This was a really funny fountain, you can't see it very clearly, but there are people with frog faces.
Marie Antoinette's house.
Looking back at the palace across the extensive grounds.
Enjoying a tasty treat from a french bakery.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Versaille
Versaille is the location of one of France's most well-known palaces. It takes about an hour to get there from downtowm Paris, but was well worth the visit. Of all the palaces we saw in Europe, those in France were the most grand, colorful, and impressive (notice the gold gates!). Upon the grounds of the palace there were several smaller "palaces" one of which was the private home of Marie Antoinette.
This was a really funny fountain, you can't see it very clearly, but there are people with frog faces.
Marie Antoinette's house.
Looking back at the palace across the extensive grounds.
Enjoying a tasty treat from a french bakery.
This was a really funny fountain, you can't see it very clearly, but there are people with frog faces.
Marie Antoinette's house.
Looking back at the palace across the extensive grounds.
Enjoying a tasty treat from a french bakery.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Paris
Our trip to Paris was filled with art, pastries, and beautiful and unique cathedrals. Putting this together I realized just how many cathedrals we visited, here they are.
La Madeleine- A different looking cathedral
Napoleon's tomb at the cathedral in the Hotel des Invalides
Notre Dame
La Sainte Chapelle Cathedral
The Sacre Coeur Cathedral
La Madeleine- A different looking cathedral
Napoleon's tomb at the cathedral in the Hotel des Invalides
Notre Dame
La Sainte Chapelle Cathedral
The Sacre Coeur Cathedral
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Vienna pictures
Our train compartment-this is where we spent two nights.
The Vienna Zoo
Staatsoper Opera House
The Spanish Riding School
The gloriette behind Schönbrunn Palace
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Slackers!
Yes it is true. David and I have seriously neglected our blog. Actually I'll be surprised if anyone even checks this anymore, but I'm holding out hope! We just had so much to write about the idea of putting it all up on the blog was daunting! So, to make things easier I will attempt to write shorter less detailed entries.
We are still alive and well. We are back in Maryland now after our fun adventures in Europe. David is getting through his final semester of law school and I am looking for a job and crafting like mad.
So, Europe! Yes we had an amazing and wonderful time. In fact I'm ready to go back right now! We ended up going to 7 different countries, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, and Austria. They were all incredible experiences and if you really want to here about them in detail please ask!
Ireland was definitely my favorite, such natural beauty! Living in the Netherlands was great, we are missing our little home there and the delicious food! We were lucky enough to have David's sister Kristen and her husband Tyler come and visit us for a week. My parents and sister Nikki and her boyfriend were also able to come out for a week around Thanksgiving. It was so great to have them there. Even though it was an amazing experience, being in a foreign country with no family or friends is a little lonely. We were very happy to see so many of our family members at Christmas and had a wonderful time, even though I was horribly sick with the stomach flu! We miss everyone and hope you are all doing well!
We are still alive and well. We are back in Maryland now after our fun adventures in Europe. David is getting through his final semester of law school and I am looking for a job and crafting like mad.
So, Europe! Yes we had an amazing and wonderful time. In fact I'm ready to go back right now! We ended up going to 7 different countries, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, and Austria. They were all incredible experiences and if you really want to here about them in detail please ask!
Ireland was definitely my favorite, such natural beauty! Living in the Netherlands was great, we are missing our little home there and the delicious food! We were lucky enough to have David's sister Kristen and her husband Tyler come and visit us for a week. My parents and sister Nikki and her boyfriend were also able to come out for a week around Thanksgiving. It was so great to have them there. Even though it was an amazing experience, being in a foreign country with no family or friends is a little lonely. We were very happy to see so many of our family members at Christmas and had a wonderful time, even though I was horribly sick with the stomach flu! We miss everyone and hope you are all doing well!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Vienna Day 1
These next few blogs are going to be rather detailed summaries of our trips in Europe. If you get bored or don't feel like reading it in depth, feel free to skim through it.
