Photo Time

Sifting through all of the photos! This is going to take a while... so thankful for this amazing trip and amazing friends to have shared it with. We tried hard to write down as much as we could as we went, and to take as many pictures as possible, but it's so hard to capture everything we did. So many things packed into our 3 week trip. I'll keep posting for a while on here just so we can remember different parts of our trip, and to add some extra tips that we learned while we traveled. :) 

Us at the Old Man of Storr, on Isle of Skye

We made it home!

Spotty internet made it so that I couldn't post until now - but we're finally home!

We had a rainy drive from our B&B in Portree through Oban, along Loch Ness and into Inverness. Beautiful though - it was nice to see the different countryside once on the mainland vs. what we had been seeing on the islands. There were actually some fall colors in the trees on the mainland!! :) We all felt like we kind of had been missing out on fall, as most of Europe was "behind" in terms of the trees changing colors. Plus, we felt we had missed out on true "Scottish" weather, as it was gloriously sunny the whole time we were there.

We had our last EasyJet flight from Inverness to London, and were happy to leave those small, slow, budget flights behind us. London's airport experience was excellent - we flew into Gatwick, and then had to transfer to Heathrow for our flight into Reykjavik. We grabbed a taxi, and we FLEW down the highway. Glad we paid a little extra for this convenience, instead of trying to figure out the buses, or otherwise. At this point in our trip, we were done trying to figure out and coordinate more public transport options. Our taxi driver even solved the mystery of what the little mini "coffee cup" symbol was on our rental car dash - apparently, it's a function that will flash a signal at you if you start to get tired and drift on the road. :)

We had several hours to kill in London, but not enough to get into the main city, so we became familiar with the airport... otherwise known as we got very familiar with the Tin Goose Bar for a few hours.

We finally made it to Reykjavik, but landed at 11:30pm at night. Thanks to the tips from the awesome lady at the Icelandair check-in desk in Heathrow, we found out we couldn't sleep in the airport as planned, and ended up booking a last-minute hostel during one of our free 45-minute windows of wifi before our flight. We also found out how to book a bus ticket from the airport to the main town of Reykjavik (1 hr bus ride) ahead of time... so we finally ended up in Reykjavik at 12:30am. Then we asked this burly Icelandic guy in the bus station how to get to our hostel... and wandered the streets for a while wondering if he gave us bad directions. We ended up at our hostel, to find the door locked, and after ringing the bell a few times, the sleepy guy on duty showed up. A few more hilarious incidents later, we were able to crash for a few hours. Woke up the next morning, and took a speedy tour on crappy bikes through the town of Reykjavik (mine had minimal brakes and couldn't shift above 3rd gear). Rode along the waterfront, rode to the local municipal pool, that had a variety of different pools, hot tubs, all geothermally heated, and a crazy fun waterslide that a nice couple at our B&B on Skye told us about. Much cheaper than the Blue Lagoon, and way easier to get to - plus a little more fun! Amy and I had an adventure in the locker room getting told by a no-nonsense Icelandic woman to "get naked" as it's a rule all across Iceland to strip and wash completely before entering any of their pools - since they are all natural (chlorine-free) you have to get completely clean before you use them. Makes sense, but was quite the experience!! After our super fast and EXPENSIVE experience in Iceland, we made it back to the airport, and got on our long flight back home.

Pizza was ordered, and good local beer was had (there was a sad lack of good beer everywhere except for Germany) ... and we all fell asleep by 8:00pm watching Skyfall. Sad for our trip to end, and for our dear friends to go home, but we will have memories for a lifetime! 

From Islay to Skye

Haven't written in a bit because we have been adventuring as usual! we took the 4 hour ferry from Isle of Islay to Oban, on the mainland of Scotland. It was a beautiful ride, super windy and felt like classic Scotland. Everyone has been telling us the nice weather we have had is rather unusual so it was nice to feel the "real" weather a little bit. We stopped in at Oban Distillery, of course, and then headed up the coast to Skye. We got in late-ish to our B&B and Peter greeted us saying "I thought I was expecting French people!" Because of our last name. :)
We are in the cutest little B&B on the harbor at Portree. Excellent full Scottish breakfasts every morning. Our hosts have been super helpful in suggestions for our day trips.
Yesterday we made it to Talisker Distillery, #10! We took in the gorgeous scenery, got a little lost in the hills, literally, and enjoyed walking through the town. We also did a short hike to the Fairy Pools (aka waterfalls) which were beautiful. The clearest water I have ever seen, in a series of waterfalls through a small valley, with sheep grazing at the foot of the mountain. :)
Today we went and hiked up to the Old Man of Storr, among the sheep! Some of those sheep were braver than me with how high they were climbing. Gorgeous hike, cant wait to share pictures! Got lost again trying to find another hike, found Kilt Rock, another waterfall this time shooting over a cliff into the sea. Had a picnic by another harbor town, found a brewery (more on their lackluster beer later) and then came back early to pack :(
Was up to the guys to figure out how to get all their Scotch in our bags for the trip home...
Tomorrow we drive to the Inverness airport, fly to London, then to Iceland for 17 hrs. Then from Iceland home. Probably wont have WiFi in between, but who knows. We get home Sunday eve!

