Saturday, July 28, 2018

That's Amore

Our 2 month European honeymoon extravaganza has begun and this is now officially an international travel blog again. What that means is the words we write should be more interesting and we will be posting more often (hopefully every 5 days or so). Before I jump into the past few days, let me give you a brief rundown of what lies ahead. Many of you know and contributed to the initial honeymoon plan of 2 weeks of beaches in Greece and Croatia and 1 week in the Smetana family homeland of Czech Republic. Well, that is all still happening, we just expanded it a little because, well... we could (no jobs + credit cards). The trip began with meeting friends on the Italian Riviera, is now moving west along the Mediterranean to southern France, from there we hop a plane to Greece, before one last jump to Bosnia where we have a rental car for 40 days to explore everything within our reach (with longer stops in the aforementioned priorities). This should be fun.


It starts with a very long travel day, as most cheap trips to Europe from Oregon do. We landed in Pisa, Italy, and after a couple of trains, we arrived in Levanto. With a rough map on our phone and no taxi in sight, we started walking to meet our friends at the apartments we had rented. We got pointed up a cobblestone path to the village of Montale, and during the 30 minutes of sweaty hiking to a vague destination, it didn't feel like a honeymoon. We finally came upon the village and just as we started asking locals for directions, our friends' heads appeared from the courtyard above and we were happy. They had a spread of wine, crackers, cheese, and cured meats layed out under a grapevine covered pergola with views of the sun setting over the Mediterranean and the town of Levanto below. This was our home for 4 nights, along with friends Jess, Julia (J1), and the Blancher family (Kenny, Jenna, Lucy, and Emme). This came about because Jess and J1 are meeting family in Italy and the Blancher's have been living in Belgium for the past 2 years. With the timing working out perfectly with our trip, we couldn't pass up the chance to join the gathering.

We slept hard the first night but not long. My limited experience with European travel was very evident from the get go. Flights to places down south are a little easier to handle and Spanish was getting easier to understand. Here, my language skills are nonexistent and my lack of knowledge about different power outlets means I won't be shaving until I can purchase new equipment. Our bodies were confused the first few days as to when to perform all of their necessary functions. The village church bell rang every half hour and played songs at 7 and 8 AM. The cicadas outside our window played their songs on no particular schedule. We were fueled by adrenaline, olive oil, pizza, and wine. The first full day, we laid on the beach and swam in the rocky Mediterranean, then walked the weekly Levanto market before eating paninis and pizza. That night, we waited an hour for a table at the 7th best pizza restaurant in the world (La Picea) and honestly had the best pizza of our lives. Pictured below: The Accidia (Pesto, pinenuts, cherry tomatoes, and burrata cheese). Seriously amazing.



To cap off a perfect Italian day, after dinner we caught the parade for La Festa del Mare (yearly Levanto celebration) and saw the lanterns they set afloat in the bay. We retreated back to our hilltop home and watched the late night fireworks, forgetting how little sleep we had gotten.


Day 2 took us on a 5 minute train ride down to Montessoro, the northern-most village of the Cinque Terre. If you don't know, the Cinque Terre is a ridiculously beautiful but touristy stretch of 5 villages that hang along the mountainous Mediterranean coastline. Connected by trains, tunnels, and trails, the views are stunning. We ate lunch near the crystal clear water before the more mobile half of the group tackled the 2 hour trek to the next village of Vernazza. The villages are easier to refer to by number so I will do that from hence forth, with #5 in the north and #1 in the south. We hiked from #5 to #4. It was strenuous and hot, but worth it. We ate gelato and worked our way through the crowds in #4 before boarding a train down to #1. The trails between 1-2-3 are currently closed due to landslides, so we briefly explored each using the rails. Julia and I then hiked from #3 back to #4 and enjoyed the easier trail and fewer people. The pictures below will try to do the area justice.

