Update on what we have been doing...

We have had quite a bit going on in June. Tyler had his birthday on June 16th and turned 21. We also celebrated our first anniversary on June 21st. I feel like we have been married longer than that, but also I cannnot believe it has been a whole year since we got married. We have had a great first year and I love Tyler more than ever. I think this is the earliest picture of us. Prom was our first official date together. I was 16 and so was he... He would turn 17 in June. Do we look any older now (4 years later)?

The other day I cut Tyler's hair--the first time almost all the way by myself... Tyler helped a little in the front. Here is a picture:

I think it looks pretty good.

Besides birthdays, anniversarys, and haircuts, we have been working at Tuscany, making my bridesmaid dress and Tyler has been playing for a men's summer soccer league. Fun, fun, fun!

Well, I really should go, as Tyler needs my help with the dress (he really is the better seamstress--or tailor).

Europe Trip: Luneburg, Germany---our last stop...

An exchange student, Laura Heinkele, from Germany came to my high school my senior year. We became really good friends and I could not pass up the opportunity to see her when we came to Europe. So, we traveled up to Luneburg, Germany (near Hamburg) and stayed with her family. It was really great to see her, meet her family and boyfriend, and eat home cooked meals. They showed us around their home town and Hamburg. It was wonderful to be shown Germany by locals. I am so glad I got to see Laura again and lucky for me she is coming to the US this summer to visit Tyler and I on the East coast and then fly to Portland and see everyone from high school.

So here are a few pictures of our time with Laura: Luneburg-Laura's home town Walking around in Luneburg with Laura, her sister and her mom. One of the many churches in Luneburg--note how crooked the tower is. Some very lovely stained glass in the above church.
Erik, Jessica, Laura, me and Tyler

Laura drinking a milkshake---which are much different than the milkshakes we have. They are basically just milk with a syrup added and maybe some chopped up chocolate or coconut depending on the flavor you choose. Weird that they don't use ice cream, huh?

Me, Laura, and Jessica drinking milkshakes

Hamburg:

The next day with Laura we went to Hamburg, which is about a half hour from Laura's house. Laura and her mom did a great job showing us around the city and they took us on a boat ride through Hamburg. This is Laura's mom, Laura, me and Tyler on the boat.

A view of Hamburg from the water
There was a sailing class out on the water while we were in the little tourist boat.

Erik took this lovely photo of Mom---I think this is a reflection on the window, not taken from the outside of the boat.

Laura and I--and I am listening intently to my English translation of the boat tour---which by the way was hilarious--The guy had a strong German accent, some of his phrases were really awkward in English, and he was extremely proud of being German (and liked besting the English whenever possible-'this palace has 12 more rooms than Buckingham Palace..etc' ) I really think Germans love their country--more than Americans love the US or the British love Britain or Brazilians love Brazil etc.. It was a great boat ride and the scenary was beautiful. This is Laura's Mom on the boat. She was a great hostess, made excellent food, and we are very grateful for all she did! Thank you!
Erik looking at all the swans.

I think the building to the left is some sort of government building and it was a beautiful building.
All of us walking the streets of Hamburg.

After spending a few days with Laura we drove west towards Belgium to catch a ferry back to England. We stopped off in a little town in Belgium to pick up some chocolate and then rushed and rushed and almost missed our ferry--but we did make it!

Leaving the country gives you a different perspective and I am glad I live here in the US. I could easily live in Great Britain though. It was an amazing trip and I am so thankful my Mom took us! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and stories!

After Tyler and I landed in Washington D.C., we were able to go see Coldplay (my favorite current band as The Beatles are my favorite band of all time)!!! Christian and Heidi picked us up and came with us to the concert as well (which they already blogged about). It was an amazing concert. Coldplay is great to see in concert, they have so much energy and are great performers.

After the concert, we headed back to Buena Vista and I was actually very glad to be back. The little town of BV felt like home.

We have been back for about a month now (I know...it took me a long time to post the whole trip). This blog is already much too long, so I will just have to let you all know what we have been doing lately in the next blog post. Until next time!

Europe Trip: Salzburg, Austria

Sorry again.... I have not felt up to blogging lately and with Tyler home I have much less free time (he went home for a week to help his dad move). Salzburg was a very beautiful town and the drive was as well. Below are the Austrian Alps: More beautiful scenery A wonderful view of Salzburg--home of the Von Trapp Family Singers and Mozart The Castle
Tyler and I eating some delicious sausages--though I don't think the sausages made it in the picture.
Me posing with some pretty awesome statues.

If you have seen The Sound of Music, then you would recognize this tunnel...
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

Jessica, me and Tyler in the same tunnel as above.
Erik with a statue of Mozart behind him. Some locals...

Jessica showing off her delicious pretzel.

