Home

we arrived home last night at about 10:30 pm. it was a long travel day. i think we were up about 28 hours before hitting the sack last night. it felt great to crawl into my own bed!

we had a good time in venice. we toured Doges Palace and St. Marks Basillica, walked around Mark's square, visited Murano island (famous for it's glass blowing), climbed up and down the steps of the Rialto Bridge about 5 times a day (our hotel was just near by with more steps), and experienced a romatic ride in a gondola at night. venice has a very medieval feel with no cars or motarized bikes, boats constantly running through the canals, and many many worn down old buildings. i'm sure it's a hard fought battle to keep everything maintained against the water. but still it is beautiful. but....full of tourists. wow...after 2 and a half days in venice, we could hardly stand it. so many people - one gets tired of turning, twisting, stepping aside, and josteling to get around people. whew. we were glad to visit and experience venice. however...some day when we go back, we'll skip the tourist towns and spend more time in tuscany. it is definitely the best way to relax -- meet italian people who don't have to deal with crazy tourists everyday -- and enjoy your time. i believe daniel and i would both say we enjoyed Montalcino the most!

and now we're home...where water is served with endless amounts of ice for free, where i can get a to-go latte and where my brain doesn't spin trying to figure out which language i should say thank you in when purchasing something. on our way home from italy, we spent one night in munich. boy, when i got off the train and bought a pretzel at a german snack stand, i couldn't figure out what to say, gracias? no... gratzie? no...oh si, danke. wait ... that wasn't quite right either. whew. it is good to be home.

the world is an amazing place; full of the expressions and cultures of different people. some are wonderful and some drive me crazy. but indeed, it reminds me that i am blessed to have a home, a husband who loves me, a good job, and the provisions to be able to experience different places and people around the world -- i recommend it!

ciao! Check out the following 5 or so posts to see some pictures of our journey!

Venezia

Daniel and I on the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

Daniel and I acting like crazy prisoners while touring the Doges Palace prison.

Daniel experiencing coffee at Cafe Florian, which is located on St. Marks Square. This cafe opened on December 29th, 1720 and served the first coffee in Europe.

Montalcino

Barbara and Roberto are the owners of a winery and the agriturismo, La Crociona, we stayed at in Montalcino. Barbara gave us a marvelous tour of their winery and taught us all about the special type of wine, Brunello, they make from Sangiovese grapes. They were a delight!

A picture of a meal we cooked in our own little apartment at La Crociona. A little pasta (not in the picture), some tomato and mozzarella salad with fresh basil, and a little Rosso di Montalcino wine.

Roma

St. Peter's Basillica

The Colloseum

More Pics of Spain

Daniel and I at dinner.

Dad and Gini at dinner for our last night in Spain.

Spanish Coast.

Janet, Peter, Daniel, and I at a beach coast town in Spain.

Munich

Check out that liter of Augustiner Beer!

Almut and I enjoying Radlar -- a mix of Beer and Sprite -- pretty good stuff.

Montalcino and Firenze

Brunello, Nobile, Rosso, and Grappa.  These are a few of the wines (made from the Sangiovese Grape) we have learned about and tasted in the last week. 

 

Tuscany has been a wonderful relaxing atmosphere after the hustle and bustle of Rome.  These italians are a bunch of shisters.  We stayed at a wonderful little winery with a great swimming pool for the hot afternoons.  Our days went like this.  Wake up (usually around 10am), have some breakfast, drive into little town and have a cappuccino, then we would have some lunch, go back to the winery, relax by the pool, read, take a nap, then off to a winery to taste some wines, and back into the little town for dinner.  What a life!  The owners of the winery (agriturismo), Barbara and Roberto, gave us a personal tour of their winery -- it was very special and informative -- an amazing process and fun to hear it from two very passionate italians!

 

Now we are back in the touristy parts of Italy, first in Florence and then off to Venice.  We've discovered that italians make the most amazing gelato, pasta, pizza, and coffee.  But we were surprised to find they bake horrible bread in my opinion and the american in us wants to have a to-go latte of their really good coffee to savour as we walk through the streets!

 

This morning we saw Michaelangelo's David in the Accedemia Museum.  No wonder it is called a masterpiece! 

 

so long.

 

rome in a day!

we are just starting our second day in italy. yesterday we did rome-in-a-day! whew -- it was a little bit exhausting -- but highly worth the effort. rome is beautiful with all of its old old gorgeous buildings, ruins, and fountains. we toured st. peter's basillica, the vatican and sistine chapel, the pantheon, the forum, and the colloseum! all were wonderful. i think i enjoyed st. peter's basillica the most. today we're off to tuscany!

I'll just add a couple thoughts. Rome is beautiful reminds me some what of London and therefore ranks up with one of my favorite cities in the world. Huge old buildings fill every street in the city area. Beautiful fountains flow everywhere and where else can you walk around and see the works of Rafael, Michelangelo, and Bernini everywhere you look. Its really quite remarkable.

The food and wine is great, not to mention the coffee. Chianti tastes so wonderful here and in the hot weather you can't match a cold Peroni Beer. As Tash mentioned we are off to Tuscany, we pick up our rental car and start our driving adventure through the crazy italian streets.

