Pinch Me

You think that if you've seen one, you've seen them all.  Well, that doesn't 't really hold true for some things.

There are very few places left that I really want to go and very few things that I really want to see before I leave Europe this summer and return to the place I really want to be.  So on Christmas Day, I was looking for places to go over the long weekend in January when I realized that I had yet to see David's butt.

That's right, the main reason I went to Florence was to see David's butt.  And there's no hiding the fact (mainly because he's naked) that it is in fact a nice butt. 

This is a replica on top of a hill at Piazza Michelangelo.

And the one below is outside the Uffzi Museum.

You're not allowed to take pictures inside the Accademia, where he lives.

 So I took my time and admired Michelanelo's work.

I'm not a museum person, but I am an architecture and beautiful scenery person.  Florence has all three.  Florence also has some wonderful food and also happens to in the Chianti region....what a coincidence!  So, I took in the scenery, the wonderful vitamin D that I've needed so desperately, and the fruits of the region, all topped off with some great naps.

Moonlight Midnight

Most probably thought I was crazy, and I frankly had to wonder myself, when I decided that for a vacation over the new year that I would go to the Arctic Circle.  I dislike being cold and I wear sweaters in the heat of summer.  So why would I want to go to Finland, where there's snow, temperatures at a high of zero, and daylight only for about four hours?  Because it involved dog sledding of course!!

A group of 6.5 of us (Jack is still the 0.5) flew way up to northern Finland, well within the confines of the Arctic Circle for some outdoor fun and lots of animal butts. 


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Yep,  way up there.  

We stayed at a place that had only cabins and igloos (both the ice and the glass types).  We stayed in the cabins, which were great and warm.  You couldn't have bribed me to stay in the ice igloos.  We arrived on the 30th and on the 31st, our first outing was a reindeer sleigh ride.  It was very low key and sort of comical, since we were staring at a reindeer's butt during the entire ride.

Yeah, like that.

And when they had to pee (which was amazingly often), like this. 

 

 

After the sleigh ride, we had lunch.  And if staring at a reindeer's butt for a couple hours didn't make you hungry for one, you got to try some anyway.  That's right, reindeer stew was lunch.  Ironic, I know.  But up there, where there is lots of snow, think of them as cows that do more than chew cud all day long.  They pull stupid tourists on a sled. 

New Year's Eve was relaxing in the cabin playing cards, watching episodes of Modern Family and movies on the laptop, and drinking wine.  We're quite the party animals.

Kim, Brian, Maurice, Jen, Mike, and Cynthia

The next day we had the majority of the day to explore the grounds of the place we were staying, because our next adventure wasn't until 8:30 that night.  So after breakfast we geared up and out we went, into the winter wonderland....

...where we saw snow.....

...and igloos....

...and the insides of igloos...

 ...and more igloos....

  ...and hilarity ensued....

....in the snow...

...and then it got dark...

...at 2pm.

That night there was snowmobiling to see the Northern Lights.  However, since it was cloudy and there wasn't a hint of the Northern Lights, it wasn't enjoyable.  Jen and I had never been on snowmobiles, motorcycles, jet skis or anything of the kind, so driving them was stressful.  And Jack hated it because it was past his bedtime and he was being flung around in a cart behind the snowmobile while he was trying to sleep.

At the break for snacks around the fire, Brian hated it more, because Jack was asleep and there was no position comfortable to hold Jack.

The next and last excursion was by far one of the most awesome things I've ever experienced and the very reason I took the trip. 

 I got to "drive" the sled, which just meant slowing the dogs down around turns and from getting too close to the sled in front of us.  Almost every single time I hit the break, the white dog would turn around in stride and look at me as if to ask, "What the hell are you doing?  Don't you realize that it's really boring to go slow?"

 My dogs (above) before we headed out.  They all didn't look like the "typical" husky you're used to--notice the darkest dog in the bunch.  And one of the guides told us that since their husky farm is so big (140 dogs), they don't have the time to train all of the puppies.  So, when they're old enough to pull a sled with a team, they're leashed up and learn by running with the dogs they're running with.

They were all so sweet and loved for you to pet them.

I think these dogs were more excited to go than any of us.  This was after our lunch break, but they did the same thing in the morning before we headed off.  They just wanted to run.  This is one of the videos I took.