To Paris and beyond...

Whew.
Spent a lovely morning at Mont St Michel, the abbey on top of a granite island. It also was used as a prison and a fortress back in the day, but now is an abbey and a small community of monks and nuns live there, sharing their space for contemplation, work and worship with thousands of tourists a day. Jeff and I took a tour- it was beautiful!
Then we had a quick picnic on the ramparts above the water, and caught a bus to catch our trains to Paris. Took all day, but we got into Paris at night and got to see the Eiffel tower sparkling and lit up! It started sparkling just as we walked up! Our hotel was 2 blocks from the park. We found a cute cafe and enjoyed some Parisian classics, and wine from the Bordeaux region we had just come from.
The next day we walked through most pf the main part of the city. Arc de Triumph, the Louvre from a distance, alone the Seine river, and saw lots of other landmarks I don't know how to spell and don't have time to look up right now.
Then we caught our flight in the nick of time into Edinburgh, got a nice car upgrade and got acquainted with driving on the other side of the car and the road, and arrived at our hostel. Getting ready for a tour this morning of the Royal Mile. :)
Thanks again to Starbucks for free WiFi.

Mont St Michel

Today was a crazy day of travel on.the France train system. Finally here on.North coast.of.France, Mont St Michel. We woke up super early and James' uncle took us to the train station and helped us make reservations...except they booked us on later trains, and because the reservation counter didn't.open till.7 and.our train didn't leave till 706, we missed our first.train. long day, and we were supposed to.be picked up by the hostel guy at one train station and we ended up.changing our route and.arrival.time, but we ran into a nice Columbian couple who let us use their phone.to call the place, and they came and picked us up at a later time. Phew. The couple that runs this place is from Britain and they have an amazing 230 year old house they have turned into a B&B. They were so welcoming today, and we met a few other people staying here at the local English pub. This area has been heavily influenced by the British, and there are a lot of people from the UK here. Amazing night at the cute local pub meeting people here from France, and Germans hiking the coastal trail, a Brazilian staying at our B&B.
Pics later... Will have a few busy days with travels in between cities, so not sure.how much we will post but we had a great time with James' family and are enjoying our continued adventures! :)

End of Switzerland and France

This picture is Jeff enjoying the Swiss newspaper. We left Switzerland on Tuesday early a.m., so we joined the commuters on the trains. Interesting to see the contrast from central/eastern-German Switzerland to western-French Switzerland. As soon as we got to Bern and Geneva, everything was in French.
We had such an amazing time in Switzerland, we were having a hard time leaving. We talked about coming back with our kids someday. this trip has opened our eyes to so many different things, especially cultural differences and things we need to appreciate more that we take for granted or are unaware of in the US. More on that later. But after our amazing time there, we were not expecting anything to be as wonderful.
We just had our last night with James' aunt and uncle and kids. We have had such a great time being.with their family, sharing amazing French meals, conversation, seeing the French countryside and soaking up more history than I thought possible. More observations to come maybe tomorrow, since we will be on the train allllll.day on the way up north to Mont St Michel. We have been in Perigeux, which is 2 hrs outside of Bordeaux, so have to travel all the way to the North of France. Whew. But can't wait for the adventures ahead! Can't believe this is all still happening! Life changing experiences every day.
More to come. :)

Crazy travel ... But finally in Switzerland!

