Arrived in Austria

Internet access has been tough but we're in Innsbruck Austria. I'll let Valentina blog about our "interesting" and finally short-lived time at the bed and breakfast that we left early to find another hotel. We've been extremely lucky on this trip, but we do need to do some blogging on the dark side of travel: places, people, and apartments that blow. I smashed a lamp (by accident) in the "Aladdin" room at the "Magic" hotel in Switzerland and that seemed to kick off 48 hours of weirdness. We'll write about it soon.

Bern and the Swiss Alps...

Yesterday afternoon I saw the most heavenly sight from the top of Gurten mountain. The rolling hills and Swiss Alps made my heart race in excitement. We spent over two hours at the top of the mountain just strolling through winding pathways and even taking a nap on a bench under a tree. Well, Ian did as I couldn't bring myself to miss one second of the most peaceful scenery I had ever seen. The pictures can't do this moment justice, but I felt we needed to post them anyway.

The Swiss Alps as the sun was setting over Bern.

The history museum of Bern where a fantastic Einstein section is housed. Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity in 1905 while living in Bern. In fact, we visited the apartment in which he lived during that time -- the actual living room where he wrote up his paper!

The famous clock tower in Bern, which marked the first gate into the city in the 1200s, with one of the many Medieval fountains that still remain.

A panoramic view of Bern in the background -- right behind our big heads:)

A few memorable images from Lyon!

The Tour Metallique behind us on Fourviere hill

A typical street in the old part of Lyon

Standing on a bridge over the Saone River

One of the towers of Notre Dame de Fourviere

Notre Dame de Fourviere from across the river

Lyon by night - breathtaking!

La vie est merveilleuse à Lyon!

Just when I thought I had seen beauty, I find Lyon. There is something magical about this place -- maybe it's because it reminds me of a petit Paris. The streets, storefronts, bakeries, cafes, and bouchons all seem fantasy like. I have to remind myself that this is not Disney World...that this is Lyon! These places were not made to look French...they are French! During our weeks in France, I've spoiled myself to the best breads, croissants, crepes, and gaufres (giant waffles)!

The city was founded during Roman times on the hills of Fourviere where now stands the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere, one of the most beautiful I've seen on this trip (and I've seen tons!). A funicular takes you to the top of the hill where an incredible view of the city awaits. Lyon was also notable for its silk which was weaved in the hills of Croix Rousse where the houses were built taller to fit the silk weaving machines. Still today a few of the original silk ateliers exist but the hand process utilized makes the silk products they sell very expensive. In 1808, during a slow down of the silk business, Guignol was born. You may recognize Guignol if you saw a picture of this notable French puppet. I didn't know he was Lyonnaise, but the marionette tradition is very much alive here with several Guignol theaters around the city still entertaining the French.

Tomorrow we leave France again and I take away wonderful images of these dreamlike places and its people.

Lyon - Vive la Résistance!

Last night we enjoyed a great meal at a typical Lyonais "Bouchon" recommended by our hotel owner. Generally the Bouchons are small rustic restaurants with a warm family-and-friends type atmosphere, fantastic service, and great food. I ate the juiciest yummiest piece of pork. It came in a crock pot bathed in an incredible red-wine sauce (the consistency of a marsala type sauce) with oven roasted potatoes... mmmmm mmmmm mmmm. I couldn't stop eating it until the pot was empty.

In fact, if you've ever eaten at the little French place in Coconut Grove (as Valentina and I have a few times in the past) you might notice that it boasts Lyonnaise food and the name of it is... "Le Bouchon". In terms of the decor of the restaurant, that's pretty close to how it looks here in Lyon! I can't remember if the food and service in Miami was authentic though? At any rate, if you can't make a trip to Lyon in France, I'm quite sure that Coconut Grove in Miami is the next best thing. ;)

Video: Lounging by the Rhone in Avignon

Here's the video I shot while we sat out by the river just outside the walls of Avignon. You get the complete experience as I added the Carla Bruni song that I was listening to.

Pictures from Provence...

A typical street in the South of France -- this shot was taken in Aix en Provence

Van Gogh painted many of his most famous works in Arles. The cafe behind this picture is the one he painted in Cafe Nuit. We also stood at the very same spot where he would have placed his easel when he painted Starry Night over the Rhone!!!

The Arles' Arena in which at one point in time there were over 200 homes and 2 churches!

Standing on the Pont Saint Benezet with the Pope's Castle in the background

The Saint Andre Fort across from Avignon -- a medieval fortress built in the 10th century.

Avignon, known as the City of Popes, is in the background with the famous Pont Saint Benezet

What's more beautiful? Avignon or my new iPod Touch?

