3 Continents, 4 Airlines, 14 Cities, Oh My!

Try saying that quickly 10 times!

At last we got to experience the cruise we had planned on for over a year... and no volcano in Iceland was going to stop us.

Warning: This a long post.

The day had come for Chris and I to travel via our favorite airline (Lufthansa) and head over to Rome for a wonderful 10-day cruise. We had our bags packed, dogs dropped off in a safe place, plants distributed among friends to water and we were set...HALT! Our flight was cancelled due to the volcanic ash that was looming over northern Europe. Chris stepped up to the plate and spent that entire day looking for alternate flights and routes. He had the brilliant idea of taking a route that would take us 36 hours to get to Rome, but alas, we'd be there. We would leave the next day, so we had a few hours to get home and sleep before our long journey ahead of us.

Our first adventure started when we got on the South African Airlines plane and were all sprayed with insecticide while on the plane. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E! The plane was actually really nice (besides the crazy spray) and we arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Wow! The culture shock I've had in Europe is NOTHING compared to what we experienced in our short time in Dakar. The building where you go into when you get off the plane is different than the terminal to connect to your next flight. At 3am, we experienced many beggers, sellers, animals and crazy humidity as we crossed from building to building to get on our next flight. The worst thing was that the lady who spoke English and was leading us to our next terminal (the only other flight leaving at that hour) told us that we wouldn't get on the next flight because it was full. I was in full prayer mode! What I saw was neither welcoming nor seemed safe and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck there for a night. We thankfully had our printed tickets and got onto the next flight on Royal Air Moroc, in which we were sprayed again with insecticide.

We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco and had to almost pursuade the people at the ticket counter to accept our reservations to get to Rome. It's fascinating the way lines and waiting your turn didn't exist in Africa. The mentality was push your way through to get to the front - no shame in that at all. Phew... we got on! We spent a few hours in the airport (which was much much nicer) and off we went to Rome.

AT LAST... WE'RE IN ROME.

We stayed the night in Rome and had our first experience of the trip with amazing real Italian pizza. The hotel was super nice (it was a hostel mind you, but an very nice one) and we were happy to wash off the insecticide off of our bodies that night. The next day, we spent a few hours at the Vatican City - which was amazing.

We then hauled our luggage a few miles away to the train station. It was a long haul, but we were on a mission to get to our boat on time. We arrived in the port town and saw our beautiful boat in the distance. As we reached it, we found out we'd be docked in the port city for a another day to allow for late comers (due to the volcano) to arrive. We got our first experience in cruise dining (4-course meals for every meal) and enjoyed a welcoming show that night. The next two days were relaxing as we got to spend time in the port city and a full day at sea. Eating a ton, relaxing even more and enjoying all the boat had to offer. Our room was super nice and big. I had the impression cruise boats look more like dorm rooms - but ours was great. Our first city was Dubrovnik, Croatia - which was my favorite. It was a super charming, clean, friendly little city.

Our next stop was in Olympia, Greece where we got to experience the home of the Olympic games. Chris got to run the original Olympic stadium. Below is Chris, as his own statue, after running the actual length of the original Olympic stadium.
Next was Chris' favorite stop, Santorini, Greece. Most of the pictures of Greece are from Santorini. We visited two cities here and got to hike about 6 miles along the volcanic rim back to our boat. It was tiring, but very worth it. I earned my large meal that evening!We visited Ephesus, Turkey next where we got to see the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. It was magnificant how the structures perserved their detail. We also were taken to the House of Mary - where Mary supposidly lived in her last days. Also, on our tour was a stop at a rug store. Though this was more of a gimic to buy their Turkish rugs, I really enjoyed learning how the rugs are made and feeling different types of rugs made from different materials. Very fun! Though we didn't enjoy a Turkish bath, we got to bargain quite a bit, which was interesting (until we got kicked out of a store by an older woman who I think didn't quite understand us and thought we were ripping her off. Oops).

