Two Year Anniversary - Washington DC

The Mrs wanted to go somewhere to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary and we found a good deal on flights to our nation's capital using miles. With the baby due in 3 months and a new home built in ~6 months this will definitely be our last trip for quite a while. I think I said the same thing about the trip to Australia, so I may say this again in a couple months.

Anyhow, it was an enjoyable trip filled with good food, good fun, and good company. We saw all the usual DC sites in all their splendor and glory. But rather than bore you with the same old, same old I thought I would share our unique experiences.

For starters, we were pretty sure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran) stayed in our hotel and followed us around while we were site seeing.  After further photographic review it probably was not him, but for a time it was the strangest celebrity siting of our lives.

On our last night in DC we spent time with a good friend and watched the latest Harry Potter movie. The movie was of course fantastic ... but as we left we were treated to a second show outside the theater by DCFD. About 3-4 fire trucks with sirens blaring roared up the street outside the movie theater and blocked off the street. You would have thought a whole city block was on fire but from what we could tell it was a heroic, roof-top kitty rescue. It was too cold to wait around much longer to confirm this as true, but we certainly did not see any flames or smoke.

All in all another great trip. For all the real pictures see my album here.

Australia Day 13 - Heading Home

The flights back were just as bad as the flights here. But we had all sorts of fun and memories to keep us company on the hours and hours and hours of flying time!

I learned a lot about Australia ... they drive on the wrong side of the road .... they say "no worries" more than they say "g'day mate" .... Burger King is called Hungry Jacks .... Fosters is NOT Australian for Beer .... and not every Aussie looks like Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. Can't wait until the next great adventure ......

Australia Day 12 - How much is that koala in the window?

My wife insisted that while in Australia she pet as many marsupials and other cute and cuddly creatures as possible (but apparently bats don't qualify as I learned the night before). She'd already gotten kangaroos and wallabies out of the way. Now all that was left was the koala!

Rather than go to the zoo, we agreed to go quite a ways out of the city to a Koala Sanctuary. It was cheaper and we got more up close and personal contact with the koalas. However it took us longer to get there and back, than it did to see and pet the koalas. But that didn't matter. We got our quality time petting and watching the cute little guys in the trees.

They are kind of smelly with wiry hair. Not so cuddly after all. That didn't matter to a certain someone. 

That night we took a ferry to Manly Beach for dinner and a nice stroll along the beach. It was a low key end to our Australian Adventure!

Australia Day 11 - A good day to climb a bridge

Today was the highlight of the Outback Adventure ... we walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge!

After walking around a street market in the morning and buying a few souvenirs we headed to the Bridge Climb. I knew this was a popular tourist activity, but I never thought it would such an efficient operation. They have tours going all day, every 10-15 minutes, with 10 people in each climb group! Apparently the hefty price tag doesn't discourage other adventurers. Each person is set up with cover-alls, head sets, a friendly tour guide, and a 10 minute safety walkthrough. After that it's a 3 hour walk around the top of the bridge.

The views are obviously incredible, but they won't let you take your camera ... for "safety" reasons. Of course they're happy to SELL you pictures at the end of the trip. Regardless it was worth the price of admission. It was not as difficult a climb as I thought it would be. And I was strapped in at all times and never felt at all unsafe. Definitely a great experience (even if everyone and their mother also went on this climb).

After eating dinner, we took in a rugby match. The entire trip I saw rugby and Aussie rules Football all over TV. They make American's obsession with the NFL look tame. I didn't know the rules or how to tell which sport was which. But it was entertaining. After a week and a half I had figured it out enough that we decided to see a game in person. Besides, football and rugby are much more exciting than cricket which would have been our only other option.

The game was fun, but the real adventure was getting to the stadium. We took the train to the central station and had to walk a couple of miles. When the stadium was in sight we were walking through a park. It was dark and a little spooky. I kept hearing weird noises when out of no where a great flying beast came swooping in to attack. I naturally threw my wife in the way of danger to save myself. Thankfully we were both unharmed but I was rattled and my wife was angry that I tried to use her as a human shield.

