Favignana II

After Cala Rosa, we had our first real experience with the Sicilian bus system... which in Favigana is next to non-existent. So we walked. Along we way we encountered a meter long black snake on the side of the road... so we made sure not to step in any bushes and tall grass without looking first. Our host laughed at us - since what looked like a viper to us is completely harmless.

However, if we hadn't walked we would have missed out on this beach. We don't know the name, but it was pretty.

Of course we were all busy applying and re-applying sunscreen so that we wouldn't toast.

Favignana I

One day our B+B host recommended we go to the island of Favignana off of Trapani. We took a ferry, and spent the day beach hopping. From the harbor... we spent an hour trying to figure out the bus station - it's tradition in Sicily to make the "bus huts"... but then provide no other information such as schedule or the word bus. After some confusion, the first beach we went to, known as Cala Monaci only had a small strip of sand - not sufficient for sun-bathing, so we moved on.

We couldn't decide on the best beach to stay on so we just wandered around. The strong sun and lots of rocks makes the perfect climate for lizards, so that kept Renee distracted.

We stopped for a while at a "beach" called Cala Rossa. This part of the island used to be a quarry, where they removed stone from the ground to build all the houses.

We did some cave-exploring and enjoyed the shade.

Here we are stepping deeper into the caves that were made when they still excavated the stone. It had an eerie feel to walk into these giant man-made caverns. From the cliff that overhangs the ocean, these caverns are dug inwards... so that you can only see them if you are on the ocean, or right on top of them. We couldn't tell how far these caverns went, so we walked as far as the sun light spilling in would allow us.

Trapani, Sicily

We did a few more things in Holland, though I have to catch up on the blog - so fast forward o Sicily! After Holland Renee and I took a RyanAir to Trapani, Sicily.... now this place is more like a vacation. The weather was perfect beach weather. Sunny and warm.

We booked a night at a Hostel, however the owner had a free room at his B+B, so we stayed there instead! He was a great help with getting us around, and telling us what there was to do. One of the nights we went down to the Trapani Historic district.

From there we could see statues and old buildings. We also took a walk down to the harbor to look back over the city. The Mediterranean water is perfectly clear - you can see all the fish moving along the bottom.

From there we watched the sun-set over the Mediterranean sea. We also made sure to have pizza + gelato.

Queen's Day

Queen's day (Koninginnedag in Dutch) is a day of madness in Amsterdam. It was also a great idea of Marianne's (sense a pattern yet!) - Takes place on the 30th of April... yes, yes, I'm behind in the blog),  to celebrate the previous Queen's Birthday. The most unique part of Queen's Day is that anyone has the right to sell their property on the street. This turns Amsterdam and many other Dutch cities into 1 giant flea market.

Other celebrations include partying, partying, and more partying. Almost 1 million people come to A'dam on Queens day (Pop. of Holland is 6 million) - Ever street, every park, and every canal is packed.

Tradition is to wear Orange... so the streets look like a river of orange. Here I am checking the time using the clocks I bought in the street!

Sailing and Houseboats

Marianne had another great idea. Sailing is fun. So we took her small sail boat out onto the lake she lives on. When we left harbor, it was calm and beautiful. 4 hours later we were sailing into the wind, going against white caps and an on-coming storm. It was fun. I haven't been that scared in a very long time. Dry land became my #1 favorite thing after our sail. (Pictured is us leaving, having no idea what we're in for)

That night we stayed on Marianne's houseboat. She lives relatively close to Amsterdam, close enough that day trips are easy - though far enough away that you feel you're away from the hussle and tourists.

Here's the view of the harbor.

Biking, Castles, and Easter

Marianne had a great idea: lets go biking. As much as 50km looks like nothing on a map... I can't bike as far as I think. Trying to catch up with Marianne (who bikes every day) - is going to kill me. So far in Europe, Renee and I have lifted rocks all day, built barbed wire fences, moved Donkeys, and we have yet to get beaten up so bad.

We had Easter Dinner with a bunch of family!

Of course with Eastern came decorating eggs. With eggs came an egg hunt. And with eggs that we didn't know what to do with, came Juggling Eggs!!!

Elske and Tineke brought us to a classic European castle built in the 1500's (I think)... where we got a tour of the lavish inside and lifestyle. I don't think I'd want to live in a castle though... I can only image your wifi signal would be pretty weak through all the thick stone walls.

100% Dutch II

We took a boat right with Oma from Rotterdam to the Kinderdijk... which is the most windmills I ever thought I would see at once. Kinderdijk is 19 windmills within a few square kilometers. The Dutch certainly loves their windmills. Some were originally built for a source of power - for milling grain etc, but many many windwills were built to help manage draining the land and control the canals.

Here I am pretending to be a windmill. The weather that day was once again PERFECT! We've been in Holland for a bit under 3 weeks now... and it hasn't rained for more then a total of 40mins. Feels like summer. Holland hasn't had a string of days this nice since 1901*.