In November we went on a three day trip to Vienna, Austria. Being poor college students we decided we could only go if we could get there cheaply. We decided to take the train, a 16 hour trip one way! Not entirely sure what we had gotten ourselves into, we headed off to the train station. We got lucky! The train was Harry Potter style, compartments with six seats and a sliding door. Luckily, the train was empty enough that we had a compartment to ourselves. It wasn't the most comfortable night ever, but it wasn't much worse than a night on a stiff sofa.
The next morning (Nov 13th) we arrived in Vienna and headed to the Art History Museum. Here they had a nice exhibit from Ancient Egypt and Rome, as well as an art gallery filled with the works of famous painters. We had some rather disgusting pizza for lunch from a street vender, but made the most of it and headed of to the Hofsburg. The Hofsburg is the Imperial Palace where the monarchy used to live before Austria became a democracy. It is a large complex with many museums and interesting attractions. They had an exhibit on medieval weaponry, which David really likes, so that was our first stop. They also had an exhibit on musical instruments from the last few centuries which we enjoyed.
That evening we went to the Staatsoper Opera House. Vienna is well known for its love of opera, and we did not want to miss out on that cultural experience. This is a very famous opera house where Mozart used to perform. We got some cheap tickets and saw Madame Butterfly. The opera house was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Each seat had access to a small screen that provided the English translation as the opera was in Italian.
That night we stayed in a nice hotel with a yummy buffet breakfast (hurray for the off-season drop in prices!).
In November we went on a three day trip to Vienna, Austria. Being poor college students we decided we could only go if we could get there cheaply. We decided to take the train, a 16 hour trip one way! Not entirely sure what we had gotten ourselves into, we headed off to the train station. We got lucky! The train was Harry Potter style, compartments with six seats and a sliding door. Luckily, the train was empty enough that we had a compartment to ourselves. It wasn't the most comfortable night ever, but it wasn't much worse than a night on a stiff sofa.
The next morning (Nov 13th) we arrived in Vienna and headed to the Art History Museum. Here they had a nice exhibit from Ancient Egypt and Rome, as well as an art gallery filled with the works of famous painters. We had some rather disgusting pizza for lunch from a street vender, but made the most of it and headed of to the Hofsburg. The Hofsburg is the Imperial Palace where the monarchy used to live before Austria became a democracy. It is a large complex with many museums and interesting attractions. They had an exhibit on medieval weaponry, which David really likes, so that was our first stop. They also had an exhibit on musical instruments from the last few centuries which we enjoyed.
That evening we went to the Staatsoper Opera House. Vienna is well known for its love of opera, and we did not want to miss out on that cultural experience. This is a very famous opera house where Mozart used to perform. We got some cheap tickets and saw Madame Butterfly. The opera house was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Each seat had access to a small screen that provided the English translation as the opera was in Italian.
That night we stayed in a nice hotel with a yummy buffet breakfast (hurray for the off-season drop in prices!).
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Fun at the Zoo
When we went to Vienna, Austria lately, we visited Schonbrunn Palace, one of the residences of the Emperor. We'll write more details on the whole trip soon and post pictures (we promise!).
We thought the decorations inside the palace weren't very attractive, but the grounds and gardens were very beautiful. Part of the Palace grounds includes the Austrian Zoo. Founded in 1752 for the Holy Roman Emperor, it is the oldest zoo in the world. We love visiting zoos (especially the National Zoo in D.C. which is free) and thought it would be a great idea to have your own private zoo in your backyard. So, here's the question: assuming you had unlimited resources and were building a personal zoo, but could only have 5 animals, which would you choose? Comments required! We'll tell you what we came up with after we get some of your ideas.
We thought the decorations inside the palace weren't very attractive, but the grounds and gardens were very beautiful. Part of the Palace grounds includes the Austrian Zoo. Founded in 1752 for the Holy Roman Emperor, it is the oldest zoo in the world. We love visiting zoos (especially the National Zoo in D.C. which is free) and thought it would be a great idea to have your own private zoo in your backyard. So, here's the question: assuming you had unlimited resources and were building a personal zoo, but could only have 5 animals, which would you choose? Comments required! We'll tell you what we came up with after we get some of your ideas.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Ireland!