After Ephesus was Athens, Greece. Besides Rome, this city had so much history and culture that you could stay here for days to learn about all of it. I'm glad we were out of there before all the riots began though.

Then we had a day at sea and went to the quiet little town of Messina, Sicily. This town's highlight was a clock tower that had all sorts of bells, music, statues moving, walking, waving, animals crowing or growling. Very interesting.... yyyyyyyeah. We did get to eat an incredibly delicious cannoli though.

And finally, we got back to Rome. Though I was ready to be off the ship, I can definitely say it was an unforgetable experience. The great food, service, entertainment and variety of activities made it so fun. Though most of the people on the boat were retired, we had a fun time learning about their grandkids, etc. We were probably one of fifteen other younger couples. We learned that many of them were on their honeymoons or were planning on getting married during their time on the boat.

We took a train back to Rome and were on our way to our next hotel which was close to the Colosseum. Before we left Denver, we sent a message to the hotel letting them know we wanted to stay 2 more nights (to make up for the days we missed at the beginning); however, when we arrived they were already full. We quickly looked for another hotel in Bologna, Italy. That day we walked around the Roman forum and saw where Peter and Paul were imprisoned, and at night we got an impressive view of the Colisseum all lit up. Very romantic.

The next day, we toured the Colosseum and were off to our next hotel. That evening, we literally just had dinner at a cute little restaurant close by and got a good night's rest. Let me tell you that the hotel change was fantastic as the Bologna area was beautiful, lush, luxurious yet friendly. I would recommend staying in that area as the train stop was very close by. On Saturday we toured the Trevi Fountain by day and night, Spanish Steps, Pantheon and walked past really nice piazzas, fountains and statues. We even were in the midst of a big labor day "festival" with a ton of young people. We even saw people that were with the Communist party (flags, shirts, posters, etc) - really odd. Though Chris wanted to stay and be part of it, I kind of got freaked out and opted to continue on peacefully as any gathering like that could get violent. That night (after getting kicked out of a restaurant for asking to see the wine list before seating) we ate our last Italian meal at a local hotspot (which we surprisingly got a table) that had great pasta and also stopped at a delicious gelato place. Wow! So fresh and simple. Loved it.

My overall impression of Rome was nothing but positive. Well, except for a lot of rude service, but the sights and overall culture made us happy.

Though Chris and I ate a ton, we walked so much so that we even managed to lose a few pounds. Yay!

This was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so glad we got to take the trip. It was a much needed time away...

I'll be back...

I cannot believe I have left my blog to gather this much dust... crazy stuff. Okay, so to make me feel better, here are the top ten reasons (ahem, excuses) why I haven't updated the blog...

10. I ended up with two broken pinky toes in the late Winter and I was trying not to walk around too much - which included walking down to my basement to reach my computer.

9. It was too cold in the basement.

8. I had been travelling a lot for work, so I wanted to spend all my free time with Chris and my two dogs.

7. I couldn't find a suitable place to send my rolls of film to that would do a decent job and I like posts with pictures.

6. I was too busy cuddling with my dogs - they're very needy.

5. I've been having too much fun reading other people's blogs.

4. We went skiing a few times (yes, my toes were broken at the time).

3. I painted our living room and that took about a day and a half.

2. We have been remodeling our kitchen (painting cabinets and walls, new light fixtures under the cabinets and in the ceiling, new appliances, backsplash, etc.) all on our own and a lot of our time was spent doing just that. It's not completely done, but I hope that someday it will be. ;-)

1. We were researching a lot for our upcoming vacation that starts this Friday - Whoo Hoo - and didn't have time to post any updates.

I'll be back though...oh, I'll be back.

