Prague!

Here are just a couple of photos from our incredible world wind tour of Prague. First off, sincerest of thanks go to our most generous hosts Brenda and Mark. Friends of Amie's aunt, these two ex-pats greeted us at the airport, gave us keys to one of their luxurious apartments, and showed us the finer parts of the city. I was here 10 years ago (almost to the month) and saw less in 10 days than I did with Mark in 2. We cannot be grateful enough for your generosity!

Prague remains one of my favorite cities in the world. We came back because this is somewhere Amie always wanted to see, and needless to say, she loved it. The diversity in the architecture and the charm of every building makes you feel as if you are on a movie set or are living in a fairy tale land. Its that beautiful.

Our discounted flight landed at 6am and we hit the sites before the restaurants opened for breakfast. Mark and Brenda know their city and were sharing some very interesting details as we toured around old town square. It was so nice to visit a place with a friendly tour guide at your disposal!

We spent the rest of our first day on Charles bridge and exploring the old town before turning in around 5pm and watching a movie in the apartment (hey, we were up at 2am to catch our 4am flight!). Our second day in Prague had us touring the largest castle in the world and enjoying a few beers in the old town square. For dinner it was traditional Czech food with our hosts before turning in for the night.

Our trip was far to short, but with Mark and Brenda we were able to make the most of it! This is definitely one of the few places we look forward to returning to!

An example of the Prague-look

Two tired love birds on Charles bridge around 7am

8am, a bit more alert

Mike's favorite Czech band, seen here 10 years ago!

Characteristic wood door carving

Amie on the tower overlooking old town square

Prague is full of incredible architecture

Amie's favorite piece of art

New town, same outfits

Charles bridge and the castle (no tourists at 6am)

Thank you BRENDA AND MARK!!!

Greece Road Trip

Our 10 days in Greece were great. We spent a couple of nights in Athens to tour around Plaka and the Acropolis. Along with plenty of walking, as we are now in a country who's currency is the Euro (and our dollar is doing TERRIBLE comparatively) and so we are back to staying at cheap hotels which aren't in the most convenient locations, we enjoyed many great Gyros and Greek ambiance.

I was determined to see Greece without having to take any ferries. I discovered how bad I feel on ferries in South America, and didn't want to spend anymore time of our trip on one if at all possible. After talking with Linda in Istanbul, we discovered there was plenty to see on the mainland and the large island of Peloponnese (connected to mainland by a bridge). We rented a car from the Athens airport and set off North towards Delphi and Meteora.

Delphi is a very ancient site (~600BC - one of the oldest sites we have been to) which was home to an Oracle. It is set up along a very steep mountain with amazing views, cobblestone streets and friendly locals and cafes. Great spot. We camped that night to save a little money. Mike got to gawk at a bunch of old vintage cars that were stopping through the town on a race through the mountain roads. This gave him so much joy, he still hasn't stopped talking about the 'swan' he is going to make out of his rusty Corvair when he gets home!

The ride around Delphi was up, around and down steep and dramatic mountains. We definitely were surprised by the diversity of the countryside. The mountains continued for quite a few more hours before arriving in Meteora. We've always seen photos of this amazing location, but actually seeing it for yourself was absolutely breath-taking. The huge granite-looking steep and pointy mountains were topped with old historic Monasteries. There used to be ~26 of them, but now only 6 which you can actually hike up to and explore. Even though it was quite a bit of extra driving to get all the way up to Meteora, it was definitely worth the drive as it was a completely unique site.

From Meteora, we made the big drive all the way to Olympia which was the original site of the Olympics back about 2,500 years ago. We didn't explore the ruins, just enjoyed staying in the nice little town for the night on our way down to the Mani region of Peloponnese.
As soon as we arrived in the first town of the Mani region we knew we needed to stay more than one night. It was amazing. No tourists, quiet, laid-back, cobblestone street and houses, wild flowers and some of the best Greek food we had discovered. It reminded us a lot of our favorite region in Italy, the Amalfi coast. Same feel, but Greek. What a discovery. We spent our time laying out by our lovely infinity pool (all to ourselves), eating too much Moussaka, exploring the small stone villages and basking in the ambiance or Greece.

