Vence Post #1

Buongiorno!!

Hi Everyone, hope this post finds everything going well for all of you! As we write this, it is approximately 6:00 PM here in Venice, and we are hiding out in our hostel trying to beat the heat! We're just about finished here, ready for something new.

Venice is certainly unlike any other city in the world, very unique, but you can really see most of it in a day. Sadly, the city seems to be falling apart, rotting from its sunken foundations. Grafitti, crumbling buildings, and stagnant lagoon water don't exactly make for the sort of romanticism that everyone seems to attribute to the place, but it is definitely worth seeing, though it may only be a ghost of its former glory. The best way we can some it up is this: We are so glad to have come here, but it probably wouldn't be at the top of our list of places to return. That said, we did get some amazing pictures. Below are a few, scattered throughout 3 posts. Enjoy!




This was our hostel in Venice (probably one of the ONLY hostels in Venice!), Alloggi Gerotto Calderan, "above the underwear shop Tezenis," as our directions to get here pointed out. Very close to the Santa Lucia train station, which we've realized is a big plus for hostels, but otherwise pretty barebones.

This is what our room looked like. We shared the room with 4 other travellers, for a total of 6 people. We were surprised to actually meet several Americans in the room; doesn't seem to be many of them travelling on a shoestring like us, mainly Canadians, Aussies, and other Europeans. The beds were nice enough, and most importantly, the place had air conditioning!

One of our many pictures from a bridge overlooking a canal in Venice, some more picturesque than others. Not sure exactly where this one was taken, everywhere looks so much alike! It is quite easy to get lost, but that was half the fun of it, never knowing what was around the next corner.

"I think it's safe to say people around here don't have dryers," was the phrase Kristina uttered after seeing about 800 buildings with clotheslines just like this one. Probably typical of Europe, but we're just too rookie to tell at this point!


Continued in Venice Posts #2 and #3...

Venice Post #2

Continued from Venice Post #1...

So...first impressions of arriving in Venice, "Why did we leave Salzburg? It is HOT, smelly and dirty!" Ryan and I are adapting quite well. We both stopped wearing deodorant, I stopped wearing a bra, Ry started wearing capris, and we both started smoking! Some of those things are true and some are not, I'll leave the guessing up to you. :)



This is me on one of the 8 million bridges in Venice. After our arrival on what I call a "travel day," we set out on a new adventure. We didn't look at a map, just explored! Go figure later that night we'd get lost, but that's besides the point.

Yes, I'm a fairy! (Sandi I thought you'd like this picture! it has pixie crust written all over it!) Tinker bells got nothing on me!! Leonardo da Vinci...oh what to say about him, umm...he is an artist, invented some neat things and makes wings for Drew Barrymore in the movie Ever After! I know there's a lot more to the man, but I don't want to lecture to those who are reading this. :) P.S. The wings are awesome!

Yup this an award winning photo! Or at least good enough for the County Fair! Oh the things we have to look forward to in Hollister! Do something cool? Put it in the fair! Raise an animal, be proud and sell it at the fair! Think one of the last things we heard at the airport from Mary was her asking us to take a picture of Venice for her to put in the new kitchen! This I think is one of our neatest pictures! The fantastic hues, old bulidings and the backside of an Italian guy!

Look very closely at this picture... see anything super funny? No not Ry, he's cute! I'm talking about MR. BEAN in the background!! That guy looked just like him! It was awesome! We laughed SOOO hard! Not at him...with him!! :)

More in Venice Post # 3...

Venice Post #3

Continued from Venice Post # 2...



This is Ry and K in front of the Basilica di San Marco, smack dab in the middle of Saint Mark's Square (or Piazza San Marco for those who like it the old fashioned way...). We are still amazed at how difficult it is for people to be able to take good pictures of us! Seriously, is it so hard to understand that we want the giant thing that everyone even comes here to see in the background of our picture!

In the these next two you will realize just how Portuguese we are... it cost a few euro to go up the stairs to the balcony of the Basilica, so Ry went up and I stayed down. We realized after this picture that Ry should have worn a more contrasting color combo than white and khaki! Ry was able to take some neat pictures from the view up top... one of them being of me! (Next Pic)

This is totally a Where's Waldo picture! Only thing I'm missing is the stripey shirt and hat! If you can't find me, look a little harder! I'm the one in the middle airing out my armpits! PS: After recently going to Vegas, it felt like we had already been here before, except that there were way more birds, it was over cast, and it was hotter! Who knew that the Saint Mark's Square in Vegas is actually inside? At least now I understand why ...to keep the birds away! :)

And finally, this is a self-taken picture of us with the tower of Piazza San Marco in the background. Not the best angle for taking pictures, but the only one possible for getting the whole tower! Apparently, the thing is a replica of the original one that burned down in the early 1900's. Pretty impressive replica!


