tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255041816581442282024-03-14T04:33:38.804-07:00Anna and Sasha in Marburg: a tale of castles and sausagesAnna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-42645957669061353142015-06-21T01:33:00.000-07:002015-06-21T01:33:22.141-07:00commemorating failureHi Friends!<br />
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So I'm thinking about all the adventures Sasha and I have been on over the past 3 years (almost) here in Europe, and I am realizing how much we haven't told you about. That's fine; we wouldn't want to make you too jealous, and it's more fun to have adventures than to write about them. But I decided it would be fun to make a short post with snippets from various trips that share a common theme. Failure.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPbptxDEVt3OMPD_U2tsJN97YXxCGb4in_Yc1AEmTRVsM2vF6xZ_xN4PEzMtXWss4DzYRLNcXmfLiyod3UsJdOFaxu-wiRkvFVrNw1fH61HcXAJk0P7sn0U6P34HrX-GijjIEICYid3TV/s1600/monument+A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPbptxDEVt3OMPD_U2tsJN97YXxCGb4in_Yc1AEmTRVsM2vF6xZ_xN4PEzMtXWss4DzYRLNcXmfLiyod3UsJdOFaxu-wiRkvFVrNw1fH61HcXAJk0P7sn0U6P34HrX-GijjIEICYid3TV/s320/monument+A.jpg" width="240" /></a>The first one is a monument close to our house. It is a memorial to a guy who accidentally was killed while hunting because he mis-loaded his gun. I know, it's pretty tragic, actually. It just strikes me as a bit funny, though, that all the other big stone memorials and such around here are to saints or famous dudes who were local rulers (or their wives) or Nobel prize winners, etc., and as far as I can tell, the only claim to fame of this guy was his unfortunate demise. I'm sorry for ya, Konrad, really I am.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjih2r5hZLn7NRhWG2Ky5bMdAb-FLLQkjlBp0g_lMePiqzDU7Y4xIsJo1zVANnvz4a_-NepvkfWlSp5uXs9yIkzyEGunl-RLcD-pX_eIgrddPVBVGlbUyXl66MT44oOgW4Ghw5BLV0aZFVk/s1600/monument+B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjih2r5hZLn7NRhWG2Ky5bMdAb-FLLQkjlBp0g_lMePiqzDU7Y4xIsJo1zVANnvz4a_-NepvkfWlSp5uXs9yIkzyEGunl-RLcD-pX_eIgrddPVBVGlbUyXl66MT44oOgW4Ghw5BLV0aZFVk/s320/monument+B.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Here Konrad Diffmar from Wehrda died suddenly from his own misloading of a hunting rifle on the 3rd of January, 1979."</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEGKEXSansPXR4QYzsgepIoBTgQNUDi3kTmSNAQrFJ6U_BtuI_fcAb8AgAChxeHoUR93Ubxna-enEmv-QiUYkQHFnXrZro4qGq68FeCSnmlQHUxXi3gv2hEW1TqDgYfGuUOtq9qSp9gu4/s1600/IMG_9236.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEGKEXSansPXR4QYzsgepIoBTgQNUDi3kTmSNAQrFJ6U_BtuI_fcAb8AgAChxeHoUR93Ubxna-enEmv-QiUYkQHFnXrZro4qGq68FeCSnmlQHUxXi3gv2hEW1TqDgYfGuUOtq9qSp9gu4/s320/IMG_9236.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Vasa; ancient boat, modern rigging</td></tr>
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The second is much more impressive; so much so that there's an entire museum built around it, and it was one of the highlights of our trip to meet up with my parents in Stockholm, Sweden, in the summer of 2013. The Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a warship built in the 1600s that sank almost immediately on its maiden voyage. Oops. As far as we could tell, the king Gustavus Adolphus decided that he wanted a taller boat about half-way through construction, and the boat builders said "OK king, will do" but then the lower row of cannon ports was too close to the waterline, so when the ship leaned over, as sailboats are wont to do, it quickly filled with water and sank. Luckily, though, it sank in brackish water instead of the open ocean, which meant that instead of instantly being eaten by ship worms, the boat remained mostly intact for 300 or so years, when it was found by archaeologists, and was raised up off the seafloor in one piece, and was quickly treated with a polymer that prevents the wood from decaying too quickly, and they built an entire (highly climate controlled) museum around the boat. It's really impressive how much of the detail is left of the carvings and such, so although the boat might have been a failure, the museum is pretty awesome, and the boat is quite a feat of conservation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_tT4C4JAs6qnngPKzOKUqMULcuyAB_i9a6f5MnRYRIuxJER9ae1SY04tpEPdsO5lmlVXEPKPi1WhEkd6KUWjI15wgrdEv0EUNJn2SQweGSokLIyy86xFW0kJgJzE6YJhMXju-5DYXmdCh/s1600/IMG_9187.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_tT4C4JAs6qnngPKzOKUqMULcuyAB_i9a6f5MnRYRIuxJER9ae1SY04tpEPdsO5lmlVXEPKPi1WhEkd6KUWjI15wgrdEv0EUNJn2SQweGSokLIyy86xFW0kJgJzE6YJhMXju-5DYXmdCh/s320/IMG_9187.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intricate carvings on the ill-fated cannon ports</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwBWpil6ZGF7HJtK-hRCKWkMpCyMuZ93n5Jl2x6WCe8_kC28BCig_Q2sRaAImkaleRFe9lRo7BJx53WvpY1l6ZGqQ2U86S-DyaNRaUI47AO6eFDp6prbRa8pEL_c9YlVuLnl6z8LwqnLW/s1600/IMG_9181.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwBWpil6ZGF7HJtK-hRCKWkMpCyMuZ93n5Jl2x6WCe8_kC28BCig_Q2sRaAImkaleRFe9lRo7BJx53WvpY1l6ZGqQ2U86S-DyaNRaUI47AO6eFDp6prbRa8pEL_c9YlVuLnl6z8LwqnLW/s320/IMG_9181.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat-building failure, conservation success, and pretty darn cool as a thing to visit</td></tr>
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The third is much more tragic; the Maginot line. Between the world wars, France built a series of fortifications along its border with Germany, to prevent another German invasion. Which totally failed because the Germans just went around it by attacking through Belgium. Oops. I guess it may have stopped a massive frontal assault over that border, but it was eventually attacked and overrun. We went to an old casement turned into a memorial and museum on our way back from Switzerland this past spring. I'm not a historian, and can't tell you all the details about the battles and the war, and I can't even really speculate about what France should have done to repel attack. It has got to be pretty hard with such a flat, long border. And (in terms of preventing the invasion via Belgium) deciding whether or not to build defenses along a border with an ally/non-aggressor. But once again, my opinion was only reinforced that war is a stupid waste of lives and resources.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0loLDfZzCWpsLpzYUV4_5cMFo3ZgyNi4GOfW9CJrITE_kYlaA3K1eURmsbHwDvmvpLQEx2bObndEn1NEj_CK5EZV6CS0IqTavHTb4Zk2EbJrDfYqfDL9dqGMGVp1IjJ8jmFZKeWhsgENa/s1600/maginot+A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0loLDfZzCWpsLpzYUV4_5cMFo3ZgyNi4GOfW9CJrITE_kYlaA3K1eURmsbHwDvmvpLQEx2bObndEn1NEj_CK5EZV6CS0IqTavHTb4Zk2EbJrDfYqfDL9dqGMGVp1IjJ8jmFZKeWhsgENa/s320/maginot+A.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why not invest a lot of infrastructure, manpower and resources defending a long, flat, easily circumvented border? Casemate turned museum.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwiv76ViKljSE5fkJZ_aeWzKQ2Ountxo8BTxLNAyLNhVlZUIAVp1KW7Jg3XqsA1Lh0voZG_8NlLwU0zzmNs-MAYRocaaagvXaB0yipdSSSHKKu9jv9KHTPjxJIGN0TRVd_sRb4ZSoxfbeZ/s1600/maginot+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwiv76ViKljSE5fkJZ_aeWzKQ2Ountxo8BTxLNAyLNhVlZUIAVp1KW7Jg3XqsA1Lh0voZG_8NlLwU0zzmNs-MAYRocaaagvXaB0yipdSSSHKKu9jv9KHTPjxJIGN0TRVd_sRb4ZSoxfbeZ/s320/maginot+b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But let me be honest, war is a stupid waste of resources and lives; as far as I'm concerned, all wars can go on the list of failures...because even if one side enters for "just" reasons, wouldn't it be better if they hadn't have to?</td></tr>
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But, I'm not sure what we should take from these things. Maybe that while we all strive to succeed, if you fail spectacularly enough, you can still be remembered for it?Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-52875972112310411622015-06-21T01:18:00.003-07:002015-06-21T01:18:45.017-07:00Switzerland<br />
Easter is a four-day holiday weekend here in Germany, and we decided to travel for Easter this year. We rented a car and drove down to the Jungfrau valley in Switzerland. I had been there in 2002 when my parents came to visit while I was working in Germany for the summer, and had liked it so much I wanted to show it to Sasha.<br />
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We rented a car and drove down. We rented a small "vacation apartment" Which turned out to be a room with a refrigerator and hot plate and a bathroom in the basement/first floor of an old farmhouse. It wasn't quite what I expected, but was in a good location, and our host was very nice.<br />
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We drove down on Friday, and didn't have time to do much besides cook ourselves dinner. It was pretty cloudy, so while we could see some of the mountains, it wasn't particularly spectacular. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosti</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQKrTIUZ94EqznM1a1FlBafY3syLOmaHM0hY3JBX5jymzeljSYksDnJeiyC-d8g3uDv5FRcjV_Bn_CLb05_Y0gsMKAR7GUxQyyTPVFQ6Ydd5GzuzxizxyKVMPT-WQKMk4K6NekCp7mx50/s1600/IMG_6298.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQKrTIUZ94EqznM1a1FlBafY3syLOmaHM0hY3JBX5jymzeljSYksDnJeiyC-d8g3uDv5FRcjV_Bn_CLb05_Y0gsMKAR7GUxQyyTPVFQ6Ydd5GzuzxizxyKVMPT-WQKMk4K6NekCp7mx50/s320/IMG_6298.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild chamois</td></tr>
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Saturday, we woke up to clouds and a forecast of rain, and just as we were about to set out to do a hike or something, it started really raining, so we changed plans and instead of driving up into the mountains, we drove around one of the lakes in the area, the Brienzersee, got tasty treats from a bakery in Brienz, tried to bird along the lake (well, I guess we did bird along the lake, there just weren't many birds to see) then drove up somewhat aimlessly, trying to stay below the cloud line, following a cute looking road that led to a cute little restaurant where we ate<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">Rösti</span> for lu</span>nch (a traditional Swiss dish of pa<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n-fried roasted potatoes, often covered with tasty things like cheese and bacon and egg), and just happened to pick a time when there was a large herd of wild chamois goats grazing in the yard (they aren't something you see every day). Then after lunch, we went for a hike to a pretty waterfall, the <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">Giessbachfälle, which we hadn't heard of, but decided to follow the random signs pointing to a waterfall. Rather than one tall falls, it was a series of shorter cascades, so we had fun hiking up a fair ways, trying to see how much of it we could see (after a while, the trail veered away from the water, so we decided to press on instead of getting all the way to the local maximum). On the other side of the lake from the waterfall, there was a cool old church with a ruined castle in the town of Ringgenberg, and since we like castles, of course we had to go investigate. Although I'll admit I was too cold and wet at that point to get as excited about it as it deserved (and thus can't tell you all of the interesting historical facts on the signs, because I didn't want to stand around long enough to read them). We went into Interlaken for dinner, and ate Thai food, which is something we can't really get in Marburg. It was OK, although the sticker shock of paying about $20 for a plate of Pad Thai that is about take-out food quality is rather drastic. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Giessbachfälle</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what happens if you eat too many rosti!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">Sunday was Easter, and we decided to go to church in the town of Lauterbrunnen, since we wanted to hike into the mountains above Lauterbrunnen after the service. Yeah, the service was in Swiss German, and although my "high German" comprehension is pretty good, Swiss German is basically another language, and I could barely understand a word of the readings or sermon. But it sounds vaguely like I -should- be able to understand, so that was kind of frustrating. I guess I know how Sasha feels now since I drag him to all sorts of things in German, and especially at the beginning, he couldn't really understand most of what was being said. We did, however, get chocolate bunnies after church, and they were very tasty. To go for a hike, we decided to take a cable car up instead of hiking up from the valley floor, and it was bizarre to go from spring down on the valley floor to winter higher up; we were walking on a packed snow path, and it was actively snowing for much of our hike. We stopped for another </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">Rösti lunch, but cooked dinner in our apartment to save a bit of money. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring in the valley....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodKj2nBDJkyLR_SFal4p50MkB2YIAzFp77vWnc6tRNPxLW3W7y34kZ4ngHFjimWQJpx-yH0nmQci7kEI7i1C0xx6zv43T8sMZxBrYqFs4b-BmHXqfSP_jC6AP4BYsFQ54AAqWJcsNL0wB/s1600/IMG_6368.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodKj2nBDJkyLR_SFal4p50MkB2YIAzFp77vWnc6tRNPxLW3W7y34kZ4ngHFjimWQJpx-yH0nmQci7kEI7i1C0xx6zv43T8sMZxBrYqFs4b-BmHXqfSP_jC6AP4BYsFQ54AAqWJcsNL0wB/s320/IMG_6368.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...winter up on the mountain!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And friendly sheep (unless I just smelled like food...)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiekOZCSnHFr-PPEDIQXDe6QswTQFxWTIUDh8kNLsXa3NH7DU_e34edsO40aGzR3lQoQcRZ986XvOJwIWjJfeErFPHl2WjtD2Hc2hiXxsOFlec28hPSzrM43Y9q-3bb6I3Crbg5hA_U30td/s1600/IMG_6452.