Even though we wanted to spend a third night in our great find, we thought we better explore the town of Nafplio as it was stated in our guide book to be one of the most beautiful Greek towns. It was another gem, but of course with that title came many more tourists.

We have plenty more photos, but they are on our other camera. Hopefully we can post them soon!

When going to Prague, it's important to look the part. This is Mike's best attempt. I'm impressed.

Exploring the lovely town of Mani

Pelopenesse is absolutely beautiful

Lots of cats in Greece

Enjoying our pensione to the fullest

Mike couldn't stay out of the pool

Amazing small towns along the whole island

I'm feeling pretty good about our view of Meteora

Our Turkish Road Trip

We flew from Istanbul to Izmir then rented a car and drove to Ephusus and Selcuk as well as Marmaris and Datca, then back up inland to the sulfer pools at Pammukale. It was a great trip. We saw alot in 4 days, and not without hassle. First our internet-reserved rental car was no where to be found. Not the car, the company itself. No one had ever heard of them, and the phone number we had did not pick up other than a fax. Glad we didnt pay ahead on that one! We booked another car at the airport and it was about $80 less than the cheapest we found on line! Our first thought wasn't "SCORE," we are much to travel savvy at this point, it was alot more like "lets see the contract first" and "please read me the fine print in english."

All checked out ok to our surprise and we were back on the road! Ephusus is an awesome Roman site from 200BC or so if my memory suits me. The small town next to it, Selcuk was also very nice. We got a good feel for small town Turkey there. Next we drove about 4 hours down to Marmaris. I thought it was like a dumpy middle eastern Nice. We stopped for lunch and pressed on with a recommendation to go to Datca by our waiter. This place turned out to be great. Classic small Mediterranean sea-side town. We loved it. Even though our hotel was right next to the mosque, we still didn't mind. Being next to a mosque is significant because there is a call to prayer 5 times a day from a loud speaker. Its nothing as polite as a "hey everyone, prayer time" its more like 5 minutes of someone howling at the moon with hiccups. Like I said, we didn't mind, our room was spotless and cost us 30 Lira (about $22).

After relaxing for two nights in Datca we drove back towards Izmir turning inland and stopping at Pammukale. The site wasn't quite as impressive as the postcards, but still completely unique and amazing. It is a giant mountside of calcium deposit clinging to the hill like a scab. The best part is, the way the water carrying the calcium runs down the hill creates these incredible patterns and pools as it goes. Really alien looking stuff! BUT, when we got there, there wasn't much water flowing so the pools were very dry and not quite as picturesque.

After a short flight we were back in Istanbul, and not having had any luck finding a reasonably priced hotel online we decided to wing it for our last nights accommodation. Big mistake. We were assailed by rip off hockers at the terminal, and were not helped much at all from the information booth (they called one of the hockers over). Eventually we found our way to a hotel that offered to pick us up for the reasonable price of 75Lira. Well, long story short, in the morning they told us it was 75 Euro (about 150Lira)! We told them to get stuffed and left in a hurry.

At the airport, our flight to Athens was cancelled. Beautiful. Did I mention we(I mean me) got a speeding ticket too! And the best part is, we've got to find a hotel again!! Its not all mangos and sunsets out here!

Turkish men are almost as lazy as Italian men!

Turkish coffee gave Mike a tick

Have a closer look, it really is mud!

