Hooray! Curt’s 40th! To celebrate we took a 5-day trip down to Sicily at the end of Jan. The flight from Stuttgart was an easy 2 hours, albeit with a very turbulent landing and takeoff in Palermo because it’s apparently always windy on the north/Tyrrenhian-coast of the island. The weather continued to be a little challenging, as you’ll see in the pics, but we took it in stride and were still able to appreciate the dramatic, volcanic scenery. (Please forgive the blurry pics, our camera slowly died on this trip; although this now gives Curt an excuse to buy a new one:) We took the first day to explore the main city of Palermo and get our Sicilian bearings, and found the best part of the city were the enormous outdoor markets that wind their way through the ancient alleys. It really is a feast for all senses, where you could people-watch all day long (make sure to play the videos on our gallery page so you can hear the vendors yelling out their daily specials…it’s a great slice-of-life.) This first day of the trip was also Obama’s inauguration, and since our hotel didn’t have anything other than Italian TV, that evening we searched and searched for somewhere to go watch the ceremony. But since most bars and restaurants in Sicily don’t open until 8pm, we were pretty much out of luck; However we did catch the updates on Curt’s iPhone so we weren’t totally in the dark. It was still very exciting and we were so happy to kick off his b-day trip with such a momentous occasion!

After Palermo we caught a train to Catania, on Sicily’s west/Ionian coast, usually a 3.5-hr trip right through the mountainous center of the island. However from the heavy rains the night before, there was a mudslide under the tracks about an hour in. The conductor didn’t speak any English and our Italian doesn’t go much beyond restaurants so it took us a while to fully understand what he was telling us, but we soon found out: Everyone had to de-board and get on a tour bus which set out on a windy country road, because there is no Autostrada through the center of the island. We had no idea how long we’d be on this bus so every stop we made to pick up more people we kept asking the conductor, “Catania qui?” And finally after 2.5 hours they dropped us–just us–at an abandoned-looking train station in a town called Caltanissetta where we waited another 1.5 hours for the train to Catania.Later that night we finally arrived at our destination, and granted we were just glad to see any civilization, we were pleasantly surprised by Catania: The old town is very regal, with grand baroque architecture built of the lava stones from nearby Mt Etna. And we loved the fact that there were great trattorias on every corner, esp. after going all day without food and water on our train/bus adventure. So that night we ate at a highly-reco’d Slow Food restaurant called “Metro” that had the most tasty and creative veggie antipasti; it was heaven. The next morning, on Curt’s actual b-day, we had breakfast at our hotel where we met a nice American guy who owns a house in the Italian ‘Marche’ region (where we went in April ‘08.) The three of us decided to go explore Catania’s famous fish market together, which was large and spread through many streets like Palermo’s, but boasted displays of fish so impressive they could probably only be rivaled by the famous market in Tokyo.

That same day we took a train down to Sicily’s southeastern point, Siracusa, which was originally founded by the ancient Greeks. The old town is located on a little island off the coast of the new city and it’s called Ortygia. Since our hotel was out on the end of this island, we had to walk about 1.5 km from the train station on the mainland. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but the sky decided to open up as soon as we got off the train, and the downpour immediately transformed the old narrow streets into rushing rivers (see the video!) By the time we got to our hotel we, and everything in our bags, was soaked. Alas this is travel in the winter-even so we were still very glad to be in Italy where it was about 30F degrees warmer than DE. The next days in Siracusa were thankfully sunny and warm so we got to explore the fascinating ruins of the Roman and Greek amphitheaters.

After that we rented a cute little Fiat “Cinque Cento” and drove along the south coast of Sicily with a stop in Agrigento and the Valley of the (Greek) Temples. Curt was in Athens recently but I have never seen any Greek ruins, so it was quite humbling to be standing under these gigantic structures that are so significant and unbelievably old. We wish we could’ve spent more time there, but we had to keep driving to our last destination, Castellammare del Golfo, which is on the northwest point of the island. It’s one of Sicily’s main beach resorts but being winter there weren’t any tourists around. The torrential rains and high winds also returned that night, so we didn’t get a true feel for the place-but I did get to enjoy some of the freshest and tastiest seafood ever.

Sicily really is such a gorgeous and historically rich place, and we only got to sample its beauty in the five days we were there. So we definitely want to go back during proper beach weather, especially to check out some of the outlying Aeolian Islands, where snorkeling in the warm, clear water is supposed to be fantastic.