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiekOZCSnHFr-PPEDIQXDe6QswTQFxWTIUDh8kNLsXa3NH7DU_e34edsO40aGzR3lQoQcRZ986XvOJwIWjJfeErFPHl2WjtD2Hc2hiXxsOFlec28hPSzrM43Y9q-3bb6I3Crbg5hA_U30td/s320/IMG_6452.JPG_comp.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">Monday morning was bright and sunny, so we changed our plans and instead of hitting the road right away, drove back up into the mountains. We took the train up to Kleine Scheidegg. Most of the other people were skiing, and after the fresh powder the day before and overnight, it was pretty appealing, but alas, no downhill skiing for us this trip... we contented ourselves with a bit of walking and a lot of picture taking, and I got a wood-fired pizza to eat on the train down, and it was delicious.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgtNcdAFHmNFTtVRAtSB8LkQZmkNd2rty5KP8209AEdlX55lamXR9ehiB4Nt71M_7tCKf1UCh4iMmgWPhyXMopZWC6unc4N-vZFZ6aqmUi9Avam727jRoO31EdJk44rUC7qn77ywiy6cR/s1600/IMG_6457.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgtNcdAFHmNFTtVRAtSB8LkQZmkNd2rty5KP8209AEdlX55lamXR9ehiB4Nt71M_7tCKf1UCh4iMmgWPhyXMopZWC6unc4N-vZFZ6aqmUi9Avam727jRoO31EdJk44rUC7qn77ywiy6cR/s320/IMG_6457.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wow, those are pretty mountains!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTflVRvjKBphz-mv1829m7vg7LiMnUHsjjG8MIt6voqNLIZUkhUcEDaw9H_WEZ1u4MlD-j4wH-Qzo14ua7eEbpSUIZD4WJIqyvdrNJJrXtxF9EaMf5BJLuV8UL4dvdwFmpBTtjx0AWbQIv/s1600/IMG_6464.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTflVRvjKBphz-mv1829m7vg7LiMnUHsjjG8MIt6voqNLIZUkhUcEDaw9H_WEZ1u4MlD-j4wH-Qzo14ua7eEbpSUIZD4WJIqyvdrNJJrXtxF9EaMf5BJLuV8UL4dvdwFmpBTtjx0AWbQIv/s320/IMG_6464.JPG_comp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood-fired pizza on the train ride down!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">We had a long drive ahead of us, so didn't stay up in the mountains as long as we might have wanted, but also we decided to make a few tourist stops on the way home to break up the drive and keep our legs and such from cramping up.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMDAxTKtS10EhcpJLsAPIKqLWtNNQqBhfjIT3XhTonjDPWFFGKQzCMqX26IcA3avXkSAqS_cyQCASgD7HVZ9CArOVX2AJT6atUXTUSkTxU8Twp8hsvey6L7jioNwFT3Hsymk6QQod3pml/s1600/lucerne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMDAxTKtS10EhcpJLsAPIKqLWtNNQqBhfjIT3XhTonjDPWFFGKQzCMqX26IcA3avXkSAqS_cyQCASgD7HVZ9CArOVX2AJT6atUXTUSkTxU8Twp8hsvey6L7jioNwFT3Hsymk6QQod3pml/s320/lucerne.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">The first bit of the drive was pretty, at least the bits of it that weren't in tunnels (although there are a LOT of tunnels in Switzerland). The first stop was Lucerne/Luzern. It looks like a pretty cute town, but we limited our stop time in order to keep from getting home too late. The most famous landmark in Lucerne is the "</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;">Kapellbrücke"; an "old" covered bridge with paintings in the rafters. I say "Old" because although the bridge was first build in the 17th century, it was seriously burned in a fire in the early 90s, and so is mostly a re-creation. It is funny, actually, because there are 2 old covered bridges, and we saw the 2nd and less famous one first, but didn't realize it wasn't the </span></span>Kapellbrücke until we went a bit further in our quest to stretch the legs, and saw another, longer bridge. We also got some really delicious gelato before hitting the road again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0R6zPdZttikwOgC0sTwLsvjj4maP4asqhTk8nn8PYjIkTOmr6u768Si6F7AuXZwO-mOYrzw9PspQS6M3innTF0lwnJBJ0cimQmqDMBk-t4eoiHdTTQKHR5JicYGh6slSrPTFGc06IWNhe/s1600/bridge+painting+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0R6zPdZttikwOgC0sTwLsvjj4maP4asqhTk8nn8PYjIkTOmr6u768Si6F7AuXZwO-mOYrzw9PspQS6M3innTF0lwnJBJ0cimQmqDMBk-t4eoiHdTTQKHR5JicYGh6slSrPTFGc06IWNhe/s320/bridge+painting+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting on the 2nd bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIP80BpDK9nmek-8UqRxZEtcUYO-qbx-tuy4r_7QW_w8Zr8-p23Cw2COMQayymd0Ix24TtRF0CI1Ma2t6B1VvC5YC901RpOb_nO4bcln3fLFxSQea1UwG_w8_bn8f6ZjhSjOriKjQC1n1g/s1600/capellabrucke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIP80BpDK9nmek-8UqRxZEtcUYO-qbx-tuy4r_7QW_w8Zr8-p23Cw2COMQayymd0Ix24TtRF0CI1Ma2t6B1VvC5YC901RpOb_nO4bcln3fLFxSQea1UwG_w8_bn8f6ZjhSjOriKjQC1n1g/s320/capellabrucke.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Re-built Kapellebruecke</td></tr>
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Our next stop was a memorial/museum commemorating the Maginot Line, in France, in Marckolsheim. I'm going to talk about it more in another post, because this one is getting long.<br />
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After that, we just stopped one more time for dinner. Breaking up the drive made it much, much better. But, all-in-all, although the weather could have been kinder, we had a nice Easter weekend in Switzerland, and Sasha can add another country to his list.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #252525; line-height: 22px;"> </span> </span>Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-21794742290586367222015-05-14T04:54:00.000-07:002015-05-14T04:54:02.092-07:00crazy louie's castlesHello family and friends! We are very behind on blogging about all of our adventures, so here is a report about a trip we made in February to Southern Germany. I'll see about writing about our more recent trips to Switzerland for Easter and the Netherlands for the weekend later.<br />
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As you doubtless know, we are a bit (OK, or more than a bit) castle obsessed, so you might be surprised it has taken us this long to get to the most famous castles in Germany. And, because they are down in the German Alps, we combined some castle visiting with a cross country ski weekend; both castles and skiing were pretty awesome.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEN9hyphenhyphenYG7z2F9eSr4pq22pg_bu1LjP8sdcoLrWPUIVwnCcVyuzt44bVz2T5yk1WPBCZeZQz2yZk8RY97GE7YOGM1bBa5HX0Bij2RTONGCzAn0wXPLxQ5hwtQ5mfYjIFtsoec4kfkBnOSsM/s1600/Anna+skiing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEN9hyphenhyphenYG7z2F9eSr4pq22pg_bu1LjP8sdcoLrWPUIVwnCcVyuzt44bVz2T5yk1WPBCZeZQz2yZk8RY97GE7YOGM1bBa5HX0Bij2RTONGCzAn0wXPLxQ5hwtQ5mfYjIFtsoec4kfkBnOSsM/s320/Anna+skiing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skiing!! On snow!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYFyyOBHrfgnS5d-1ObOPeRPyMPA27d6tf4RmCUleGb9YRydvZB1IwgQA33Ws2oCwiPlf__IqaN9a9WttpFauigfKvSGyokZ6FPXf2I93_cZTdTeKcFQKSU6SRAtmPUIWYK05mLDBdzIi/s1600/oberammergau+painted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYFyyOBHrfgnS5d-1ObOPeRPyMPA27d6tf4RmCUleGb9YRydvZB1IwgQA33Ws2oCwiPlf__IqaN9a9WttpFauigfKvSGyokZ6FPXf2I93_cZTdTeKcFQKSU6SRAtmPUIWYK05mLDBdzIi/s320/oberammergau+painted.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the mural covered buildings in Oberammergau</td></tr>
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We went to the town Oberammergau, which is most famous for having hosted a passion play every 10 years since 1634 in honor of having been spared from the plague, and also known for having adorable painted buildings in the town center. I knew about it as a ski destination because the town holds a big ski race in early February every year, so I knew that they had to have a decent number of kilometers of ski trails. I'm not going to lie; Ramsau, Austria has way better skiing (we went there 2 years ago, if you remember) with more varied and longer and harder trails, but Oberammergau is significantly closer to Marburg, and for gestational reasons (and low fitness) I was OK this year with fewer, easier trails, and a town center with good touristing. What I hadn't realized is that besides the dozen loops in the Ammer valley itself (the Ammer is a river, and the one that gives Oberammergau and its neighbor Unterammergau their names), tons of towns in the area have short ski loops in the fields and such, and as far as we could tell, you don't need to buy passes for any of them. It doesn't look like every network is very extensive, although most of the various trails near Oberammergau itself are connected, so you could get a fairly long ski in if you are in shape and the conditions are fast, although neither of those were true for me this trip. We stopped on Friday to ski in Bad Bayersoien, which is in the Ammer valley itself and looked like the trailhead access would be easier from the trail map I found on-line. The trails there loop around a little pond, and although there were a fair number of road crossings, there were also some lovely stretches of trail in the woods and although the snow was very warm and wet and sloppy and slow, it was really great to be on skis again. When the sun started going down, we headed on to check into our hotel (Pension Zwink, which was inexpensive and very nice with friendly hosts, if you don't mind the occasional crucifix...say, directly over your bed) and then went out for dinner with friends Nuria and Marek who had joined us for the weekend, although they didn't join us for the skiing parts.<br />
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Saturday, we decided that things had re-frozen overnight and were going to be icy, so we wandered around town for a few hours, shopping, before going skiing to let things soften up a bit and get a bit safer. We found some really cute things, including a small wood carving, for which the region is famous, and a traditional Bavarian men's hat that looks good on Sasha and coincidentally also fits me. We grabbed sandwiches and pretzels from a bakery to eat for lunch, then drove down to a trailhead near Ettal, so that we could ski to a castle, which we then did. Now, this isn't our usual "two rocks on top of each other that you can envision once was part of a castle if you squint"; rather, this was Schloss Linderhof, one of the famous castles of Crazy Louie himself. OK, we have started calling him that because it is more fun than saying "<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">König
Ludwig II of Bayern</span>" every time we want to talk about him. Anyway, he was born in 1845, and pretty quickly after he became king, Bavaria became part of the German empire and he effectively didn't need to govern so spent his time and his money (and then some more money that he didn't have) building 3 elaborate castles around Bavaria, because after visiting Versailles, he decided that Bavaria needed more castles. At some point, the people around him realized that he was pushing the monarchy into insolvency, they decided that the best way to reign him in was to get him declared insane, and shortly thereafter he drowned under mysterious circumstances. The castles then quickly became tourist attractions, in an attempt to recoup some of the losses of their construction.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't you agree, that's a stylish hat for Sasha!</td></tr>
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Financial issues aside, in the end, I think Ludwig did Bavaria a great service, because those castles are awesome, and help bring tons of tourists and money to the area. Linderhof is the smallest of the castles, and since we didn't feel comfortable touring it in ski boots or leaving our skis and poles sitting around outside, we just looked at it from the outside and stopped at a small cafe for cocoa and apple strudel. The gardens are supposed to be lovely, but everything was in hibernation for the winter. We thought it looked like the fountains or statues or planters were in little outhouses...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6afq9DUszFiixo-a5msTzSkRtifM55BIw9gsm8TMd-OP_gUj1JdFdNPDA1sQok5jWkqvfaLVypyBvceNXN-uC7JmXSBZpMj6XtR_C1n5RLy4Xd-kcYFrwFq4zBoItmxFYWjBjN0086Yx/s1600/linderhof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6afq9DUszFiixo-a5msTzSkRtifM55BIw9gsm8TMd-OP_gUj1JdFdNPDA1sQok5jWkqvfaLVypyBvceNXN-uC7JmXSBZpMj6XtR_C1n5RLy4Xd-kcYFrwFq4zBoItmxFYWjBjN0086Yx/s320/linderhof.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hohenschwangau</td></tr>
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Sunday, we ended up going for a short ski because it was snowing, and I like skiing in fresh snow, although it was slow skiing, and I was too lazy to pick a kick wax so ended up skating, when classic would have been much more fun. Then we drove to Fussen to visit probable the famousest of all German castles; Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein is another of Crazy Louie's castles, and it is very impressive in size and position half-way up a big hill/mountain. It is overlooking another cool but less huge castle built by Ludwig's dad, Schloss Hohenschwangau. One thing to know about these castles is that they are NOT undiscovered. We're talking 1.5 million visitors a year, and up to 7000 or so people a day in the summer. We weren't there in high season, but never were out of sight of dozens of people (even when walking along a closed path for a good photo). Because of the wet fresh snow, the buses up to the castle weren't running, so we had to walk up to each of the castles, and this meant that we decided to skip the tour of Hohenschwangau, although we did walk up to admire it from the outside. <br />