I really enjoyed Salzburg. It was a beautiful town, but we did have a little trouble getting around...in the car... We decided to go out to dinner a little outside of Salzburg because we were having trouble finding a restaurant---either they were closed, too expensive, or full. So we drove out of town a little bit and found a cute little bavarian hotel with a restaurant. My Mom wanted to finish eating before it got dark so it would be easy to find our way back to our hotel. However, that did not happen as it took about an hour and a half just to get our food. So, we ended up spending almost 2 hrs. driving in circles around Salzburg to find our hotel, which was very stressful for the driver... At one point, we accidently turned onto a one way road (the wrong way), which was not a big deal because no one was on the road and we pulled over to turn around. However, a car came down the road flashing its lights at us. It then pulled over to us and an angry, old Austrian man rolled down his window and started yelling at us (in a very strong German accent). He yelled, "This is very dangerous what you are doing here!!! Turn around immediatly or I will call the police!!!" He repeated that over and over and was very scary. We already were going to turn around, but now he was in our way. Jessica just told him we already knew it was a one way road and would have turned around a long time ago if he had not blocked us. She then rolled up the window and the crazy guy finally drove off... It was very scary at the time, but now it is just funny. We eventually made it back to the hotel and decided that the old man must have been a Nazi. Good story....

Next up Luneburg, Germany and then I will write a post about what has been going on here in Buena Vista!

Europe Trip: Venice

After Vernazza, we headed east to Venice. I think all of us had built up Venice as some sort of magical city as seen in the movies. Sadly, we were all a little disappointed. It was rainy, smelly and filled to the bursting point with people. Erik was perhaps the most disappointed, but I took a little more optimistic view. It was a really neat city with a lot of potential to be truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world if they cleaned it up and somehow limited the amount of people they would let in in a day. Unfortunately, it was pretty expensive as well. A gondola ride was about 150 euros, a water taxi ride was 10 euros per person (so 60 euros for all of us), and the mass transit (not very clean and cramped) water bus was 6 euros each (one time only--even if you just wanted to cross the river--which is crazy cause you can buy an all day subway pass for $7). So, we did not end up going on the water at all and just walked a lot.

The hotel where we stayed at also caused us much unnecessary stress. My Mom had booked a 4 person room and assumed that Erik could just sleep on the couch or the floor. They were so strict (and so rude) on the matter and forced us to book another room. Apparently, the hotel also needed all of our passports to check us in. Jessica, of course, left hers in the car--which was a very long walk away, as you cannot bring cars into Venice. Jessica said she did not feel well and so Tyler and I had to go get it. Fun, fun fun...
The bad hotel experience probably started us out on the wrong leg, otherwise we might have been a bit more forgiving of the city.

Our first view of the Grand Canal Tyler crossing one of the many bridges. Gondolas with the San Giorgio Maggiore Island in the background Erik, Mom, Jessica and I taking a little rest

Tyler and I in the Piazza San Marco--there were soooo many pigeons here! (The Italian Job was filmed in this famous piazza)
St. Mark's Basilica--this church was so cool on the inside--however most of the stuff in there was stolen by merchants who then gave all their stolen goods to decorate the church

Two fancy gondolas

One of the many puppet shops---I think Pinocchio was from Venice

Tyler and I with a small canal behind us

The Rialto Bridge

The view from the Rialto Bridge

Jessica wearing a Venetian mask--these were sold everywhere

There was not very much grass or even trees in Venice, so these little boys had to play soccer in an alleyway.

I think I would like to go to Venice again when it is sunny and less crowded. I think I need to give Venice a little more time than a day or two. Also it might be easier to travel with less people--or at least more than one person paying for everyone--so that a boat ride might be possible. I am glad I saw Venice and I do think it has the potential to be as beautiful as the paintings depict it (they do exclude the millions of people in the paintings).

Next up Salzburg, Austria!

Europe Trip: Vernazza, Italy

I am sorry it has been several days since my last post... I have just felt a little blogged out after doing a few days of long blog posts. I am refreshed and ready to do a post about our adventures in Vernazza.

We all really loved Vernazza. Vernazza is a little town in the north western part of Italy on the coast called the Cinque Terre. We found out about Vernazza from our lovely guide Rick Steves... Vernazza was beautiful, warm and not too crowded. Cars were not allowed in the town, so we had to park our car above the town and then hike down.

The beautiful Cinque Terre area

Tyler and I in Vernazza Me with the little town of Vernazza as the backdrop.
I love this picture! It is so nicely framed and none of us meant to take these positions.
Here we are all enjoying the most delicious gelato bought from the nicest old guy.

Me, Jessica and Erik with the town of Vernazza behind us. A nice silhouette, except for that strand of hair..

Vernazza by night

The Hike:
The five towns of the Cinque Terre are all connected by hiking trails that go along the hillside. We only hiked through two towns instead of five, but it was beautiful!

Mom and I with the town of Corniglia behind us.

Mmmmmm.....Lunch! This is the most delicious bread from a little bakery in Vernazza. We put salami and provolone cheese inside. Yummm!

A rather silly picture, or at least I look silly...

A nice shot of Mom with Corniglia in the hills behind her.

Cool!

The water was so clear!
Erik taking a swim.
The last town we hiked to and I can't remember the name...it starts with an M.
Our last night in Vernazza

Erik enjoying some gelato

Vernazza was an amazing place. I really loved the town, the location and the people. It is one of those places where you can walk around anywhere and feel safe. It was so nice to see the sun too after having rain in Paris. We swam, relaxed and enjoyed this lovely little town.

Next up Venice!