Life has been so great this week. Great week at work, awesome friends at work, Amsterdam weekend planned with some coworkers, trips booked to Budapest and Nice this summer, and some concrete details on when people are visiting. I am beyond blessed!!!
Seriously, I don't think I could feel this excited about Amsterdam. Great friends, some museums and someone who actually knows where they are going! AHHH! I don't think I'm going to sleep a wink tonight.
And the other added bonus - having a great time updating the Kenya facebook page! www.facebook.com/trinityablazeinkenya
It's been great to stay connected to Trinity in this small way!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Blustery day
Quick post to express gratitude if you said a prayer for me today or thought good thoughts in my eastern direction. It was so windy today that at a cross walk, my glasses blew off my face and into the intersection under a car. Thankfully, the car moved without rolling over them and I could stop traffic to pick them up, but what a scary moment!!! So blessed to have them back on my face without having to find an eye doctor tomorrow!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
2013 Travel plans
I've been busy! I've made my travel/vacation calendar for the year. If you are thinking about visiting, here is what I have planned for my time off and weekend trips.
January-February: All small trips in the NL (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Haarlem, museums in The Hague. It's busy season and I still get weekends!
March: Tulips in the NL; Trip booked for 4 day weekend over Easter in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which includes a side trip into Mostar, Bosnia and maybe a side trip to Montenegro. Super excited!!!
April: Brussels driving weekend in early April. In the last week I'm really busy with visitors! F&R from Trinity are going to spend a few days in Delft after Kenya. A&A are coming just before that to see the tulips too.
May: My parents are coming at the beginning of May for the best 3 week road trip a family can asking for. We are driving through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and back. I'll post more on our itinerary at some point, but suffice it to say I'm beyond excited. Planned cities include: Ardennes for the American cemetery, Luxembourg City, Trier, Cochem, Mainz, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, possible side trip to Budapest, Prague, Dresden/Bautzen for all things Wend, and Lutherland cities, including Wittenberg, Leipzig, etc. And Holland tulips on the front end.
June: Paris for the weekend, Nice for the weekend, oh and Houston for the weekend for the wedding of a friend!
July: Budapest weekend, Lisbon weekend
August: 10 days off in August that is currently unplanned. Most likely scenario is Ireland / UK road trip.
September: weekend in Barcelona, weekend in Florence
October: Week in Kenya!!!!!!!
November: Weekend in Venice and weekend in Munich.
December: Cologne weekend, Rothenberg weekend and Houston for Christmas.
All 32 vacation days + holidays are accounted for, but there's no reason you shouldn't come over. There's so much to see in the NL and I can play tour guide on the weekend or you can come over when I'm going somewhere for the weekend and we can do it together. Just come!
January-February: All small trips in the NL (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Haarlem, museums in The Hague. It's busy season and I still get weekends!
March: Tulips in the NL; Trip booked for 4 day weekend over Easter in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which includes a side trip into Mostar, Bosnia and maybe a side trip to Montenegro. Super excited!!!
April: Brussels driving weekend in early April. In the last week I'm really busy with visitors! F&R from Trinity are going to spend a few days in Delft after Kenya. A&A are coming just before that to see the tulips too.
May: My parents are coming at the beginning of May for the best 3 week road trip a family can asking for. We are driving through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and back. I'll post more on our itinerary at some point, but suffice it to say I'm beyond excited. Planned cities include: Ardennes for the American cemetery, Luxembourg City, Trier, Cochem, Mainz, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, possible side trip to Budapest, Prague, Dresden/Bautzen for all things Wend, and Lutherland cities, including Wittenberg, Leipzig, etc. And Holland tulips on the front end.
June: Paris for the weekend, Nice for the weekend, oh and Houston for the weekend for the wedding of a friend!
July: Budapest weekend, Lisbon weekend
August: 10 days off in August that is currently unplanned. Most likely scenario is Ireland / UK road trip.
September: weekend in Barcelona, weekend in Florence
October: Week in Kenya!!!!!!!