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I have to say, from the outside, I was almost a bit disappointed with Neuschwanstein. Yes, it is huge, and with the towers and such, looks like an ideal castle. But it doesn't look "real" to me, it looks more Disney. And it's not just because this castle is one of the main influences for Disney's castles, it is also because it is so new and pale in color that it looks like it just was taken out of its castle box; the stonework is too crisp and perfect, which makes sense, I suppose, since it is less than 150 years old (a baby by castle standards) and was barely lived in. Only a handful of rooms were completed by the time that Ludwig died, and he stayed there I think something like 113 days total, and never with guests and musicians, etc. The inside, though, changed my opinions. Unfortunately (although not surprisingly given the number of tourists), we weren't allowed to photograph inside, but the walls are completely covered in murals and such, and there were plenty of fancy curtains and brocaded furniture for it to seem suitably palace-like.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9YvxEmvM4TpEKREdxrQB_KkwDgujXO7pkXnu4mvy-tpJMfO3pfQAv2JZiemAlejI4Cd5duE_dut9Keg-9BdXxdGFnaUxWECnlW8TO0ryhj7Rnm82KIqoRoBpJzDdW1P6B0ROQ3fjnybwI/s1600/neuschwanstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9YvxEmvM4TpEKREdxrQB_KkwDgujXO7pkXnu4mvy-tpJMfO3pfQAv2JZiemAlejI4Cd5duE_dut9Keg-9BdXxdGFnaUxWECnlW8TO0ryhj7Rnm82KIqoRoBpJzDdW1P6B0ROQ3fjnybwI/s320/neuschwanstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neuschwanstein (doesn't it look new and shiny?)</td></tr>
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But I still have to admit that my favorite thing was probably the freshly fried donut things we bought on the way up. Hot, covered in powdered sugar, with moist quark-rich dough... Yum!<br />
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</xml><![endif]-->Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-76494427588059027042015-01-14T10:02:00.000-08:002015-01-14T10:05:49.569-08:00Venice<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStMFPONFikMHTx55uCE-iXxDyvUK8GmGOQoaZvuv2xxx9ekCuIgLzZYKQ1dyn9JHMNJ66ciCVLPwZyf2vox4ouCqQKOXFUYwNsYEh4Qt6KgAA8-aZVQoSRbxZn2S7ic9t3hj1VuhSy2HG/s1600/fish+rialto+market.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStMFPONFikMHTx55uCE-iXxDyvUK8GmGOQoaZvuv2xxx9ekCuIgLzZYKQ1dyn9JHMNJ66ciCVLPwZyf2vox4ouCqQKOXFUYwNsYEh4Qt6KgAA8-aZVQoSRbxZn2S7ic9t3hj1VuhSy2HG/s1600/fish+rialto+market.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fish, Rialto Market</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">People have told me that you either love Venice or hate it. I don’t think that’s true; After spending 3-4 days there I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. Venice is a tremendously unusual place, so was totally worth a visit. On my birthday, after a night-train from Germany, we didn’t do anything particularly noteworthy, we just wandered around for a few hours, went to the Rialto market (it was my birthday, and looking at tasty food makes me happy), got lunch, then caught our train to the mountains. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After hiking, though, we had a much better chance to get to know the city. Chris went up to visit friends in Munich, but Chris and Ann joined us in Venice, because they definitely fall in the category of people who love Venice. Which may, actually, contribute to my own impressions of the city, for when you are with people who are excited about a place, it is easy to catch their excitement. I am, however, left with the feeling that Venice is largely a historical park remembering the times that were, and at times feels more like a tourist attraction on the scale of Disney land than a living, working city. But times change, the past is worth remembering, and as one of the hordes of tourists myself, I would be hypocritical to complain too much about tourism.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have to say, I can’t decide whether to admire or find crazy the people who decided to drive poles into the mud and to build paved walks and large houses and churches on mosquito-y swampy islands, where the roads are canals and the vehicles are boats, but it is a singular place, no doubt. It is strange to think about Renaissance Venice, where money was king, and it seems that sins of all sizes could be repaired by an appropriate donation to the church, and my feelings were definitely mixed while crammed into the front of a Vapporeti (basically the boat equivalent of a bus) motoring down the Grand Canal, looking into the windows and doors of beautiful, decaying, sinking mansions, and watching the chaotic, vaguely ordered movements of the gondolas of tourists, the delivery boats heading towards restaurants, the vapporetis and water taxis all trying to get past one another without being held up (or colliding) in the narrow waters. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3B7az2xAXFXH5oFlYljh0hyphenhyphen3Wwa6SnbSXkdEhD341iToiIH2B9Slehcud31li7fSWx9HsZaqbTsC3ggOfE0p-ecrmIctfAzoqKCJCXSSaYRi5ewnRV939o3Q0wbcErO42knLNjl9XTyO/s1600/venician+mansion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3B7az2xAXFXH5oFlYljh0hyphenhyphen3Wwa6SnbSXkdEhD341iToiIH2B9Slehcud31li7fSWx9HsZaqbTsC3ggOfE0p-ecrmIctfAzoqKCJCXSSaYRi5ewnRV939o3Q0wbcErO42knLNjl9XTyO/s1600/venician+mansion.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even in mansions that are being used and kept up, the changing water levels and the wake from the boats make the ground floors useless and largely abandoned.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We did a mix of the standard tourist things to do while visiting Venice (we toured the cathedral of St. Marco, the Doge’s palace and prisons, went to a museum chock full of paintings by famous Italians like Titian, and poked our noses in various other churches), things that are touristy but not what Everyone does (Chris and Ann and I went out to the islands of Torcello, Murano, and Burano to look at an old Romanesque church, glass makers and sellers, and colorful houses, respectively) and then things that fewer people do, but were still totally worth it (we actually bought seafood and vegetables at the Rialto market to cook in our Air BnB apartment, and we took a kayak tour). But really, some of what is memorable about Venice for us was just wandering around in the evening after all of the shops had closed and all of the day tourists had gone home, just trying to get from point A to point B (which is not easy with all the canals and dead-ends) and finding cute little squares and bridges and shrines on the walls, and just feeling the history at every step.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUE9vlI4RwedAqdQxQ03TzxEuNm8rgg7sNfntOG-15lRv686_O7Wrjdc-gSb4O6iPB0CazWg7uv1sbmx8etjw5ILVployePHh78_CtEgjlnIyXk99hsyd-mjucPbHTpE72i7uY67yORWfx/s1600/ruins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUE9vlI4RwedAqdQxQ03TzxEuNm8rgg7sNfntOG-15lRv686_O7Wrjdc-gSb4O6iPB0CazWg7uv1sbmx8etjw5ILVployePHh78_CtEgjlnIyXk99hsyd-mjucPbHTpE72i7uY67yORWfx/s1600/ruins.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Venetian lagoon is actually full of tons of islands; many small, and very few are still inhabited, although many show signs of human use at one time or another. Some were used as quarantine islands during plague years, others more recently than that.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpCN9DHkMEekLoag3qeFHlYYAMUT08vUa8TWLuCVJV-1QuyUe8LV6SG6eaf5DgxJ29wNgIlhBdQTVeUU9Ju2lGGR_s6iSoMJ_ewNbu49H_L4jqWbtbFqNEVv5ZCbilxmjSpatIRTaGPkd/s1600/burano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpCN9DHkMEekLoag3qeFHlYYAMUT08vUa8TWLuCVJV-1QuyUe8LV6SG6eaf5DgxJ29wNgIlhBdQTVeUU9Ju2lGGR_s6iSoMJ_ewNbu49H_L4jqWbtbFqNEVv5ZCbilxmjSpatIRTaGPkd/s1600/burano.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Colorful houses on Burano, traditionally known for lacemaking, although few people still hand-make lace there.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqsMBANnaPkRD_XhbCP5Tij9NL7KPEm5xuWI5JdMcG1H5OyxiNbDCbY7A4IuwkmNYB4AbQZHMo5O4q5eQWqySBVtDdILWo-3u_OVcBFbxxfYoTKHA4KGCNwWmn4AaH9kh0WNgMw9V6e7s/s1600/public+art+murano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqsMBANnaPkRD_XhbCP5Tij9NL7KPEm5xuWI5JdMcG1H5OyxiNbDCbY7A4IuwkmNYB4AbQZHMo5O4q5eQWqySBVtDdILWo-3u_OVcBFbxxfYoTKHA4KGCNwWmn4AaH9kh0WNgMw9V6e7s/s1600/public+art+murano.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Public art on Murano, the island of glassblowers. It seems very clever to sequester your glass blowers and their furnaces far away from your giant mansions made primarily of wood.</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rhoJaBX76ktlpP6g-8ynqXxOPVYiKz2spxFEViSmRgjcz_opXNiXnfEpcvEoAkVWbAJJWI9H3dpeXChLlH3d_53o2SoLTSoE5K_MSDof5JuDk9A1rOwp1JmCE5tIAGQF2TpMzwGEk5ei/s1600/bricks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rhoJaBX76ktlpP6g-8ynqXxOPVYiKz2spxFEViSmRgjcz_opXNiXnfEpcvEoAkVWbAJJWI9H3dpeXChLlH3d_53o2SoLTSoE5K_MSDof5JuDk9A1rOwp1JmCE5tIAGQF2TpMzwGEk5ei/s1600/bricks.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">These are bricks on the wall of a pretty if unspectacular church in Murano. All of the different colors and wear patterns on the bricks makes one think about the history of the place. If bricks could talk, I feel like every brick in Venice and its neighboring islands would have different and fascinating stories to tell.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Doge’s palace was cool, and was very different from all of the other castles we’ve visited so far. It was also interesting to learn about the Doge and the various counsels in Venice in general; I hadn’t realized that he was elected, or that the city was effectively ruled by the top tier of merchants. I think that was the first palace we’ve seen that didn’t belong to someone who ruled just due to luck of birth. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpOc-TM977r37hL8rTiu8Ns1GM4GpJkjo_p5kFR1sOUNTiuXksZWBNvORO3SujQPzs2K_9Z7mZFIUgq_KxcfeE0sD6GvhaaaLPx2S84JvEwW3VLJBVslBsDvO-yTlBz76njiPJQfiKwWu/s1600/doge+palace+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpOc-TM977r37hL8rTiu8Ns1GM4GpJkjo_p5kFR1sOUNTiuXksZWBNvORO3SujQPzs2K_9Z7mZFIUgq_KxcfeE0sD6GvhaaaLPx2S84JvEwW3VLJBVslBsDvO-yTlBz76njiPJQfiKwWu/s1600/doge+palace+outside.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The outside of the Doge's palace</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauu6ac6opsSXAN1YCQC2v4D9euLkUfu-3dCUWWP-ntkSrqhUbSXyHUp9dS-Mn3aFX1q98Gm2EcztI9AWioS_exbYVyE2tjgnkI_SihvuKjnlsHZHfhq70Z3zfHU_IjS_87FwP9uxlRCiu/s1600/doge+palace+courtyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauu6ac6opsSXAN1YCQC2v4D9euLkUfu-3dCUWWP-ntkSrqhUbSXyHUp9dS-Mn3aFX1q98Gm2EcztI9AWioS_exbYVyE2tjgnkI_SihvuKjnlsHZHfhq70Z3zfHU_IjS_87FwP9uxlRCiu/s1600/doge+palace+courtyard.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The courtyard of the doge's palace, looking towards the adjoining facade of St. Marco's cathedral</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZFHKKcvvQZRTA_vklvYI-6jCU8l6QiGzdjMbqeK4w8BuGRacLmtLiv7fraWSYpkW9xTkkHpcu8uVv4T9a8OYXy15C-_WUQueMjRPCdcEJ62OgDU6PfQNkhrHL27Wxl2C6_b8KTXJYrk-/s1600/senate+chambers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZFHKKcvvQZRTA_vklvYI-6jCU8l6QiGzdjMbqeK4w8BuGRacLmtLiv7fraWSYpkW9xTkkHpcu8uVv4T9a8OYXy15C-_WUQueMjRPCdcEJ62OgDU6PfQNkhrHL27Wxl2C6_b8KTXJYrk-/s1600/senate+chambers.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thrones and murals in the Senate Chambers. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The kayaking was pretty interesting, too. So, you can’t just rent kayaks and paddle around on your own, which is good, because the canals are a maze, and the other boats are all bigger and have right of way, so we went with a guide (</span>http://www.venicekayak.com)<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, but it was just us in our group.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Our guide was perhaps not the best of personalities for a guide; she didn’t always say things politely, and often expressed her frustration at us, but I think it makes sense when you think about what it takes to be a woman on the water in Venice.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">She was from the area, and Italy as a whole (and Venice for sure) has pretty strong gender roles, and the water is a man’s world in which she doubtless has had to fight constantly for her own place (in our paddling, we saw several high-heeled, well made-up women standing around waiting for the men to pull the motor boat up to the door, and I can’t remember seeing a single motor boat, vaporreti, or anything with a woman steering).</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In any case, I should start by saying that we are not inexperienced water people; Ann and I grew up canoeing a ton, and we’ve all canoed and rowed and kayaked to varying degrees.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But Venice is different.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We’ve mostly paddled in rivers and lakes and bays, and it is very different dealing with heavy boat traffic, and then having to navigate around sharp corners in narrow canals; steering maneuvers that work in a large body of water don’t always work when it is very important that your boat not shift laterally.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Also, our guide made the men sit in the stern (we paddled tandem boats), which is the opposite of what both of the couples in our group usually do. But we did get the hang of it, and once we did, it was really amazing seeing Venice under our own power from water level.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We stuck to the area around Arsenale, which is largely a neighborhood inhabited by actual Venetians and not just tourists, so I feel like we got a view of a very different Venice from what we would have seen from a gondola around St. Marco; we saw boats bringing in deliveries, and laundry drying over the canals, and there were moments of stillness that showed us a very different side of Venice from the more frenetic tourist areas, so despite the frustrations, I'm glad we did it.