Back in Delft we climbed Nieuwe Kerk, the clocktower - completed in 1496. It's a giant clock-tower which you can see from almost anywhere in Delft. Makes it impossible to get lost, because you can almost always look around and see where you are in relation to the clocktower.

The clocktower.... pretty big for something 500+ years old. In front of the clock tower is the town square... a large cobblestone courtyard that is lined on the outside by all types of restaurants.

100% Dutch I

In Holland, we met up with my Oma! She traveled from Beverly to the Netherlands to visit her family, show us the Holland she knew, and to help us feel better because we missed her so much!

With her brother Jan, and Marianne we went to Giethorn... a small village in Holland where each house is on it's own island and there are no cars: since you need to go by boat to get anywhere. It's know as the "Venice of the North"... there we rented a boat and "punter'ed"... where instead of a motor or row, you use a long stick to push the boat around. Not the fastest method of transportation, but it's a good workout, and a smooth ride for everyone else.

One of the funniest parts was the bridges... since each house was on its own island, each one had it's own bridge. Whoever was "puntering" had to duck for each bridge... or else they would end up in the water.

Another day we went to Keukenhof... probly one of the most stereotypical Dutch things in the world. It's a huge flower (mainly Tulip) event. It's kinda like Disney Land for garden fanatics. Because of the incredibly hot weather, we missed the fields of flowers, but there was no lack of flower displays to walk around. This picture is from the Internet.... but it's pretty much exactly what it looked like.

Here is Renee being dutch...

Funny Dutch Words

From an English perspective, dutch is a really funny language. My favorite part, is how much the dutch like to take multiple words, and moosh them into 1 word. Here are a few funny dutch words we found....

..Thought this was my personal favorite. This is a 1 Euro box of cereal :P

Amsterdam II

We were eating lunch, and Renee was looking out the window and spotted Kayleigh walking down the street!!! We wandered around Amsterdam all day. The next day we went to experience true historical significance at it's finest: The Heineken Museum

It was quite the experience. Games, TV's, shows, history, collections of stuff.... lots of beer!

And of course the red light district.... nothing to say here.

Of course Alex was made to sit in the Giant Wooden Shoe.

Amsterdam I

On Wednesday, the 20th we went to Amsterdam. It's nothing like the rest of Holland, but it's something that everyone needs to do.

A'dam was bike madness. Signs are only a suggestion of direction, traffic lights mean that cars might be coming, and pedestrians are never safe. Outside of the Amsterdam train station was more bikes then I've ever seen: enough that they had to build a bike parking garage!

Canals were everywhere. In Amsterdam, no streets go straight, and getting where you want is never simple. We could never go to our destination - we always had to take the "accidental scenic route"...

Where we stayed was another story. We found a couch surfer on the out-skirts of A'dam, so we got off the train to meet him at the station. It was about 6:00p, and we walked away from the residential area, where he took us up to the front door of an office building. He pulled a key out of his pocket, and opened up the front door. It was abandoned. The actual building hadn't been used for a while, however he and 1 other person were living in it for next-to-free so that squatters couldn't lay claim to it. Despite the "sketch" factor, it was a really nice place to live - he claimed an entire floor to himself, and had a 360 degree view of the surrounding area since it was glass windows all the way around. Also, only the first floor had running water - so you had to take the elevator down to the first floor of a completely abandoned office building in the middle of the dark night if you wanted to go to the bathroom.

Delft, Holland

After Paris had kicked our ass (late nights, clubs, and too many crepes), we took a Eurolines bus to Rotterdam, Holland. From there we went to Delft, Holland where we stayed with Marianne, my mother's cousin, and very soon a good friend of ours.

Holland is a great country. Well thought out public transportation, socialized health care, and vegetarian fake meat! After being in Spain and France ("vegetarian... you eat fish right?")... this was Renee's response.

Delft was like a vacation after traveling. No buses to catch, no searching for a hostel... it was really nice. We decided we would go to the beach one day, so we took a tram to Den Haag / Scheveningen... and the weather was perfect!

It was below freezing back in Massachusetts :)

Paris III

In Paris, we were eating baguettes, cheese, and wine under the Eiffel tower (like true locals), when a couple kids came up to us. In French they asked if I was American. They had a Football, and were looking for someone who knew the rules. I pretended I did, so we played American Football under the Eiffel Tower.

The Gardens of Luxembourg: Only in Paris are there multi billion dollar buildings, yet half the city smells like piss since there aren't free bathrooms.

The Louvre... Renee's favorite place in Paris. We went at night, and enjoyed the peaceful weather, and the Opera singer in the courtyard.

Just me pretending to be a statue.

Paris II

Thursday we were a tourist again. Here's Notre Dam.

After Notre Dam we walked along the Seine River as the sun set.... except for all the homeless, Paris is really a beautiful city.

Our host brought us to a night club. We only knew that it was a block away from the Arch de Triumph, however we didn't know in what direction. We got a good 360 view of the arch before we asked someone. We missed the closing of the Metro, so we stayed up all night in Paris. Here we are at 4:00am in front of the Arch.

This pretty much sums up our Paris experience...