We had been admiring these bats feeding at dusk from our hotel balcony the night before. Come to find out these are actually quite a nuisance to the city of Sydney and apparently also a threat to young American married couples. They are called flying foxes and that name is probably very appropriate.

Regardless we survived and enjoyed a rugby match. The end to another great day.

Australia Day 10 - Hello Sydney

We arrived in Sydney late last night. Our hotel is fantastic! We are right in the middle of everything. The Opera House is just around the corner. The Harbor Bridge is a short walk the other side. Inside it's another suite with separate bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and balcony. We've been lucky with good hotels at the beginning and end of this vacation (although there were no deals on this one, it was expensive).

Today we relaxed, explored the city, and got our bearings. It's a wonderful, vibrant city. My wife said it reminded her of Boston, but I've never been so I can't say if that's true. Certainly seems like a good comparison, a harbor town, very old, British connections, and they talk funny. Only draw back I see is their train system is a little more complicated than it seems it should be. But we're figuring it out.

We made dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant. It was one of the best meals we've ever had and also ranked as the second most expensive meal we've ever had. Conveniently my wife did not realize this restaurant had been voted one of the best restaurants in the world for 2 or 3 years in a row until after we were already seated. Oh well, we're on vacation.

Australia Day 9 - More rocks

After spending the night in a quaint cottage in Port Campbell, we journeyed around more of the sites along the Great Ocean Road. We saw Loch Ard Gorge, Thunder Cave, and the Blowhole. All of this area was made famous by one ship wreck, but this entire coast line was treacherous to navigate and served as the final resting place for many ship wrecks. 

We moved on to see the Arch, London Bridge, and the Grotto. All very cool and beautiful in their own right. Similar to Ayers Rock it's hard to be more descriptive without boring you so I'll leave it there. We headed back to Melbourne to catch a flight to Sydney and our final leg of our Outback Adventure!

Australia Day 8 - Keep Your Eyes on the Great Ocean Road

We flew into Melbourne yesterday and this morning we picked up our rental car. So begins the part of the vacation I was most apprehensive about. We paid for an automatic transmission, we got the insurance, a GPS, and the fuel option to minimize all variables and possible distractions along the way and allow me to concentrate on the road!

Obviously everything is backwards in these cars. The steering wheel is on the right, the turn signal is on the  right ... that took some getting used to. But thanks to the GPS we navigated out of the airport and city without much difficulty.

The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of highway along Australia's southern coast near Melbourne. It is similar to the Pacific Coast Highway and Big Sur in California. The GOR is a 2 lane winding highway that hugs the coast and climbs up and around sheer cliffs. The Indian Ocean was on one side of you and a serene country side on the other. Lots of rolling hills with farm land, cows, and sheep ... it reminded us of the Shire from Lord of the Rings. To say the drive was beautiful would be an understatement.

If I had been driving on the right hand side of the road and I had a high powered European sports car I would have loved to have opened it up a la James Bond. Instead I was slow and deliberate and truthfully barely enjoyed the views (except for when we stopped).

Along the way there were several turn offs for taking pictures and a few hiking trails (one of which we explored). But the most famous vista along the Great Ocean Road is a rock formation called the Twelve Apostles. As the name suggests at one point there were 12 huge rocks lined up in the water. I believe now there are only 5 or 6 still standing. We arrived near sunset and the views were incredible. It's hard to describe but with the waves crashing and sun setting there was something very moving about these rocks. Perhaps I was just glad to have survived the last 3-4 hours driving on the wrong side of the road!

Australia Day 7 - Ayers Rock Camping

As the only Americans we did our best to build good international relations. A couple from The Netherlands at one point offered us candy. Not wanting to be rude we gladly accepted. It was a salty, black licorice candy that is apparently very popular in the Netherlands. It must be an acquired taste. We were able to choke it down without regurgitating.

We also chatted with a brother and sister from Switzerland who were back packers. They were spending 6 months all over Australia and planned to spend another 3+ months in the US and Canada. Of course I'd heard of back packing but never in the context of a job or lifestyle. Very interesting people (but can't say I'd want to switch places with them).

Thankfully we were more than equipped to handle the hiking, so our amateurish hiking attire was not a problem. The day we landed we hiked around the Olgas, watched the sun set behind Ayers Rock  (very beautiful), and ate a delicious dinner back at the campsite (bbq kangaroo is great!).