In October, we went to Ireland. We flew into Belfast on October the 23rd, rented a small car and headed off feeling slightly apprehensive about driving on the left side of the road. We first visited Carrickfergus, a castle fortress first built in 1180 AD. The castle has been partially rebuilt and gives the visitor a pretty good idea of what life might have been like during times of peace and war.
Ireland is famous for its natural beauties and we intended to see them despite the rain and wind! We headed to the northern coast of Northern Ireland to Giant's Causeway. The natural formations in this area are extremely unique and breathtaking, particulary combined with the continual crashing of waves.
Our next stop was Dunluce Castle. Also situated on the coast, the castle represents less of a fortress and more of a comfortable home. Dunluce is now in a state of ruin, but a beautiful ruin none the less. We love castles and found this one particularly beautiful.
We intended to spend the night in a bed and breakfast in County Donegal, so once the light started fading we set off on a two hour drive across the countryside. We stayed in a very homey bed and breakfast in Killybegs, a small out of the way town. Our hostess was extremely kind and friendly. We has a lovely room and our hostess cooked us a full Irish breakfast in the morning.
Our first stop on the 24th was Slieve League. These cliffs are famous for their beauty and height, known to be the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. Our route took us along a scenic coastal road in Northwestern Ireland. The road was narrow, but the view was spectacular. Fortunately we ran into few other people, as it was the off-season for tourists. In fact, we saw far more sheep than people in the countryside! Slieve League was beautiful and worth the trip up the steep windy road.
David lived for a few month in Northern Ireland with his parents and sister when he was 17. He lived in a town called Enniskillen, and we decided to pay his old home a little visit while we were in the area.
While driving through the countryside we saw a sign for Drumskinny, an ancient stone circle site. We decided to visit Drumskinny since it was only a few miles out of our way. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, in someone's cow pasture actually. It was fenced off so that the cows couldn't get to it, but other than that only a single sign was present to indicate we were in the right location. This is part of Ireland's charm - there are hundreds of historic sites all over the country in out of the way places. We could have spent several more days just exploring the countryside and seeing what we could find. It was fun to see Enniskillen and to do a bit of exploring. We found David's old house, walked around the town center, and visited Enniskillen Castle.
That night we stayed in another bed and breakfast right across the street from Newgrange. It was also a nice place but not quite as homey as the last place. We got up early on the 25th, had our breakfast and headed over to Newgrange, a famous and very large tunnel burial mound. Newgrange was built five hundred years before the pyramids in Egypt. The day was particulary windy and rainy, but nothing could spoil our fun. We toured the Newgrange visitors center and then took a tour out to the tomb. It was beautiful and really an amazing achievement that people from that time period managed to build it. The tomb is made up of hundreds of extremely large rocks as well as thousands of smaller ones. The people who built Newgrange had to transport the large rocks from great distances without the use of wheels or animals.
The truly amazing thing about Newgrange is its perfect alignment with the movement of the sun. At the winter solstice, the light of the rising sun shoots through a special opening in Newgrange and entersthe main chamber, illuminating it for about 15 minutes. The event is supposed to be spectacular and only 100 people are allowed to see it each year. Over 30,000 people enter the drawing to see it each year.
Next we headed in to Dublin to see some of the city. We started at Trinity College, the location of the famous Book of Kells, along with many other ancient manuscripts. The campus was beautiful and we particularly enjoyed seeing the college's old library. The bookcases in this library were stacked from ceiling to floor with thousands of old books. Dublina was our next stop. This was a rather fun recreation of a medieval fair with a musuem and viking exhibit.
Right next door was Christ Church Cathedral, one of the most famous cathedrals in Ireland.