Back in Levanto, we went in search of great pasta and found it. There were breaded stuffed mussels, prosciutto with melon, some basic ravioli, ravioli in a walnut sauce, lingurian style pasta in a pesto sauce, black gnocchi with lobster, and a seafood risotto. They were all really, really good and I ate way too much, I just can't let food go to waste, especially when I am in backpacker mode. I consider it fattening up before the lean days ahead.

For our last full day together, we got an early start to snag some spots on the pristine beach in Montessoro (#5). The beach is lined with chairs and umbrellas that you rent, which I believe is common in Europe. We rented 2 sets for the 8 of us and did the things people do. There was some decent snorkeling among rocks and the water was perfect for swimming. The only negatives were the pebbly beach that was a little painful on the feet, and the constant flow of people who didn't pay for chairs, laying on the rocks next to us and gathering in front of our chairs. Otherwise it was a beautiful Mediterranean beach day.


On our last night, we walked to the village bar where old men were playing cards and we drank 1.50€ glasses of wine poured out of jugs. For dinner we had an assortment of wine, bread, cheese, and accoutrements at the apartments to finish up.




Saturday brought an end to the delightful friends gathering. All 3 families went their separate ways; the Blancher's back up to Belgium, Jess and J1 down to Rome, and we used 5 trains to get to Marseille, France. The scenery was spectacular along the coast for the majority of the trip, when we weren't inside tunnels. When we crossed into France, there was a noticeable difference of wealth and well manicured villas. Passing by Monte Carlo, Nice, and Cannes, the yachts were ever present. The French Riviera looks like a nice place although a bit too expensive for us.



We are now onto part 2 of our honeymoon and will be in Marseille for the next 4 nights. Getting into our Airbnb in the La Panier neighborhood was a small hassle, but we found a friendly establishment with drinks and Wifi to allow communication with the host. We will explore the city as well as the surrounding area the best we can before moving on. The jet lag is slowly wearing off, we still can't quite sleep as much as we want yet, but fortunately we have a long trip ahead of us.  A tavola non si invecchia

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Sweet Home Alabama

This will be a quick one. A lot has happened the past few months but even more exciting things are about to happen. So here is the deal, I will get you caught up with the important details from our time in the deep south but it will be more in picture form with brief words.

We left off with H3J2 returning home from Nicaragua and preparing for a busy month of March. We had the usual social gatherings that coincide with birthdays (I turned 40), plus the added bonuses of a baptism and the annual weekend away with the Hoelter Niece and Nephews. A nice addition to the month was the Kansas Jayhawks making a run to the Final Four.
Nephew Finn getting baptised
Hiking Salmon River Trail with the kiddos

The next step in our wandering lifestyle began in early April with yet another road trip in a loaded car. Alabama was our destination, chosen for its location in a corner of the USA we know very little about. To get there, we drove the southern route; down through Las Vegas, a brief stop in Arizona to see family, then straight East on I-10 until we hit the land of football and humidity.
Our friend Nick just happened to be in Las Vegas
Hoover Dam
The famous Boll Weevil Statue

Julia's assignment was in a nursing home in the tiny town of Elba but we rented a town-home in the proportionally larger town of Enterprise. A quick side note, Enterprise has a statue in the middle of town in honor of the Boll Weevil, a beetle that ruined the cotton industry. They believe the infestation actually helped them learn to diversify into other industries like peanuts and manufacturing, which has created a stronger and more sustainable local economy.

There wasn't much to do in town but we did enjoying strolling around the multiple festivals and farmer's markets. About 10 minutes from our house is Fort Rucker, the primary flight training base for Army Aviation. They have a cool museum with planes and helicopters of all types. They also have a nice park which, conveniently for me, has a decent disc golf course.  