That night we camped out in style. The tents were basically permanent and had beds, lights, and wood floors. Plus we had a cook in a kitchen to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The restrooms and showers were community, like you'd see in a park back home. Basically this was my idea of camping!

The second day we watched the sun rise over Ayers Rock (also very beautiful) and then hiked around the base of Ayers Rock. After that we rushed off to the airport for our next leg of the vacation (everyone else stayed for 2 or 3 more nights filled with more serious hikes and less luxurious accommodations).

Two things to know about Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) and the Olgas (aka Kata Tjuta). First they are both important and sacred Aboriginal sites and there is some difficulty in balancing preservation of their history and culture and allowing for the huge influx of tourists to see these wonders of nature. Climbing to the top of Ayers Rock is not yet forbidden but it is strongly discouraged. The day we were there it was closed due to high winds so we didn't have to choose between climbing a big rock and insulting an indigenous people.

The other thing is these are both amazing geologic features. They are huge rocks jutting out of the ground in an otherwise flat and baron landscape. To give you some perspective, Ayers Rock is taller than the Eiffel Tower and it's a 9 mile walk around the base! It's said to be the largest single rock in the world! We took a ton of pictures and it was a really neat experience. But there just isn't much more I can say about a bunch of rocks, so I'll end it here.

Australia Day 6 - Travel to Ayers Rock

This morning we were picked up to fly into Ayers Rock. The highlight of an otherwise uneventful travel day was the fact that we were chauffeured in a stretch limo (all by ourselves). I think it was dumb luck, we certainly didn't pay for a limo to pick us up.

We are sad to leave Palm Cove, but traveling in a limo is an appropriate end to this segment of our vacation. Now we can stop pretending to be living the lifestyles of the rich and famous and return to the lifestyles of the middle class and obscure.

This short Ayers Rock trip will consist of camping and a couple of hikes. It will certainly be a change from our time in Palm Cove but we're looking forward to it.

Ayers Rock is in the middle of the country and there isn't much else around for 100's or 1000's of miles in all directions. For all intents and purposes it is "The Outback" that we all think about in Australia.  I was surprised how green it was and later learned it's really a semi arid desert. There is an airport, a resort with 2-3 hotels, and 2 pretty incredible rock formations. Without the later there would be absolutely nothing here.

After landing we were picked up by the tour company. Right away I had a bad feeling. #1 … we were the only Americans, #2 … we were clearly the only ones who were NOT serious hikers  (i.e. big hiking back packs, boots, all sorts of gear, while we had sneakers and a couple bottles of water). Thankfully in the end neither of those ended up being a real problem. More on that and our camping adventure in the next posting.

Australia Day 5 - Daintree Rainforest

Today we did a tour of the Daintree Rainforest, which apparently is the only place in the world where the "rainforest meets the reef". We took a boat ride up the Daintree River and saw a couple of real, wild crocodiles (although they were hiding pretty well). We walked around the rainforest a bit, it was hot and humid, but very beautiful. After lunch we took a swim in a creek running through the rainforest.

Most of the excitement came before lunch. Our guide thought he spotted some crazy bird and wanted us to see it. Unfortunately he was going too fast and got stuck in a ditch. The men-folk and I were enlisted to push. I'd like to say we single handedly got it out of the ditch, but it wasn't until another tour bus pulled us out that we were back on the road. But it was fun nonetheless … all apart of our outback adventure!

And in addition to all that excitement, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention feeding and petting the kangaroos. The place we ate lunch also had a small collection of animals including 2 kangaroos and 2 wallabies. It was cool being that close to them, but they were so lazy they barely got up when you tried to feed them. In any case, my wife was satisfied that she got to scratch one animal off her long list of "animals she must hold or pet while in Australia".

Australia Day 4 - Great Barrier Reef Batman!

Today we booked a snorkeling tour to the Great Barrier Reef. This particular tour had a permanent platform anchored to the outer reef. This platform was something between a floating Ritz Carlton and an offshore oil platform (think something out of the Kevin Costner movie "Water World"). It had a below water observation deck, platforms to get in and out of the water easily, and a semi-submersible sub. Plus lunch was included!