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Also, we stopped for a pasta lunch after finishing our kayak tour at a restaurant on Certosa, the island that the kayak tours leave from, that is completely away from any tourist areas, and it was probably my favorite meal in Venice.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We had simple, perfectly cooked pasta with delicious, fresh toppings. Yum. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWNGLajRylCnK1kCC3AgP1EO8bnujw7S7RL2m7BzRms1j8d5__najypHSta_4RjHNTWcxDiPJTFj_4kMSxEjD5ZAejEOey0ouAFUikgQV6l6PaAnoWimqZfgMakG59anB8_ukyEjerMk2/s1600/Ann+Arsenale+lions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWNGLajRylCnK1kCC3AgP1EO8bnujw7S7RL2m7BzRms1j8d5__najypHSta_4RjHNTWcxDiPJTFj_4kMSxEjD5ZAejEOey0ouAFUikgQV6l6PaAnoWimqZfgMakG59anB8_ukyEjerMk2/s1600/Ann+Arsenale+lions.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">With a kayak you can go places that are impossible by any other means (pictures curtesy of our guide)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFYQiDnyn_B8WNABpU3SA1FE-1E59TG7tp2PhrBn9IIMzvMEvpTqsab5eJ90IzLttx4mUblkHCTY398cjeOkAgIlrInjHL1h1WgYKR5MXDwE-0suHTtM4T2T-nCKev7zAyEbTDWqDG7im/s1600/kayaking+venice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFYQiDnyn_B8WNABpU3SA1FE-1E59TG7tp2PhrBn9IIMzvMEvpTqsab5eJ90IzLttx4mUblkHCTY398cjeOkAgIlrInjHL1h1WgYKR5MXDwE-0suHTtM4T2T-nCKev7zAyEbTDWqDG7im/s1600/kayaking+venice.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Seriously, with tons of boat traffic and sharp, narrow corners, Venice is NOT an easy place to paddle, but I still think it was worth it (pictures curtesy of our guide)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpy3ByTi3Ae5awqDqjc1bllAnDmVGKT7VQrQOfcOVJVnw6EdPPQzg2EZ-D2-QWitnRH8W2MaDYOYgZJ1UHMKvTla1doL_8U3h48Few6D2iYUXqASbD6sUYk-YisPhxYELXMhUO2GFET0qf/s1600/pasta+certosa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpy3ByTi3Ae5awqDqjc1bllAnDmVGKT7VQrQOfcOVJVnw6EdPPQzg2EZ-D2-QWitnRH8W2MaDYOYgZJ1UHMKvTla1doL_8U3h48Few6D2iYUXqASbD6sUYk-YisPhxYELXMhUO2GFET0qf/s1600/pasta+certosa.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sasha's lunch on Certosa after paddling...YUM!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The last thing that I think was really great about Venice was the Gelato. OK, so Gelato isn’t Venitian so much as Italian, but we ate a lot of it in Venice, and it is delicious. I do like black currant, but chocolate is also good, and we sampled many other flavors in the name of cultural understanding. And we don’t regret a single scoop. The only regret is that no shop sells cones of it in Marburg in January!!!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK12zDSsmYm8zrZtfWs2QfjxsqFhyB_kD-N8C4rOQLwQyEKKPAGCG7ZzeNvrrMTjxcci_MFq3_4d18aMLYiyBoP71n7lGRLb2NYH_O0PkOoSQC3eHJ-UT0DN-aBQ0CqY-XS2X_-vEljOhq/s1600/gelato+Sasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK12zDSsmYm8zrZtfWs2QfjxsqFhyB_kD-N8C4rOQLwQyEKKPAGCG7ZzeNvrrMTjxcci_MFq3_4d18aMLYiyBoP71n7lGRLb2NYH_O0PkOoSQC3eHJ-UT0DN-aBQ0CqY-XS2X_-vEljOhq/s1600/gelato+Sasha.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sasha agrees. Gelato: a "cultural experience" not to be passed up!!</span></td></tr>
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-77436326588306588562015-01-04T06:33:00.000-08:002015-01-04T08:14:57.695-08:00Happy 2015!So, this being a new year (Happy 2015!!) I have decided to try something totally different for a blog post to start the new year. Hopefully I'll get around to blogging about our Christmas and New Year's Eve adventures later, but one thing I started doing this fall was watercolor painting again. I am taking a class through the "Volkshochschule" (kind of like taking adult classes offered through the city/school district in the US) which is sort of amusing since the class is mostly a bunch of retired German women, but it is a good excuse to make art again. I think I will try to keep painting after the class ends, but probably won't sign up for the class again in the spring.<br />
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BUT enough rambling, instead I am just going to show you pictures of all the paintings I've made.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnBaZXMFQxzjD1zYVkTWnSOj1Ov7_FHLWBN0yED6tfBS2iDzSoZQeLpuxGxOVrAFVNzANLtQz3hCCSUKmXXhTQqwoVIwLCKuS1lWkEYM06KOQjKLNozNwuRkKUDMHVXqLs7qPpL4hfcbE/s1600/IMG_5781.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnBaZXMFQxzjD1zYVkTWnSOj1Ov7_FHLWBN0yED6tfBS2iDzSoZQeLpuxGxOVrAFVNzANLtQz3hCCSUKmXXhTQqwoVIwLCKuS1lWkEYM06KOQjKLNozNwuRkKUDMHVXqLs7qPpL4hfcbE/s1600/IMG_5781.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the first painting I made. I was playing with different techniques and colors, which was interesting. Very different from painting with Acrylics/Oils, which I am more used to.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0oks2O6qu4nB_fVZg6VSgwXmLdzzts4WBgj1KiVMe2L9x7IVT8Z1Qp5eEMFI2xmJ_NNboKdS99j22kfA7u02wG29XjgMcDZNHfZqeor99w2GYVzCwZ2NT01OWL4YtToDxnmv1UT_1BCk/s1600/IMG_5460.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0oks2O6qu4nB_fVZg6VSgwXmLdzzts4WBgj1KiVMe2L9x7IVT8Z1Qp5eEMFI2xmJ_NNboKdS99j22kfA7u02wG29XjgMcDZNHfZqeor99w2GYVzCwZ2NT01OWL4YtToDxnmv1UT_1BCk/s1600/IMG_5460.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a European Robin, and is the first "real" painting I made. I made it for Sasha's brother. But I was fairly pleased with the way the painting turned out for it being my first "real" watercolor painting since high school.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHCVQuC_s2KbQ8tqjAwX5m5chRrW8z-OlUFqe95e_q-ydKHa6CB10pl9nVxEA6o8K__bOSBCuGLw_RuyDabM8RQJB8E03Df5aXC5ZmmSqv4hFG-Ab_Q27IN1SI5tczcEWG1OtBqlwOxZ4/s1600/IMG_5778.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHCVQuC_s2KbQ8tqjAwX5m5chRrW8z-OlUFqe95e_q-ydKHa6CB10pl9nVxEA6o8K__bOSBCuGLw_RuyDabM8RQJB8E03Df5aXC5ZmmSqv4hFG-Ab_Q27IN1SI5tczcEWG1OtBqlwOxZ4/s1600/IMG_5778.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey look, not a bird! This is based on a picture I took in the Dolomites.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16wCdglbPdGycxDdVwFPSgj03-P3JZOaduRxXOnttD6Td1AyIT9vmxhh4SqzQ2YQAMEgczKDM1pRG_euv7I-cVdsQ_jSp7Vme3AIUOA7ZH51KS3cnPWK_K3ba-87eS6A4SRRtEm6ORjFf/s1600/IMG_5469.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16wCdglbPdGycxDdVwFPSgj03-P3JZOaduRxXOnttD6Td1AyIT9vmxhh4SqzQ2YQAMEgczKDM1pRG_euv7I-cVdsQ_jSp7Vme3AIUOA7ZH51KS3cnPWK_K3ba-87eS6A4SRRtEm6ORjFf/s1600/IMG_5469.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a blue tit, which is a Blauemeise in German, and was a secret santa present. I really like how the branch turned out, (it looks better in person) although the bird's head shape is a bit too broad, and I don't love the top right corner.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7N7CMQZyo3ZuMpZUlLMjEnPSnhUFD5UPE6y24AVQpa39X5TkX54urDsTm03AlkrX8Ri7NgTtyrX_6xS1roseY2oYswez3pNpOl6TJKzEb0M95bnIVrMWA6DsTgFAj5Pg3OezNpe0nEYX/s1600/IMG_5775.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7N7CMQZyo3ZuMpZUlLMjEnPSnhUFD5UPE6y24AVQpa39X5TkX54urDsTm03AlkrX8Ri7NgTtyrX_6xS1roseY2oYswez3pNpOl6TJKzEb0M95bnIVrMWA6DsTgFAj5Pg3OezNpe0nEYX/s1600/IMG_5775.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are a pair of bee eaters, and they are for a friend's birthday in a few months. The back bird is a bit too big, but overall, I feel OK with the way it turned out. Sshh...it is a secret! (I'm not very good at keeping secrets).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq20jkSht6VyB2njUakuBK6KdTLvHnsZkt_-i-ig2WvbW-GYL4kSXekN7azUy8q1oyRtJPC_yU0rtm3yniugsva-G2VXqXOn-EZ98Q4zYH6RknCGb_e8qgRya3VyqEg9H51PYgbGhh_cp/s1600/IMG_5772.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq20jkSht6VyB2njUakuBK6KdTLvHnsZkt_-i-ig2WvbW-GYL4kSXekN7azUy8q1oyRtJPC_yU0rtm3yniugsva-G2VXqXOn-EZ98Q4zYH6RknCGb_e8qgRya3VyqEg9H51PYgbGhh_cp/s1600/IMG_5772.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is for Sasha, because Southern Cassowary is one of his all-time favorite birds. I really like the head, although am not super satisfied with the black feathers. Tons of black is hard to make look good.</td></tr>
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OK, I'll admit that most of the paintings are from internet photos, but what can I say, I'm not Sibley or Audubon. This is for fun, not my job (although I might take commissions upon request, family). Who knows, maybe I'll graduate to more complicated things like landscapes one of these days.<br />
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Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the change of pace, and I hope the new year brings you wonderful things.<br />
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-58416844854313056092014-12-30T08:26:00.000-08:002014-12-30T08:26:37.696-08:00Dolomite logistics<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are considering a hiking trip in Europe, the first thing to do is to realize that “wilderness” is a very different concept in a land that has been fairly densely inhabited for so long. You cannot expect to go days without seeing anyone, but even when we hiked the Stubaital in August a few years ago, we never felt like the trails were crowded. In the Dolomites in late September, we definitely were alone for long stretches, and since we were hiking in the opposite direction from most people, when we did pass people, generally we saw them very briefly. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Details worth considering: we hiked “backwards” and that worked out well, and I would recommend it if you are hiking when we did, in late September, since the southern huts close earlier than the Northern ones. We met a few people towards the end of our trip hiking in the more normal direction, and they were doing some difficult planning to get places to stay each night; luckily they were willing to do slightly longer days than we were. It does mean that we climbed more and descended less overall, but there are plenty of ups and downs in both directions, so I wouldn’t obsess over that. It was pretty easy to figure out about the bus from our hotel in Prags to the closest train station, and from the train station in Belluno to the trailhead; you don’t need to buy bus or train tickets in advance, but we bought our bus tickets the night before in Belluno, which made the morning a bit easier. Be careful with buying train tickets in the Northern parts of the Dolomites. The trains up there are run by the Austrian train service, not the Italian one, so buying tickets up there will not be valid on most trains down in Italy proper, which are run by Trenitalia. We made that mistake. It ended up being rather expensive. We had no difficulties with our train from Venice to Belluno, though, that was quite easy and was a pretty ride, too.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I made reservations for each of the Rifugios; none were full in the time of year we were hiking, so we didn’t need to, but it gives peace of mind (and allows you to verify that they are indeed open). In the Stubaital in August, we had not done this, and at times were in overflow space, although never on the floor, as can theoretically happen. I made all the reservations by e-mail or on the websites. Some of the huts reply within a day, others took longer, but I didn’t need to call any of them. We used the Cicerone book to plan our route, and the three Tabacco maps listed in the book. I followed Clara and Patrick’s bike touring lead, and cut most of the maps down before we left because they were huge and there was about half the map on each map that was far enough from the trail to be useless. The signs are really pretty good, so you don’t need to be an expert map reader, but do keep an eye on where you are, because sometimes a bunch of trails come together, and can be confusing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I would recommend carrying about 90% of what you will want/need for lunches and snacks; stopping in the huts that we stopped in, you’d have an option of lunch at a dairy or hut 3-4 times during the trip, but sometimes the timing was less than ideal, and some of the dairies were closed for us, hiking at the tail end of the season. Plus, self-catering saves a bit of money (which you can then use for strudel). I somewhat overpacked, but this meant that we could share with our friends. Also, I am a firm believer that within reason, it is better to have too much food than too little, and food and water were the bulk of our pack weight. There is a grocery store in Belluno, but we took stuff with us from Marburg, and so if you are spending time in a bigger city before the hike, I’d provision there, or take a few things with you. It is easy to get cheese and sausage, but bread/crackers were apparently harder to find, so I would purchase something like wasa crackers or grocery store bread, dried fruit and trail mix/nuts before getting to the mountains. Sasha and I brought 2 things of trail mix, 2 bags of dried fruit, 2 salamis/packages of salami sticks (we had a bit more than we needed, so shared some), a reusable squeeze tube filled with nutella, 2 blocks of cheese and a bag of baby bel cheeses (that was too much; we had most of a block of gouda left, even after some sharing), a package of wasa crackers, a small package of multigrain bread (sliced and store-bought, finished by day 2) and a package of tyrolean hard breads (which we also were able to share a fair bit of), which were tasty but broke into very small pieces. Two bags of gummy bears and assorted bars of chocolate rounded out our food supply; we brought extra there, intending to share. I think we had apples the first day, and we did buy food some days and had strudel afternoon snacks instead of more of our food, so if you don't like strudel, you might have less left over than we did. Our friends brought water purification tablets, which we used a couple days, since the huts had non-potable water (the huts are on mountain tops and the water sits in big cisterns). We each carried between 2 and 3 liters of water a day, and went through it at varied rates (you know if you drink a lot or a little relative to others). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In terms of stuff, we brought: gloves and winter hat and sun hat, 1-2 polypro long sleeves, 2 t-shirts, fleece jacket, rain gear (jacket and pants), tights, convertable pants (synthetic), 3 pairs of socks and underwear, a pair of running shorts, and I brought a lightweight wind jacket/vest. I also brought a soft lightweight skirt that I wore for sleeping and that I wanted for Venice. I have mid-height hiking boots and feel comfortable with those (there was a fair bit of mud, so personally, unless you are running, I’d go with waterproof boots and not trail runners) and sandals to wear in the huts in the evenings (the huts have a bunch if you forget yours, but I prefer using my own; bring ones that can get wet to keep your feet off the shower floors if you can, bring sandals you can wear with socks since it can be cold). For sleeping, we have coolmax sleeping bag liners, and brought normal pillow cases. You can also get lightweight sleep sacks with an integrated pillowcase. </span>We also brought pack towels and I use a bandana as a wash-cloth. <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Aside from the usual toiletries (get biodegradeable if you can; who knows where the wastewater goes) we brought plenty of sunscreen, and we brought a tube of laundry soap for sink washing socks/ stinky hiking shirts and did so every couple days.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am not super minimalist, but I like being able to wear something less smelly in the evening, and since you don’t have to bring cookwear, fuel, tents, etc. I feel like everything I brought was worth it. Except maybe that extra cheese.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While I wouldn’t probably do that exact trail again (because I like variety), I had a great trip and I would very gladly go back to the Dolomites and hike one of the other Alta Via trails. Except that I got guidebooks for Greece and the Greek Islands for Christmas, and they look amazing, so I think that may be our next destination of note. </span></span><br />
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-8199035802620084332014-12-30T08:02:00.002-08:002014-12-30T08:04:26.543-08:00Dolomites II<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a continuation from the previous post.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4r4R3Qc8Yain4TFNkApq2c66nOPx4AeiTvbxB0e3F1ra56ZI-2KCxNMOj7jDcT_PQxKdRz1pyZzv98lKJCSQo3eg7MdNnfC_RB_cFKaBksqW_WeIBMbf8wx_mSVK64DP-yjoKaKfl5-NX/s1600/yellow+flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4r4R3Qc8Yain4TFNkApq2c66nOPx4AeiTvbxB0e3F1ra56ZI-2KCxNMOj7jDcT_PQxKdRz1pyZzv98lKJCSQo3eg7MdNnfC_RB_cFKaBksqW_WeIBMbf8wx_mSVK64DP-yjoKaKfl5-NX/s1600/yellow+flowers.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIydvJSSu6aFYKdPAP2Mlpv9l-as0PTEDWLb1E7TB912QYrJOGZSfywYVd6pp_c88ytKf56Q12ogk5BbsGq0RoFjGYLkjDJL_HsaQ8rKQ3fb7aJ3JmdRp_44gu0ql5ixaWVcHcv0WC5nKh/s1600/flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIydvJSSu6aFYKdPAP2Mlpv9l-as0PTEDWLb1E7TB912QYrJOGZSfywYVd6pp_c88ytKf56Q12ogk5BbsGq0RoFjGYLkjDJL_HsaQ8rKQ3fb7aJ3JmdRp_44gu0ql5ixaWVcHcv0WC5nKh/s1600/flowers.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Day 5, like most of the previous days, was fairly foggy, although it was patchy at times, so we did get some views. We watched the mountain bikers walk their bikes for a while, since they are faster when riding, but not much faster when pushing, and then we saw one of the hut employees coming out searching for the hut dog who had chased after the cyclists. I am not sure what it is about a bike that makes it so irresistable to dogs, but there's got to be something. The first few hours of trail were quite nice, from Rif. Tissi to a rifugio that we did not stay in, although we stopped for an early soup break, an to admire some Alpine Choughs running around on the railing. We also saw quite a few lovely flowers, even though it was clearly past peak flower season.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OXo8jy3-or102jQXQGfowZPbGN3G8g32vFoIkocunuk20BYyYHfcIlU6XxtdOqIG9MHSdRviU-C3bCjsmVE5FS6ODwic5cX2Lo8BwVxY8qy_b_IR8MrlhBWbaNUezx6UrNpdXYFRvPVW/s1600/chough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OXo8jy3-or102jQXQGfowZPbGN3G8g32vFoIkocunuk20BYyYHfcIlU6XxtdOqIG9MHSdRviU-C3bCjsmVE5FS6ODwic5cX2Lo8BwVxY8qy_b_IR8MrlhBWbaNUezx6UrNpdXYFRvPVW/s1600/chough.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alpine Chough</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SX_zA3uYLRbw4peau5ben9TwDwqURkVkINnpW9MfFlaQ114Ku4lIaaYbLkt2PsYeTfRlfOzKleyBFgplGfFqxwbMUfXe8Iq0V4Wjzz-ibf-CDmp2GIgAfbCfAabW12ezueALsDjZG_pA/s1600/dinosaur+tracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SX_zA3uYLRbw4peau5ben9TwDwqURkVkINnpW9MfFlaQ114Ku4lIaaYbLkt2PsYeTfRlfOzKleyBFgplGfFqxwbMUfXe8Iq0V4Wjzz-ibf-CDmp2GIgAfbCfAabW12ezueALsDjZG_pA/s1600/dinosaur+tracks.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All those black dots on the flat face are dinosaur footprints</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After the hut, we had a steep drop down to a gravel road, and then a long slog down a steady grade on the road to a bigger paved road in the valley. That bit wasn't so nice, and then we had some significant mud hiking up the other side of the valley, but once we were climbing it was nice to be in the woods again. We were then skirting a beautiful mountain called the Pelmo, although we didn't really see it until the evening and the next morning, when the fog settled. Still, we took a short side trip to go see a big rock covered with fossilized dinosaur footprints, which were kind of cool, even if many were just kind of indentations and not very footprint-like. Chris decided to nap instead. We then spent the night at Rifugio Citta di Fiume.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPTKIi7gquvOVX7LxedsDH5c06YKdPZH51Ac6TxUMwu3izPNRWUx9h36Pv-LkAr1wJIB1NYP-kFJ-GTSeD2JBfv_rY2xZvCfH-jRbCaJx0BYEqBkvTeNoxHwX0PMp_VruzUdU0Jwe_Q_N/s1600/dinosaur+track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPTKIi7gquvOVX7LxedsDH5c06YKdPZH51Ac6TxUMwu3izPNRWUx9h36Pv-LkAr1wJIB1NYP-kFJ-GTSeD2JBfv_rY2xZvCfH-jRbCaJx0BYEqBkvTeNoxHwX0PMp_VruzUdU0Jwe_Q_N/s1600/dinosaur+track.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8BHnQC0Mey5fWMkgC7cElZ170aVHMm3OajU9czij5056oIMVF-vX7RlLvvDdO4WyeXlrblJIYtKJlj8doDm8YoSQb9QAKzKOuSy4v9yimPNoCnfZH2vM7LLgckDNcRjqX6NgkSREWO23/s1600/nap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8BHnQC0Mey5fWMkgC7cElZ170aVHMm3OajU9czij5056oIMVF-vX7RlLvvDdO4WyeXlrblJIYtKJlj8doDm8YoSQb9QAKzKOuSy4v9yimPNoCnfZH2vM7LLgckDNcRjqX6NgkSREWO23/s1600/nap.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris decided napping was more interesting than dinosaur footprints</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXzaSqxBT0-XHKjzps7h2Bssj6MBvb43bu9oCMb1QaTaKBR-yfrI9PEphtoTzWZmXBInPFENpgCtCl2OiziC4i5RBEg8jLFhOGv9QoFraF1lfLA2-XyayfUuN_UQzKk-49aw54610llYX/s1600/cow+butt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXzaSqxBT0-XHKjzps7h2Bssj6MBvb43bu9oCMb1QaTaKBR-yfrI9PEphtoTzWZmXBInPFENpgCtCl2OiziC4i5RBEg8jLFhOGv9QoFraF1lfLA2-XyayfUuN_UQzKk-49aw54610llYX/s1600/cow+butt.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The next day was clear in the morning, so we saw a fabulous sunrise, and aside from some Very Serious Mud, the day was pretty nice. We saw tons of cows and some sheep (if unfortunately from a distance) and took a mid-afternoon strudel break before tackling the most technical portion of the entire trip; a steep climb up, and then a set of (relatively easy) via Ferrata up to one of our favorite Rifugios on the trip, Rifugio Nuvolau. These via ferrata were 2 stretches of fixed cables and a few ladders, but unlike the one we looked at a few days earlier, the footholds were obvious and big, and we didn't feel unsafe doing it without any gear, even though the top set was pretty exposed. This Rifugio is very isolated, high on a steep, rocky peak, so there were no showers (not just cold or expensive ones), but the food was good, and the owner is Canadian, so we were able to have eggs and bacon for breakfast, not just piles of white bread with butter and jam, which was a nice change. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Jk36bzk9E4G0ECzwqxz9SIhhvLvT2mV4_dUf59JNbjy-hfbwB_kO30nD6iJX0zDi3YwMYaA9K7NzwLXXbR-6S-RnwsVryjpuDn8moOkrjNX86ZhQ0nFx5IoN23fwPyETP550sg-5IzEl/s1600/Chris+on+via+ferrata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Jk36bzk9E4G0ECzwqxz9SIhhvLvT2mV4_dUf59JNbjy-hfbwB_kO30nD6iJX0zDi3YwMYaA9K7NzwLXXbR-6S-RnwsVryjpuDn8moOkrjNX86ZhQ0nFx5IoN23fwPyETP550sg-5IzEl/s1600/Chris+on+via+ferrata.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHn5ue9nNeElH6dkJf1DdFSUtd5ICORvRMzviahyhj-dFJyyqorTPmx4CSMQVNO3504iEKSpxoetWCr3alGVmWMHTef9k6OUHKfbZO_l6cDXry0z8wTUNqcfHJhkIwrZpXoxEP6xgV8h3/s1600/nuvolau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHn5ue9nNeElH6dkJf1DdFSUtd5ICORvRMzviahyhj-dFJyyqorTPmx4CSMQVNO3504iEKSpxoetWCr3alGVmWMHTef9k6OUHKfbZO_l6cDXry0z8wTUNqcfHJhkIwrZpXoxEP6xgV8h3/s1600/nuvolau.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is where we were going to spend the night! (we could see it after climbing up the via ferrata</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he next morning we woke above the fog again, and again, the sunrise was amazing, and we had a view of a famous rock formation called Cinque Torri out of our bedroom window. The day's hike was pretty mellow distance-wise (the official trail looped around somewhat confusingly, so we opted instead for a more direct route) but was really one of the best days of the trip. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">We took the shortcut path down to the busy paved road in the valley, but we had some great views all morning back up to where we had been and on to where we were going, and we even saw some Chamois, which look very different than I thought, and (at least from the distance we were looking from) look more like antelope than sheep/goats.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTwwU01ioWYVCvn8O3BN1YLQtMKywT08gVVwm6-ImNvoOSc58UtdRcPQbOKXCmQLQrkc_kQb9PG-5ZH_8jWeEB84pSVLLQ5_hvg4EgcCx4QhgVHRiHurW0KPiAeELjkbzJMC99QPNT7QW/s1600/sasha+tunnel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTwwU01ioWYVCvn8O3BN1YLQtMKywT08gVVwm6-ImNvoOSc58UtdRcPQbOKXCmQLQrkc_kQb9PG-5ZH_8jWeEB84pSVLLQ5_hvg4EgcCx4QhgVHRiHurW0KPiAeELjkbzJMC99QPNT7QW/s1600/sasha+tunnel.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVRF6qLEqx0mQSUreU7i8HjV0GxHwPMXVVA6nKY6zYPkPbh5oq_R7RHblLmHUU47QNFo0HIMXQANXJtCFAg_O2BW7xpkkED7Odh7zeYtrhTPiev_vJgjcvsCVuUeXbSPs-2Uu8FsQIFZI/s1600/Ann+tunnel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVRF6qLEqx0mQSUreU7i8HjV0GxHwPMXVVA6nKY6zYPkPbh5oq_R7RHblLmHUU47QNFo0HIMXQANXJtCFAg_O2BW7xpkkED7Odh7zeYtrhTPiev_vJgjcvsCVuUeXbSPs-2Uu8FsQIFZI/s1600/Ann+tunnel.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The valley we were heading into is very interesting historically, since this was an extremely highly</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">contested front between the Italians and the Austrians during WW1; we saw various bits of ruined fortifications, and after incredibly mediocre sandwiches and cofrom a tourist junk shop in the valley we headed up towards one of the more unusual features of our trip (As a side note, if you are planning on hiking the Alta Via 1, do not count on lunch along the busy road between Rif. Tissi and Rif. Lagozuoi; if you need food and don’t want to order it to go from your previous night’s hut, go the more roundabout way and stop by one of the real rifugios near Cinque Torri).</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The mountain of Lagozuoi was literally fought on and over for years during WWI; the Italians held the bottom and an incredibly narrow ridge half-way up the mountain (called Martini ledge), and the Austrians held the peak and ridge.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The “normal” Italian tactic during the war was incredibly stupid, and involved direct assaults up-hill into machine-gun fortified high-ground trenches. Needless to say, high casualties and not very effective.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Then the Italians got the crazy (if somewhat less lethal) idea to tunnel up through the mountain to blow up the Austrians from below.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Kind of clever, except of course the Austrians could hear what was going on, and were able to pull back before the explosion, so didn’t really lose much, although a huge chunk of the mountain is now gone.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Chris was convinced that he could see how it had looked and what was missing; to be honest, there was a lot of rubble that didn’t look that much different from many other scree slopes, but I believe that he was interpreting everything correctly.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">In any case, we took some steep switchbacks about halfway up the mountain, then got out our headlamps and climbed well over a kilometer up the mountain through tunnels; conveniently supplemented with stairs and cables more recently than WWI.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Now, I am increasingly convinced that war is just plain stupid and that it would be way better for everyone concerned if we all just put our energy towards schools and engineering feats of construction not destruction, but the tunnels were pretty cool, nonetheless.