We've returned to a more normal travel schedule here in the South of France. A few days ago the weather warmed up slightly and we spent a couple hours sitting in the grass by the Rhone river. The scene was a relaxing one: some locals laid out in the sun, families walked along the path by the river, couples of all ages sat on benches and strolled, and teams of rowers made small wakes as they sliced through the serene Rhone river. I listened to Carla Bruni's soft melodies and smooth French syllables on my new iPod Touch. I plan to post the video I took there. I will try to add the Carla Bruni music too so you can get the full effect of what it's like to lounge on the banks of the Rhone in the South of France.

A few pics from Barcelona...

A panoramic view of Barcelona from Tibidabo -- you can make out La Sagrada Familia!

Gaudi's famous La Sagrada Familia -- it has taken over 100 years to build.

By the magical fountains of Montjuic castle

Gaudi's famous La Pedrera on Paseo de Gracia -- a great example of Modernist architecture.

Ian at the famous Mercado de la Boqueria on Las Ramblas.

Leaving Barcelona behind...

Yesterday morning we boarded a bus to Avignon...and left Barcelona behind. I read in a book that Barcelona "was like a sorcerer...it got under your skin and stole your soul." There is something special about that city -- maybe it's the architecture, the combination of mountains and sea, the small city feeling in a big city, or its international flair.

One thing is for sure, in just one month Barcelona felt and was our home. On our last night I realized just how familiar I had become with our neighborhood -- walking two blocks down to the supermarket, down the street to the "chino's bodega", a couple of doors down to the bakery, to the corner for fantastic Japanese food, or across the street for authentic Italian. Yet, we had to move on. Learning to adapt to new places and not become complacent along the way is key to our journey.

The morning of our departure was, in some ways, a reflection of the way it is in Spain.
I walked over to the lottery booth asking to buy the 'big 130 million euro ticket' and was told that I was at the wrong booth. When I asked the harmless looking old man working the booth where I could buy the grand ticket (which I had already won and divided amongst family in my head) he replied by saying that he only sold "La once" tickets and that he was not (emphasis on the not) an information booth.

From there we flagged a taxi at our usual street corner. Once it stopped, another taxi driver insisted we needed to ride with him because he was next in line in the queue. The two drivers began to argue in the middle of the street exchanging words that became more foul by the second. Eventually, we got in the car and delivered the disappointing news...we were just going to the nearby bus station and not the airport.

The interesting part is that neither of these instances bothered us at all. While either situation may have unsettled us months ago or back in the States...here it was just the way it was and we knew that.

Good bye Barcelona...we'll see you again sometime.

The quest to speak another language

One of my big goals on this trip was to come back nearly fluent in Spanish. Unfortunately, I must say that I haven't done as well as I had thought I would. Living in Miami and having huge exposure to the language at Valentina's parents house had given me a great head-start but I have a long way to go in training my ears to truly understand specifically what's being said. It's quite difficult to listen effortlessly without re-counting each syllable and translating them in my head.

One obstacle is purely mental too. English has been my only language for so long that sometimes before I even hear the Spanish phrase from someone else I'm already convinced I won't understand. A woman in a department store asked me a three word question and although I knew each word I still blanked out a bit because I hadn't heard them in that way before. Valentina saved me thankfully. More confident listening would go a long way for me.

I have made improvements though, mostly in speaking. And I'm definitely proud of myself when I'm reading reviews on hotels and I come across them in Italian and Spanish and I have no need to skip over them! Also, I used to feel embarrassed speaking to Valentina in my Spanish but I'm cured of that now so this journey will definitely continue long after I leave Europe.

Video: Magic Fountains in Barcelona

This video was taken tonight at the Montjuic fountains in Barcelona just in front of the National Palace which houses an art museum today. I know, it's shocking to see a blog post that is actually up to date!!

The combination of the classical music, water acrobatics, and colors make it very beautiful to watch.

Sleeping schedule chaos - our Barcelona life

During this long relaxing break in Barcelona, our sleeping schedule has been turned upside down. Prior to Barcelona we already had what Valentina thought was a very lazy schedule: We would go to sleep around 2am and wake up at around 11am. Somehow it has become even worse!

We usually head to bed in Barcelona around 5 or 6 AM, sleep for 9 to 10 hours and wake up around 3 or 4PM in the afternoon! Talk about messed up. To make matters worse, while our living room faces the street and gets light through the French doors, our bedroom faces a small inner courtyard that really doesn't get that much daylight. So basically we stay in a little cocoon until the light is almost gone.

A few nights ago we thought we had corrected our schedule by going to bed "early" the previous night at 2am. The following night, however, we found ourselves sitting in our kitchen eating a huge meal of leftover Chinese food at 3:30am. We could only laugh about it while we stuffed ourselves!