of it and decided to explore 'little India'. It's kind of like a Chinatown. We arrived via the subway and went and looked at all the shops. It was incredible as we walked along and passed all the produce stands, the first had large reed baskets overflowing with dried red chili peppers, so potent that the back of my throat started to burn, quickly followed by mountains of fragrant basil, followed by waves of fragrance from tropical fruit stands, and flower stands, so many marigolds that you could smell them from 20 feet away! It was the most fun our noses have had this entire trip! Here is a picture of Sean in one of the food stalls

The Indian food that we get in Seattle is typically from Northern India, we found a small vegetarian Southern Indian restaurant and jumped into trying many new things like dosa, which is kind of like a gigantic tortilla chip that you can try with different sauces, a paneer dish, and then a mixed sample platter.

We then took the train back to Clarke's Quay, which is a big shopping mall. There is alot of shopping available in Singapore, but their taste are decidly very Asian, so many of the styles weren't things we were interested in, but alas, they had a Starbucks, and we enjoyed nice iced teas to try and beat the muggy heat.

From there we walked back to Chinatown, and then onto our hotel where we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

The events at the airport will be abrievated into me saying two things: 1) We experienced the first major hick-up of our trip, and 2) Hell will have to freeze over before I ever get on a United plane again.

Thus ends our trip to Asia.

Blast from the Past - June 2

Just a short post to show the crazy pictures of our hotel. We are staying at Hotel Re in Singapore, which is 60's themed. Everything is 'new' but is decorated in orange, yellow, and hot pink. There is an entire floor of themed rooms on the 12th floor with purple as the main color. Our bathroom has all white porcelain, and then is covered in orange and yellow glass tiles. I think the best way to describe this place is to say it's as luxurious as a Hilton, with the personality of an artist instead of a business person.

The bed in our room is pretty normal, even with the snake-skin print pleather backboard. There is a large plastic mural of people on one side which we have seen similar styles in many places in the hotel and then...those chairs on the other side.

The lobby is perhaps the best. We were greeted by a man wearing a pink tuxedo shirt with a gray suit backlit with many hot pink lights. There is a lot of molded plastic and bright colors everywhere.

July 1 - A Manly Day

We took it pretty easy this morning. After my obligatory sunrise run around the far side of Darling Harbor, we walked around the corner to Starbucks for a little taste of home and one of those delicious chocolate croissants that we've only seen at Starbucks in Australia. Around 11:00 we began our stroll up to the ferry dock (about a 2km walk through the central business district) and found that Sydney at lunchtime is a very energetic place. Not quite like Shinjuku, but pretty darn lively nonetheless. What a great city!

We arrived at the ferry wharf just in time to board the Narrabeen, the Sydney Harbour Ferry that would take us to Manly. Manly is a sort of suburb/seaside resort which came highly recommended as a day trip by Dad (Patrick) and Megan as a fun place to visit and a cheap way to get a great harbour tour.



The ferry ride itself was a real treat. The ferry departed from the Circular Quay, a docks area between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, and cruised through the harbor before arriving at Manly. Many sailboats accented the harbourside parks and neighborhoods – it actually looked kind of like a rugged Lake Washington.

I think Manly is best described as a cross between Kirkland and Huntington Beach. We arrived at the wharf and very nearly fell victim to the vortex of deliciousness surrounding the Bavarian Bier Bar at the wharf...but luckily Margaret turned Zombie-Sean around and pulled us toward the town :)



We strolled along the main street, which spans the isthmus on which the center of town lies, and picked up a kebab for lunch. This walking street, like the esplanade along the seaside, was absolutely plastered with restaurants and shops. After we entertained the locals just a little bit with a lip-sync of Bohemian Rhapsody in the kebab shop (it was playing on the radio, how could we resist!?), we headed to the beach on the far side. We sat down at the seaside, ate our kebabs, watched the surfers and the crashing waves, and enjoyed the warm sun and the mild breeze. All while evading the well-fed beggar seagulls, which seemed less skilled at airborne fry-catching than our feathered friends down at Ivar's fish bar. Manly beach is kind of cool, there is a causeway all the way along the beach with shops on one side and tall pines on the other -- which would have looked pretty out of place had we not already been surprised by funky pines in Vietnam. Even more out of place seemed the laurikeets (some very colorful, playful, and noisy, tropical birds) which occupied the shoreline just as in Cairns, 1200 miles north.



After lunch, we followed the seaside walk along the shore, around a small headland, and into Cabbage Tree Cove, where the path had fun little metal sculptures of the local sea life embedded in the retaining wall. The tide was rising, so the waves made the walk feel a little more like a boat than the edge of a continent. We reached a small swimming beach and park, and headed off the concrete and up a dirt track to the North Headland, which is an Australian National Park. The path rose along the seaside cliff top for maybe two kilometers, wending and weaving between rocks and scrub, and offering wonderful views of the cliffs and the tide-line shelves of rock below. It reminded me of some shorelines in England and Ireland where the headlands rise up like any other rolling hills, then drop straight to the blue infinity of sea as if chopped with an axe.



The trail popped through a hole in the stone wall which has retired from protecting an Artillery Training Center, rose through the dense and gnarled scrub trees of the headland, and onto the gentle slope facing the harbour. After a few more kilometers we reached a spot which offered a breathtaking panorama over the harbour and the entire city, which was 10-15km distant. A couple hundred meters further was a grassy spot that viewed the harbour, city, and coastline cliffs to the south of the main harbour entrance – a truly dramatic view, especially on this crisp bluebird day with the waning sun painting the scrub orange, red, and deep green, and the calm sea a wonderful deep blue that reminds us all too much of home.



We sat and enjoyed the view for a few more minutes before chasing the sun down the hill and back to Manly. We arrived in the town center just before sunset, and decided to hang out for a while and eat dinner before heading back to the bustle of Sydney aboard the ferry (like in Seattle, they run every 30 minutes until late at night, so there was no rush). We stumbled across a deli and picked up some greek salad and a small dessert, which we ate while sitting on a leaf-shaped bench made for two overlooking the harbour-side beach next to the ferry wharf.

And then it happened. We just couldn't resist the massive gravitational pull of the Bavarian Bier Bar. Nobody could really tell you how, but we soon found ourselves happily perched on a pair of bar stools, mere meters from the departing ferries, with 1/2-liters of Franziskaner Dunkel-Weisse in front of us. I asked Margaret if we were being wimps by drinking German beer while down under, and she responded with “no, we just have good taste”.

Cheers, Mates!