Turkish boat in Datca harbor

More of the fine harbor
Amie enjoys a Kabap

The ducks enjoy a cookie
This guy's gal enjoys a side-saddle ride
Turkish country home
Turkish dog
Turkish boy
Turkish pizza

Mike after a Turkish Bath
Turkish man (note moustache)
Amie likes Turkey!
So does Mike (hair by salon selectives)

Istanbul, Turkey

After travelling for over 24 hours (Sydney to Singapore, Singapore to Bahrain, Bahrain to Istanbul) we were obviously exhausted when we finally arrived. Needless to say, we were overwhelmed when we stumbled off the plane. Istanbul is a city of nearly 20millıon people, sprawling in all directions, and overflowing with very few folks that speak any english (or spanish or italian). The alphabet is similar, but not the same, and the words are not based on Latin. The keyboard is very different (we have to hunt and peck) so this will be short.

Amie about snapped as some Turks were yelling at us at the airport in a language for the first time the entire trip neither of us could understand (turned out we needed a visa to enter the country, luckily they could be bought on site). Our savior from this maddness was a lovely lady by the name of Linda who is the Manager of the Hilton Istanbul. Her sister is a good friend of mine from my days at XP Power. Completely exhausted we checked in at the Hilton, and enjoyed luxury like nothing we have had since we left home (maybe even long before that!)

Linda not only "hooked us up" with a suıte, she also hilighted an Istanbul guidebook for us with a proposed itinerary which would make the most of our time in town. Linda we cannot thank you enough! After some much needed sleep we went through her list and were amazed and delighted by the city. Our expectations for İstanbul and its people were shattered. We absolutely loved Istanbul.

Sultanhamet Square

The Blue Mosque

Haya Sophıa

A secret Turkish Tea location with the best views in town

Turkish tea is much better than Turkish coffee

Baklava anyone?

Fishing off the bridge
Thanks Linda!
Tulips are from Turkey (not Holland!)
Smoke break

Turkish folks

Grand Bazzar
What you can expect to fınd ın the Bazzar

Great cıty!

Our last night in Sydney, take two

Mid snorkel off the coast of Sydney we learned our flight out that evenıng to turkey was cancelled! We rushed to a payphone and scrambled to get in touch with Gulf Air. Pele was tracking our flights for us and through a chain of phone calls she was able to hunt us down (amazingly this was the only day on our whole trip we had a cell phone!) After a bit of stress and more than a few phone calls we were rebooked on another flight in 24 hours. Our hosts Liz and Greg were kind enough to entertain us another night. And missing our flight turned out to be pretty painless. Big thanks to Pele, Liz and Greg for making a bad situation really not bad at all.

Yeah, another night in Sydney isnt so bad

World famous Bondi Beach
Not bad for a big city beach!
Mike posıng under a sandstone cliff
Glorious coastline!
Cemetery with a view
We paused for the national lawn bowling final
"What? Cancelled!?"
Choko made us happy... and sad. We are coming Candy!

Our last day in Australia

We spent the last 10 days driving up the east coast of Australia. I had no idea how big Australia was until we got out on the road and started clocking the kilometers. We drove about 1000km (600 miles) and barely made a dent on the coast line. On our way to our destination ("Surfer's Paradise) we stopped at Seal Rock and Yamba, recommendations we had from relatives. Both spots were outstanding. Seal Rock was one of the best beaches we had seen on the entire trip, and Yamba was really nice and laid back as well. We camped at both and had a great time.

In Surfers, we met Amie's grandmother's brother Laure and his wife Marge, their son Greg and his wife Angela, and their 3 kids. The hospitality we enjoyed there was incredible. Greg has a home right on a canal with views of Surfers skyline. Surfers itself feels a lot like Miami or Las Vegas, but on a beautiful beach. There are tons of sky rise condos going in and a bit of a seedy-big-city beach town feel. Because it was "school holidays" there was a lot of activity in town, and at Greg's place. He had groups of friends showing up in droves to stay at his big house. This gave us a really good feel for what Aussie's are really like. Needless to say, we had a blast and stayed longer than we planned.

