Voyage Junkie

Several years ago we had the opportunity to take some good friends of ours, Bo and Liz, to Japan. I'm going to focus on the new things we did and then link to previous blog posts for reference to the things we repeated from our time living in Japan. The trip started out awesome and then kind of fell into a bad place for me and Matt, unfortunately. I chalk it up to our inability to tell Bo and Liz when we wanted to do something different from what they wanted to do, and Matt's desire to be a good guide in the country as he was the only fluent Japanese speaker. He felt a lot of responsibility and then got really tired and very stressed out, which in turn made me very stressed out. I say this not as a rebuke of our friends, who had no way to know how we were feeling since we didn't communicate, but as a gentle suggestion to anyone who travels with friends. Say how you feel and don't be passive aggressive about it. Own up to your limitations and ask for what you need. Your ...

The final day trip we took was to Nuremberg. It was a pretty quick trip from Munich, and it was good we'd saved it for last, as we had tired ourselves out with the long trips to Berlin and Heidelberg. Nuremberg is a smaller, solid city. It's downright normal and charming, while also being very much a city. It's like Cincinnati in that way. We spent a leisurely day walking the cobbled streets, checking out the famous market space, wandering the castle grounds, and of course eating lunch at a delightful restaurant. This is a view of the city skyline from a garden at the castle. We didn't spend a lot of time in the castle because much of it is rented out much like Burghausen . Also to go deeply into the castle requires money, and we spent this trip more in search of free experiences. Below, the top image shows the outdoor market, and the bottom image shows some of the architecture over a canal downtown. Matt was really excited to get this photo of Albrecht Dur...

Again using our trusty train passes, we journeyed to Heidelberg. This was a bit of a hike, as we took the high-speed train to Stuttgart, then changed to another local train which took us right to the historic district. We were able to easily walk to the beautiful old city, and saw gorgeous graffiti on the way. On the way into town, we didn't take this tunnel because we weren't sure of the directions. On the way back, we did, and it turned out way easier (and was also covered in spectacular graffiti). Once in the heart of the old city, we chose a Thai restaurant for lunch. Pictured below is the view from our outside table, at least before the hornets moved in a chased us inside. Can you spot the tourist trap kitsch on the left side of the frame? After our meal we wandered around the old city, checking out shops and cobbled streets. Matt wanted to visit the University library, so that was our main destination. It was an impressive structure both inside and out. The exterio...

Oh, Berlin. This is a city for artistic souls if ever there was one. Matt and I spent a lot of time trying to work out a way to do a successful day trip here, which was incredibly ambitious of us as Berlin is quite far from Munich. We had just watched Babylon Berlin  on Netflix and were determined to make it work. Before our trip we researched the heck out of the German Rail Pass , a rail pass for non-European travelers. We decided to get a 4-day pass that we could use any 4 days of one month, on all DB lines. We used this for the first time on our trip to Berlin, and the cost of that train just about covered the cost of the pass for us both! We visited Berlin on the 4th of July, 2018. Since 2017 we've made it a priority to be out of DC on the 4th and it's lovely. The history of Berlin shines through its recovery, and they seat it center stage. It felt a lot like visiting Hiroshima, another city who wears its tragic past visibly as a warning to the future. The hope, vibrancy,...

Before our Iceland trip last year, we also took some time to kick around Germany again. Of course we had to visit Martina and Christian in Munich again! The city is still amazing, still historical, and still beautiful. I still want to move there, right now . If anyone in Munich wants to hire me, or my husband, or both of us, the answer is yes. Let's go. All joking aside, after meeting a delightful high school exchange student on the plane who saved us spaces in line for our connecting flight in Iceland, we landed in Munich and made our way out to the burbs. Martina and Christian purchased a sweet not-so-little house a few years ago, and had one 2 year old and a baby on the way. Meanwhile Matt and I were just barely pregnant with our first (who, spoiler alert, died about 8 months later, but that's another story for not-here not-now maybe-not-ever-don't-worry-we're-ok), and renting a very overpriced DC one-bedroom pad. We're still in that overpriced pad but now I...

Near Reykjavik is a sweet little town called Alafoss, named after the waterfall that gave power to the mills of an 1896 wool factory. It's also home to the recording studio of Sigur Ros. We went to find Icelandic wool for gifts, and we weren't disappointed. It's a charming area with great history. Just a typical building in Alafoss. This one sold historical figures, knives, and the like. This is the wool factory . It still runs today, and we spent a long time inside deciding on just the right shade of Icelandic blue and cream wool. It's well worth a visit even if you don't craft, knit, sew, etc. A view of modern Reykjavik from the coast. We spent our last night walking around the old city again, after eating delectable crepes. As the sun set, we watched the golden light fall over the shiny chrome. The golden statue there is called the Sun Voyager  and is a representation of a Viking longship. We felt peaceful, tired, and happy after our time in Iceland. ...

Our last big hurrah in Iceland was visiting Thingvellir National Park. This proved to be probably our favorite attraction, due to the immense amount of history associated with the place. First of all, it's gorgeous. It's also historical, important in social, cultural, and geographic ways. It was the seat of Viking parliament, Althing, from 930 AD to 1798. Which is a long time . The park itself was founded on the 1,000 anniversary of Althing, or 1930, and it became a World Heritage Site in 2004. This is a vista across the land, showing part of the rifts that line the valley. The views go on for as long as one can see, even on such a small island. Here is Logberg, or Law Rock. It is where Viking lawmakers announced their decisions on cases, using the natural amphitheater created by the rocks to thunder their voices down on the people. Do you need to drown a woman? Then come to Drekkingarhylur, the drowning pool for all your drowning needs. Apparently, up until the ...

Part of the adventure in Iceland is driving the Ring Road, or Route 1. This highway goes all the way around Iceland in, you guessed it, a circle or ring. Matt estimates that we drove about 1/3 of the ring from Reykjavik to Akureyri and then back again. Most Ring Road travelers might scoff at us for this boomerang of sorts, as it seems like the typical method is to commit to the whole ring. That seems incredible if one can dedicate the time and money, which we could not last year. Perhaps in the future there will be another choice. Regardless, we loved our drive. On the way up to Akureyri we pretty much just drove after the museum in Borgarnes, in order to make it to our destination on time. On the way back to Reykjavik we meandered, stopping at any interesting site we found along the way. The first incredible view was this rainbow. We were at the start of our journey and I was driving. We came to a place where we needed to continue around a slight curve to continue on 1 while ro...

The entire reason we went to Akureyri was to be close to Lake Myvatn and the gorgeous sights that surround it. We were not disappointed in the least. The first sight we came upon was Godafoss, which I think means something like "waterfall of the Gods." It is huge, breathtakingly so. It falls from a height of 12 m and spans a distance of 30 m. The picture below gives a relatively good impression of what it is like to stand and look up at it. The area was also home to some plants we'd never seen before. It was neat to see Icelandic plants that we couldn't find at home. The water from the falls also continued downstream into other smaller falls as it continued on its way. The next stop on our itinerary as we drove around the lake was Skutustadagigar. This is a sprawling landscape of lava craters that were made when gas exploded in lava. It's impossibly green now, and cultivated for farming. There are paths that wander up and down through the craters, and yo...