I've been back in the states for a few weeks now, but I am just now finding the time to post pictures from mine and Richard's European adventure. Between the two of us, way too many pictures were taken, so I'm including the one from each city when we are in the picture. Overall, we had a wonderful time and managed to enjoy ourselves without killing each other. No, it wasn't a close call, but we definitely had our sibling moments. :) This might be a little long, so stick with me here.
Athens was just as beautiful as I remembered, and it was nice to go back to a familiar place. Richard's jet lag was ever-present during these first few days, so sleep came and went at some inconvenient times. However, we persevered and made the most of this historic city. We spent some time each day around the Acropolis, and it was not as hot as we anticipated. The view from the rooftop of the hotel was incredible because we could see the Acropolis illuminated, which made it even better. Communication was somewhat challenging even in the hotel restaurant, so settling for this picture was easier than trying to ask for a different angle that included the Acropolis.
Amsterdam was our favorite city for several reasons. First, the canals and bridges are user friendly, which is different from other canal cities I have visited. Second, communication was easy because most people spoke English. Third, the Euro 2008 matches were about to begin, and they were decorating and gearing up for the festivities. Since we saw how enthusiastic they were, Holland was our team of choice...until they lost. Lastly, the city was easy to navigate. It was small enough to see everything with ease but large enough to still feel like a city. We took a canal tour, which was very unique and fun. Fun fact to know and tell: of the people who live in Amsterdam, the foreigners will soon outnumber those actually born in Amsterdam. Therefore, we ate several different types of food (Indian, Indonesian, Argentinian) and loved them all. The red light district is further down the canal in this picture:
Berlin was another revisited city for me, but I have a completely different perspective this time. In an attempt to see the highlights within this big city, we utilized the hop-on/hop-off bus for a self-guided tour. We stopped at the Brandenburg Gate and ran into one of Michael's friends from Houston (Ben) who was traveling by himself for a few weeks. It was a complete surprise, and we enjoyed his company during our last night in Berlin. We found a great area near a main shopping street with several restaurants where we ate and watched the Euro matches each night.
Our time in Warsaw and Auschwitz was packed full of history lessons. We took a city tour of Warsaw, which was nice since it is not as tourist friendly as other European cities. Did you know that Chopin was from a town near Warsaw? Neither did we until our tour guide (whose English was humorous) showed us a statue they made of him in a city park. In Auschwitz, we spent our afternoon touring the concentration camps. For a place where something so terrible occurred, it now looks very pretty. What an experience to walk through the camp and learn more about the events that took place there. I'm not exactly sure why, but there was a bear exhibit near Old Town in Warsaw where we took advantage of a photo opportunity with the U.S. bear.
You faithful readers may recall my first trip to Prague with David and Sara in January. Well, let's just say I have a new and better opinion of the city after being there in June! We had a magnificent tour guide who made learning about Prague that much better. Since the main attractions weren't too spread out, we walked everywhere. Prague was a close second as far as favorite cities are concerned, and I know the ease of navigation within the city was the main contributing factor.
We returned to Vienna before heading back to the states, and Richard did some solo sightseeing. Since I had a LITTLE packing to do, I had to send him off on his own for the day. He did a great job, and I am so glad we had these few weeks together. Without a doubt, we had some bonding time, and I know we are grateful for it...the good and the bad. :) An older Canadian couple said it best when they described their time in Europe as an extended field trip. My only regret from our trip is that I managed to have a 50 pound backpack, which I had to carry around for 2 weeks. Regardless, our long field trip was a big success!