On the 90 minute trip to the platform we were informed that its jelly fish season and it was strongly encouraged to wear lycra suits while snorkeling. There are lots of jellyfish (or stingers as they call them here) that can seriously hurt or kill you. Not wanting either of these we followed orders (as did 99% of everyone else on the tour).

Needless to say I looked ridiculous. The only saving factor was that everyone else looked as ridiculous as me. My wife got a black suit, making her look like a seal. While I got a blue suit and looked like a tall smurf.

Anyway the embarrassment of the lycra suit not withstanding, the snorkeling was awesome! It was considerably better than our first snorkeling experience in Hawaii. We were on the outer reefs and basically as far out as you could go. We could see the continental shelf and the waves were breaking against it ... it was very impressive. We saw all sorts of cool, colorful fish and marine life (but no jelly fish … so yes I looked stupid for no reason). I took a lot of pictures (none under water) but they really fail to capture the vastness and beauty.

Australia Day 3 - R&R

We watched the sun rise over the ocean this morning. It was beautiful. One advantage to jet lag I suppose (although I do hope we adjust soon … I don't like going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 4am!).

After a stroll on the beach we sat in a cafe and had enjoyed some delicious coffee. I've just started drinking coffee so this pretty unusual for me. I learned later that the coffee was nothing special, apparently their equivalent to Folgers. I guess it tasted so good because I am on vacation.

Later in the afternoon we rented jet skis and enjoyed some manufactured fun. Today was fantastic and something I told the Mrs that we should do more of (i.e. nothing). Our vacations often feel very rushed and hectic, but this one is starting off right.

Australia Day 2 - I know what heaven is

We arrived at Palm Cove today. It's a small, sleepy beach town that has been transformed into an upscale tourist destination. The scenery is beautiful and is surprisingly more tropical than I thought it would be. This whole region of Australia reminds me very much like Hawaii. Beautiful mountains covered in lush tropical forests in the background and beaches in the foreground.

There is one main, albeit small road that runs next to the beach here. Opposite the beach are a few small bungalows, several businesses and cafes, and a lot of new, multi-level apartment complexes. This town has apparently become a very trendy spot for locals.

The highlight of the trip so far is this apartment we're staying at. We rented it online and it is amazing! It's huge and the views are unbelievable. Large windows facing the ocean and a HUGE patio with our own grill. A full kitchen, several LCD TVs, washer/dryer, etc, etc. Basically all the comforts of home, minus my ps3.

Even without the fantastic vistas, this place is probably nicer than our home, and certainly more expensive (we were told there is one unit currently unsold … asking price is a cool $1.25 mill AUD).

Anyway, we've spent most of our time on the patio enjoying the nice sea breeze and the sights and sounds of the waves crashing in front of us. We are quite happy to finally have a home base for the next few days (let alone a home base as nice as this).

Australia Day 1 - I know what hell is

My wife/blog editor has suggested I cut out the rants and hellish description of our flights to Australia from my first draft of this blog entry. So I'll leave it at this … we had 3 flights (Houston-Honolulu, Honolulu-Guam, Guam-Cairns) totaling ~22 hours of flight time sitting in coach. I believe that has to equate to one of Dante's 9 Circles of Hell (and if not it should be).

We booked those flights almost a year ago using FF miles (it was a great deal that we could not pass up). In hind sight the money we saved on the plane ticket was spent later on our sanity. Bottom line, I have a new found respect for how big this world is and how far away home is from Australia!

We landed around 11pm local time and were in our hotel by 12:30am. Tomorrow we'll get to our home base for the next few days in a resort town called Palm Cove.

The trip that almost was NOT

We thought we had checked the visa requirements for US citizens to enter Australia. Well apparently we didn't.

We were very nervous when we were informed visas were required for entry while we were checking into our flight in Houston! Thankfully the Continental rep was able to handle it for us, but we were sweating it for awhile. Hopefully this is the first and last hiccup getting there.