The most attractive aspect of our location was the proximity to beautiful white sand beaches and historic southern cities. Julia manipulated her schedule to give us longer weekends and we explored. Below is a breakdown of the 4 main trips we took and the things we saw:

The first trip (and one of our top priorities) was 2 nights in New Orleans. We did the classic tourist activities; a slow swamp boat tour, ate some really good seafood, rode the streetcar down to Bourbon street, listened to some live blues music, and strolled around cemeteries. The perks on the trip were a Crawfish Mambo Festival, and a Champagne Stroll on the street where we stayed. The crawfish were tasty but too much work. The champagne stroll was a joy walking down the street with a plastic cup that we could get refilled at a number of small businesses. On the drive back to Alabama, we travelled along the Mississippi gulf coast that is scenic but somewhat deserted since the hurricane, and we visited a casino in Biloxi.
Gator sighting on the swamp tour


Bourbon Street
Crawfish Festival





The next trip was spurred by a visit from my Dad over Memorial Day weekend. This one focused solely on the popular Alabama historical destinations in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Growing up, we had seen the movies and heard the textbook versions of the Civil Rights Movement, but seeing the museums and memorials made it a lot more real. They were all very detailed and powerful, we spent hours reading and thinking in each. Aside from the somber sights, we ate some good BBQ, toured an old furnace factory, got a great view of Birmingham from the top of the Vulcan statue, and strolled through a botanical garden. Bookending the trip were rounds of golf with my Dad at 2 of the area courses, one of which was a Robert Trent Jones design in Dothan that was special.
At the National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Sloss Furnace factory
View of Birmingham from Vulcan statue with lightning (credit Julia)

Highland Oaks Golf


The other top priority (and originally our preferred work destination) were the cities of Savannah and Charleston. They were both lovely and historic, so I will give them each their own paragraph.

Savannah: First stop was a picnic lunch in Forsyth park, followed by a walk through downtown to the waterfront. While walking around Bonaventure Cemetery, we had to briefly take shelter in the car during a storm. That night we took a guided Ghost Tour around the central blocks and learned some interesting details about the cities gruesome history. We did not see any ghosts. 
Forsyth Park
Walking around Bonaventure Cemetery

Charleston: We wandered around Magnolia Plantation and got a little lost, then spent the rest of the afternoon walking the historic downtown and saw some dolphins in the bay. The next morning, we took advantage of free kayaks at our Airbnb rental and explored the canals around James Island.
Magnolia Plantation in Charleston
More from Magnolia
Walking around Charleston

Kayaking around James Island


The last trip we did came out of a desire to get a little taste of the Appalachian Mtns. The drive all the way up to the Great Smokies was too long, so we settled for a hike in Cloudland Canyon State park in Georgia, followed by a night in Chattanooga. The area gave us a small reminder of home, with surrounding mountains and flowing streams. The last morning there we hiked to Deep Creek for a short swim, before driving to Atlanta for a Brandi Carlile concert.

Cloudland Canyon State park
Cherokee Falls

Brandi concert







Deep Creek swim
Other than the big overnight weekend trips, we found some fun day trips to keep us occupied. I will just let the pictures and captions fill you in on the highlights.
Swimming near alligators in Goerge T. Bagby State Park (GA)
mini-Golf in Dothan (AL)
4th of July at Grayton Beach State Park (FL)















Kayak trip to Cypress Springs during a thunderstorm (FL)
What else is there to say about Alabama? The people were very friendly, the guy bagging our groceries would say "Jesus loves you", the political ads on the radio were the complete opposite of Oregon, the food was decent but best when deep fried, it can be tough to find health food in stores, Piggly Wiggly's are interesting, the weather was humid but not crazy hot temperatures, we enjoyed watching the big storms roll through and trying to photograph lightning, lots of massive yards and riding lawn mowers, and the rolling green hills and thick lush jungle were a pleasant surprise -reminding us of Central America.  

After 13 weeks, we were ready to get back West. A few long driving days sprinkled with stops to see family and friends along the way, got us back to Portland. Here we have filled our time with social things before we once again leave town for a prolonged period of time. This trip though will go by the official title of "Honeymoon in Europe", and will last for 2 months.