November: Weekend in Venice and weekend in Munich.
December: Cologne weekend, Rothenberg weekend and Houston for Christmas.
All 32 vacation days + holidays are accounted for, but there's no reason you shouldn't come over. There's so much to see in the NL and I can play tour guide on the weekend or you can come over when I'm going somewhere for the weekend and we can do it together. Just come!
2012 Reflections and Learnings
With 2012 behind - here where I have been and what I learned from the year that was.
Traveled:
March - Paris / The Hague
April - Kenya
June - Tour of Texas
September - The Hague / Amsterdam / Brugge Belgium / Paris / Milan
October - Mosel River Valley Germany / Arnhem NL / Amsterdam
November - London / Rome
December - London / Vienna / Amsterdam
Learned:
1. Enjoy Italian food in Italy. Eat slow and a lot.
2. Plan an "experience" for each trip - a concert, Octoberfest, guided tour, etc. Something to do while you are there that's not just a museum.
3. Backpacking is the way to go for a short weekend.
4. When living in Europe on your own, ALWAYS have a flight booked somewhere. No reason why you shouldn't.
5. Try new food often.
6. Stop in buidlings you pass all the time to find out what might be cool in them.
7. Go out to watch your favorite game.
8. If someone invites you to play a game or go somewhere, do it.
9. Get up early when you travel and enjoy the city still asleep.
10. Eat breakfast when you travel.
11. Driving in the NL isn't so bad. Germany is fun too.
12. Avoid any touristy thing that involves a red light district. Even if Rick Steves says it's cool. Just don't do it.
13. Learn how to use the public transport in each new city first. It saves you time and energy.
14. Have a waterproof map. And don't use your phone's GPS.
15. Prioritize what you want to see, but don't be so inflexible that you miss out on what's right in front of you.
16. Be aware of your surroundings.
17. Tough situations are the best for meeting new people. I'm looking at you Arnhem.
18. Trust Rick Steves. He's pretty dead on.
19. Use airline miles for cities with no direct flights - same number of miles it costs to fly to cities with direct flights that are cheaper.
20. Use hotels, not hostels if you are over the age of 25.
Here's to a great 2013 travel year and many more gorgeous scenes like these below!
Traveled:
March - Paris / The Hague
April - Kenya
June - Tour of Texas
September - The Hague / Amsterdam / Brugge Belgium / Paris / Milan
October - Mosel River Valley Germany / Arnhem NL / Amsterdam
November - London / Rome
December - London / Vienna / Amsterdam
Learned:
1. Enjoy Italian food in Italy. Eat slow and a lot.
2. Plan an "experience" for each trip - a concert, Octoberfest, guided tour, etc. Something to do while you are there that's not just a museum.
3. Backpacking is the way to go for a short weekend.
4. When living in Europe on your own, ALWAYS have a flight booked somewhere. No reason why you shouldn't.
5. Try new food often.
6. Stop in buidlings you pass all the time to find out what might be cool in them.
7. Go out to watch your favorite game.
8. If someone invites you to play a game or go somewhere, do it.
9. Get up early when you travel and enjoy the city still asleep.
10. Eat breakfast when you travel.
11. Driving in the NL isn't so bad. Germany is fun too.
12. Avoid any touristy thing that involves a red light district. Even if Rick Steves says it's cool. Just don't do it.
13. Learn how to use the public transport in each new city first. It saves you time and energy.
14. Have a waterproof map. And don't use your phone's GPS.
15. Prioritize what you want to see, but don't be so inflexible that you miss out on what's right in front of you.
16. Be aware of your surroundings.
17. Tough situations are the best for meeting new people. I'm looking at you Arnhem.
18. Trust Rick Steves. He's pretty dead on.
19. Use airline miles for cities with no direct flights - same number of miles it costs to fly to cities with direct flights that are cheaper.
20. Use hotels, not hostels if you are over the age of 25.
Here's to a great 2013 travel year and many more gorgeous scenes like these below!