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">There were interesting educational signs and rooms with various recreated things, but even the tunnels themselves were interesting, and it was crazy to be climbing up through a mountain.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The fog/rain rolled in about as we reached martini ridge, so the tunnels also served to keep us out of the drizzle.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Unfortunately, that meant that we didn’t have great views from the summit that afternoon, but the showers were hot, and the food was very good and different from what we had the other nights, so despite being one of the more expensive (private) rifugios, Lagozuoi was nice.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">It seemed more like a hotel than a rifugio, and indeed, is serviced by a cable car, so definitely there was more of a mix of people than at some of the more difficult to reach huts.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Sasha and I explored the summit a bit before dinner, even though it was foggy.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZmNMzA7FmalO_lgVaUdj8-sa1fewp65Gf1d64Y8dJTnK0j3T4Y8mhxESCULzArJVHUSAGBZP2doDjvxwhVWOns0pCceRNyo6n2zjIxjSokpiPD8AIi5Dw0OnVdeuuHdVn7Vv6VckW3kl/s1600/lagozuoi+cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZmNMzA7FmalO_lgVaUdj8-sa1fewp65Gf1d64Y8dJTnK0j3T4Y8mhxESCULzArJVHUSAGBZP2doDjvxwhVWOns0pCceRNyo6n2zjIxjSokpiPD8AIi5Dw0OnVdeuuHdVn7Vv6VckW3kl/s1600/lagozuoi+cross.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit cross, Lagozuoi, in memory of the Italians and Austrians who died on the mountain in the war</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_ozJFBC7Rtpg-N2g6TCkIijdgZlk6oDjuFAkf4wwzOolr8_wMv6MVgGiVCXnItK6j1peWdBXiNL31277z6wODhEZnfm_c_R6hyphenhyphen6dgwqTjDmZ7aBkvM5e8_UKNhhmDE5aLgY_3jlOfg0A/s1600/lagozuoi+sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_ozJFBC7Rtpg-N2g6TCkIijdgZlk6oDjuFAkf4wwzOolr8_wMv6MVgGiVCXnItK6j1peWdBXiNL31277z6wODhEZnfm_c_R6hyphenhyphen6dgwqTjDmZ7aBkvM5e8_UKNhhmDE5aLgY_3jlOfg0A/s1600/lagozuoi+sunrise.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise the next morning</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWowGIST_YbP0M9WQ8i_xDjFY3gxquEoiJAV4zBh2nYSi_QDYshVh7ahYusGK5UJ5IdBcn9sq6Fr39JPAeUQQ9_i6Llhzoou_kl2fhpB2W5E0JzTBSjVfyCr5gk85_oRQpkTEpJEukK4G9/s1600/IMG_4764.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWowGIST_YbP0M9WQ8i_xDjFY3gxquEoiJAV4zBh2nYSi_QDYshVh7ahYusGK5UJ5IdBcn9sq6Fr39JPAeUQQ9_i6Llhzoou_kl2fhpB2W5E0JzTBSjVfyCr5gk85_oRQpkTEpJEukK4G9/s1600/IMG_4764.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor Ann, that pony left a bruise!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoYVrTTGuO5-Tg7UiHuZ7DG591pdCIfsYxuofDEpHhpKO7SVmm9M9OGVoHzMWRIrBBi3mu5RMFf6fxsEljESF2Jontjr9l9i2TZUSx8FAXsgZzEy8a2BtQurhjzlLhWTCHfqS5HvOuhusn/s1600/jeep+road+walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoYVrTTGuO5-Tg7UiHuZ7DG591pdCIfsYxuofDEpHhpKO7SVmm9M9OGVoHzMWRIrBBi3mu5RMFf6fxsEljESF2Jontjr9l9i2TZUSx8FAXsgZzEy8a2BtQurhjzlLhWTCHfqS5HvOuhusn/s1600/jeep+road+walk.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The next morning was clear again, and so again we had a gorgeous sunrise. On the way down the north side of Lagozuoi, we also passed a ton more short tunnels and fortifications, and the rest of our group humored us as Sasha and I clamored around almost every one. The first half of the day’s hike was really nice. There were some pretty peaks around us, and we saw some sheep and then a beautiful alpine lake, and there was a steep but well-graded trail up to another forcella where we stopped for lunch. After we got down from the forcella, however, we hit a wide, flat jeep road which still had pretty scenery, but was fairly boring as trails go. Unfortunately, the dairy we passed early afternoon was closed, although that didn’t stop Ann from getting attacked by a disarmingly cute biting pony. We made good time on the road, however, and got to the next rifigio, Fanes, with plenty of time for a pre-dinner strudel and cocoa (a delicious but unusual strudel with a more cake like-dough than typical), and Sasha and I even had time to go for a second hike before dinner. Which was really cool because we saw some incredibly unusual rocks. There seems to be a whole slope of Karst rock, which we thought made it look like we were walking over a stone brain, and then there were fields of boulders that reminded us of the trolls in Frozen (which we had just seen). Fanes was also great in that it had nice, hot showers which were not timed and didn’t cost extra!! This Rifugio was also more like a hotel, and we were a bit worried because the book said it was often quite loud, but in the end we only had one other roommate in our dorm room, and he was quite quiet, and while there was music for a while in the evening, we couldn’t hear it from our room at all. And the food was quite good. We ordered off a menu and it was more like a restaurant than a rifugio kitchen (not that I mind a bowl of spaghetti followed by polenta and meat after a long day’s hike, but change was good). </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEzjuwRow8fHnw74WliO6J-np3h7FO-1DevRlbOfwkKL_RP0pjy4E_vTcLcCrhFiyiTnHI52igmry82hJ-ZsggXVe30BSPn7hkHK476E6rvY8qtiVI6v2K_PCK3a1CUdLsEIirPTisYdp/s1600/brain+rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEzjuwRow8fHnw74WliO6J-np3h7FO-1DevRlbOfwkKL_RP0pjy4E_vTcLcCrhFiyiTnHI52igmry82hJ-ZsggXVe30BSPn7hkHK476E6rvY8qtiVI6v2K_PCK3a1CUdLsEIirPTisYdp/s1600/brain+rock.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brain rock!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Rlln-lD_tCiwckHx_f6rGkv3X_H6eMEYDyIKNm9LeJDz9Md6BmbeWxDdAJhaEeZEyxDswxPrAOT_8bgcFvpE6WNePKmgx1g5rJ33H5L7MmD8jqSFYrz5_nLaAINREcct93cL5m5TRa06/s1600/nice+meadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Rlln-lD_tCiwckHx_f6rGkv3X_H6eMEYDyIKNm9LeJDz9Md6BmbeWxDdAJhaEeZEyxDswxPrAOT_8bgcFvpE6WNePKmgx1g5rJ33H5L7MmD8jqSFYrz5_nLaAINREcct93cL5m5TRa06/s1600/nice+meadow.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pretty meadow we passed by accident</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6NW_Vsa3ftbKoNPBZnpnmhnKiVbZ66xTIZ4AhUVk9UMG4YjfadUEb2ISgaR2inYp53Z0_y5_iBN8nRK7wWRQvjncp-rtMQ9o4NVGjbi-nbO4vgZbGpkDco97dVZb4rZ4WVAX7zWy_ylcu/s1600/crodo+del+becco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6NW_Vsa3ftbKoNPBZnpnmhnKiVbZ66xTIZ4AhUVk9UMG4YjfadUEb2ISgaR2inYp53Z0_y5_iBN8nRK7wWRQvjncp-rtMQ9o4NVGjbi-nbO4vgZbGpkDco97dVZb4rZ4WVAX7zWy_ylcu/s1600/crodo+del+becco.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photographing from Seekoffel summit</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The official trail of our penultimate hiking day was probably the least exciting trail-wise, or would have been if we’d stuck to the trail. You can take a road/gravel road from Fanes down to another hotel/rifugio, then there’s a steep climb up and you can stay on the wide road all the way to the last hut (or first hut if you are going the normal direction). But in trying to take an alternate trail version up the last part to the hut, we misread a sign and accidentally took a side-side trail (very infrequently used) up to a small rifugio which, although we reached it at a perfect time for a snack of some sort, had no food to offer us but yogurt! But even though it was a bit further, we had some nice views down into the valley we had just climbed out of, and walked through a lovely meadow, followed by some really unusual bumpy hills, so it turned out to be a nice detour. Also, we reached the final rifugio of our trip, Rifugio Biella, in time to hike up a nearby mountain, Crodo del Beco or Mt. Seekoffel, in Italian and German respectively, which was a strenuous but fun hike up. The trail was rocky and at moments tricky (enjoyably, not dangerously) to descend, but luckily this was our clearest afternoon of the entire trip, so we had some nice views from the summit, and took lots of pictures. It started snowing on the way down, but not hard enough to make the going difficult. We enjoyed our stay at Biella. The staff made up for their limited German/English with enthusiasm (we could see into the kitchen and saw them dancing away at some point in the evening) and the food was tasty. It definitely felt “rustic” after the previous two rifugios, but since we were hiking out to civilization the next day, that was no problem. And, we lucked out, for in the morning when we got up, our cheerful hostess pointed out a few Ibex (Steinbock, in German) on a scree slope of the mountain we had hiked the day before. We got some good lucks with binoculars before breakfast, but luckily, they were also still there as we were hiking out after breakfast; they weren’t that close, but it is still cool to see large mammals (at least large by European standards). </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobhO15_DhEVrKKTws07_amMsKUA-MqQ2HpJp8y3Nzyk7Ssu7SrzZwtfKFPBjMHB60mBk081jQD3zzo68TkwfvLwIqF8zaNU1hOmxEZohFVv0ItAGox7QxT5j9hyphenhyphenRBho88AUC8QtR9quOr/s1600/biella+dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobhO15_DhEVrKKTws07_amMsKUA-MqQ2HpJp8y3Nzyk7Ssu7SrzZwtfKFPBjMHB60mBk081jQD3zzo68TkwfvLwIqF8zaNU1hOmxEZohFVv0ItAGox7QxT5j9hyphenhyphenRBho88AUC8QtR9quOr/s1600/biella+dinner.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner the last night</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The hike out the final day was nice but fairly uneventful. There was ice on the puddles we passed on the way down, and pretty soon we had views of Lago di Braies/Pragser Wildsee, which was a lovely blue lake surrounded by mountains. The lake is a destination in its own right, so once we reached the lake, we saw tons of people out for an easy stroll, but the crowds weren’t too heavy in late September, so we were able to have a final picnic lunch on the beach of the lake, before hiking a few more kilometers into town to find our hotel. There were buses to the lake, but we decided it was easier to walk. We reached the hotel with plenty of time for one final strudel, and o find the small grocery store in town to stock up on a few snacks for our train ride the next day. We ate dinner in our hotel, and the food was really good, and not just by hiking standards. And, besides the lovely food, they had a salad bar, which seems like a real treat after days and days of pasta and meat and polenta. As if that weren’t enough, the inkeeper even washed all of our dirty clothing, since they didn’t have coin operated laundry machines (we did pay a small amount, but man, that was definitely money well spent!!)</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSkUEuXiz_5cHNf0T-SRrkvG98Jekr2aDgLVwv-X5zwwAP36j4I-ERVR8npYBILCqZOS7nNIyJr5wHD4yXS8CJ5HdQ4b-bzxgohyphenhyphenpvj0TGzPGXtf4T3gbgyp_BNxtHkWUOnVMHfXLr8Sw/s1600/lago+di+braies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSkUEuXiz_5cHNf0T-SRrkvG98Jekr2aDgLVwv-X5zwwAP36j4I-ERVR8npYBILCqZOS7nNIyJr5wHD4yXS8CJ5HdQ4b-bzxgohyphenhyphenpvj0TGzPGXtf4T3gbgyp_BNxtHkWUOnVMHfXLr8Sw/s1600/lago+di+braies.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lago di Braies</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the official start/end of the Alta Via 1!</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I will tell you about our time in Venice in another post, and will include a separate post about what we brought and some logistical details, in case anyone wants to hike this trail, but I really love hiking in Europe. I love the mountains, and I love how they are just different from hiking in the US. Backpacking with tent and campstove is fun, but so is walking through sheep meadows and having a hot meal prepared for you every evening. Civilization is never very far off in Europe, but the air still tastes clean and fresh, and the mountains and sunrises are glorious. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Pelmo from Rif. Citta di Fiume</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1GzqrJgpJA32rwCRHH9yqvFMm_YrGVIDENKqvtEXZupAPphfK091_5G-FoSP8M58b7nOb5cZDhmFVpb8fKToH7vL75kZvzT2Y-peJlMMp4LhutglDDx13T298StqOem5_7GMvV2S4hgxH/s1600/sasha+clouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1GzqrJgpJA32rwCRHH9yqvFMm_YrGVIDENKqvtEXZupAPphfK091_5G-FoSP8M58b7nOb5cZDhmFVpb8fKToH7vL75kZvzT2Y-peJlMMp4LhutglDDx13T298StqOem5_7GMvV2S4hgxH/s1600/sasha+clouds.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-76050731969664561782014-12-13T15:02:00.001-08:002014-12-13T15:05:34.095-08:00Dolomites!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Note: Sasha started this post, but Anna finished it, so that's why the "author" and writing style don't quite match). We hiked the Alta Via 1 in the Dolomites, Italy for our vacation this year. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSOo6GbvmYUIwjEvrvIn56TD6BDE2GtNfraAzbgXsXxG3kBXzIfvCfOanHNaY5uq_7o57Jaj5WwR0jFGuA4DJRH8Rf7F442KRQKZCu2rcQJx3C-W2ft_SK7FDebPgOVapWb8__uEXkiE/s1600/Dolomites_Overview_quickhike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSOo6GbvmYUIwjEvrvIn56TD6BDE2GtNfraAzbgXsXxG3kBXzIfvCfOanHNaY5uq_7o57Jaj5WwR0jFGuA4DJRH8Rf7F442KRQKZCu2rcQJx3C-W2ft_SK7FDebPgOVapWb8__uEXkiE/s1600/Dolomites_Overview_quickhike.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We started at the bottom of the map... </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HU_phgcGNUljQfQu915LS5VFr-NytgcMCC6KVs-CT7Jc6RNgBbNxuZet0wtg8Oq165dImLluLyw29YnFLB1RZ2tVJ8F59pUSQ2hkVw4eqIyjYetN9uHz8nlbfQgUnhypvw7jZP5awaA/s1600/Dolomites_Overview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HU_phgcGNUljQfQu915LS5VFr-NytgcMCC6KVs-CT7Jc6RNgBbNxuZet0wtg8Oq165dImLluLyw29YnFLB1RZ2tVJ8F59pUSQ2hkVw4eqIyjYetN9uHz8nlbfQgUnhypvw7jZP5awaA/s1600/Dolomites_Overview.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and hiked to where Anna is pointing</td></tr>
