TravelStream™ news feed for member aaron_and_jen on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/aaron_and_jen en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:58:07 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/2/1227718560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/2/1227718560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/2/1227718560/tpod.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:58:07 -0500 Fort Collins for Thanksgiving

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Jamestown, North Dakota, United States

We left Jamestown about noon and headed toward Kearney, NE
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211754720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211754720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211754720/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:02:15 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Jamestown, North Dakota, United States


Here are just some interesting photos that we wanted to share. Bathrooms, both public and private seemed to be an interesting topic for us. Usually we were looking for a bathroom, with little luck. We could go on and on about this. The basic oddities are, most public bathrooms are not free, and they come in very interesting sizes, shapes, and general cleanliness.

Many restaurants have English or tourist menus. Most of them are fine with a few small mistakes. When we read this daily special section, we had record it somehow. It takes a minute to figure it out. Also, check out this Simpson's tee-shirt. You will understand if you saw the movie.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211580540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211580540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211580540/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:59:16 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

May 23 and 24


Florence was the last stop of our great European Honeymoon. We only had about one and half days to see what we could. We spent most of our time walking around and looking at all the buildings and outdoor sights. We had read a book on the construction of the Duomo, and seeing the actual building was a wonderful experience.


We visited the Uffizi Gallery and saw numerous Italian Renaissance works. We also went to the Accademia Gallery, home of Michelangelo's David. The Italians are pretty strict about photographs in the museums, unlike the French, they don't even let you take your camera out of your pocket. So we don't have photographs from the inside of these museums, we had to settle for postcards of the works we saw here.

Florence was packed with tourists and street vendors. Even though that is understandable, we were tired of the crowds. Not to say we didn't have a great time, it was just time to slow down and prepare to head home. Jen did find some time to go shopping while Aaron took a well needed nap in the hotel.

The food in Florence was some of the best we had in Italy. The gelato was the greatest you'll ever eat! Although, Jen might not say her shrimp meal was exactly what she expected. The meat tasted great, she just didn't like having to eat around the head and all the stuff that comes inside the head. "Dad usually cleans out all that gunk for me when he makes it."



Sadly this was the end of our trip and we woke up pretty early to begin our long day of plane rides back to the states.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407680/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:33:16 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Vernazza, Italian Riviera, Italy

The Cinque Terre (five lands) is an area along the Italian Riviera. It is a group of five towns that hang on the cliffs right along the sea. When people ask what our favorite part of the trip was, we say it is a tie between the Cinque Terre and Paris. The 5 towns and the trails between them are a National Park so the area is protected from development and destruction of the natural habitats. All the towns have look-out towers because the residents had to be wary of Pirates approaching to raid their town. We could just imagine One-eyed Willy's pirate ship approaching on the horizon.

We stayed in Vernazza and visited all of the towns via the hiking trails between them. Some of the trails were more rustic than others, but all had beautiful views. Most of our pictures are of the scenery because we couldn't get enough of this place. We didn't step foot in a museum the entire time we were here. Jen tried a little swimming but didn't stay in too long. The water was slightly colder than she planned.

We had some wonderful food (and one dish with anchovies that wasn't Jen's favorite). The pasta was the best of the entire trip and the pizza we had was pretty amazing too. Pesto was abundant and we wished we could have brought some home with us. On the hiking trail between Manarola and Vernazza is a little bar that serves drinks and snacks. We stopped there for lemoncellos (a lemon liqueur that is a signature dink in this region of Italy) in the middle of our hike to Vernazza. We can't remember who's idea this was, but when we stumbled out of the bar we realized we were a little unsteady and had to hike the rest of the way to Vernazza on wobbly legs on a rustic trail with slippery, steep steps. We made it though and the adventure was worth it.

We hated to leave this beautiful place, but we needed to move on to the final stop on our trip, Florence. We woke up early the day we left and got cappuccinos at the bar across from our room. We said good bye to the Cinque Terre.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211407620/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:27:34 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

May 21

We left Arles, France at about 4:30 pm and traveled to Nice. In Nice we boarded a night train (see last entry for pictures). Our next stop was in Pisa and from there we needed to take one more train to get to the Cinque Terre (next entry). But, made an impromptu decision and thought since we were in Pisa, we might as well see the famous leaning tower. One minor point to make is that we arrived in Pisa at 5:00 am, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, and we has no map and no idea how to get to the Tower. We were able to drop off our bags at the train station and, with a little help, we found the tower. By this time, it was maybe 7:00 am. Notice that there are little or no other people in these photos. We had the tower to ourselves at that hour in the morning. By the time we were ready to leave, the security guards were just getting on site, the employees were starting to open the other buildings and the street vendors were beginning to set up shop for the day. After a nice walk back to the train station, we were on the train again, making our way to the Cinque Terre, our first planned stop in Italy.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211148360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211148360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1211148360/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:13:31 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Arles, Provence, France

