Well, I've Never Been To Spain

Ok, actually I have been to Spain, but I thought it made a good title.

Anyway, Sean and I decided for the upcoming four day to head to Seville, Spain for a bit of warmer weather, tapas and flamenco.

So, my question is this: Has anyone been to Seville? Any advice, tips, must-see or must-do activities?

Paris Pics!

I know it's been a few days since I posted about getting back from Paris and several times I thought about blogging, but I've been lazy so I didn't. This heat we're experiencing right now in Italy makes me want to do absolutely nothing. I'm lucky to clean and get my Crossfit workout done.

So without further ado, some of the Paris pics that I've actually edited. I still have about 1300 pictures to sort through and possibly edit.

Sacre Coeur church in Monmarte. Gorgeous church, but shady people on the way to seeing it. It also looked very pretty near sunset, but unfortunately I didn't find it safe to go up around that time and take pictures. Perhaps next time when Sean is with me.

A cute little shop that sold pastries in Monmarte.

Cute little cafe in Monmarte. I loved all the cafes like this, I wish we had more of these in the States.

This was in the cemetery in Monmarte. I thought the crow/raven/whatever it is was too perfect with the cross not to take a picture of.

Again, this was inside the Monmarte cemetery. I loved this door. So much character, don't you think?

One of my first views of the Arc de Triomphe. Oddly, seeing it made my misty-eyed and I have no idea why. Even the Eiffel Tower didn't have that effect on me.

Visiting Laduree (home of the famous macarons) was on my list of must-dos and I did it the second day. I was NOT disappointed by the taste of these. Perfection. Seriously.  From L to R I had: 2 salted caramel, Rose, Pistachio, Coconut, Raspberry, Orange Blossom and Chocolate. Salted caramel was my favorite, followed closely by Rose.

I had a few brief moments of blue skies when I was in Paris and on one such day I booked it to the Tuileries Gardens to get pictures of some of the activity within it. There were several rides and a mini-carnival set up on one side of it and they made for some great picture taking material.

The Eiffel Tower in all its glory. I didn't get very many pics of it during the day, I took tons of it at night. It was so beautiful when it sparkled on the hour, but it didn't really translate to pictures as well.

The wait to climb up Notre Dame was over an hour, but because I really, really wanted a bird's eye view of Paris and a shot of the famous gargoyles, I went ahead and waited. After seeing this shot, I was glad that I did.



The last few times I've been on vacation, one of my main objectives is getting night shots of some of the famous landmarks.  This trip I wanted to get Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. I'm happy to say that I succeeded in that quest.  Notre Dame is just gorgeous at night and I walked around the whole thing just trying to capture it from every angle.

Well, that was a preview of some of the many pics I took while in Paris. Look for at least one or two more posts with more pictures! And...for a bit of shameless self-promotion, a lot of pictures you see in this post will be appearing soon in my Etsy shop.

Travel Plans

Because this is what I assume is going to be our last year in Italy, I've been trying to plan trips to places that I HAVE to see before we PCS.

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was planning on seeing Salzburg, Neuschwanstein Castle and Dachau with my family. Although I've already been to Austria and Germany, I have yet to go to these places so I'm super excited. I'm possibly the most excited about going on the Sound of Music Tour. I'm a nerd,  I know.

We're also going to Tuscany and London while my family is here. I've been to Tuscany and London once before, but I'm seeing slightly different places in Tuscany and I could go to London a million times and never get bored with it. It's probably my favorite city in Europe that I've seen so far.

Next week Sean and I are going to Germany to talk to his surgeon about what can be done about these ridiculous back problems he's had for the past few years and we're taking the opportunity to go see Luxembourg, specifically the American cemetery where General George Patton is buried and then going on on to Bastogne, Belgium (Battle of the Bulge) and if you've seen Band of Brothers you're probably more familiar with it. I'm giddy with excitement about it. I'm a huge fan of WWII history and to actually see these places is amazing to me. We're also tossing around the idea of going to Trier too.

I'm also planning a trip to the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland in July, around the Murren area,sort of a late birthday trip for me (Sean isn't going) and I'm looking forward to exploring this beautiful region and playing Heidi for a few days.

Last, but not least I've planned a solo trip to Paris in August, when Sean will be gone training. It's going to be a semi-long trip as there is a LOT I want to see in Paris and I also want to spend a day at Disneyland Paris while there, as I'm a huge Disney fan.

Now this is where you guys come in. If you have been to Paris/Bastogne/Trier/Switzerland and you have any tips, suggestions on places to stay (I'm a budget girl, so the cheaper the better, yet not a total dump) attractions that I can't miss out on, the best views or someplace that I have to eat. Please tell me. Suggestions and tips from people who have actually been there, make trips so much better.

