Austria

How did we get here?

We were in Naples and had 9 days to get to Munich. As we awaited our train's departure some girls (who were working as teachers in Berlin) told us of their adventures in Germany and The Czech Republic. I asked Sam if she wanted to go to Berlin, Austria or Czech Republic (I've always wanted to see Prague). Her reply: The hills aren't alive in Prague. After getting to Florence we bought overnight train tickets toVienna (as Salzburg wasn't available). So we went to Austria...

Wien (Vienna)

We didn't really know what to do when we arrived in Vienna. Andy (a guy we met on our sleeper train) said everything we'd want to see was on 'The Ring' (isn't that the name of a horror movie?) Soon after we arrived we founded the Ringstraße. This is the circular road that replaced the former city walls and surrounds the historical sites.  We even rented bikes and rode from Rathaus (top right), past Parliament (top left which strangely resembles Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome), through the Volksgarten (bottom right) and to the Natural History Museum (down right). 

Salzburg

Named Salt Moutain, Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart (middle) and home of Sound of Music.  High above this romantic city is Festung Hohensalzburg (High Salzburg Castle-lower left) whose construction began in 1077. Dressed as miners we toured of Salzbergwerk- the salt mines here date back to the 16th century (top right).  

And in honor of our mother, we did the Sound of Music Tour. We saw the wedding abbey, the fountains and the picnicking hill featured in the movie. 

Florence & Venice!

Firenze!

So we took the train from Naples to Florence. The city is absolutely gorgeous. The buildings consist of yellow colored clay walls with scarlet roof tops. Amy and I walked  in 2.1 miles our enormous backpacks  to our hostile. Our hostile was close to the Fiume Arno, a river that runs through Florence which was beautiful! All of the reds, yellows, and whites of the houses reflect off the river. The Ponte Vecchio , a beautiful bridge containing many shops was visible from the site. That night we settled in and explored the town. The next morning we woke up and headed for the train station to get tickets to Vienna. While in line Amy told me to go wait in line for the statue of David. I weaved in and out of the streets of Florence with a large map until I finally saw the Galleria dell' Accademia . The line for the museum wrapped all the away around the building and was a   2 hour wait! So I started to wait in the line and began to worry Amy would not understand why I hadn't come back to meet her.  When I got the chance I bolted to the nearest cafe where I got wifi to make a quick voice over IP call Amy an quickly got the message across! She came directly to the museum and soon we were inside. The statue of David was remarkable with such detail! It was so much larger than I had imagined! 

After, we walked down the street a bit and we saw the Piazza del Duomo. The architectural structure of the Duomo was stunning. It was so vast and beautiful. That night we ate at Il Latini (see Amy's blog Culinary Adventures: Italia). It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. We befriended the British couple next to us and chatted for 3hrs while we ate the 6 course meal. The next day we hiked up the mountain to Piazzale Michelangelo which had a breath-taking view of the  city surrounded by magnificent gardens. Amy and I then wondered the streets of Florence, shopped, ate lunch and then we were on our way to Venice!

The left picture is the statue of David and the two pictures on the right are the view from Piazza Michaelangelo. 

Venezia!

We arrived inVenice with twice as many bags as we began with because of our horrendous shopping habits. We wobbled down the narrow streets until we came upon our hotel. All they had available was the honey moon suite so we each had a room to ourself! Amy and I then began up explore the beautiful city of Venice. Everything in Venice is so lovely. The water, the gondolas, the shops, the masks, the glass! It is way too easy to get lost in Venice which we did! We  found a very nice restaurant that as ate at. While we were eating it started down pouring heavily! Finding our way back was quite a challenge with just a map and a bit of wine in our tummies! Once we found the main route we stopped at a tropical bar that blasted reggae and served sangria! 

The next morning Amy and I found our way to the Rialto, a magnificent bridge that crosses over the grand canal. We found ourselves getting lost in the shops of Venice yet again. We wondered through Piazza San Marco which had a great view of s. Maria Della salute, the canale di San Marco, and chiesa di San Giorgio maggiore.  By nighttime, we ended up taking a boat to an island called Lido that had beautiful beaches and wonderful seafood. 

In the morning, Amy and I were off to Murano! The island where they make all the glass. We shopped around the island, dazzled by the glass sculptures and chandeliers. We went to a demonstration where we watched one of the masters blow glass! The rest of the day we continued to shop for glass until we were all shopped out. By night we were on the night train to Vienna!

The photo on the top left is the view from the beach in Lido, a small island in Venice. The top right photo is a view from the Grand Canal and the bottom photo is of the Rialto. 