Ciaò

another picture in granada

thanks lyd for this picture -- Daniel, Peter, Dad, and Lydia in Granada!

Granada

Janet, Peter, Daniel, and Tasha in Granada Spain.

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain

This is an old Moorish Palace and Fort in Granada, Spain.

spain

daniel and i are feeling better. i think we've both been able to get
over our colds.

spain is a pretty cool place. i've always heard the spainiards take a
siesta in the afternoon -- but i'm not sure i ever really believed it.
it's true! it is so hot here. it reaches 100 degrees usually every
day by noon. thus, the stores open around 10:00 am and then close
around 1:00 pm. everyone goes home and really does take a siesta.
you can tell by the streets - they're empty. and then around 5:00 pm,
all the stores open back up again and things really get to hopping
around 9:00 pm. we even see families out with babies and small kids
playing in the park and eating a light dinner at 9:00 in the evening.
people are out because it's cooler. a siesta makes a whole lot of
sense.

spainish women love to dress fasionably - the streets are lines with
shoe shops, jewelery shops, purse/bag shops, and clothing shops -- and
it seems the women are always shopping. especially now in the summer.
in late july and all through august the shops have sales. they start
around 30% off and gradually increase. right now things are anywhere
from 50-70% off. it's pretty cool.

the food here is not what i think of spanish - or latin at all. they
eat a lot of potatoes, fish, chicken, salads, and cold soup (like a
tomato soup called gazpacho). the coffee (coffee con leche - coffee
with milk) is wonderful. they also traditionally serve churros for
breakfast. they are fried dough-like things that you dip in warm
chocolate -- very tasty.

that's all for now. we are headed to spend one last night on a
spanish beach before we leave for italy on friday. love to you all --

... simply memories

well ... by the push of a single button .. with no confirmation
required ... we erased the entire memory card in our digital camera.
it was more that frustrating at the time, but now I am resolved to
just being sad we have lost so many captured moments of germany,
almut, and the world cup! we also lost quite a few pictures of the
inside of the Alhambra (a magnificent old moorish palace and fort here
in granada). this happened on saturday. it is a pity! ah well --
you'll just have to believe us -- we really did attend three world cup
games, tour many castles, and clank 1 liter steins of beer in germany!

Spain and the World Cup Final

we arrived in Spain on Friday evening. Daniel's dad and sister, Lydia, picked us up at the airport in Malaga. We then drove about 2 hours to Granada. Daniel's cold continued to get worse -- but he got some antibiotics yesterday and that has been helping. i have had a sore throat and feel like i've been on the verge of also getting his cold - flu - or whatever sickness he has. however, i have been able to hold it off. it is good to be with family. there is a whole crew here - Daniel's parents, Lydia and her boyfriend, Gabe (who just arrived today), and Pete (Daniel's brother) and his girlfriend, Janet. Tomorrow we are leaving early to go visit the Alhambra. Should be very interesting.

well...after a month of intense soccer ... Italy has won it! i can hardly believe all this soccer excitement has come to an end. the final was a hard-fought game. we were pretty disappointed in Zinadine Zidane - who head-butted an italian player in the chest in overtime. he was given a red card and sent off the field. Zidane is usually such an amazing and stand-up player, it was astonishing he lost his head in his last world cup game. ah well. we were excited that Italy won.

it is really really hot here in Spain - 106 degrees today. the only consolation is that there is very little humidity. and a blessing for us, that Dad and Gini have air conditioning in their apartment.

i'm out -- hope everyone had a blessed sunday.

Off to Spain...

the semi-final in dortmund was quite an event. the stadium was filled with
german fans singing songs and chants. we had hope the it would come down to
penalty kicks against italy. italy however scored twice in the last minutes
of the game. they were amazing goals -- but so sad for germany. then
france beat portugal in the second semi-final game. we were sad about
outcome also. it seems the teams we cheer for lately are losing. well --
so now its italy vs. france in the final game. Go Italy!!!

Daniel has developed quite a bad cold in the last two days. I'm hoping he
gets better soon.

Daniel and I take off for Spain this evening -- we are so looking forward to
seeing Daniel's parents, Pete and Janet, and Lydia. Aufwiedersehen
Deutschland -- Hola Espana!

Rothenburg and Strawberry Punch

last night we watched Germany beat Argentina in the center of Nuremburg with
about 15-20 thousand fans. it was absolutely crazy. there were so many
people pakced in around some televisions in a beer garden. we sat with some
germans that spoke english and were very kind. Germany won the game in
overtime with penalty shots -- the germans erupted with whistles and shots
and screaming and even crying when the team won.

today we visited Rothenburg with Almut. it is a nice town - we visited a
few churches, a medival torture and crime museum (quite interesting and a
little horiffic), the city hall, bought a few famous christmas ornaments,
and walked on the wall surrounding the city. it was a fun day.

tonight we ate our last dinner with Andreas and Gescha -- we had some
wonderful frankonian brautwurst, bread, and cucumber, tomato, and olive
salad. And then ... the Waggershausers served daniel and i their famous
strawberrz puch. it's a wonderful mixture of white wine, strawberries, and
champagne. it tastes marvelous -- i'll have to try and make it at home
sometime!

wow -- Brazil just beat France -- truly unbelievable. well ... love to you
all -- i'm off to have a little more strawberry punch!