Boarded our train out of Munich at 2245. The train was full of people who fully enjoyed Oktoberfest... So glad we had first class tickets with our rail pass so we didn't have to deal with too many of them. Some make it up into 1st class anyway, and the conductor doesn't want to get in fights so they don't enforce the rules that late. Apparently Switzerland doesnt like trains running too often. at night so we didn't have too many options. Jeff snoozed while.I stayed awake to keep an eye on our stuff and listen for our stop. Got to charge our devices though! Sooo tired.
Got to Salzburg to catch a train that would take us to Zurich, obvious we are now in another country. Different dialects, cannabis green tea in a can, different Oktoberfest outfits... :)
Waited for an hour in the freezing cold, and then we were lucky to get beds on the night train into Zurich (although catching this at 2am!) Our bunk mate wasn't super excited to have us join her that late. Slept in our clothes, and arrived via 3 transfers in Interlaken, Switzerland by 930 this a.m. phew.
Our rail passes get us 25% off the Swiss rail system, so had to pay to get our train to Lauterbrunnen. I felt my stress melting away as we drove away from the cities and saw more trees, cows, fields and lakes. Once here, seeing the giant cliffs, huge mountains peeking above the clouds, even in the rain, was SO glad to get here. Showed up at 10 and couldnt check.in to hotel till 2 so stowed bags in lockers, and walked through the town. Started drying and clearing some. We were super sweaty and gross after our bike ride yesterday and being up all might. So we figured why not, let's walk the valley. So walked to the other end of the valley 1 1/2 hrs, through beautiful countryside, next to cows with their tinkling bells, gorgeous river, countless waterfalls, basejumpers, flowers, adorable homes and barns. Magical. Can't think of any other way to describe it. Took bus back, and wandered around some more, getting some snacks from store, and then were able to check into hotel. finally got cleaned up, rested, enjoyed some local cheese (made when cows go up higher into alps in the spring) and wine, then took a nap before a light dinner in the hotel restaurant. Looks like they offer quite a bit of local vegetables and local game, but we could only do soup tonight... Maybe tomorrow! Again...in bed by 845...we feel old!

Munich Day 3

Woke up lateish but grabbed a train to go see the Neuschwanstein castle in Fussen. Got there and were all tired and a little cranky, but the bike shop was kind enouh to open just for us, so we rented bikes to ride up to the castle instead of being stuck standing on the bus like we had been standing on the train for the last 2 hours. Best decision ever. cleared up our bad moods! So beautiful riding on "romantic road" through the trees, seeing fall colors, over an almost turquoise blue river, seeing wedding photos being taken, catching glimpses of the castle through the trees, and hearing the tinkle of cow bells across the fields. Gorgeous.
Long ride or walk up to castle in muggy weather, all wearing jeans, finally arrived. was cool to see the castle, and James, Jeff and Michelle walked across Mary's Bridge to see caslte from.different vantage point. Climbed up high onto trail to see away from other people. Gorgeous. Grabbed some beer from the market to enjoy on train on way home, after a fun but tiring and stressful day.
On the way back, train stopped in between stops, and an announcement was made in German, and we noticed people start to get upset and frustrated. A medical incident happened ahead on the tracks so all trains were stopped until further notice. (we had worked hard to time our day to get back for our train leaving for Zurich at 630...) We all had to get off the train, and they said there would be busses. We ran to the taxi stop and asked someone if they could help.us. we were in the middle of nowhere so there was only 1 taxi, and some jerk.wanted to get to Oktoberfest so he left in it. We saw the train start moving, and RAN. Got on, for a short bit, then were told to get off again because they were sending busses. Nope. Then stood and waited. Then "herd mentality" kicked in and people tried getting on random buses. we tried to get a cab, but people kept stealing them from other people who called them. Finally, trains started moving again and we RAN again to catch one going to Munich. Whew. Definitely missed our train, but we remembered about our travel insurance that will cover cost of our hotel. Went to travel center and talked with a really nice guy who helped us find the most tolerable train out of Munich late at night that woukd allow us to get on a night train and try to get beds for a few hours...but have to.go through Salzburg on our way to Switzerland. Got to have dinner with J&A and one last German Bier before leaving Germany!
Internet has been hard to come by so hard to post pics. Writing on phone, but pics are on camera. No free WiFi other than Starbucks.

Munich

Was eerie sleeping on.the train. Kept waking up and sounded like a scary movie. But we survived!
Get to Munich tired and sweaty and sore.
After stowing bags in lockers, Caught train to Dachau concentration camp, an emotional experience. So glad we did this, but was hard to see.
After we took the train back, found our cute hotel! Pleasantly surprised with how close to.the main city center, and how cute it was!
The Guys got to enjoy beers downstairs with Gunter, hotel owner and manager, hear about his Ferrari.
Walked around, since so close to everything. saw st Michael's cathedral, other churches, the famous Glockenspiel, got to watch it chime!
Decided to brave the touristy Hofbrauhaus for dinner ... Great decision. Met a nice guy from Israel, and some other people from Germany, heard some tips about Oktoberfest for tomorrow...
Walked home. Bed by 830! Wiped out!