For my 36th b-day we took a very fun, quick trip to Prague. It was a pretty, 4.5-hour drive northeast; cutting across the Romantic Road in upper Bavaria, then on a brand new stretch of autobahn into CZ. Only an hour after the (deserted) border and we were there; unbelievable! Not surprisingly, CZ looks a lot like DE, with the rolling hills and thick forests divided by little farms. But the architecture was the main difference: the houses were a little more rough and rustic in the country side, and there’s a noticeable increase in onion-domed churches. In Prague city there are endless gothic spires–and my favorite part–the lavish, wedding-cake baroque details. It was easy to see why Prague is known as the “Golden City of Spires.” We spent a day strolling the squares and climbing the hills of the city with the dogs, enjoying the last hours of pleasant Fall weather. Later that night we actually had Mexican food, which sounds crazy but since Czech cuisine is pretty similar to German (which we get a bit tired of,) whenever we go to big cities we often end up eating ethnic: sushi, vietnamese…whatever we can get outside of our little corner of Swabia. The next day–my actual b-day–we drove back home and along the way stopped in the town of Plzen, or more familiar to our beer-drinking buddies, Pilsen. The biggest draw-and employer-in the quiet, industrial town is of course the Plzensky Prazdroj brewery, whose most famous product is Pilsner Urquell. We didn’t have time for the big tour and just had lunch in their big bier hall, but the historic cellars and brewing antiques of the place definitely require a special trip back…maybe combined with a Czech spa town tour Aside from seeing Prague, Curt’s other ‘gift’ to me was letting me enjoy all the beer while he drove all the way back to DE. Yipee!!

The last week of September we met up with our good friends, Erin and Steve, in France. We picked them up in Colmar, Alsace on the way down to Burgundy. It was so good to see them and catch up on life and the Seattle news since we moved away last November. The four of us (+ 2 dogs) stayed in Beaune for two nights and fully enjoyed the Borgogne food, wine and the gorgeous vineyards at harvest time. We then parted ways: Crosiers heading to the French alps, Piemonte and Italian riviera–Curt and I heading south to Provence. Everything you’ve heard about the Provencal warm sunshine and delicious food (olives–yum!) is true; the whole region bathes in a sunny, yellow-orange glow. We stayed a night in Avignon and saw the impressive palace on the Rhone the Popes once occupied in the 14th century. Then the next day we visited limestone cliff-top Les Baux, had lunch in Aix-en-Provence, and stayed a night in a village near Cannes famous for its parfum, Grasse. After that we headed inland a bit, along hours of very windy Alpes-Maritimes roads, to see the biggest canyon in Europe–the Gorges du Verdun. Once that was conquered we were coast-bound: a quick drive-by of Saint-Tropez (no parking unless you’re a yacht!) and then the Cote d’Azur around to Nice and our much anticipated destination, the beautiful harbor village of Villefranche-sur-Mer (thanks to Erin for discovering this little slice of heaven!) We spent four relaxing beach days in Villefranche, and on the last night reunited with Erin and Steve to live it up one last time before they headed home to the States–in which an Amsterdam layover apparently proved especially blissful for Steve…But I digress…Curt and I closed our trip with one last sunny drive along the Med, stopping in Monte Carlo for a stroll (yes, it’s as over-the-top-opulent as you’ve imagined) and then into Italy. Once we hit Genoa we headed inland toward Milan, which given its insane traffic we luckily bypassed for a town about 15 miles northeast called Monza. This is where frog design has their Italian office, so we stayed a couple nights and had the chance to meet our friendly southern counterparts. Italy is always good to us; we have not been to a country yet that can match the food (specifically veg for Curt) or the wine. But trust me, we will continue our quest

In mid-September we met up with Curt’s aunt and uncle from Ohio, at the end of their big tour through the Austrian and Swiss alps. The weekend was a bit chilly and overcast but dry enough to enjoy some long strolls through downtown Zurich–along the Limmat river, a pretty sight any time of year, and then a relaxing cruise on the Zurich See (lake.) On the way home Curt and I stopped in Liechtenstein, which I must say was somewhat of a disappointment. We only saw the town of Valduz so maybe the rest of the tiny country has more to offer. Regardless, it was so nice to spend some time with family, especially because we hadn’t seen Boyd and Virginia since summer ‘07. If we could bring our family and friends over whenever we wanted, then living in Europe might actually be perfect.

It’s been an embarassingly long time since our last post but we’ve both been working hard and studying our German over the last couple of months. And other than exploring Tübingen and Stuttgart’s restaurant and bar scenes, we haven’t done any major traveling to blog about.

But in mid-April we finally took a well-deserved trip to Italy, with a stopover in Zurich on the way down. Click here to see albums from both CH and IT. In Italy we rented an apartment in the Le Marche region of the Adriatic coast. It was in a tiny town called Monterado, about 15 mins inland from the beach resort of Senigallia. We had heard that Le Marche is “the new Tuscsany” and that most tourists don’t even know about it yet. We discovered that is still very true as we were literally the only foreigners in most cities we went to, with the exception of Assisi and Perugia (but that’s because people already know about Umbria)

It was a very relaxing week as we could just sit back and take in the Italian culture…and food and wine…lots of it! The dogs came along and had a blast running on the beaches and hiking in the Sibillini mountains with us. On the drive home we stayed one night in Verona, which is now one of our favorite cities. It’s known as “little Roma”–colloseum ruins with cosmopolitan atmosphere; We really enjoyed the place and will definitely be going back soon (sans pooches:)

This is the Bodensee-or in english, Lake Constance. When it’s not freezing and windy in the winter, it serves as Germany’s major, mediterranean-like, summer destination. Geographically, it’s pretty interesting because it’s bordered by Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We took this pic from the German/north side and you can see the Alps on the Swiss/south side. A summer wine-tasting trip is definitely in store–plus we found out recently that our wedding rings were made here (!) so we’d like to go down and visit the jeweler sometime for sure.