Sicily: Pics and Commentary

I'll be honest. Sicily was my least favorite part of the trip that Sean and I took. It started out promising.On the flight into Palermo, what I could see of the island was gorgeous.

Then we drove into Palermo and my mind was quickly changed. Previous to the trip I'd heard how crazy the traffice was in Palermo, but still I wasn't prepared for what it was actually like. Basically there are no rules, no lanes and anything goes. Italian drivers are pretty crazy anyway, here in Sicily they are insane. I'll give kudos to Sean though, because he didn't once lose his cool driving in the crazy traffic we encountered on the three days we stayed in Sicily.

Other than the driving, what I found most disappointing was the trash. I've never seen so much trash in my life. It was everywhere! Not only in the city, but in the countryside of Sicily. What could and should be a beautiful island is sadly marred by massive amounts of trash almost everywhere you look.

That aside there were good things about our visit to Sicily. We stayed in a nice Bed and Breakfast that I found on bedandbreakfast.comWe stayed with a young Sicilian couple and their little girl? boy? Honestly I couldn't tell. It was still a baby and didn't have any features or clothes that gave any clues to what gender it was. Anyway, our hostess prepared amazing breakfasts for us each morning with fresh coffee, juice, crepes with nutella and various pastries. So delish!

Our first full day in Sicily we decided to check out Mt. Etna. It took us about two hours to get there, since Mt. Etna was on the opposite side of the island, but I thought it was worth it.

On the way to Etna.

Driving up Etna was interesting. You could see smoke coming out the top of it and as we drove higher and higher the snow kept getting deeper. At one point I couldn't even look out the window of the car because we were above the clouds. Quite a freaky feeling.

As you can see the clouds are below us.

Me on the South Side of Etna. Note the smoke coming out the top and the fact people are skiing down the side of Etna. Yeah...not for me.

Sean thought it would be funny to throw snowballs at me

On this side of the island there were groves of orange trees everywhere. I finally convinced Sean to stop so I could take a picture of them.

This is the only picture I got of Etna that wasn't close-up. It's not the best or what I wanted to be my only far-away pic of Etna.

Back in Palermo, Sean and I decided to walk around the neighborhoods close to where we were staying. I didn't take my camera, as it was night and in that city I really didn't feel comfortable taking my camera out with me, but there were a couple of things I wish I'd gotten a picture of.

1. The giant swordfish that they had hanging up at the fish market
2. The rooster that was hanging outside the door of the Internet Cafe we checked our mail at. It was so random and so hilarious!

We also stopped in a pasticeria and bought a couple of delish goodies to snack on. My picks ended up tasting way better than Sean's. His had some sort of liquor in it that was overpowering.

The second full day we were in Sicily we opted to go on a trip to Agrigento to see the Greek temples that were built there. On the way we passed this Telecom phonebooth in the middle of nowhere, which made me think about the movie The American.

While we were in Agrigento the almond trees were blooming. It made for some very picturesque views among the temples.

This is the Temple of Concord, probably the best known out of the temples that are located in Agrigento.

This is the temple of Juno. Not as intact as the Temple of Concord, but still awesome to see.

Because we did road trips on the two full days we were there we missed out on seeing a couple of things I wanted to see in Palermo like the Capucin Crypt and Monreale, however we did drive over a ton of the island so I feel like I got to see a lot of what Sicily looks like. I'm just not sure I ever want to go back!

Barcelona: Pics and Commentary

Our second stop in Spain was to Barcelona. A few of my friends who had been there raved about it, but to be honest, I didn't like it as much as I liked Madrid. Don't get me wrong, it was still an interesting city with great food and lots to see, it just wasn't my favorite Spanish city. For one the smog was crazy. I haven't seen smog like that since I last went to Los Angeles.

The accommodations we stayed at in Barcelona were probably my second favorite of our trip. I found this place on bedandbreakfast.com and it's called Padilla Guest House. It was basically an apartment with about 5 different rooms, two bathrooms and a large kitchen. The kitchen was stocked with breakfast items and although the guesthouse was located farther to the north of the main tourist part, we were still only a couple of blocks from Sagrada Familia and the metro was two streets away. We also had a great variety of grocery stores and restaurants to chose from, but we found a tapas place that we loved so much that we went there every night we were in Barcelona.



This is Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi. It was started in 1882 and by the time Gaudi died in 1926, it wasn't even a quarter of the way finished. It's still not finished and they think it will be another 25 years before it is. It's amazing to look at, both inside and out.