...all about going to a World Cup Match!

guten tag!  daniel and arrived in Lauf, Germany today.  it is a small town outside of Nurnberg. the game in Hanover was quite exciting last night.  A couple of things you should know about going to a world cup game.  1 - be prepared to be stripped searched every time you enter the stadium.  2 - just about every person attending the game is either wearing a flag, wearing a crazy hat with the colors of their team, or has the flag of the team they are supporting painted on their face -- so be prepared to follow one of these options (daniel and i painted the fabulous stripes of red-yellow-red - for spain - on our faces -- hopefully we'll be able to upload some pictures when we get to Spain)  and 3 - we were shocked to learn we had come all the way to germany to a world cup game, simply to discover the only kind of beer one can buy in any of the world cup stadiums -- is budweiser!  -- ugh!  daniel was very dismayed.  but, never fear -- he has tasted many a good german beer outside of the match stadiums!  :)   the matches themselves are like nothing i have experienced. it is amazing to hear the spanish and french voices singing in the stadium at the top of their lungs.  and to be able to see so many revered football players race across the field, pass, catch, trap, and juggle is astounding -- like Zidane and Henry from France and Raul and Torres from Spain -- incredible!! (more to daniel then me...but even i have quite an appreciation).  and now we wait to see who will play in the semi-final in dortmund -- we are hoping for germany -- but we shall see...

Safe and Having a Blast!

We are in an internet cafe waiting for the train to Hanover for our second
game. I can't believe we get to see Spain vs. France!

We've spent four days in Germany so far -- Partying with the Spanish in
Kaiserslautern, Drinking in the wonderful Beer Gardens, Biking around the
city of Munich, and touring some of Europe's finest castles!

this keyboard is really crazy -- the z and the y are mixed up. sheesh!
love to you all. if you want to email us -- do it to our hotmail account
instead. we are having problems with gmail. its the same as our gmail
accept @hotmail.com. later all --

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New and Exciting twist

Its a day away from the beginning of a lifelong dream, and the dreams keep coming true. Saturday after watching the USA vs Italy and the biggest refing debacle of the World Cup so far. I mean just ridiculous, the ref seemed to have his own agenda with that game.

So anyway Saturday after the match we checked our email and got an email from the world cup ticket center letting us know that our application for semi final tickets has come through and we have been issued tickets. Its crazy, unbelievable, and awesomely exciting. Yes indeed we do have tickets to the semi-final game in Dortmund, which could be Germany playing who knows who.

Instead of a few days in the Bavarian Alps we will be going to a semi-final world cup match on the 4th of July. Look for me to be wearing US colors in the stands.

Gotta go pack...

Travel Itinerary

Europe 2006 Travel Itinerary

Location	Details	Arrive	Depart
Munich, GERMANY	United Airlines 0902 Depart DEN: Jun 22 10:25 AM Arrive MUC: Jun 23 08:00 AM	22 June (Thurs)	23 June (Fri)
Kaiserslautern	World Cup Match 47 (KSA:ESP)	23 June (Fri)	24 June (Sat)
Munich	Visit Almut Waggershauser	24 June (Sat)	27 June (Tues)
Hanover	World Cup Match 56 (1H:2G)	27 June (Tues)	28 June (Wed)
Lauf	Visit Andreas & Gesche Waggershauser	28 June (Wed)	2 July (Sun)
Munich	More time in Munich	2 July (Sun)	4 July (Tues)
Dortmund	Semi-Final Match!!!	4 July (Tues)	5 July (Wed)
Munich	More time in Munich	5 July (Wed)	7 July (Fri)
Granada, SPAIN	Fly from Munich to Malaga Visit Daniel's Parents	7 July (Fri)	21 July (Fri)
Rome, ITALY	Fly from Malaga to Milan Stay at Hotel Oceania in Rome Visit Rome	21 July (Fri)	23 July (Sun)
Montalcino	Stay at La Crociona in Montalcino Visit Florence, Siena, and Tuscany wineries	23 July (Sun)	27 July (Thurs)
Cinque Terra	Visit Cinque Terra towns: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Manarola, Riomaggiore, and Corniglia	27 July (Thurs)	29 July (Sat)
Venice	Visit Venice	29 July (Sat)	1 Aug (Tues)
Munich	One more night in Munich with Almut Fly home to Denver: Depart MUC: Aug 02 11:35 AM Arrive DEN: Aug 2 7:18 PM	1 Aug (Tues)	2 Aug (Wed)

...the adventure is about to begin

20 Days until we leave for Europe! We just received our Eurail passes in the mail and our passports are ready. We're going to try and post blogs and pictures on this website when possible as we travel to Germany for the World Cup - Spain to see Daniel's parents - and Italy for a total of 6 weeks. Now to wait 20 more days...