Last Sunday the weather miraculously turned to a sunny 67 degrees F. It’s only February, people! Whatever, after living in Seattle for five years I have sworn not to question nice weather ever, ever again. So we made the most of it and went on a leisurely bike ride up to the neighboring village of Bebenhausen. (Side note: Since Curt and I are silly dorks, up until this point this town was merely a running joke for us: Every time we drove by we would say in our best Wayne’s World voice, “Dude, do all the babes live in Bebenhausen?” Yes, we really are that mature:) But seriously, we had heard from a few people that it was a nicely preserved medievel Schönbuch village with an amazing church and cloister, so we really felt like we needed to check it out. Well, plus I had two free tickets for the cloister from Tübingen city hall’s foreigner office—I guess they feel like they need to show us “auslanders” where to go to absorb the German culture! It was a great day; After this cold winter, my first ever really, it was so nice to be in the warm sun wandering through the cobblestoned streets of Bebenhausen (umm, note to cyclists who are newbies like me: be careful walking on old hilly streets in your clipless shoes!) The village is pretty tiny but it does have an impressive gothic church with some very well-preserved artifacts from when the monks were the only inhabitants.
I am sad to say, however, that after an exhaustive search we came to the conclusion that there are no Babes in Bebenhausen.

Well, We finally took the train to Paris on the last weekend we could use our railpass. We had some difficulty with the local Tübingen D-Bahn office, seems they don’t know how to book the TGV (the fast train) that leaves from the BIG city (ie. Stuttgart). Jamie finally had to go to the office in Stuttgart to do this, but that whole rant is a another [post that I’m sure Jamie would just love to re-live…

Yes, Paris, City of Lights, Romance and Poets. I had high expectations as this was to be my first trip to this legendary city. After watching Ratatouille I figured I had acquired enough knowledge about the local customs navigate the intricacies of French Cuisine so, Loney Planet Guide in hand, we stepped abroad the TGV at Stuttgart station and nestled into cozy First Class seats.The train is half the fun, once you get into the straight-a-ways areas of the French Plateau that sucker gets up to about 180 mph. They also include a nice boxed lunch (or brekkie) with your ticket, and there’s nothing like cruising along at high speed with a little food and wine to pass the time. With the new service it’s only 3.5 hours from Stuttgart to Paris and it’s much better than flying.

Suffice to say Paris wasn’t exactly how I pictured it in both good and bad ways. I really took about a day to get in the rhythm and the city and find our way around. It really is a beautiful place - even when it’s about 4o degrees F out. Wide streets, many places to wander and eat, great coffee, and the Eiffel Tower is actually WAY bigger than you would think from photos..

We had to do the tower to check it off the list but it really was fun. We had a sunny day so we did the stairs up to the second level then took the lift the rest of the way (it’s the only option). I have to say I really don’t care for heights and the last bit of steps was a little freaky but the view from the top was well worth the effort and line-waiting that we had to do to get there (travelers tip: go during the week if you can, the lines are supposed to be much shorter, esp. on a Wednesday).

I could write more but the picts say it better and faster. Just go, Paris really is a great place. Can’t wait to go back very soon. When it’s warm.

Have a look at our picts here.

And also for your viewing pleasure, is a video of Jamie getting her own freak on in the elevator on the way down. I like the lift, Jamie not so much:

Earlier this month we had a really fun weekend in Munich, using a couple more days on our now-expired (sigh) Eurail pass. It was a 35-minute train ride from Tübingen to Plochingen and then we boarded the 1.5-hour IC to Munich. The most amusing part of the journey was our run-in with a fasching (carnaval) witch club of sorts. It was only 9am and the whole gang were already in their bizarre costumes, booze-in-hand, looking ready for a serious party/parade to ward off the evil spirits of winter. The rest of the trip was a blast: Munich is one of our favorite cities, so beautiful and full of style and character. Of course we had to include a visit to the world-famous Hofbräuhaus which is why you’ll see us with liters of beer in front of our faces. Too much fun, despite the headache the next day. Click here to see all the pics.

When our car arrived a couple weeks ago we couldn’t wait to hit the road for a day trip. And ironically our first go behind the wheel in Germany was a drive to…France. Mon dieu! We decided to take what turned out to be a pretty windy, yet really scenic, route across the northern black forest. And once we emerged from that unscathed (safe from all the cuckoo clocks and witches!) we crossed the Rhine and we were in Strasbourg—a city of both German and French speakers and confusing bilingual billboards. It’s a place we’ve really been wanting to see, but since we were a little short on time and had the pooches in tow, we just cruised through the downtown (completely missing the historic pedestrian altstadt ‘island’.) However during our 30 mins of sightseeing, we did manage to get this drive-by shot of their super-cool, newly-face-lifted train station, the Gare de Strasbourg. Then we opted for the uber-fast route back home, which was a practically-no-speed-limit autobahn ALL the way. Good thing I trust Curt’s uber-keen driving skills.