Vienna - Christmas, Castles and Cold - Part 6 (and final!)
This is the final post for Vienna. I really loved this city and plan to visit again in May.
I actually did the tour of the castle, but no pictures allowed again. Definitely worth it, comes with audio guide. The only issue is that you need to book in advance or you wait a few hours for your entry time. I didn't book early, but I enjoyed waiting in the Christmas market, drinking hot chocolate #2 and #3 (latter of which definitely had alcohol in it...oops!). If anyone's keeping score, I believe I drank before noon on both days of this trip. What a lush.
I also sampled the strawberries covered in chocolate on a stick. You can definitely put anything on a stick and it just tastes good. I also tried some risotto with a tomato sauce that was good and some more Christmas cookies.
I reversed my trip back to the airport via the express train. If you ever need to go to the airport around lunch time I DO NOT suggest attempting to eat there after you have gone through security. There is nothing back there. I wish I had gone later to the airport and had to make a mad dash because of an over extended meal in Vienna. I flew hungry, landed hungry and it was too late in Schiphol for anything to be open.
I got back to my apartment around 12:30, packed my big suitcase and headed back to the airport at 6:00AM for my flight to Houston. What a weekend!
Vienna - Christmas, Castles and Cold - Part 5
After Schonbrunn palace, I headed back to the center where I wandered through 2 more Christmas markets and one church, St. Peter's where I thought I'd stay for the free organ concert, but headed back to St. Stephen's for my musical experience in Vienna. You can't be in Vienna without hearing some classical music. Plus it was Christmas and St Stephens had classical and Christmas carols.
St Peters pictures
I spent about 15 euros on an obstructed view seat at St. Stephen's for the concert. It was pretty cold in the church, but worth it. The orchestra played one classical piece, followed by a Christmas carol and a choir. It lasted about an hour, alternating songs. Here are some of the videos I got of the music:
Vienna - Christmas, Castles and Cold - Part 4
Huge interlude in these posts for Christmas in H-town and the beginning of busy season. I'm laying on the bed in the Hague, watching the snow fall outside my window. Public transport from my apartment has once again been cut off in the snow. The snow is gorgeous.
To finish up Vienna (my favorite city thus far in Europe), I last left off with the Hofsburg treasury. After rounding my way through the treasury, I headed over to the Silver collection and the Imperial apartments / Sisi museum.
The Silver collection was first. It reminded me of the White House dish room but multiplied by 4000 the number of plates, cups, vases, etc.
Takes silver to a whole new level
Who doesn't need a fish plate?
Your standard center piece. nbd.
The silver collection also had a free audio guide included with the ticket, but the line was sooo long, I skipped it. The silver collection was a bit much in my opinion...nothing super exciting about it. Pretty without the guilt trip of being closely connected to the early church history. That's about it.
I bought the combo ticket for the Imperial apartments and the Sisi museum, which follows on after the silver collection. It was incredible, but no pictures. I took a covert picture of the first chandelier in the apartments, but stopped after that for fear of getting thrown out. It was really neat.
Sisi (Elisabeth) lived from 1837-1898. She grew up on a noble estate in Bavaria. At 15, Franz Josef, the emperor to be of Austria, spotted Sisi and even though he was engaged to someone else, fell in love and proposed. Sisi was about 5'8" and she maintained a 20-21" waist and weight under 100lbs her entire life. She was extremely vain - she only allowed formal portaits under the age of 30 and had hair that reached the floor, which took 4+ people a full morning to wash, dry and comb. She created the South Beach Diet movement before we even had a thought to do it. She wasn't super popular at the time she lived, but her legend continues to grow and her image is used everywhere in Austria. She was killed by an anarchist in Switzerland who originally intended to kill a lesser known prince from France until he found out Sisi was in town. One little knife wound did her in. The museum was definitely worth the ticket price.
Following the Sisi museum is the Imperial apartments which are a lot like Versaille, just much more compact as they are in the middle of the city. Loved those as well.