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It was AMAZING! Traveling across the map took only a few seconds, but to actually hike the 130-ish kilometers, we took 10 days. We weren't setting speed records, and had plenty of time for photos, lunch, second lunch, strudel stops, side-hikes, etc. along the way, as well as time to take a LOT of pictures. Also, three of our friends from the Boston area joined us for the trip, which was really a lot of fun. Although we enjoy all of our adventures with just the 2 of us, it is also nice to share these experiences with friends.<br />
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Before Sasha joined me in Germany, I went on a week long hiking trip in the Stubaital of Austria with this same group of friends, and it was such an amazing trip, I started plotting ways to get back into the mountains as soon as we got settled, and also going to Italy was at the top of my Europe travel list, so going to the Dolomites and hiking from rifugio to rifugio (hut in Italian) was exactly what I wanted to do for our long vacation this year. I had spent months pouring over our guidebook, planning where we'd stay each night, making reservations, staring at the various maps, so by the time we had our bags packed and headed to the train station, I was very excited.<br />
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Once again, we started our trip with a night train. Not the best night of sleep ever, but I woke up on my birthday in Venice, which is pretty awesome. We'll post later about Venice, since we went back after hiking for a few days, but then in the afternoon we took a train up to the town of Belluno to spend the night before heading to the trail head. As we took the train north, the scenery slowly shifted from lagoon to plains to hills to MOUNTAINS!!! I love mountains!<br />
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A second gelato (the first was in Venice), a nice birthday dinner, a good night's sleep, and a breakfast later and we found the bus to take us the the trailhead. We asked the driver to let us out at a stop called "La Pissa" (for those of you who want to get your accent vaguely right, the double "s" is pronounced, as far as we can tell, like an English "sh"), which was hardly more than a bus stop sign on the side of a busy road, which fit with our guidebook's directions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTIs827RYndEoVIzL9E_twlSzHrqErOfoYy125SBE-rjsOcyIzsMvzAb47v_PTveAju5d-n8YiZ7Cj1141jwJO9snWRd1aFHgMxzwWltQdEkmh506SoRW-goRm2IOhhfZkusDvzGh0rk6/s1600/la+pissa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTIs827RYndEoVIzL9E_twlSzHrqErOfoYy125SBE-rjsOcyIzsMvzAb47v_PTveAju5d-n8YiZ7Cj1141jwJO9snWRd1aFHgMxzwWltQdEkmh506SoRW-goRm2IOhhfZkusDvzGh0rk6/s1600/la+pissa.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I should note here, that most people hike the trail from North to South, but we decided to do it in reverse. We did this for a few reasons: first, we were hiking in mid- to late September, which is the tail end of the hiking season in this region, and some of the rifugios close on September 20th. More of the southern rifugios close early, so in terms of having places to stay and good bail-out options if the weather turned bad, it made more sense to go south-to-north. Also, there were some dedicated amateur photographers in our group, and they declared that the lighting is better with the sun at your back, which happens more frequently if you are hiking north. SO, we took all that into account when making the plans, and started where most people finish. <br />
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From the bus stop, we walked along the road for a few hundred meters, passed a little creek and a cute waterfall, then found the trail and started up...and up...and up... One benefit? drawback? of hiking south-to-north, is that we had significantly more elevation gain over the course of the trip, because we started much lower than we finished. But going uphill is fun, so no worries. We took a rather steep official cut-off trail, then joined up with a jeep-track, but spent most of our hiking hours climbing. Still, it was great. We both noticed almost immediately that as our breathing evened out and our leg muscles started working, all of the stress of work, job applications, etc. started to melt away. We would breathe in a deep breath of cool mountain air, and it cleared all the worry from our brains and bodies on the way back out, so we just started focusing on the rocks and trees and mountains around us. For the next 10 days, our biggest worries were whether or not we'd get to the next rifugio in time to have cake or strudel before dinner. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf-X61TZBjkASvJ8vVz10NdYylt1EkJCrFQJq7hesVJbM24cp7N_efDk3oRwbXE2CH2ut1J4m2vpmK8B6r4kZw22rAwH0RKBAkUc24rBU_ZugNkAUmBbtbGssn8YaziSXQlAfIjzM-_4H/s1600/day1+sasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf-X61TZBjkASvJ8vVz10NdYylt1EkJCrFQJq7hesVJbM24cp7N_efDk3oRwbXE2CH2ut1J4m2vpmK8B6r4kZw22rAwH0RKBAkUc24rBU_ZugNkAUmBbtbGssn8YaziSXQlAfIjzM-_4H/s1600/day1+sasha.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha, putting one foot in front of the other on his way up the mountain.</td></tr>
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Well, day 1 we got to the first rifugio (Pian di Fontana) in time for strudel before dinner, or should I say first strudel, since dessert was included with the "half board" dinner, which was also strudel! At the rifugio, we also met up with the first of our friends, Chris, who had hiked up a day early to give his body more of a chance to acclimate, and to get some good photographs. It is fun hiking for many hours only to meet up with your friend, who you hadn't seen for a while (and then, in the Boston area), in a tiny stone hut half-way up a mountain in Austria. International travel is awesome. And friends are awesome, too.<br />
I think I'll have some meal pictures to share later, but for those of you wondering about the food (aka MOM), some nights we had "half board", which included 3 courses, other nights we ordered a la carte off a menu, but generally the meal went like this: "first course, choice of vegetable soup, pasta with tomato sauce, or pasta with some sort of meat sauce, second course, polenta or potatoes with meat or with cheese, dessert of the day." Now, we ordered half-board a few times in Austria and the desserts were always very Germanic, which pretty much means a small dish of some soft sweet thing; yogurt, pudding, molded creamy pudding, etc. Those sorts of desserts are fine and all, but I was much happier with the deserts in Italy, which tended towards the cakes or strudels. Yay for cake!!<br />
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The next day, we had a lovely hike through a national park to the second rifugio of the trip (Pramperet/Sommariva). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCVMvDQ9_WCfPJzgMbvYrPbTrAiCtO37APxtf9wnUxI07Q4iKytp7f7MkDgUYXOSVvu4RDQ-f3s_8_wzdOzCMXWIJP_c8nkySTux3SWfWpaBF84ecf1mhyphenhyphenDIUdYyoVimYi0LdU1L2Kpy8/s1600/day2+sinkholes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCVMvDQ9_WCfPJzgMbvYrPbTrAiCtO37APxtf9wnUxI07Q4iKytp7f7MkDgUYXOSVvu4RDQ-f3s_8_wzdOzCMXWIJP_c8nkySTux3SWfWpaBF84ecf1mhyphenhyphenDIUdYyoVimYi0LdU1L2Kpy8/s1600/day2+sinkholes.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivW4Po828SX4Qc6mmBC38Ker1ums0xXoQ44lh-k2y1pRI-_YjhvO4sptB8ImPgEb1YDqdjsG9idz7yEdGCCgt_z7vi9rAstDCZecuV18ioDO8olAMmIp8zNtoSo6zssO1Z99WEXqEf0VZi/s1600/day2+mist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivW4Po828SX4Qc6mmBC38Ker1ums0xXoQ44lh-k2y1pRI-_YjhvO4sptB8ImPgEb1YDqdjsG9idz7yEdGCCgt_z7vi9rAstDCZecuV18ioDO8olAMmIp8zNtoSo6zssO1Z99WEXqEf0VZi/s1600/day2+mist.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha and Chris on our side-excersion </td></tr>
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Anyway, the terrain was interesting, and it was a fairly short day, so we had time to do a short scramble up to the local maximum (as near as we can tell, Cime di Zita, Sud) near the major forcella (pass) of the day. By this point, the fog had risen, so we couldn't see down the side of the ridge, but we could see enough to know that it was a long way down!<br />
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Generally, we went to bed pretty early (lights out by 10, and some nights we didn't even make it to 10) but that was good, because the weather pattern that held for most of our trip was clear, cool mornings with an inversion layer of clouds in the valleys, which then steadily rose over the day so that the evenings were mostly socked in (although we would get intermittent views all day, so we still did get some afternoon views). What it did mean, though, is that we often had amazing sun-rises, and yes, I was actually out for sun-rise many days. I am not claiming that I was perky or loquacious for those sunrises (tea came at breakfast) but they were beautiful. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl1HWhc-C3a4uNdx4QwA99wJwa7-Kmbf6EcqFZ5hCpe4SXmp4_3f3WAL-dAcQ_BU4d8cskH2qVhkxt2IEAH5hXpHGOdYpXQ_JJhmCykjAGobdaG2SJNvvMAijBkACUyF1RRvFDehgFvybj/s1600/day2+downclimb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl1HWhc-C3a4uNdx4QwA99wJwa7-Kmbf6EcqFZ5hCpe4SXmp4_3f3WAL-dAcQ_BU4d8cskH2qVhkxt2IEAH5hXpHGOdYpXQ_JJhmCykjAGobdaG2SJNvvMAijBkACUyF1RRvFDehgFvybj/s1600/day2+downclimb.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 2, challenging stretch of trail</td></tr>
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Day 3<br />
The third day brought some actual rain for part of the day, but never very heavy. We went up and over one forcella, but it was pretty thoroughly socked in up there. There was, however, a cool ruined building that has played a number of roles over the year, including barracks during WWI. After that, we dropped steadily down to a road, and had a reasonably long stretch of road walk, which was OK because it was a very low traffic road, and it was great because we had the option to stop at an amazing dairy, and had one of the best lunches of the trip; nothing super unusual, just delicious sausage, cheese, honey, and toasted bread. And then we couldn't say no to either of two kinds of dessert (jam tart and some sort of cheese blueberry bars). I'd blame that on the language barrier, but that would be a blatant lie. We were lunching under an awning, though, which got us out of the rain. Turning off the road, we then had a long, muddy climb that was really hard. The grade wouldn't have been too bad, but there were heavy vehicles doing road/trail work near the top, and they had turned the trail to soft, wet mud, so at times it felt like we were trying to climb up a treadmill. But we made it, and once we got past the vehicles, the rest of the hike was on jeep track all the way to the next rifugio where we were greeted by a flock of very friendly goats (I thought they were great, but Sasha scared them away after a bit when he decided they were getting too friendly; something about how he didn't want the goats to actually eat my pants....imagine) and then in turn we greeted our two other hiking companions, Ann and Chris, who for scheduling reasons had to skip the first two days of the hike, and instead hiked up from the town of Agordo.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good thing we had a map, this sign wasn't so useful!! Day 3</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Road walk, day 3</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4TKkfnkgnTyHnwYfFOI-t7TduQOma_zNeTyfL_8PTN7NrAbzm7l7xytOg-JplBDk33MQQCKA_NIVtIAFYTP1DCoNYUz8CBvsK42NYlPPstGNeFeNb9KyUh6_Wv5oGI6prBR97a46k3o5/s1600/trees+in+old+building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4TKkfnkgnTyHnwYfFOI-t7TduQOma_zNeTyfL_8PTN7NrAbzm7l7xytOg-JplBDk33MQQCKA_NIVtIAFYTP1DCoNYUz8CBvsK42NYlPPstGNeFeNb9KyUh6_Wv5oGI6prBR97a46k3o5/s1600/trees+in+old+building.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tree growing in ruined building</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9h7Y9n2fqhSELygm-xflWLy4KCXhds9y0xLOAXIT7dE-6gHhRvBIme2EYRiNQc15YjjLhm0Uw6XFjZeivOQrG_lCX4NWl1RYyYYKhNcZ965PAREVVDlr0zdgTQ9zePIcBph8kBU5fBMLM/s1600/amazing+lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9h7Y9n2fqhSELygm-xflWLy4KCXhds9y0xLOAXIT7dE-6gHhRvBIme2EYRiNQc15YjjLhm0Uw6XFjZeivOQrG_lCX4NWl1RYyYYKhNcZ965PAREVVDlr0zdgTQ9zePIcBph8kBU5fBMLM/s1600/amazing+lunch.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing lunch, day 3</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E_xaT0vv3f-XAVKEGg8JDZgnyM57KqDpwK8T9w8-8j6g19-qj9I8fgsC0Xjinqe_T1uBOEQvR-LHNNVBysauJyze3jeCzozJfiqe1lXtD8QPW37xxa6hamDWVkrJHzEAYuSBKkX3_zB-/s1600/mushroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E_xaT0vv3f-XAVKEGg8JDZgnyM57KqDpwK8T9w8-8j6g19-qj9I8fgsC0Xjinqe_T1uBOEQvR-LHNNVBysauJyze3jeCzozJfiqe1lXtD8QPW37xxa6hamDWVkrJHzEAYuSBKkX3_zB-/s1600/mushroom.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcoming committee at Rifugio Carrestiato</td></tr>