The top right image is the Santa Maria Della Salute and the bottom picture is the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. 

Sam

Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius et Herculaneum

Pompeii

We arrived in Pompeii by train. Sam wanted to hike Mt. Vesuvius so she headed towards the Volcano. With my love of all things ancient and Roman headed for the ruins. Initially buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 70 AD the ruins were excavated in the 18th century. 

The top row of pictures are from the forum bathes. The top left picture is a warm bath while the right is the frigidarium.  The bottom left is a bakery where they found 80 loaves of carbonized bread. The bottom right is in the entry way of a house with the warning Cave Canem. 

Vesuvio

Mt. Vesuvius rises 1300 meters into the sky above The Bay of Naples. It was initially over 2000 meters tall but decreased in sized after volcanic activity.  It's a steep climb to the summit but the views of Naples were incredible.   As you walk the crater lip  you can peer into the and you remember that she is still an active volcano who has been surprisingly quiet for a half century. 

Herculaneum 

Destroyed by the same eruption that destroyed Pompeii, Herculaneum was coated by the volcanic mudslide that followed. She was therefore better preserved and more buildings are intact compared to Pompeii. Sam & I toured the towns shops, bakeries, homes and the bath. The colors were better preserved. 

Amy

Treno a Firenze

Avventura in Sorrento & Capri

We caught the red eye from Keflavik to Munich then to Naples. We suddenly found ourselves in warm sunny weather with a view of the sea.  We spent our first day traveling, napping by the pool and sampling Southern Italian cuisine. 

On the second day we ventured to Capri via boat. The views of Sorrento from the boat were breath taking. 

Capri Island

We arrived into Marino Piccola and promptly started to walk up the hill side. 

As you can see with the pictures of Capri her roads are giant  Z-shaped zigzags that transverse the hill add nearly vertically.  So we ended up

taking the bus to the top. Capri has some of the most breath taking views of Sorrento and the bay of Naples. It also contains shops whose contents far exceed the entire trips budget. 

We were able to swim and snorkel off the coast of Capri. (As this was an unanticipated excursion, I left my waterproof camera on my desk in Virginia- handy). We even got to swim through some caves. The last photos is of Sam getting her on shower on the front of the boat. The water is the runoff of an ancient Roman Aqueduct.  

Amalfi 

What to say about Amalfi... It's beautiful (of course) but getting there was an unpleasant exploit. We decided to take the bus, which Rick Steve refers to as a 'white knuckle ride'. We took hair-pin turns at starling speeds and stop randomly to try to go tandem with bus going the opposite direction. But once we got there it was beautiful. Did Sam let me enjoy the beach? No! We did a hike with picturesque views displayed below. We even got to tour an abandoned paper mill from the thirteenth century and get soaked by a waterfall and a mid afternoon thunderstorm. The sights of the lightning striking the Mediterranean Sea were fantastic. 

Amy

Treno a Naploli

Blue Lagoon

Before we could say Ciao Italia we had to say Blehss to Iceland. Our last day in Iceland we went to Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa with man made lagoon made by the runoff of the geothermal power plant. Words don't do it justice 

Amy

Keflavik Airport, Iceland

Adventures in Icelandia

Adventures in the airport

We started in BWI where our flight was originally supposed to depart at 1:00pm. Unexpectedly, we had a weather delay and our plane broke and they had to call in the mechanic to fix it. They originally told us to switch flights and Amy was immediately sprinting through the airport to the nearest phone. Once we switched the flight, all other  flights to JFK (including our new one one)  were cancelled. They tried to delay my flight to Tuedday but Amy refused. So we were told to wait for our original plane to be fixed.  After 10 hrs we took off to JFk  Once we finally arrived in reykevak, we found out that my backpack was still in baltimore! 

Amy: I heard that you dont have to wash jeans for a month before they start smelling. I doubt that. 

Sam: Nope, thats true! 

(good thing it was my bag lost and not Amy's)

Venturing through Iceland

When we arrived at the airport, we told the bus driver to take us to our hostile and he happily agreed. Instead, he dropped us off at a visitor center. We asked when the next bus was and they told the Americans to walk! We wondered through the streets of reykjavik like tourists with our large map and backpacks until we stumbled upon our destination. 

Amy and I strolled through the streets gazing at the exquisite clothing in the stores that we easily could not afford. Amy then took me to my first bar (well sort of)!   The bar tender greeted us with a pint and shots. We befriended 3 swedish orthodontists who raised glasses with us and shouted SKáL (cheers)! Then our swedish friends showed us around the town. In Iceland the summer sun never sets and neither does our fun!