Here is some of the detail on the Nativity facade side of the church



This is the inside of the church. I thought it was beautiful, one of the prettiest churches I've been in. However, I'm one of those people that doesn't like a lot of gold and gaudy stuff in churches, so others might not agree with me.

The first full day we were there we walked down Las Ramblas, checked out La Boqueria market and then walked around the harbor. The market was my favorite part, mainly because I love seeing all the different varities of fresh produce, meats, snacks and flowers. The only downside to the market was a gypsy tried to get in my bag while we were sitting down eating lunch, but she didn't end up getting anything and I was surprised how concerned the waitstaff was. They kept asking me if I was ok and if she took anything.



Fresh seafood at the market



This picture is too gross not to share. There were several meat booths in the market that had all kinds of body parts. Tongues, brains, livers and these delightful sheep heads with the eyes still in. Ew.



This is down by the waterfront. I'm not sure the signifigance of these two, but I found them interesting.



Parc Guell was the only other Gaudi sight we actually went into, we stopped by Casa Mila, but I didn't go inside as I found the admission price to be a bit high. Anyway, the park was very fun to walk through, it was originally planned to be a gated type community for the wealthy, but at the time none of the women wanted to move out there. So it's now a park and an interesting one at that. It had some great views of Barcelona.



This was a quieter area of the park and I just happened upon this guy with his guitar.



A church we passed in our travels around Barcelona



On our last day in Barcelona we went up to Montjuic for some views of the city and to see the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 games. They now use the stadium for soccer games, but it was still interesting to see what was leftover from the games. The tower in the picture was built for the 1992 games to transmit the coverage and is supposed to symbolize an athlete holding the Olympic Torch.



I saw this sign several times while we were in Barcelona and I couldn't help but laugh. Because every dog poops a small triangle. Right?



Loved this fountain on Montjuic



The top of Casa Mila, with the infamous statues.



I can't do a post and not include some delish food. These are polpitos (octopus) and they were phenomenal. We had them twice in Barcelona, plus a plate of Manchego cheese, jamon, patatas bravas, anchovies and grilled mushrooms. All fantastic. I really miss tapas.

Berlin Pics and Commentary

I'm already done (mostly anyway) with editing pictures of Berlin, so I thought I'd go ahead and do a post on our two days in Berlin.

First of all, the hostel we stayed in was amazing. Probably my favorite place that we stayed on the trip. It's called Circus Hostel and was on the east side of Berlin, near most of the places we wanted to stay. It even had a bar in the basement with some great drink specials. The link to it is here.



A view of our room



The Hoff Shrine in the bar in our hostel. How awesome is that?!



The Reichstag (the parliament/government building in Berlin) Normally you can go up in the dome and the building itself, but it was closed off and no access was allowed while we were there.



This was a monument to political leaders that Hitler had killed while he was in power.



One of the few things we saw the first night we were in Berlin was the Brandenburg Gate. One of 14 original gates that used to surround the area. Usually in each city I go to I have one landmark that I really love taking pictures of and the Brandenburg Gate was my obsession in Berlin.



The next day we wanted to see what was left of the Berlin Wall, so we headed to Museum Mile, which features different artists work on a long stretch of the wall. It was very interesting to see all the different pieces of work.



Next up was Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous checkpoint between East and West Berlin. There's supposed to be a pretty good museum that is all about the checkpoint and methods people used to get over into West Berlin, but since it was kind of pricey, we opted not to go in.



In some parts of East Berlin they have kept the stoplights from the communist era. I think they are awesome!



We stopped in Fassbender and Rausch, the most awesome chocolate shop EVER! They have chocolate sculptures of the landmarks around Berlin and a chocolate volcano. Sean chose some chocolate covered nut bark and I got five truffles of various flavors. They were all amazing, though I think my favorite was pina colada.



Museum Island was also on our to-do list. Our two museum stops were the Pergamon Museum and the Neues Museum. The Pergamon has the Pergamon altar, pictured above and some other artifacts like the Gate of Ishtar. That was my favorite thing about the Pergamon Museum. The Neues Museum holds the famouse statue of Nefertiti. I have no pictures of that though, because they weren't allowed.



The Gate of Ishtar



Some of the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum.

The last night we were in Berlin, we decided to eat at a Rick Steves recommendation for Georgian food. I've never had Georgian food, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was delicious. We shared a menu that came with about 5 courses and it was amazing. My favorite thing by far was cheese bread, but there were great soups, dumplings and lamb kebabs as well.

Overall I really enjoyed Berlin, the downfall was that it was super cold while we were there, but otherwise it was great. If you want to see more of my pics from Berlin, click here.