A Lesson in Communication

Happy 2010! I can't believe it's here... or it's been here for a few weeks now. It's been an adventurous year thus far, I must say. The first new adventure was that I broke my pinkie toe a few days after Christmas (though it was in '09, I'm still experiencing the consequences of my clumsiness in 2010). It was not a fun experience. I've been asked many times how it happened, as if I had this interesting or funny story... I literally just ran into Chris's foot (shoe on) while trying to heat my breakfast in Corpus. Sigh, I'm clumsy. I almost wish I had a more exciting story to share. Well, the "exciting" part was that I fainted. Yup, I have a very low threshold for pain. I felt so badly because I totally freaked my parents out who already had a tough year worrying about my brother's health. Then... little miss Mariana had to top it off by fainting in front of them in their kitchen. Sigh. Anyway, I'm still hobbling around and have been given the nickname Gimpy at work. I went from Madam M to Gimpy. Classy.

Well, the real reason I was writing was because Chris and I had a lesson in communication yesterday. Our second great adventure of the year went a little like this...
We were looking snazzy and were headed to Boulder, Colorado for Chris's company party (dinner theatre...oooooo). We were on a busy road and my car shook (not normal for my car or probably any car). Chris pulled over on the shoulder as we couldn't accelerate and things were acting up. Chris looked under the hood, I tried restarting it and the car just wasn't budging. We called a friend to pick us up and we got back to the car with our SUV... as we were headed for an adventure. Chris tied tow rope to both of our cars and told me to steer my broken car as he would pull me home. YIKES! My heart was pounding as I was super close to Chris's car and I could almost see my car running into his much newer car and things getting ugly. Well, we connected on our cell phones (on speaker, of course) and off we went. Chris would tell me in advance when he was going to break and start up again. There were several times when my head bounced back to the head rest because the tow rope wasn't tight and it caused my car to be pulled very suddenly. But we were home about 25 minutes later and it never felt so good to be home! That's when we got comfortable and didn't turn on our phones again to move my car up a little bit. I realized how important it was for us to be connected and communicating after Chris moved up and I was still on "park." Not a good thing - though nothing happened to his or my car. I guess the lesson was always keep communication open with your spouse, even when things seem to be going smoothly. Always talk about what is going on... and NO don't do it while you are driving (though in our case, it was essential).

So, now I have to take the light rail and hobble a few blocks to work. It's actually interesting that this all happened like it did. I broke my toe and now I have to walk to work... quite interesting. I wonder what I'm supposed to learn from the whole situation. God is up to something.

The Great Christmas Tree

Last year, Chris and I thought it would be a great idea to drive 60 miles to cut down our own Christmas tree. See - we had never done anything like this and thought it would be a unique Colorado adventure. It was so fun to look through a huge variety of live trees, literally cut it down with a saw and drag it back to the car. Yeah, the one who doesn't have to carry the tree can say that it was "fun"! Ha!

Looking for the perfect tree wasn't as easy as we thought it would be though. We had an idea of the size we wanted, so the first trees wouldn't do it - they were too big. We saw so many huge ones, lop-sided ones, short stubby ones, ones with bald spots, sticky ones with too much sap, ones with needles that were too pointy... after a while of searching we found a spot with several good ones. I stayed behind to "claim" the area as Chris explored to see if he could find us a better tree! This one would do the job (see below)! Chris had quite the workout to cut the tree down, but once we got it we were ready to welcome it to our home. The pictures below pretty much summarizes our adventure.

This year, we decided not to get one since we'd only be able to enjoy it for a couple of weeks. I think as silly as this may sound, we may have to get our tree up before Thanksgiving (yes, I heard the shreeks and gasps!) next year so we can at least enjoy it a little longer. I miss having a tree... until then, my other tiny decorations around the house will have to do... :-)

By the way, Hook'em Horns!

Pumpkins Galore!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Oh, wait... it's almost Thanksgiving. Ooops. By the way, could you believe it's going to be Thanksgiving in a little over a week? I can't.