Paris Day 7 - Heading Home

• It's been a wonderful week but we are excited to head home. In that regard, this vacation (aka Honeymoon Part Deux) was a complete success. We came, we saw, we would love to come back, but we're ready to go back home. We spent some time away from the normal paces of life and I got to spend some quality time with the woman I love. We've got lots of pictures and memories (although surprisingly we bought very few souvenirs). I'm ready to eat American food, drink a Dr. Pepper, and speak English (by the way, the wife has been great ... she took 4 years of French in high school and knows enough French to get by pretty well. I loved sitting back and not having to talk to ANYONE!). I'm also really glad to be going back to a "normal" schedule. My body clock has been screwed up this entire week. I really haven't slept well at all (I've never had jet-lag that lasted a week). Hopefully my normal surroundings will fix me up.
• On a side note, we're in the Continental President's Club Lounge at Charles De Gaulle Airport waiting for our flight back home. I was getting some pastries from their spread and saw an older gentleman sitting down near by. He sounded like a nice retired person who spent some time in France with his wife (perhaps for the first time). I came back a moment later to get a drink and looked more closely. His face and voice looked/sounded a lot like Robert Duval. The wife confirmed ... our brush with fame on this trip!  
• Speaking of the Continental President's Club Lounge ... my wife travels frequently enough where we get the perks of "elite access" and the lounge. We've enjoyed it on several occasions and I have to admit the lounge is GREAT! I bring it up because I feel (in a very small way) like all these French royals I learned about on this trip. As best I can tell their only job was to accumulate and show off their wealth. They showed off their wealth by building huge homes that also served to separate them from the commoners. That's the way I feel in the President's Club Lounge ... considering how crazy, loud, and uncomfortable airports are, a little "royal treatment" of comfortable chairs, quietness, and free wi-fi isn't too much for this King to ask for! :)
• Finally, thanks for indulging me as I blogged my way through this vacation. It was fun having this outlet to capture my thoughts. I hope you were mildly entertained. Once I get home look for a blog post with pictures. 
  

Paris Day 6

• Today we saw Chateau Cheneaux. This was probably the most interesting castle we saw on this trip. It was smaller than Chambord, but the tour was done very well and restorations made it feel like it was still a working castle (although there was extensive restoration taking place on the exterior which made the pictures ugly). This castle was built on a river. The plan was for it to extend across both banks, but they never started that work. 
• Chateau de Blois was our final stop, and admittedly I was chateau'd out. Even if this was the world's greatest chateau, I probably wouldn't have noticed. It was interesting because there were 4 distinct structures that followed the generations of French kings that added on to it. But none the less, it was similar to what we'd seen and I was ready to head home.
• On the train ride back to Paris there was a large, French woman who had a ridiculous case of BO sitting a few rows in front of us. She bore a striking resemblance to Hagrid from the Harry Potter books. It wasn't even funny how bad she smelled. It was the kind of BO that made your eyes water. Halfway through the train ride we had to move. Ai was getting nauseous. There was a 10 foot radius of stink hovering around her. Once we were out of the stink zone the rest of the trip was uneventful. 

Paris Day 5

• Paris was fantastic but today we were eager to get out of the city. The Versailles and chocolate let downs probably had something to do with it, but we were also running out of things to do to keep us entertained.
• We took a train to Tours, France (in fact I think it was my first time on one of these high-speed trains ... pretty cool but my ears did keep popping and I'm not sure why?) Tours is south of Paris in the Loire River valley which they call the "Garden of France". 
  
• Since we were going away from the city and good public transportation, we needed to rent a car. We got a Renault Megane ... it actually was a pretty good, little car. It was a 4-door coupe, 6-speed manual, and ran on diesel. It was fun and easy to drive, plus being out in the country most of the time we didn't run into any major issues or traffic. Thankfully France drives on the "normal" side of the road (the right side). The streets were small and narrow so that was definitely a change. But we rented a Garmin from the rental company and it was the best money we spent on this entire vacation! It saved us a lot of time and effort. We probably could have found our way around without it but it would have been significantly more difficult.
  
• Our first stop was Chateau de Chambord. It was a huge castle! It was built in the country and was used mostly as a hunting lodge for the king. It was your typical big drafty castle, but it was very impressive! In fact you've probably heard of the Liqueur called Chambord ... apparently it was inspired by something that was produced on the premises. 
  