Anyway, hope you enjoyed our Venice pictures as much as we enjoyed being able to take them. Seriously, we joke a lot about how lame it is here, but it's really anything but. The place is an experience in and of itself, and we're glad to be able to have seen it firsthand. Tomorrow, we head off to Florence! We'll be staying at our hostel there for 3 nights, so hopefully we'll have a little more flexibility for seeing Tuscany. Maybe some day trips to places like Pisa or Sienna. Either way, both you and us will know in a few days, and we'll be sure to post pictures as soon as we can! Hope all is well for everyone, and have a great weekend!

Ciao for now!

Love,

Ryan and Kristina

Munich Post #3

Continued from Munich Post #2...



We had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, literally right next to our hotel. This is the most famous pub in the world! Very cool place, although would've been cooler with many friends to get into the spirit with.

We ordered a Radler to share, I know what you're thinking, weak... But for not being big beer drinkers, we were pleasantly surprised by our liter. Maybe because, as I learned later, a Radler is like half lemon-lime soda... So fair enough, we're weak. In Kristina's defense at least, beer and antibiotics probably wouldn't have mixed well. No real good excuse for me.

"Ryan playing with his wieners," is what Kristina calls this picture. Had to try some real Bavarian food, so I figured I'd order the sausage plate. Even ate all the saurkraut, if you can believe that! Kristina had some kind of steak with gravy and scalloped potatoes, which was also really good. P.S. Kristina says Sausagefest would be a much better name than Oktoberfest.

And finally, us loaded up again with our packs, leaving the way too nice Hotel Platzl, and heading for the train to Salzburg, where The Hills Are Alive, Ahhhhh Ahhh Ahh Ahhhhhhhh! A great start to our trip!


More to come, and feel free to email or comment with questions/comments/picture requests!

Love you all, take care,

Ryan

Munich Post #2

Continued from Munich Post #1...



This is Ryan standing in front of one of the large artsy structures in the English Garden, the Mono-something. The English Garden was pretty cool, it was something akin to Golden Gate Park in SF or Central Park in New York, but with a few more naked sunbathers. Kristina claimed that she saw an old man that was hung like a horse. I asked her if she was sure it wasn't a horse.

The Chinese Tower in the English Garten is also pretty cool, surrounded by one of Munich's more famous beer gardens. Kristina felt right at home, look at the eyes.

Here we are in front of the Neue Rathous (Spelling?), which means New Town Hall, at the Marianplatz. It, like many of the buildings, was pretty amazing, but this one was distinguished by a large Glockenspiel, which is essentially a big clock with moving figurines on it and stuff. Like on Shrek. "Shine your shoes, wipe your... face!" Seriously, easiest way to describe it.

Kristina and my feet, pidgeon-towed and bull-legged, respectively. Hopefully it will balance out for our children some day, and they'll be normal. Also, check out the ground! All stone, everywhere! Sidenote: Kristina says Sandi would've had fun racing with a rollie backpack here.


Continued in Munich Post #3!

Munich Post #1

While sitting on the train from Salzburg to Venice, Kristina and I had a chance to go through some of our Munich Pictures and hand pick a few for you guys. Enjoy!



This picture was taken just shortly after our arrival in the Deutchland, after having looked confused and desperate enough at the train station ticket machine in the airport to be helped to the Marianplatz by a wonderful old Bavarian couple. After approximately 20 minutes of wandering around lost in downtown Munich looking for our hotel, Ryan decided to consult the resources, and Kristina decided to sit down and take her pack off. Foreshadowing...? She claims she was being a "Peacemaker" and "Letting me do the Man thing."

This picture pretty much sums up our first night in Munich. Apparently jet lag and antibiotics don't mix. Who'd have thought? Doing much better now though!

The first of several Einfahrt pictures. Needless to say, Kristina and I found this hilarious. I believe this one is near the entrance to the English Garden.

Here is Kristina in front of the famous Munich Hofgarten. I don't really get how gardens and beer go together, but the Bavarians think it is just a great idea!