Berlin day 2

Sleep number 7000, extra starch. That was James' description of our firm hostel beds and sheets.
There was a cute antique store next to pur hostel, full of old dishes and linens.
We walked through a beautiful park to get to a former Nazi-era building, tallest still standing in Berlin (much of the area has been rebuilt after bombing and ww2), now it is a US Air Force Base.
Walked thru fun districts, similar to San Francisco and Queen Anne,.old buildings, cute shopping.
We were walking along trying to find a book store for James, when we were told to stop, and.cross.the street. A movie was being filmed, so we stopped to watch... And all of a sudden we saw Vince Vaughn! After we watched a short scene, James yelled "yeah, Vince." Everyone but Vince looked over at us. Ha! We stole some sneaky photos on James' camera that we were told not to take!
On our bike tour, our guide had told.us to check out the Turkish market, which we did today. It was such a fun experience. So much culture, amazing displays of food, wares, and apparently no photos allpwed, oops! A nice man told me kindly that I was supposed to ask each merchant if I could take a photo. Now I know why some of.them looked at me funny... But it was beautiful.
In two days in Berlin, we walked over 25 miles, plus our 8 mile bike ride. we are all exhausted.
We went back to the Memorial to murdered Jews of europe museum, very touching and moving experience.
Walked through Brandenburg gate again, this time there was construction. So much changes in one day in this city!
Walked by the American embassy, and Jeff and James asked if they could go in, out of curiosity. An appointment is required.
We found a Biergarten afterwards to process the memorial/museum, and enjoyed schnitzel, currywurst, apple strudel, Bier, practicing our German, and discussing politics and culture! Wow.
Walked thru Grocery store to get snacks and bier for the night train. Always fun to find new things to try!
Oh, and we always needed to make sure we had .50 or 1 Euro on hand to use the bathroom. Mainly in train station, but on most public places too, unless you were eating somewhere.
Our first Night train. Sat for a while talking, waited for tickets to.get checked.and.drank beer and ate cheese, crakcers salami. A little crowded, woke up stinky and sweaty after walking all day and sleeping in a hot train. Now we are in Munich!
Photos: Turkish market

Day 1: Berlin

We woke up early this morning from jet lag, but all got great rest and were excited to start our first full day in Berlin!

Ate a quick breakfast at the hostel, then walked into the center of town via a pretty park, through some really interesting parts of town. Berlin has a large Turkish population, so there are plenty of Turkish markets, Turkish "pizzeria"and "kebap" places (thus, the choice in food from last night- a surprise, but soooo good). Realized we chose a hostel kind of far from where we spent most of our time today, but we have enjoyed seeing the diversity in the city and getting lots of walking in!

Took a bike tour from Fat Tire Bike Tours today - AWESOME! Hit the majority of the major points in the city, and we had a great tour guide who is originally from California (Most of their guides are native English-speakers). Learned a lot about pre-WWII Berlin, post WWII Berlin and Hitler's rise to power. Here are some highlight photos from our day! Ended with a great meal with traditional German food and bier, and enjoyed some bier from a freshly tapped barrel, signaled by a ringing of a bell!

On the bike tour, in front of The Reichstag

James giving a nice old man a high five

Enjoying the after-dinner walk with a pause in front of the Concert Hall

The Longest Day

We ate a yummy breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe in Seattle this (yesterday) morning before we left. we ran into friends and as we chatted before being seated, we were asked what we were up to for the rest of the day. "oh, just flying to Europe!" Ha!
We arrived early for our flight at Sea Tac, grabbed some lunch, then had a very nice flight with Iceland Air. Roomier than other flights we have experienced and they handed us water bottles as we boarded. Lots of in flight entertainment to choose from, movies, music, tv shows, etc. Along with the image of the airplane route. We all tried to sleep, since we have now arrived in Iceland in the a.m.
Poor Amy caught a cold right before we left so she is in pain with the flights. Loaded up with Benadryl though!
Now we are sitting waiting to take off for Frankfurt . They overbooked the flight and had to take some people off and then unload their checked luggage and reload all the luggage. It is SO hot right now.
Writing later...we were not as pleased with this leg of the trip as it was hot and crowded! Finally got to Frankfurt! Yay! Hurried over to the train station and tried to figure out how to board the train to Berlin that was leaving in 11 minutes! The information desk was super helpful, and we even had time to grab pretzel sandwiches! We hurried onto the train and had no idea if seats were reserved or not, so just grabbed a few and ended up just fine! We all got good naps in, as well as enjoyed the beautiful countryside.
Arrived in Berlin, had our first majorly confusing experience trying to find our bus to get to the hostel, then wandering around to find our hostel. Made it, and got the suggestion to enjoy "kebap" for dinner. Yum! Found a local pub to enjoy a beer, and now we are all crashig after being up FOREVER! More pics later!