Our time in Ireland was coming to an end, but we decided we did not want to spend the money for a hotel that night as our flight home left early the following morning. We decided to kill a few hours by getting some Chinese food and going to see a movie. We spent several less than restful hours in the airport that night, but it was worth it for our incredibly fun trip to Ireland!
We took a ton of pictures, so we won't be offended if you don't look through them all.
Ireland is famous for its natural beauties and we intended to see them despite the rain and wind! We headed to the northern coast of Northern Ireland to Giant's Causeway. The natural formations in this area are extremely unique and breathtaking, particulary combined with the continual crashing of waves.
Our next stop was Dunluce Castle. Also situated on the coast, the castle represents less of a fortress and more of a comfortable home. Dunluce is now in a state of ruin, but a beautiful ruin none the less. We love castles and found this one particularly beautiful.
We intended to spend the night in a bed and breakfast in County Donegal, so once the light started fading we set off on a two hour drive across the countryside. We stayed in a very homey bed and breakfast in Killybegs, a small out of the way town. Our hostess was extremely kind and friendly. We has a lovely room and our hostess cooked us a full Irish breakfast in the morning.
Our first stop on the 24th was Slieve League. These cliffs are famous for their beauty and height, known to be the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. Our route took us along a scenic coastal road in Northwestern Ireland. The road was narrow, but the view was spectacular. Fortunately we ran into few other people, as it was the off-season for tourists. In fact, we saw far more sheep than people in the countryside! Slieve League was beautiful and worth the trip up the steep windy road.
David lived for a few month in Northern Ireland with his parents and sister when he was 17. He lived in a town called Enniskillen, and we decided to pay his old home a little visit while we were in the area.
While driving through the countryside we saw a sign for Drumskinny, an ancient stone circle site. We decided to visit Drumskinny since it was only a few miles out of our way. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, in someone's cow pasture actually. It was fenced off so that the cows couldn't get to it, but other than that only a single sign was present to indicate we were in the right location. This is part of Ireland's charm - there are hundreds of historic sites all over the country in out of the way places. We could have spent several more days just exploring the countryside and seeing what we could find. It was fun to see Enniskillen and to do a bit of exploring. We found David's old house, walked around the town center, and visited Enniskillen Castle.
That night we stayed in another bed and breakfast right across the street from Newgrange. It was also a nice place but not quite as homey as the last place. We got up early on the 25th, had our breakfast and headed over to Newgrange, a famous and very large tunnel burial mound. Newgrange was built five hundred years before the pyramids in Egypt. The day was particulary windy and rainy, but nothing could spoil our fun. We toured the Newgrange visitors center and then took a tour out to the tomb. It was beautiful and really an amazing achievement that people from that time period managed to build it. The tomb is made up of hundreds of extremely large rocks as well as thousands of smaller ones. The people who built Newgrange had to transport the large rocks from great distances without the use of wheels or animals.
The truly amazing thing about Newgrange is its perfect alignment with the movement of the sun. At the winter solstice, the light of the rising sun shoots through a special opening in Newgrange and entersthe main chamber, illuminating it for about 15 minutes. The event is supposed to be spectacular and only 100 people are allowed to see it each year. Over 30,000 people enter the drawing to see it each year.
Next we headed in to Dublin to see some of the city. We started at Trinity College, the location of the famous Book of Kells, along with many other ancient manuscripts. The campus was beautiful and we particularly enjoyed seeing the college's old library. The bookcases in this library were stacked from ceiling to floor with thousands of old books. Dublina was our next stop. This was a rather fun recreation of a medieval fair with a musuem and viking exhibit.
Right next door was Christ Church Cathedral, one of the most famous cathedrals in Ireland.
Our time in Ireland was coming to an end, but we decided we did not want to spend the money for a hotel that night as our flight home left early the following morning. We decided to kill a few hours by getting some Chinese food and going to see a movie. We spent several less than restful hours in the airport that night, but it was worth it for our incredibly fun trip to Ireland!
We took a ton of pictures, so we won't be offended if you don't look through them all.
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