And the rest of the trip....

Sorry for the long delay between posts! I have approximately 12 minutes on this computer to make a post, so we can see how I do... The last time we wrote we were in Athens. After that we commenced on a 10 day sailing trip through the Greece islands....well, at least that was what it was supposed to be. To make a long story short, the trip did not go as planned, including a sailing trip which only stopped on 2 islands, and a very rude captain which led us to abandon ship on Day 8 of our trip. Yep, we had a bit of a disagreement at dinner, and Danielle and I went down, packed our bags, got off the boat, and caught a bus to Athens (yes, a bus, because we were on the mainland of course...). Many stories to follow when I have more than 12 minutes (now 10) to tell you all of them. After this, we went to Santorini for 3 days. Santorini is out of this world beautiful. We had a beautiful place to stay right on the rim of the caldera where we enjoyed cooking and eating our dinner and drinking wine on our balcony while watching the sunsets. It was just what the doctor ordered following our chaotic sailing adventure. Danielle was involved in a donkey stampede while in Santorini, but came away with only minor cuts and bruises, and perhaps some shit-stained clothing... :) You will have to ask her about the stampede...it is another great story. After Santorini, we caught a flight to crazy Istanbul. What a mix of cultures!! As a Westerner, we were definitely the outsiders, even as tourists since most of their tourists came from Eastern countries. The mosques were absolutely breathtaking. I wish I had time to upload some pictures of them... We also found out in Istanbul that Danielle and I DEFINITELY look like a couple that is in the market for a carpet. For any of you that were expecting a carpet for a souvenier from us, they were just too heavy for us to consider! Our travels then took us to Salzburg, where we did a Sound of Music tour (since it was filmed here), and explored a beautiful city. The only damper on Salzburg was that it rained while we were there - the whole time. We then went to Innsbruck and I fell in love with it. It is a beautiful mountain town with skiing and biking right out your doorstep. It reminded me alot of Boulder but with the old-Europe charm that we do not have in the states. It was a great feel. And, even better to meet up with my cousin, Rachel, who is doing a study abroad there for 6 weeks. So nice to see her! We then left for Munich which is where we are now. Today we visited the Neuschweinstein Castle which was simply amazing. We also are staying in the same hostel in which we met, which is pretty cool. Munich is very cold right now. It is rainy and gets down to about 45 degrees at night and 55 degrees in the day. Feels like November! Ok, 2 minutes left on the computer so I have to shut this down. Will post more once we are back stateside!

Hvar, Dubrovnik, and riots in Athens

After Split, we hopped on a ferry to Hvar, Croatia. We stayed for 3 days in Hvar and just loved it. We stayed in Hvar Town - it's a very cute village right on the sea with some nice beaches and a big fort overlooking the city. It just has a great relaxed feeling to it and is wonderful to walk around. I guess it is becoming known for attracting the "big-money" crowd (I wonder if they found our awesome hostel we stayed in...), but we can both see why. It was hard for us to peel off of the beach and leave. After Hvar, we went to Dubrovnik, which is on the southern tip of Croatia, and is known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic". Dubrovnik, by itself, is a fantastic village. It's origins are over 900 years old. It's located on a kind of peninsula and is completely walled off with these massive city walls (think 60-70 feet high and 6-12 feet thick). Very impressive, and you can see how the city would be impervious to attack. It's a joy to walk the walls and take in the city. Dubrovnik actually suffered quite a bit of damage in the recent breakup of Yugoslavia back in the 90's. The Serbs and Montenegrans launched an attack on the city doing substantial damage and killing dozens of civilians. However, they have recuperated very well from and the town is completely rebuilt from the attack. The downside to Dubrovnik is that it is extremely touristy. You can't walk past a restaurant without someone trying to shove you into a chair, put food in front of you, and charging you for it. For this reason, we were ready to leave when it was time. One cool thing about Dubrovnik is that we stayed in a traditional Croatian house in the old town. The lady that owned the house was SO nice, and she said her family has lived in Dubrovnik for over 5 centuries!! Can you trace your family tree back that far? I found that very impressive. After Dubrovnik we caught a flight to Athens, and arrived yesterday. We spent today doing laundry and then going to the Acropolis and seeing some very old ruins. Tomorrow we are leaving for our sailing trip. 10 days through the northern Cyclades and Peloponesse islands. We are going to be on a 55 ft. yacht with the captain and four other people that we don't know. Hopefully they are cool... :) Oh yes, one funny story about the riots in Athens. We had directions from the airport to the place we are staying, which we followed when we got into town. We had to get off on a metro stop, which happened to be the place where all the riots and protests were going on! We had read several weeks ago that there was some unrest in Greece but hadn't paid attention to the news lately. So we were pretty stunned to come out on the square and see thousands of people there with signs and chanting, and lots of tents. It was pretty docile when we were there, but we did see a kiosk that had been burned. We quickly departed the square without incident and upon advice of our host haven't returned.