May 18, 19, and 20

Arles was our stop in southern France. Arles is in the Provence Region of France and sets along the Rhone River. We decided to visit here because we were interested in the region in general and because Arles is near the Delta of the Rhone River and near a large wetlands area called the Camargue. Vincent Van Gogh also spent some time in Arles and painted some of our favorite works here. As you walk around the town there are markers on the sidewalk that indicate the places and views that inspired Van Gogh's paintings. Our hotel had the same view of the Rhone River that inspired his "La Nuit Etoilee" (starry night on the Rhone).

Arles has some interesting Roman architecture, and we visited four different Roman sights. The most impressive was the Arena. The Romans built it 2,000 years ago, and the people of Arles still use it today, mainly for non-lethal and Spanish bullfights. Unfortunately, no events took place while we were in town. We also visited an outdoor theater, baths, and a cemetery (all Roman ruins, except they still use the theater for concerts).

Aaron had met a researcher that worked in Arles at a scientific conference a few years ago. We decided to look him up in advance of our trip, and he was willing to give us a tour of his research facilities and the area. The Camargue serves as a migration staging area and wintering area for many migratory birds in Europe. Most people are interested in the Flamingos that live there year round. We saw a number of them and visited their nesting colony. We saw some ducks and geese but most had already moved north to their breeding grounds.

Arles was our second "smaller" town of our trip. By this time, we had become comfortable traveling in France and started to enjoy the people as much as the sights. Below is a picture of Aaron with some crazy Frenchmen at a little restaurant/bar. We were the only tourist customers in the place and there were only a handful of locals. Overall, we picked a great place to spend our last days in France.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210975020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210975020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210975020/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:02:46 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Annecy, Rhône-Alpes, France

We arrived in Annecy ready to relax from our whorl-wind tour of Amsterdam and Paris. We immediately got to our hotel, put our shorts on (Jen put her bathing suit on with hopes of swimming) and went to the park for a picnic. We had a nice rose wine and relaxed in the grass. We experienced the loose leash laws in France as a wondering dog came up and tried to steal part of our lunch. Our picnic was cut short by a rain storm, and it continued to rain for the next 2 days while we were there. Annecy is a beautiful town and we had a great view from our hotel. The rain was a bit of a bummer, but we had to do laundry, which was a cultural experience in itself, and you hate to be stuck in a laundry mat on a beautiful day anyway. We walked the rainy streets, visited the local Chateau museum, and got lost among the tiny streets. We found an English pub called "Captain Pub" and had a great comfort food meal with a couple of Murphy's Irish Stout brews. Aaron got a hamburger and Jen got something called "Tartiflette" which was a concoction of potatoes, cheese, and bacon, Yummmy! We didn't feel bad about eating at in English pub here because we read that the food in Annecy was nothing to write home about.

We left Annecy a little soggy from the rain, but well rested and ready for the second half of the trip. We were now leaving the French alps for Arles, in Southern France.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210720080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210720080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210720080/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:56:37 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Paris, Île-de-France, France

When people ask what was our favorite part of the trip, we say Paris and the Cinque Terre. Paris is a fabulous city and we could go back many times and see something new each time. Our hotel was in the 6th "arrondissement" and we couldn't have picked a better location. We didn't waste any time getting to the sights in Paris. As soon as we checked in we headed for the Catacombs. This was pretty creepy place. We were below ground where the early Persians stacked the bones of millions of people. More bones than you could imagine, Jen didn't want to touch anything. Aaron kept taking photos and testing different settings on the camera. Many of them didn't come out because it was too dark.

After that, we headed for the great symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. This was a fun and classical tourist experience. We rode the lift to the second level (we didn't go all the way to the top). Then we walked down the stairs, just to give ourselves a little exercise.

Our friend John Cozzi (the man who made the cup cakes for our wedding reception) was working in Paris that week and we met up with him for dinner every night we were there. He showed us his former apartment in Paris and took us to one of his favorite restaurants where they only had one thing on the menu - steak with a flavorful sauce! Delicious!