Funny money and things

Tonight Jeff went to exchange currency, and came back with funny money!! Ha! It's so bright and colorful! US money looks so boring compared to the Euro and Swiss Franc. I can't remember if taking pictures of money is illegal or not, so I'm not going to post it here. ;-)

We are down to the last minute details - downloading Rick Steves' audio tours, music, books, movies (for those long flights) ... it sure is funny traveling with so much technology these days. Deciding which devices we're bringing is quite the adventure. I'm so grateful for all the book suggestions I got from Facebook land! And excited - I want to start reading the ones I downloaded now! But I read so fast, Jeff is making me wait.

Weighed our packs last night and packed them with every single item we plan on taking - they both weighed in slightly under the "max", and then Jeff researched the details on the baggage policy for EasyJet, the small airline we are taking 3 times in between countries. He found out there is NO weight limit for cabin luggage, aka "carry on"! For our long trips there and back on Icelandair, we get to take 2 bags as carry ons, so we can separate our stuff into our backpacks and "personal bags" (purse for M and tiny stowable backpack for J) that we plan on using for day trips, so the weight thing isn't an issue. A big HOORAY!!!!

Now the only thing that's left to do is...

WAIT! 4 days!!!

Let the packing begin!

After hours of research, playing with packs at REI, annoying the employees at REI with our questions, and constantly changing our minds, we finally bought our packs tonight!

We both had other packs we could have used. But none were small enough, yet big enough for all our gear, to allow us to carry on the small inter-country airlines which have much stricter carry on size limits.

We wanted packs that would be comfortable for carrying all our gear around town for the days we will be gone, but practical for getting into our stuff once we reach our destinations.

Jeff decided to get the Deuter 32 Act Trail, because he liked the pockets, front panel access and stuff pouch. I got the Gregory Sage 38 after much deliberation, because of the pockets, front panel access and suspension that doesn't take away from pack space, as well as the separate bottom sleeping bag compartment I plan to use for ny dirty shoes. These packs should serve us well on this trip, but we also bought them plannig to add them to our backpacking gear, for more ultralight and shorter overnight trips.

Now the trial and error of real packing begins. Stay tuned!

We have places to sleep!

We have officially booked each night of our trip! Or, in one case, decided not to book something. Yes, we plan to stay up all night, and/or sleep in the airport during our final layover in Reykjavik, Iceland. Wow. This is happening!

Jeff and I have started a list of things we want to do in each city/area ... any suggestions?
We'll be in:
Berlin, Munich, Fussen, Germany
Lauterbrunnen & Gimmewald, Murren, Switzerland
Bordeaux region, Paris, France
Edinburgh, Western Coast, Isle of Islay and Isle of Skye, Scotland

Now, on to the packing... since we're traveling budget airlines, we have to pack lightly!

Sneak Peek

Here's a quick peek at our itinerary...

Flying from Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland - from Reykjavik to Frankfurt, Germany. From Frankfurt, we take a train to Berlin, Germany.
From Berlin, train to Munich - OKTOBERFEST!
From Munich, we split up - J&A will head to family in SW France, and we will head to Switzerland.
We will meet up in Bordeaux, France - then head up to Paris and the Normandy Coast.
Then we fly from Paris to Edinburgh, travel to the west coast of Scotland, and spend time on the islands.
Fly out of Inverness to London, then London to Reykjavik again - this time, with a layover, and then we'll be headed home.

Whew. I'm tired already! 3 weeks will go by fast!

12 weeks away!

We are finalizing all of our lodging for our whirlwind trip to Europe... and as we nail down multiple details, we figured a central place to jot down the memories and things we do on this trip would be fun to share with you all.

We leave September 28th - that is less than 12 weeks away. Just 3 "month" clicks ahead on the calendar! It's been a long time coming, but now it seems there is so much to do before we leave.

We are traveling with our best buddies James & Amy, and look forward to this crazy adventure!

We will be starting our trip in Germany, heading into Switzerland, then to France, Scotland, and ending in Iceland. We'll literally be traveling by trains, planes and automobiles, staying in hostels, hotels, B&B's, a castle, and a night train!

Stay tuned as we figure out exactly where we'll be, what we're bringing, how we're packing, and how we're not-so-patiently waiting to board the plane!