I'm going to link Kim's photos here, because she already posted them and that means I don't have to :)  They are a compilation of all of our photos, so enjoy!

Girls Like Us

To the land of escargot and foie gras for Thanksgiving!!  That's where Jen, Kim, and I went, without husbands (I think they preferred that more than I, plus I wanted to use that word).   Unfortunately the Christmas market wasn't open and the weather was cold and wet, but France has wine and food and wine and wine.

Strasbourg is only about 2 hours from Wiesbaden and it's in the Alsace region, which at several points in history, couldn't figure out to which country it belonged--to France or to Germany.  Once it was decided and because of the winners, they speak French, but their food is influenced by Germany (think pork knuckle and potatoes with a delicious sauce, like Jen learned), and many people speak at least a little German.

We had fabulous food and some great wine.  When we arrived and were walking in no particular direction, Kim was about to pass out from hunger and we stumbled upon a very nice restaurant.  Everyone was very friendly and it helped we were willing to try without being demanding.  Jen asked our waiter a recommendation for food and what arrived looked very much like corned beef.  We were told it was pork, but it didn't taste like pork.  Later that night, we figured out from someone else's plate at another restaurant that she probably had pork knuckle.

For Thanksgiving we had dinner reservations at a restaurant apparently popular with dignitaries.  I got my escargot and foie gras.  The foie gras was a little sweet for my taste, but the escargot was wonderful--not Petit Louis wonderful, but still wonderful.  Our waitress was so nice.  She only spoke French, but didn't do in an elitist way.  She was clearly much more comfortable in French, but understood English.  I can't explain it.

Thanksgiving appetizers: escargot and foie gras

The next day before we left, we stopped by the Strasbourg City Hospital, which has a wine cellar that was built in 1395 and contains ancient wine barrels and wine from the 17th century.  We also did some clothing shopping and got some wine from the grocery store to take home.

Ain't No Particular Way

My friend Kim wanted to go to Prague. And she wanted to do so without having to bore a 5 year old and a husband with architecture and no plans. That's where I came in. Neither of us had been to Prague in about 10 or so years and neither of us really remembered much about it. Our plan was to relax, see some beautiful architecture, eat good food, and drink some good beer.

We stayed in a brewery hotel--the smallest brewery in Prague. We ate in the hotel's adjoining brewery restaurant when we arrived and were surprised when we ordered a dark beer that we were served a dark Budvar (the original Budweiser brand). The other surprise is that Prague still doesn't have the ban on smoking in restaurants.

On Saturday we had decided to do a walking tour of the city, but it didn't begin until 2, so we meandered to the Charles Bridge and took in the views. We strolled through the city, not looking for anything in particular and when we wanted to stop to see something or drop into a shop, we did.
One of our goals was to avoid the tourist restaurants and we did a fine job. For lunch on Saturday, we stopped into a restaurant for a long, leisurely lunch that had some wonderful food. I had a sausage and cabbage soup and a mushroom risotto.
The tour we took was by New Europe and their idea is that you pay for what you can afford and do so by tipping your guide at the end. I took one in Paris and think they're pretty good. You learn about the city, but also quirky stories that you don't read about in guidebooks.

An architectural example of cubism.

We ate at another great restaurant on Saturday night that was out of the tourist area, but quite close to our hotel. The prices in Prague have risen--it's not as cheap as it used to be--but we still were able to have a great meal at a much more reasonable price than in Germany or at home. After dinner we headed to the river so we could get some night shots of the castle. I had some turn out quite well, but my favorite is of the street car.

Just before we got our ride to the airport, we used the coupon from the hotel for a free beer from the brewery.  It was delicious.

Anything's Possible

You only live once.

One of my favorite bands, Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS), was playing at a music festival in the Netherlands.  And some other bands and musicians I really liked were going to be there too.  In a conversation with Chris, I said, "I'd be stupid not to go" (even if I was by myself).  His response, "I'd be stupid not to go with you."  Five minutes later, he had a ticket to fly to Germany so we could enjoy the some of our favorite bands.

The Take Root Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands was indoors and began at 4 pm.  Given that the theme was "Americana" and included a lot of bluegrass, I was looking forward to what the Dutch and other Europeans would decide as the appropriate dress.  I know someone who saw OCMS in Scotland and he saw a lot of overalls, flannel shirts, and hats.  I didn't see any overalls, but there were a few cowboy shirts, and one guy who wore what he probably thought was a cowboy hat, but was really a hat from the Australian outback.  An A for effort, though.