After the apartments, I headed out on a new adventure: Vienna's Christmas markets! I can't tell you how excited I was about this part of the trip. It did not disappoint.
First Christmas market was in the middle of the city. It was huge - lots of booths and lots of people.
Evidence of the first attempt at Punsch, which is a fruity hot drink. This particular one had berries in it - it was good. You paid a deposit for the mug and the drink and if you turned the mug back in, you got the deposit back. I kept all of my mugs for souvenirs, but what a great idea. My only problem was I wasn't entirely sure which ones had alcohol in them and which didn't. I'm pretty sure this one did.
Christmas tram! I thought about getting a ride - you got a drink with the ride, but ended up not having enough time.
Ornaments as far as the eye can see. Absolutely incredible - so much fun.
After the first Christmas park, I headed to the Vienna Metro, which was super clean and nice. I bought a 24 hour pass, but never once found any one checking tickets and there were no turnstiles. I wouldn't take a chance without one normally, but I will say I used my ticket for longer than 24 hours (oops!) and didn't have a problem.
On the way to the Metro
From afar, the crowds headed to the market and the beautiful christmas tree in front.
More ornaments. I could have stared at these all day.
Snitzel in the castle. While listening to Christmas carols played on the piano. What a meal and moment.
Tree at night with carolers in front.
I had such a nice time just wandering the grounds of the palace for the Christmas stuff, late lunch at the palace and just the general atmosphere. I didn't attempt to go in the palace - I just enjoyed the ambience, which was enough.
Time for a new post for my evening activities.
To finish up Vienna (my favorite city thus far in Europe), I last left off with the Hofsburg treasury. After rounding my way through the treasury, I headed over to the Silver collection and the Imperial apartments / Sisi museum.
The Silver collection was first. It reminded me of the White House dish room but multiplied by 4000 the number of plates, cups, vases, etc.
Your standard vases and cake plates. nbd.
The silver collection also had a free audio guide included with the ticket, but the line was sooo long, I skipped it. The silver collection was a bit much in my opinion...nothing super exciting about it. Pretty without the guilt trip of being closely connected to the early church history. That's about it.
I bought the combo ticket for the Imperial apartments and the Sisi museum, which follows on after the silver collection. It was incredible, but no pictures. I took a covert picture of the first chandelier in the apartments, but stopped after that for fear of getting thrown out. It was really neat.
Sisi (Elisabeth) lived from 1837-1898. She grew up on a noble estate in Bavaria. At 15, Franz Josef, the emperor to be of Austria, spotted Sisi and even though he was engaged to someone else, fell in love and proposed. Sisi was about 5'8" and she maintained a 20-21" waist and weight under 100lbs her entire life. She was extremely vain - she only allowed formal portaits under the age of 30 and had hair that reached the floor, which took 4+ people a full morning to wash, dry and comb. She created the South Beach Diet movement before we even had a thought to do it. She wasn't super popular at the time she lived, but her legend continues to grow and her image is used everywhere in Austria. She was killed by an anarchist in Switzerland who originally intended to kill a lesser known prince from France until he found out Sisi was in town. One little knife wound did her in. The museum was definitely worth the ticket price.
Following the Sisi museum is the Imperial apartments which are a lot like Versaille, just much more compact as they are in the middle of the city. Loved those as well.
After the apartments, I headed out on a new adventure: Vienna's Christmas markets! I can't tell you how excited I was about this part of the trip. It did not disappoint.
Ornaments as far as the eye can see. Absolutely incredible - so much fun.
After the first Christmas park, I headed to the Vienna Metro, which was super clean and nice. I bought a 24 hour pass, but never once found any one checking tickets and there were no turnstiles. I wouldn't take a chance without one normally, but I will say I used my ticket for longer than 24 hours (oops!) and didn't have a problem.
First hot chocolate at Schonbrunn Palace - this one definitely didn't have alcohol in it.
Time for a new post for my evening activities.
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