• As we were leaving Chambord and heading to our hotel to check in, I got pulled over by the police. That was an interesting experience. Not sure what I did. He didn't speak much English, but once he saw I was a tourist and was driving a rental he told me to leave. I should try that when I get pulled over at home.
  
• We checked into our hotel in Amboise. It was an old house converted into a hotel. For half the cost of our hotel in Paris we had a sitting room, a big bedroom overlooking the river and Chateau de Amboise, and a huge bathroom. I never thought I'd see my wife smile again after the chocolate and Versailles mishap, but she loved this place so much she wouldn't stop smiling! She wished we had come here sooner. Very friendly staff also. Just an overall great place.
  
• Chateau Amboise was much smaller than Chambord but still very pretty. What's nuts is the amount of time and money spent by these old French royalty to build these places (as if one castle was enough). Oh yea, and Leonardo Da Vinci is buried at Chateau Amboise. Which is mildly ironic because I've been reading Dan Brown's other book (Angel's and Demon's) while on this vacation. 
  

Paris Day 4

• Sunday night I broke down and paid a king's ransom to get Internet in our hotel room for 1 night. I'm glad we did because it saved us an unnecessary trip to Versailles. This was supposed to be for our trip to Versailles until I saw that it is closed on Mondays. A big surprise and a big let down for the wife. 
  
• We scrambled to find a last minute replacement of something to see/do ... we saw Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie. These are in the Palais de Justice which is the site of an old palace, but is now primarily government buildings. The Conciergerie used to be part of the original palace but was converted into a prison during the French Revolution (famous for housing Marie Antionette before her beheading). Sainte Chapelle is a small chapel that was built on the premises as the private church for the king. It has some incredible stained glass. 
• Afterwards we looked for Ai's favorite chocolatier Pierre Marcolini. Two years ago on our first trip to Europe we stayed in Brussels and we were told Pierre Marcolini was some of the finest chocolate in the world. No doubt it was. He also has a store in Paris and we thought it would be neat to stop by and get some more chocolate while we were here. We had already spent some time on Sunday looking for his store without any luck. This time we came prepared with specific directions. Low and behold, he's closed for store remodeling. Hell hath no furry like my wife without chocolate, especially after several wasted hours looking for it! 
• Ai went shopping to ease her sorrows and found another place for chocolate. Meanwhile I sat on our balcony at the hotel reading, enjoying the good weather, and updating my blogs. Dinner was at an Italian joint. Good food but it was the first time on this trip where we had ridiculously slow European restaurant service.

Paris Day 3

• We woke up this morning with the Paris Marathon running outside our hotel. We ate our breakfast in bed and watched them run by glad that someone was being fit while we have been stuffing ourselves the last few days.
• Since it was Palm Sunday, we decided to take in the churches today. We started at Notre Dame ... unfortunately I've run out of adjectives, so the only way I can describe it is awesome. I am astounded at the sheer size and complexity of building something like that so long ago. Notre Dame was built between 1163 and 1200. Not only is it an engineering marvel, it's a complete work of art. The detail in every corner was overwhelming. The experience was made even more interesting because a church service was going on during our tour. It was all in Latin and/or French as best we could tell. But it was neat to see it still in use and made the whole experience all the more special. By the way, despite comments about me from the wife, there were no hunchback sightings.
• Next we went to an area of Paris called  Montmartre. We had heard good things about this part of Paris but we were not too impressed. Moulin Rouge is here (although we did not see it) and so is Sacre Coeur the big white church on a hill (we did see this). Sacre Coeur is a beautiful church and architecturally it's very different (and more modern) than Notre Dame. However, the atmosphere around the church left much to be desired. There were all street performers and gypsies loitering around outside Sacre Coeur. No big deal but it was kind of distracting and as we left we ran into an overly zealous gypsy trying to peddle his wears a little too aggressively for our taste. Anyway the church is beautiful and the view of the city is cool, but we didn't hang out much here.
• After dinner tonight we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. I must say it was more beautiful lit up at night than it was during the day. Ai got a big cotton candy and was very happy.