Day  2:

We came to understand quickly that the Icelanders are not morning people. Most restaurants and cafes did not open until 11am! We couldnt even get a coffee before 11am! My dear sister agreed to drive a manual car so that her baby sister's dreams of hiking Europe can come true. Oh and I forgot to mention... Shes only driven a stick twice...those of you who know my sister understand how she drives in America so you can relate to my enormous fear of making it home alive. You'd think I'd adapt to these "unique" driving techniques, but my heart still dropped into my stomach the first hard breaking/stalling... The third time... The fifth time... I can't say I was much of a help. I was given the title navigator and had us driving in the complete opposite direction of our destination, Þingvallavatn National Park. We finally reached a visitor center where I found a book called "Lost in  Iceland" which seemed appropriate. It turns out we were 1km from Þingvallavatn. From then on Amy and i were unstoppable. Nobody could get in the way of us and our adventuring. So it went a little something like this...

Þingvallavatn National Park

The water here was so beautiful. It had a royal blue color, while the sides of the streams were coated in green algae which illuminated a turquoise color. The scenery was divine with the outstretch of majestic mountains and streams of blue water that zig zagged in a maze like pattern flowing into a lake. This was the refion of the continental divide!

Geysir

The English word geyser  means a spouting hot spring, while the name Geysir itself is derived from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush". Eruptions of the boiling water occur up to 70 meters! (left) Amy and I trekked the mountain on the top right where we had a nice picnic lunch and the picture of me on the bottom right was taken!

Gullfoss

Gullfoss is in the river Hvítá, which has its origin un the glacier lake Hvítávatn at Lángjökull glacier about 40km north of Gullfoss. ( I restrained myself from throwing my sister off the side haha)

Hverageriði

Amy and I hiked all the way up this 6k walk! It consisted of lovely scenery with hot springs, waterfalls, and sheep! From one mountain came a hot spring and from the other mountain came a cold spring. When the two streams met, they conjoined to make "a very nice" temperature hot tub! (top picture)

Posted by: Sam

Culinary Adventures: Iceland

It really wouldn't be my blog if I didn't say something about the food. Before I came to Iceland I wasn't very excited about my culinary prospects, after all The Iceland Top 10: Food listed a hot dog vendor. Anthony Bourdain described hákarl (a national favorite, petrified shark) "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he had ever eaten.

Icelandic Seafood

What was pleasantly unanticipated was the abundance of seafood. On the day we arrived, we devoured a lobster pizza. 

Traditional Icelandic Lamb Stew

Was not a disappointment and would definitely keep you warm during a long Icelandic winter.

A Culinary Experience 

As Sam made mention in Adventures in Icelandia, we made friends with 3 Swedish Orthodontists. They recommended a fish place near the harbor (without a name) that had kabobs of fresh fish and seafood that they would grill for you. So on our last day in Iceland we went exploring and finally found the mythical Sægreiffin. We had fresh Altlantic Cod, shrimp, scallops and whale meat. Even Sam enjoyed the whale meat. 

Amy

Keflavik Airport 

Travel Planning

How this all got started...

About a month ago, Mommy Lee had an epiphany... instead of sending Sam to Thailand for study abroad, she should go to Europe with Amy.  With that a great adventure was born.  

Planning: not enough...
Sam wanted to backpack across Europe.  I wanted a relaxing post-residency European Vacation.  In the end, it was a compromise... the ends of the trip are planned.  The middle of the trip remains unbooked, backpacking.  

Where to go...
The adventure was supposed to begin in Iceland.  However, we have a incidental 9 hour layover in NY, NY... the fun is bound to begin there.  Then to Reykjavik, Iceland.  After a few days of hiking its onto Italy (see Sam's diagram below).

From there we have nine unplanned days before we need to make it to Munich.  Then its back to Iceland then back to The States. 

Packing...

Recently, I relocated to Newport News, VA.  In the haste of moving the Europlugs were packed with the rest of my household goods.  It took four dedicated hours and at least three times that many boxes to locate my  universal and apple adaptors.  When I call to notify Sam of my accomplishment... her response: They use different power in Europe? 

Asking me to pack one weekend into one bag is bad but three weeks is impossible.  I usually bring one bag for just my shoes.  Each came with a fully loaded car, Sam from Morgantown and me from Newport News.  Both came with at least three times more stuff than necessary that was then dumped unceremoniously across our parents' living room.  Five hours (most spent reading European backpacking blogs) and several trips to target later we were packed.  Although I'm not sure I'm fully prepared to go...

Amy 

Maryland, USA