Laure and Marge are in their mid 80s and are an inspiration. They are both doing very well to say the least. One night, Laure drank me under the table (way past midnight) and two of the evenings Marge made us meals that were so good we were in disbelief-aren't taste buds supposed to deteriorate as you age?

There are wild fruit bats everywhere that are as big as cats with 4-5' wingspans. I was scared for my life.

One of the best things we did while on the gold coast was our stop at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. We thought the zoo in Sydney was the best we had been to ever, but this was even better. It was all kind of sad because Steve Irwin really did run the place, and now that he is gone, his wife and young children continue on. They were all there and we got to see his wife feed the giant crocs, and bindi, his daughter do a song and dance routine. The highlight though were the animals, we got to pet roos and koalas, got to see crocs and wombats up close, feed an elephant, etc. Amazing, and a must for anyone coming to Australia!

While camping on the way back down the coast to Sydney, we got the resolution we were waiting for on the shipment of Yoshita. SHE IS NOW AT HOME!!!!!! After 6 weeks of 6am phone calls to Chile cursing my best in Spanish at the thieves extorting money from us, we got our bike released without paying them anything. I say that, we've paid $1700 so far for the shipment, but at least the Chileans didn't get their $2000 ransom they were vying for!

Back in Sydney we met even more relatives, the Keohns. I am amazed at how warm and kind all these people have been to us as the relationship they have to Amie and I is really quite distant. In most cases we are staying with second cousins or aunts twice removed. Regardless, they have treated us so well we are in their debt. Our time in Australia would not have been anywhere near as enjoyable if it weren't for all the great hospitality.

We had one last meal with Ian and Maree, who we came to really like and will miss very much. I helped Iain lay some sod the morning before we left, he appreciated it I think, and I was honestly happy to help. Last night we stayed with their daughter Liz and her husband Greg in downtown Sydney, and again, they wouldn't let us pay for anything, made us an amazing home cooked meal, and really, were just great people to meet and get to know.

Tomorrow we are on our own again. We've got 21 hour flight to Turkey that neither of us is looking forward to, but the adventure most go on!

The beach at Seal Rocks

Amie with Laure and Marge

Huge bat visiting us on the back deck

Too many shrimp on the barbee at Gregs

Bronte models an outfit for us

Steve Irwin's wife Terry carries on the tradition

Amie pats a Koala

Baby wombat

Great surf near Byron Bay

Amie likes taking pictures like this
The beach at Surfer's Paradise

Burleigh Heads Beach at Surfers
That helicopter is doing shark spotting (no joke)
This is the life!
The view from Greg's deck
They start early in Australia
Teaching the Aussies to gamble (with grapes)
Cricky! We miss you Steve!


I think a room and Candy would be best mates
Crocs!
So long guys! We'll miss you! Come see us!
Keeping the regimen alive

Thats for Steve Irwin
Thats because Yosh is HOME!
Still together :-)
Maree and Iain's new place

The Keohns

Thanks Anna!
A Black tie affair at Iain's for our send off

Sydney, Australia

We’re having a great time in Australia. We’ve explored some of Sydney’s finest including The Rocks, Darling Harbor, the Zoo, Opera House and plenty of shopping malls. We also took a trip out to Canberra and the surrounding area to visit some more relatives who live on 40 acres of outback land. 10 days on the mainland and we’ve been able to get some much needed R&R (thanks to Iain and Maree’s great hospitality and lovely home), see wonderful sites and meet great family!