Even if you don't like bluegrass, you have to appreciate how amazingly these people can play a guitar, fiddle, banjo, or mandolin.  And you can tell they love doing it.

OCMS was awesome.  We were right up on the stage.  And later, Chris and I met Cory, a member of the band, who called me "darlin."  He's the one with the cap, second from the right.




Chatham County Line was a band we'd only listened to on iTunes and they were amazing in concert.  At the beginning you can see us right up against the stage on the left hand side, next to the guy in the white hair using his camera to video.



Dave Rawlings Machine and his wife Gillian Welch were beautiful and members of OCMS joined in with them too.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

In early September I had a couple of visitors. Dad and Chad arrived on the same day for their Euro trip. They had the requisite schnitzel and beer for their first meal and I showed them around Wiesbaden.

The next day we took a Rhein river cruise up to St. Goar. It was a tad brisk on top of the boat, but we had great weather and saw so many castles. Some of us *cough* even saw submarines. We all really enjoyed the cruise and I don't think Chad thought he'd ever see so many old things within such a short period of time.



In St. Goar, we took a self-guided walking tour of the castle that was built in 1200AD. The views of the river valley were amazing and the castle had so many nooks and crannies to explore.
Chad flew to Paris the next day and Dad and I started our journey. Our main destination was the Belgium beer festival in Brussels, but on the way there, we stopped in Cologne so he could see one of the largest cathedrals in the world.

The festival took place the entire weekend, but unless you get there in the first few hours, it's terribly crowded and very difficult to maneuver (i.e. get beer). Instead, that evening we just went to the main square to see the craziness and then headed to dinner at Chez Leon. It's on a touristy pedestrian street, which meant we got to sit and watch people, a lot of them drunk, pass by our table. I don't know how long we were there, but I know we both enjoyed watching the characters walk by. We ate at the same place both nights, because the food was good and the people watching was phenomenal.


We had a lot of fun at the beer festival. We got there right when it opened at 11 a.m. You have to buy tokens to use inside the fence and Dad, for some odd reason, thought 20 was enough for the both of us. (I used 20 or more last year by myself.) I relented, knowing that we'd need more later...and we did. This year, you had to buy a separate token that you used to return your glass and when you did, you received the token back, which allowed you to get another beer. Last year, when you were done with your glass, you just set it down and someone would come by to pick them up. I guess, with this year's method, the vendors lost fewer glasses.


Dad's first order of business was walking around to all the stands to grab their coasters, which made great souvenirs. Dad also picked up some For his first couple of beers, I directed him to a few of my favorites and ones he might enjoy. We probably stayed there for about 4 hours before we went back to the hotel for a nap (and some water).



The next morning we made a pilgrimage to the Trappist brewery Westvleteren. The monks' brew has been voted as the best beer in the world (the 12 that is) and you have to have an appointment to be able to pick up cases of it. (I've written about this before.) They do have a cafe and a small gift shop, so I had a 12 and Dad had two blondes (those are beers). I made sure to give him a hard time for not having the best beer in the world and instead having blonde beer. Given that this was his first true indulgence in to the world of Belgian beer, I let it slide. We also each bought a six-pack, which is the only opportunity to buy the beer unless you were lucky enough to have an appointment to pick up crates of beer.

After the monastery, we headed to a beer store and found a couple of the beers that Dad enjoyed at the festival, as well as a glass or two, and I got a case of something too. The American military cemetery in Luxembourg was our next stop, but by the time we arrived, it had just closed for the day. We did go back before we headed home. Then, we made our way to the oldest city in Germany: Trier.

Trier has a lot of Roman ruins all over the city and I knew Dad would like it. We saw the amphitheater, the city gate, the baths, and the bridge--all Roman ruins. It's hard to believe that they're still standing and we can still get a good idea of what these structures looked like and how they were used.


On Dad's last day in Germany, I took him to the market, and for lunch to a great Italian deli that serves wonderful, fresh sandwiches, and some yummy prosecco. He also got to meet my friends Kim and Brian, and their ball of energy, also known as Jack.

It was a great visit and hopefully both Dad and Chad can return before I leave next summer.