The next day we took a walking tour of Paris guided by a podcast Jen downloaded on our iPod. The tour started at the Notre Dame where there are actual gypsies begging for money out front. This is an incredibly moving place and it is hard to put into words what it is like inside. This church took almost 200 years to build and it is amazing that people invested their entire lives in its construction. Jen gave an offering to Joan of Arc.
The bell tower line was long so we decided to come back later. We stopped at Shakespeare and Company for some light reading. This is an English language book store that Hemingway and James Joice frequented during their stay in Paris. Even today writers can rent the apartments above the book store for cheap and borrow books from the shop.

The walking tour took us past the oldest tree in Paris and ended at the end of Ile del la Cite. Now it was time to tackle one of the larges museums in the world, the Louvre.

There was so much art to appreciate here that we almost missed the fact that we were in a palace and needed to look at the building too. We were surprised that they let you take photos of the art in this museum, but they do and we did. Jen has never been impressed with the Whistler's mother painting, but Aaron wanted a picture. We saw the Venus de Milo, which was amazing, both in stature (she is a size 14 you know) and in the crowd she draws. But the crowd was nothing compared to the crowd around another Venus, that is the Mona Lisa. We didn't get a photo of this painting, we just got the post card.

The day wasn't over after the Louvre. So we went back to the Notre Dame to climb the bell tower. We got to the top and had first hand views of the fun gargoyles that guard the tower. Then it started to rain. This was a pretty amazing experience and we got to see the gargoyle rain spouts in action. We also made some friends as we were hiding out in the shelter of the bell tower.

It continued to rain into the night. We met John again and he took us to another fabulous restaurant. Jen was feeling adventurous and tried the Tartar de Boeuf (steak tartar). It was really good and Jen didn't get sick, so we'd call the experiment with raw meat a success.

We got up early the next day, got breakfast at a local market and ate in the garden of a the Cluny museum that was near our hotel. We then made our way to the Arc De Triomphe via the metro. We climbed to the top of this monument too. Then we strolled down the fancy Camps Elysees (the grand boulevard of Paris with lots of designer shops). The boulevard ended at the beginning of the impressively large gardens that lead up to the Louvre.

Our next museum was the Orsay Museum which is housed in a former train station. Aaron found a sculpture he could be a part of.

We again had dinner with John that night and then said good bye to our friend. We had to wake up early in the morning to catch our train to Lyon then on to Annecy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210528560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210528560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210528560/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:43:39 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

May 10, 11, and 12

We spent 2 ½ days in Amsterdam. The first two nights we stayed in a hotel that was packaged with our plane tickets. It was a decent place but not lavish, something like a Hilton hotel. There were lots of tourists in town and we later found out it was a holiday weekend and some people had a 3-4 day weekend they were spending in Amsterdam.


We visited the Rijks museum and the Van Gogh museum. The Rijks houses art of the Dutch masters and obviously the Van Gogh has his paintings along with some others inspired by Van Gogh.



Vondel Park is a large city park near the museums and it is where we had lunch one day. This place was packed when we were there. We hope the pictures give you an idea of how many people there were. Also, the picture of Jen in front of the sign was at Vondel park. Look at that picture, then the one of Aaron in the park. If you look close, you just might see the topless sunbather in the background (she was breaking the rules, but this IS Amsterdam after all).

We changed rooms the last day we were in town. It was a slight pain, but after seeing the character in the room and building, we were very happy to move. Below are some pictures of the building and views from the balcony. This definitely wasn't the type of place I would send just anybody (check out those stairs - that was only about a third of all stairs to get to our room), but it was quite fun.





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210349160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210349160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aaron_and_jen/1/1210349160/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:37:19 -0400 Honeymoon to Europe!

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Haarlem, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

May 9, 2008

We started our adventure by flying out of Bismarck, ND. Our flight schedule included a plane to Minneapolis and then on to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. This was our first long (7 hours from Minneapolis to Amsterdam) ride in an airplane, and we can admit that it wasn't terrible. The plane was an Airbus 330 and it had quite a few amenities that made the trip bearable, including personal video screens with movies and games and free drinks.

We arrived at the airport at 6:30 am local time (the next day, May 10). We forced ourselves to sleep on the plane, but we knew the only way to start the trip off right was to stay up the entire day. We did that by going to a smaller town near Amsterdam first, seeing the sights, and maybe biking around a little.

Our plans changed a little when we couldn't find a place to leave our bags at Haarlem's train station. There was a baggage locker, but the lockers only took some crazy Dutch ATM card that we didn't have. So, we spent the rest of the day with our bags on our backs. We went to the market in town and visited a windmill in town.

After our visit, we got on a bus and headed to Amsterdam...
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