Sydney is beautiful. It reminds us of a bigger and cleaner San Francisco; tons of gorgeous bays and harbors, brilliant clear blue water, pristine restored old buildings and plenty of neighborhood varieties. If it we’re for their deadly ‘funnel-web’ spider I might put this on my list of places to live! Yes, the funnel-web spider is one of the deadliest spiders in the world (Australia seems to have quite a few species of the ‘worlds deadliest’ type) and lives primarily in Sydney region. It can be found in the ground and known to jump on you if cornered. Let’s just say I’ll be quite happy when I depart Australia knowing I didn’t have an encounter with one myself! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the time being… Along with the dreaded ‘funnel-web’ spider, I would like to add that Sydney has helicopters patrolling the beaches all day long, everyday to spot sharks. Yes, they are constantly up there watching out for sharks in order to vacate a beach if one is spotted. I think that only tells me how many they must have here! I guess that must be mild compared to the northern section of the continent which has plenty of salt water crocs (the biggest in the world), box-jellyfish (deadly) and plenty more sharks. They say that the jellyfish are only ‘seasonal’…but I wonder how good they are on judging the seasons????

I keep looking around at the woman here and admiring what great fashion sense they have. Although I don’t doubt Australian woman know how to dress, part of me thinks I must be that much out of touch. I think anyone who wears the same few t-shirts and pair of jeans for 6 months in a row might loose touch with fashion-reality. Especially if surrounded by woman wearing top hats, ragged skirts and the sorts for the majority of that 6 months. Either way I’ve been in awe as I look at the people in the big city and peer into the shop windows. Styles have definitely changed; I guess that just shows how long I’ve been away.
Our time stay with Iain and Maree has been a trip saver for Mike and I. We both were at a point where packing up and moving on to the next location was the last thing we felt like doing, no matter what it was we were about to see. Seeing my folks fly home and knowing that home was just a flight away even tempted me further from not wanting to be on the go anymore. I was sick of not being in one place for too long. Not eating from a home kitchen. Staying in smelly and run down hostels. Camping in the pouring and cold rain. Showering with my flip-flops on to avoid touching so much filth. All of the things that come with traveling were starting to seriously ware on me. Thankfully for the great hospitality we’ve both recharged and are again excited with the remainder of our travels. We have had some wonderful meals, great company and such a comfortable bed.

It was great to see a bit of the countryside (‘bush’ as the Australians say) with our visit to Jenan and Des’s house. Jenan is my mom’s cousin and she lives on a 40 acre lot with her husband Des who is a bee-keeper. Mike and I had a great time visiting with them and learning more than we thought existed about bees and bee-keeping. It’s quite fascinating! They took us on a nice bike ride around the city (also the capital) Canberra with their daughter Pele. We were hoping to spot some Roos as there are plenty of them out there, but somehow the Roos must have known the Americans were in the area with their cameras, because they were no where to be found. Des took us in his 4x4 on a deep search of the ‘bush’ to find them, but to our avail, all we saw was their dropping and tracks. Next time I guess! It was a great visit and so nice to meet such lovely people. We’re just about to take off on our own up the Gold Coast. We leave tomorrow after picking up our rental car. We stayed in Sydney an extra couple of days to celebrate my birthday. Did some shopping and enjoyed a really nice Italian meal overlooking Darling Harbor. Such a nice day, Mike really treated me great although it is always sad to be away from friends and family during these times…

Sydney Opera House

Sydney is nice...
Roo!
Friendly little fellas
Dingo
They sure have a nice view
Whoa! Are we in the outback???
Magic!

Darling Harbor
A view from the ferry ride to the Zoo
More beautiful Sydney
I think these guys were my biggest fans

The Rocks - Sydney

We're STILL together...

Walking the Sydney Harbor Bridge
Tasmanian Devil! Too bad we didn't spot any in Tasmania!


Little angel! I fell in love with the Koalas!

Nice view from the zoo!

Little sleeper
Cricky!


I think I'm in heaven...and maybe a little shocked

Sunny skies!
Happy Easter!
A little reading time in the park

I think Adam took me to this pub before???

Des, Amie and Jenan
The bee-factory!
Bike ride around Canburra
Cute old sheep that loved to wake us up in the morning!
Alexis, Mariole's daughter and little sweetheart! Yes, they start early in Australia...

BIRTHDAY SHOPPING!!! Thanks Mom!
...
No, don't worry, I didn't buy that one
Birthday dinner