More in Munich Posts #2 and #3!

The Arrival and Flight Over

This marks the start of our adventure! As my boyf (Ry) always says, "Adventure, Excitement...VACATION!!" I beg differ on this trip...this is not a vacation this is traveling!! Two totally different things!! Vacation is relaxing and traveling is hard work, learning things and can have it's way of creating disagreements! Of course for us there is never disagreement untill I'm hungry or thirsty and Ry is not! There is a lot of us telling eachother, "Can we get on the same team?" Followed by a super cool high five!



We flew out of San Fran Saturday night at 9 pm. This is Ry and I excited for our adventure to start! Thank you to Joe, Mary and Nicole for giving us a ride to the Airport and waving goodbye to us!

This is a picture of our breakfast...there were no high expectations for great food, but this one smelt particularly interesting. And encolosed in a plane even better! I most definitely only ate the 3 cubes of watermelon, two grapes and half of the roll.

Ryan enjoying his roll and ready to kick the guy next to him, the drunken, self-claimed Tennis champ, Valentine from the Ukraine!

This sceen of random numbers and letters is what I stared at for 11 hours! After 11 hours and no sleep it actually started to make sense! Just reminded me of the Matrix! We were soooo excited to watch movies and TV shows...they were playing I Love You Man, Desperate Housewives, a Julia Roberts movie I wanted to see and so many more. Lets just say the flight did not go by so fast.


It is great here! But I'm dying for a cup of ICE water!! Everyone drinks Beer all day!! The only thing we have been having trouble with is leaving resturants...they don't try and rush you out of resturants like they do in our town. You have to ask for your check and if you're not there for a long time they look at you funny! We are so used to the rush rush world that it is nice to slow down here!

Love you all and Miss you!!

Always K

Salzburg Post #2

Hi All,

Ryan here, just wanting to give you a few more pictures from the Salzburg leg of our journey! I believe we can only post 4 at a time, but rest assured, there are plenty of others, in fact it is difficult to even pick which ones to show! Suffice it to say that you'll have a much more comprehensive display once we've returned, and much better narrated as well!


This first picture aboive is the sign posted for our first Hostel, the YOHO International Youth Hostel. A pretty cool place, all in all! We shared a 4 person room with two Asians from South Korea, very nice people, but we learned the hard way last night that Asians do snore! The room is sparse, simple, yet has everything we need: two bunks, our own bathroom with shower, and lockers for our packs during the day. There is even a bar downstairs where drinks and dinner is offered, as well as a nice room to sit around and get to know other travellers. All very nice and normal people! FYI: The Sound of Music is shown daily!

This is us posing in the Mozartplatz in the old town of Salzburg. You can see the statue of old Wolfgang Amadeus himself in the background. Also famous in Salzburg: Mozart's Birthplace, Mozart's Residence (two different museums), and the Mozartkuglen chocolates! They are clearly very proud.

A highlight of today was checking out the Festung Hohensalzburg, or Salzburg Fortress that overlooks the city. It is the best preserved castle in Europe, or something like that. It really was impressive. Here you can see it, as well as the Austrian Alps, in the background, which Salzburg old town and Kristina in the fore.

And this is but one of the many spectacular views from the Fortress itself. Really awesome, easy to see why Salzburg is considered one of the most picturesque towns in the world. The picture hardly does it justice, you really need a panorama to even describe it...

Alright, well that's all I have time for tonight, tomorrow will be an early morning! Hope all is well for everyone at home, and expect another update from us as time and internet allows! Tomorrow: Venezia! If we find the time, we'll also try to go back and post some pictures from Munich as well; there are definitely some worth seeing, as it was amazing there as well!

Auf wiedersehen for now,

Ryan

Salzburg Post #1

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings from Salzburg, Austria!!
Don't worry I got the whole world in my hands! haha!



If any of you are fans of the movie The Sound of Music, you'll recognize this fountian.
They Run around it, it's in a place called Mirabell Gardens. Good thing they were playing the movie at our hostel so that we could brush up on the sights from the movie!

I found this good looking guy in front of VOGUE!!

Today that Fortress thing was our destination. We walked all the way up!
Wasn't that bad of a walk but a little intimidating from the bottom!

The view from the top was AMAZING we decided to have lunch from the top! We had pizza! Aka what I've been living off of! :)

We are off to Venice tomorrow! Think we have to catch an early train! Yay! Should be Fun! We'll keep you posted!

Love always,

K