Krakow...Sardinia...and Pete & Amy :)

This past week was all pretty random and very much came together at the last minute. We found a good deal to Krakow, Poland so we jumped at the chance for that -and since we also had the entire following week off we made the most of it and took 6days of beach relaxing in Sardinia, Italy. We flew back just in time to meet Pete & Amy at the airport and spend two days in Zurich with them before they left for Croatia / Montenegro and Istanbul. Such fun!

First things first - KRAKOW.
What can I say about this city....so beautiful. Very eastern europe and not at all crowded with tourists. We basically just strolled around, took a carriage ride through the old town, and enjoyed the people watching...

Some views of the main square in Krakow:


We also visited the famous Welychka salt mines (Bruce, we thought you might like that we actually went to a salt mine :) which was a pretty cool tour. The caves were enormous and every single thing was carved from salt blocks (statues, entire churches etc.) In particular, we got to visit the largest underground church in the world (or something like that). Everything right down to the crystals on the chandeliers are made of salt...it was incredible! There was even a huge replica of the Last Supper carved from salt...you get the idea.

The underground church:
Entrance to one of the many underground lakes:

Krakow is also home of Auschwitz. The visit to the two concentration camps was extremely moving and very sad. We were walked through the barracks, work rooms, even the gas chambers and creamtorium. It is tough to really process all that information especially when standing in the exact spot that it all happened.
Nevertheless, we are glad we went.

Auschwitz:


From Krakow we flew to Milan, spent the night (which gave me a chance to finally see the famous church there, which somehow I had never seen):


From Milan, we were finally on our way to Sardinia. It was really an amazing island - it reminded me of Lake Tahoe (dry, pine trees, hot) on the inside but once we hit the coastal roads in our little rental it was all white sandy beaches and emerald water. We spent 5 wonderful days just realxing on the beach under an umbrella, swimming in the Med and eating yummy seafood :) Very highly recommended!

Andy strolling :)


Our favorite beach, Pula:


Us in front of Chia beach:


Andy having his third strawberry tequila popper:


Me in the town of Pula - getting bigger by the minute:


We flew back into Zurich just in time to meet Pete & Amy at the airport! Our visit was too short but lots of fun. We showed them Zurich, took them to a few of our favorite restaurants and even did a full day in Lucern complete with mini-golf and a visit with an old Swiss friend of Pete's. We were also able to throw Amy a little birthday party with a bunch of our friends! She was pretty popular - of course, the waitresses did give out free tequila shots for her birthday :)

Pete, Amy & Andy:


And one last photo...just so everyone can see how big this kid is getting (16 weeks) with my friend Kacey who is due in December:


Well that is all for now I suppose. Next up, we'll be flying home for a quick visit and Robin and Chris' wedding! Cannot wait :)

Amsterdam!

This past weekend we were all set to head to the alps for some camping, when we discovered the forecast was not set to cooperate with us. Instead of staying in Zurich, we decided we should get out of dodge and found a reasonable deal for a weekend in Amsterdam! Having never been there myself I wasn’t totally sure what to expect…I am not sure what I pictured, but obviously the red light district had some preconceived notions swimming in my head :)

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Amsterdam is so much more than just its famed red lights. It is instead a city full of canals, friendly people, international cuisine and endless winding alleys with great shopping and beautiful views.One of the canals...


We visited the Anne Frank House where she and her family hid during WWII before they were sent to the concentration camps where seven of the eight people in hiding eventually died…Only Anne Frank’s father survived, and he was later responsible for finding and publishing the diary she kept while in hiding. The actual house has now been turned into a museum – which I must admit was pretty emotional. Maybe it is just pregnancy hormones but I could hardly keep from crying while going through the exhibits. What an amazing story.

We also checked out the Van Gogh museum which I have to admit, was not my favourite…I know I am supposed to really appreciate the fact that I got to see his famous self-portrait up close and personal. And the Sunflowers, and The Bedroom etc. etc. I guess it turns out I am just not an artsy person!

While we weren’t doing the traditional sight-seeing, we were strolling the canal streets, the floating flower market, eating Dutch pancakes or Chinese food from China town (no decent Chinese in Zurich!) and we even wandered the red light district – which was not nearly as seedy as I had expected! The ladies in the windows were even friendly :)
The flower market

In other news, the "baby bump" as everyone seems to call it started to show up in full force this week. I think I was previously in denial, trying to wear all my same pants and really sucking it in. I found out - this is no longer possible! When Andy took this photo he started laughing and kindly informed me that the automatic focus on our camera had focused squarely right on my belly....NICE!LB does the Dam


We’re currently in search of another last minute deal for next week – Bulgaria perhaps?? Anyone have any ideas? Will keep you posted!

Baby.On.Board

I promised Andy (and Coy) that our blog would not turn into a "baby blog" - that it would still have tales of our greatest adventures and only an occasional photo of the baby that is officially on the way...We will see how that goes!

But first, I guess we should make it official :)

Little Block - LB - will arrive on or around February 17th, 2009!

Happy Anniversary to Us

Can anyone believe that August 11th is our one year wedding anniversary - already?! This year really flew by.

In honor of the big day, we took a relaxing weekend trip to Como & Bellagio, Italy. One night in each town. It was absolutely stunning and the weather could not have been more perfect.

The train down to Como takes a little under 4 hours, so we hunkered down in the dining car and played some cards while we waited. The scenery on the ride is just gorgeous!

We covered a lot of ground in Como and were fortunate enough to have a hotel right near the lake, so we did a lot of strolling and eating yummy Italian food :)

The next morning, we took the 2 hour boat down Lake Como to Bellagio - it was sunny and beautiful and Bellagio could not have been a more relaxing place. We got a great hotel recommendation from the Buckleys. It was more of a villa really, on the outskirts of the town. But it was super easy to get to / from town with the hotel shuttle, so that wasn't a problem. When we first opened the doors to our balcony we couldn't believe our view!



The weekend was so perfect and full of lots of great meals, wine for Andy and beautiful views.

1 year down, 60 or so to go!

Happy Campers

We decided recently that we needed to get back into one of our favorite (US) pasttimes - camping! And since our friend Josh was kind enough to lug a tent back from the US for us, we (along with Josh and Angela) set off - with our 6'4'' tall, 7 person Coleman special - to the French speaking region of Switzerland. Erin was nice enough to let us borrow her car (and GPS system) so that made the trekking sufficiently less painful than it could've been. We spent one night on the lovely Lake Neuchatal where we were able to cool down from the heat right there in the lake. But I think our favorite part was spening hours that evening grilling multiple courses of sausages, baked beans and other camping fare. For breakfast, we grilled fresh cinnamon toast - yes we are quite the campers! We even managed to stumble upon a steel drum festival (?!) in the middle of nowhere - which made up for in sheer strangeness what it may have lacked in entertainment value :)
This was sort of our trial run, and it couldn't have been more fun and relaxing. I think it is safe to say we will be camping quite a few times in the next few months of summer, as long as the weather holds up!