Well, going back a few weeks on 10/30, we had our first pumpkin carving get together with a few of our friends. It was great because last year was my first time carving a pumpkin ever and a majority of our friends this year hadn't carved a pumpkin. So, we got to introduce them to a fun activity. Plus, we got to eat all of the pumpkin seeds from all 6 pumpkins. Chris seasons and roasts them just right. Below is what came out of that night - 6 great lookin' pumpkins! Chris' was the scary tree and mine was the cute monster - both are in the middle area.

On Halloween night, we saw all these flashing lights and people lingering out in our front yard. Lo and behold, the neighbors were taking pictures of their kids in front of our snow pumpkin. Taking advantage of the unusually large October snow storm, Chris quickly and artistically (as always) rolled up a huge ball and formed it into a pumpkin. He even bought a red light to shine on it that night. He received so many compliments on it. We had a lot of fun passing out candy to the little kidos - and the big kido (aka Chris) got to have lots of leftover Reese's peanut butter cups to enjoy at work afterwards. He's so funny because he was intentionally not giving the Reese's out to the kids with the hopes of keeping them for himself. It's not like we can't buy our own candy later - Ha!

Snowflakes

Ah - Winter is peaking his head a little too early! It's been lightly snowing on and off since September, but we received a nasty storm today. The crazy thing is that I don't even think it's THAT cold outside. It's uncomfortable and you have to walk much much slower, but it's definitely not bone chilling. Is this a sign that I'm getting used to the cold weather in CO after almost 3 years of living here, or is it that my ski jacket works really well? Ha!

All the more reason to sip on a nice cup of hot chocolate, put on a snuggly sweater (notice, I didn't say a Snuggie), and write a blog entry.

Our front yard:

Our winter wonderland (aka backyard):
Our sidewalk - look at the depth of the snow!

Summertime has come and gone...

It's raining...it's snowing...

Ah, yes. It's that time of the year again. In reality, it started snowing in Denver in September. We barely had any sort of transition this year. Actually, the Summer felt more like Fall, but I'm not complaining. Last year, Chris and I had a full week of no sleep because it was so hot inside our air conditioner voided home. This year, we barely had to use Chris' homemade swamp cooler.

Perhaps now that the cold weather is approaching, I'll start to blog more. Maybe.

Well, what in the world did we do this Summer? It was a bit different than other Summers as we did a lot of house work trying to get ready for family to visit us in late August. Either way, here are the top 10 things I'd like to remember about this Summer.

10. We completely had a landscaping overhaul in our front yard. It looks beautiful - we'll have pictures next Spring when the tulips, iris's and lily's are in full bloom.

9. Whitewater rafting - our yearly tradition.

8. Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. Pictured are two beautiful male elk.

7. Chris climbed a 14er with Chancho (see previous blog to read all about it).

6. Chris built the lower half of our desk completely from scratch. It looks beautiful. Chris insists we don't post it until the upper half is designed and built. Sorry!

5. Family Reunion in Manzanillo and Guadalajara, Mexico (this is a picture of mom's side of the family).

4. We had family visit in August/September - we love visitors. They got to try out our new guest room accommodations.

3. We receieved wonderful news that my brother and sister-in-law are pregnant. Soooo exciting! We can't wait to meet our neice or nephew.

2. We added a new member to our immediate family... Lola the spunky puppy.

1. Chris and I celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary in the San Francisco area - Napa, Muir Forest, Big Sur and San Fran. Future blog to come once we've developed all the pictures.

Garden Update: It will no longer grow anything after today, but we did get a nice mix of fruit this year. We had just enough concord grapes to make a full jar of jelly, a few zucchinis to make wonderful zucchini bread and stir fry, a good amount of tomatoes, few apples (enough to make a little apple butter). We didn't get any bell peppers this year... a bit of a bummer, but we kept the plant in a pot inside and will replant it next year. This is a picture of our beautiful tomatoes.

We're ready for our Fall adventures... pumpkin patches, corn mazes, more college football, Thanksgiving...