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Day 4 was a pretty long day, and was tough for our friends who just got up to altitude, and as our fourth day, we felt it a bit, too. We got a bit of a slow start because there was a Via Ferrata near the Rifugio, and we had heard of these "iron paths" and wanted to see what they are like. These routes are bolted cables going up the mountains that you climb up with a special climbing harness, and this one was (according to a book we found in a later hut) particularly difficult. The trail started across a ledge maybe 2 feet wide, then as far as we could tell, started going straight up the mountain; it looked more like mountain climbing than hiking, so we just took a few pictures and went back to our normal hiking trail. Via Ferrata look like fun, but only with appropriate equipment and with either experience or with a guide who knows what they are doing!! We were quite satisfied with merely hiking, on a mix of pure hiking trails and jeep roads (we even saw a jeep on one!!). We even had to cross a small snow field.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGA9NZ0StQoc8a1sHSN_CHuiXTDQw41YURLdZWk9mm312_TlMyorJTN12XFVQzPD8-UKUloBoSGR8skaJ4L3aC5itwv-vEpOC485lPTOU5QQ5P5bRHPDQSLyzQijaZkzLTo5u8bqvUlQU/s1600/shrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGA9NZ0StQoc8a1sHSN_CHuiXTDQw41YURLdZWk9mm312_TlMyorJTN12XFVQzPD8-UKUloBoSGR8skaJ4L3aC5itwv-vEpOC485lPTOU5QQ5P5bRHPDQSLyzQijaZkzLTo5u8bqvUlQU/s1600/shrine.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwvmkqP77HqXakPE6punp1XjiLGWbT6n4SwRF9akzPvwB0uiTv-_syeJejMsQHIni7UHmyu1jtcHChqWYNJ25QMvoq4ELKF4uZYnE7rqySVfj7c-7LB1O1974a5FwiWWMCIkJ7N8lvv7U/s1600/lunch+break.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwvmkqP77HqXakPE6punp1XjiLGWbT6n4SwRF9akzPvwB0uiTv-_syeJejMsQHIni7UHmyu1jtcHChqWYNJ25QMvoq4ELKF4uZYnE7rqySVfj7c-7LB1O1974a5FwiWWMCIkJ7N8lvv7U/s1600/lunch+break.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The problem with candid pictures, is that then most people aren't looking at the camera. Oh well. Snack stop!!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHENXeKwVNjvk7wm7DfvENa_sHvSAzsZc8zCsXVdfkAZzI3ErafgASxGv0M56snW6vlaQPbcfvemx4yeBoTmqnXViX6Zhhyphenhyphenfk7EabnaeicrLwErkv7kF5NAIiDH9dSHvftInbUtKSMMHCR/s1600/day+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHENXeKwVNjvk7wm7DfvENa_sHvSAzsZc8zCsXVdfkAZzI3ErafgASxGv0M56snW6vlaQPbcfvemx4yeBoTmqnXViX6Zhhyphenhyphenfk7EabnaeicrLwErkv7kF5NAIiDH9dSHvftInbUtKSMMHCR/s1600/day+4.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi041NE1pCYw1DrffkmykzbjwOnHgASGVae3tEpU3TeMlpvtuhyBD63pQKW2rcuY8aDmBzCAtQEvlB7bg2_2vhI4GFl6gLvvCmxTG5BBQ2bVrgLcXCCKEXiXYbhy4bAt_k3unfwhiyxVeqS/s1600/sasha+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi041NE1pCYw1DrffkmykzbjwOnHgASGVae3tEpU3TeMlpvtuhyBD63pQKW2rcuY8aDmBzCAtQEvlB7bg2_2vhI4GFl6gLvvCmxTG5BBQ2bVrgLcXCCKEXiXYbhy4bAt_k3unfwhiyxVeqS/s1600/sasha+snow.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The hike was pretty nice; we had some nice views before the clouds rolled in, but definitely ended with a few drizzly, foggy hours before reaching Rifugio Tissi. Although the weather didn't stop us from taking an afternoon strudel break, of course! And we were lucky to have a brief break in the clouds in the late afternoon. With all of the other hikers, we piled out of the rifugio to photograph the amazing peak across the way that we knew was there but hadn't seen yet! And we also hiked a few extra feet to get up to the summit cross that is really close to the rifugio. Now, the rifugio is near the summit of a small peak and it was a rather rocky trail up to it from the jeep road in the valley, so we were rather surprised to see some mountain bikers trickling in (in the dark) as we were starting to eat our dinners. I think they were a bit underexperienced for the roughness of the trail; it sounds like they did as much mountain bike pushing as riding. Having had that experience before myself (I am NOT a technically good mountain biker), I feel like we definitely had the better approach this trip, sticking to our own two feet! <br />
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OK, I'll write about days 5-10 and Venice in other posts since this is getting long. My goal is to get all three posted by the new year, so that I will have time to tell you about our planned Christmas trip to Vienna and Salzburg with my (Anna's) family!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBqxk133AKcH-j9lNaiQuYIAJoKojWbSweKTqo9UmV1hH5AZTAou8JZZv7bxJs8rEMmOb095CRdU5SbXFF0WKdpJA6PwqJf04K_l9oXN1JsuIbj4ji4bkWIpCqnP2T5M6UjIRCsq9KYW7/s1600/mountain+from+tissi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBqxk133AKcH-j9lNaiQuYIAJoKojWbSweKTqo9UmV1hH5AZTAou8JZZv7bxJs8rEMmOb095CRdU5SbXFF0WKdpJA6PwqJf04K_l9oXN1JsuIbj4ji4bkWIpCqnP2T5M6UjIRCsq9KYW7/s1600/mountain+from+tissi.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You would think it would be hard to hide something this big, but the fog is pretty capable of hiding mountains.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkaY17r03_RNZenfYKd3aVZycuNAU_Cc4HguKnIYRQW7QAa9v_b-GOs1b16sCyTVFYaN-skgBOaqiTzkiJ5rzgY7zLl7rUuegEV4xMp5mn0vwaiDZ9VAAhJbeBPmdIq6qkqjE03FJBetNw/s1600/tissi+summit+cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkaY17r03_RNZenfYKd3aVZycuNAU_Cc4HguKnIYRQW7QAa9v_b-GOs1b16sCyTVFYaN-skgBOaqiTzkiJ5rzgY7zLl7rUuegEV4xMp5mn0vwaiDZ9VAAhJbeBPmdIq6qkqjE03FJBetNw/s1600/tissi+summit+cross.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit cross near Rif. Tissi and fog</td></tr>
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Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-62609997914857786612014-11-01T11:05:00.000-07:002014-11-01T11:05:50.619-07:00GhostsSince we have moved into our new apartment, the Marburg portion of my daily commute is now much shorter, and includes some great scenery.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLq6_TREg0dI5CViiODwOlC3JAnWWW0u3Y8LoJ6lfM22LA-1mwsDbQ7U_O0x3Cr5KWpdSkOKv4NANUrChYYWSfiXdKbvl3NZu-zCF5rIpbj3Zr1ZNCtM82_PDlRgmUighziunwFpOyr0/s1600/IMG_3586.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLq6_TREg0dI5CViiODwOlC3JAnWWW0u3Y8LoJ6lfM22LA-1mwsDbQ7U_O0x3Cr5KWpdSkOKv4NANUrChYYWSfiXdKbvl3NZu-zCF5rIpbj3Zr1ZNCtM82_PDlRgmUighziunwFpOyr0/s1600/IMG_3586.JPG_comp.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lahn River (September 2014)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-JEa28Q1wr4IgfErt2PSBla8V4tzte0RISS3nyZukrEvNblSNtOijRVy50C49F_5WIzh50kLnrQRhi8m2kWNSxPZn7vfldp0Hds0qcbmjD8k7Djd0Ke5YJZxkFr2Ydqd-kYdtKEurio/s1600/IMG_3590.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-JEa28Q1wr4IgfErt2PSBla8V4tzte0RISS3nyZukrEvNblSNtOijRVy50C49F_5WIzh50kLnrQRhi8m2kWNSxPZn7vfldp0Hds0qcbmjD8k7Djd0Ke5YJZxkFr2Ydqd-kYdtKEurio/s1600/IMG_3590.JPG_comp.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth's Church (September 2014)</td></tr>
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But every day, I also walk by the ghosts of the past. Their names are on gold-colored squares in the sidewalk, and they are people who used to live and work on the street I walk down.<br />
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In memory of all those who died or suffered because of human cruelty and prejudice and in solidarity with those who today suffer prejudice and cruelty.<br />
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Especially in memory of:<br />
<ul>
<li>Isaak Julius Adler</li>
<ul>
<li>deported 1942 to Theresienstadt Concentration camp (located in modern day Czech Republic), murdered Oct. 30, 1942.</li>
</ul>
<li>Dina Lucas</li>
<ul>
<li>deported 1942 to Theresienstadt Concentration camp, murdered Sept 9, 1942 in Treblinka Extermination Camp (in modern day Poland).</li>
</ul>
<li>Dr. Ludwig Bachrach</li>
<ul>
<li>forbidden to work in 1933, fled to France, died in 1942 in Dijon.</li>
</ul>
<li>Bertha Bachrach</li>
<ul>
<li>fled to France in 1933, survived</li>
</ul>
<li>Walter Helmut Bachrach</li>
<ul>
<li>fled in 1933 to France, interned in the Drancy Internment Camp, Paris, France, and deported and murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.</li>
</ul>
<li>Albrecht Artur Bachrach</li>
<ul>
<li>fled in 1933 to France, interned at Drancy, deported and murdered in 1942.</li>
</ul>
<li>Pauline Rothschild</li>
<ul>
<li>attempted to flee to the USA in 1939, died April 1, 1941 in Marburg.</li>
</ul>
<li>Minna Rothschild</li>
<ul>
<li>attempted to flee to the USA in 1939, deported to Riga, Latvia in 1941 and murdered.</li>
</ul>
<li>Dr. Benno Benedict</li>
<ul>
<li>deported in 1942 to Theresienstadt, murdered Oct. 2, 1942.</li>
</ul>
<li>Richard Hartmann</li>
<ul>
<li>Hospitalized 1922 at the State Hospital Marburg/Scheuern, transferred? to Hadamar and murdered on May 16, 1941 as part of Aktion T4 (non-voluntary euthanasia program). </li>
</ul>
</ul>
(note: according to the internet, JG. is an abbreviation for Jahrgang, which I believe is an index number, and not a birthday)Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-78290811110447631402014-10-12T13:25:00.004-07:002014-10-12T13:25:47.735-07:00Entenrennen 2014It's that time of year again, time for the Weidenhausen Entenrennen! Anna and I participated again (see Facebook pictures from 2012 for the previous Entenrennen; we missed 2013 due to a trip biking through Provence), and this year were joined in the competition by my (Sasha's) cousin Sahar.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxVERRAhKTFecyTefBBCSWjfumIpfpkQ3uZePkQLBOArbfd8ax9cvkreVPRtNxLtWjF2ZgZudZQPRW13QpbGN6XrGqNU0S-i4CkRgP1f0-gJkGCqdhxwEMQAY2Bei3xRFIzD8F5mccPs/s1600/1DuckPainting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxVERRAhKTFecyTefBBCSWjfumIpfpkQ3uZePkQLBOArbfd8ax9cvkreVPRtNxLtWjF2ZgZudZQPRW13QpbGN6XrGqNU0S-i4CkRgP1f0-gJkGCqdhxwEMQAY2Bei3xRFIzD8F5mccPs/s1600/1DuckPainting.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting the ducks</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjIVauQsy28b0j9GU0VzTqZpxAC0TXBCTS9Jg8B4m4K27ZeupnZJgzUONyUTp_jch1MMkYRfqZUwcV-J2OJA7O7nqjfUtlhDZE1qXvQ5FMzd_4MPYPS4b2vyzBDuwk9TnWSsmrJGwrBLE/s1600/0Ducks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjIVauQsy28b0j9GU0VzTqZpxAC0TXBCTS9Jg8B4m4K27ZeupnZJgzUONyUTp_jch1MMkYRfqZUwcV-J2OJA7O7nqjfUtlhDZE1qXvQ5FMzd_4MPYPS4b2vyzBDuwk9TnWSsmrJGwrBLE/s1600/0Ducks.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Anna and I decided to do a European duck species this year, the Red-crested Pochard (Kolbenenten auf Deutsch), with Sasha painting the female, and Anna the male. Anna also decided to do a Marburg Duck, or MarDuck, as we've been calling it. Sahar decided to do a Harly Quinn duck.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9CTD3SdowUNpjLdP2m8rVoQcql5pNctWIfUlpynBXp77CKGAgFckQx6h8icr1qCtjRISkThsxGI_huPi4gzzZEqm7jETui7s_foICdldCmq4XOHrL4viMfUvhx5UfCK_V3-wXwbPFNI/s1600/0Ducks_in_a_row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9CTD3SdowUNpjLdP2m8rVoQcql5pNctWIfUlpynBXp77CKGAgFckQx6h8icr1qCtjRISkThsxGI_huPi4gzzZEqm7jETui7s_foICdldCmq4XOHrL4viMfUvhx5UfCK_V3-wXwbPFNI/s1600/0Ducks_in_a_row.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All our ducks in a row</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOcecVNrVDgwzZQUAbzADcOeZTzR6LQqvjqavbAWWsIEzY4T2FbJ8PR38ECU5zwyeeHfPKzTXBf0jgx5aN9RUukQqH7SsS36gtkR7DbV6WfLDmPOHc9oD2hySHcbxAbENGJByWa2FEQs/s1600/1MarDuck_Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOcecVNrVDgwzZQUAbzADcOeZTzR6LQqvjqavbAWWsIEzY4T2FbJ8PR38ECU5zwyeeHfPKzTXBf0jgx5aN9RUukQqH7SsS36gtkR7DbV6WfLDmPOHc9oD2hySHcbxAbENGJByWa2FEQs/s1600/1MarDuck_Front.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of the MarDuck - St. Elizabeth's Church</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qiUWi3hIgDuPE91B0W6ebI7prvR618lq8Um0Tbin2e4_6Lhx7l_dfTS6rT0aWVVsW9x3VLdW6popOefI5SH1CX_NFQBclB_1iM8KmfdmrH6nB0QL34x00sSzWxCRPdfWlMPyQuDd-X4/s1600/1MarDuck_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qiUWi3hIgDuPE91B0W6ebI7prvR618lq8Um0Tbin2e4_6Lhx7l_dfTS6rT0aWVVsW9x3VLdW6popOefI5SH1CX_NFQBclB_1iM8KmfdmrH6nB0QL34x00sSzWxCRPdfWlMPyQuDd-X4/s1600/1MarDuck_back.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Back of the MarDuck St. Elizabeth</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-9PdGbzQRB9xzuszyfxpTDP7Ev5uWzSFOP0UZq3bm4XZzGJPK4-go8mQfKIGaGppS-hi7F-14kU2ed28W-IYEsxehSF5MO_S0fpuOrdcZKYy9ykX2PKIwZ99GcmrRMJ3ZneCxCn8WgnU/s1600/1MarDuck_right.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-9PdGbzQRB9xzuszyfxpTDP7Ev5uWzSFOP0UZq3bm4XZzGJPK4-go8mQfKIGaGppS-hi7F-14kU2ed28W-IYEsxehSF5MO_S0fpuOrdcZKYy9ykX2PKIwZ99GcmrRMJ3ZneCxCn8WgnU/s1600/1MarDuck_right.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Right side: Old town Marburg and Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfyi1oB6UpsvxPlNEl9z1lzGLaBbkIBfxyTILHN_jSq4E5mJI3I97ZNYfOlavPyGBZbcGtEVgfOwLhjgFZ6PftIgRkWY8spdjwzMgY204vHutLcIuaFazEquMpyGJz0XA41xTlKzTwzk/s1600/MarDuck_Left.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfyi1oB6UpsvxPlNEl9z1lzGLaBbkIBfxyTILHN_jSq4E5mJI3I97ZNYfOlavPyGBZbcGtEVgfOwLhjgFZ6PftIgRkWY8spdjwzMgY204vHutLcIuaFazEquMpyGJz0XA41xTlKzTwzk/s1600/MarDuck_Left.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Left side: Wilhelm's Tower and woods. Note the flying Common Cranes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAp_Sa2ITh8yhKtoxMFXa_ydXPZ_M0Kj9Yzd1PpQcrruttbzSRAFt5zRT8yu2RUhJu-PQGUBQCZ_AqwqibNX2hYkmHhHQ5FObxsQXQKr8R74P7msUQI51yBCNNqYt_oYPc2zShYedrS6A/s1600/0Contenders2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAp_Sa2ITh8yhKtoxMFXa_ydXPZ_M0Kj9Yzd1PpQcrruttbzSRAFt5zRT8yu2RUhJu-PQGUBQCZ_AqwqibNX2hYkmHhHQ5FObxsQXQKr8R74P7msUQI51yBCNNqYt_oYPc2zShYedrS6A/s1600/0Contenders2.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The competition, pre-race.</td></tr>
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The Lahn river has been high lately, from the recent rain we've been having, so the current was quite swift.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggYUiBKMT7BC4vfZHQnQ1_op1azuP1MXst_BxFsLLNzOAxsOZCsgR-sQEdS_DJsSVBqb_g5_9AVFs3c_zo7m1w9MKF3bjKSV4dj0B-ci7ulSKj7NBYKG6F78qFR_9G6QM9sa507dW-c0g/s1600/1Learning_to_Swim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggYUiBKMT7BC4vfZHQnQ1_op1azuP1MXst_BxFsLLNzOAxsOZCsgR-sQEdS_DJsSVBqb_g5_9AVFs3c_zo7m1w9MKF3bjKSV4dj0B-ci7ulSKj7NBYKG6F78qFR_9G6QM9sa507dW-c0g/s1600/1Learning_to_Swim.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna giving her duck pre-race swimming lessons</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_O6aFhkYmagkWEFQU8wxzzISUctIULfN2ylOqdZZ91Ykig-V8bQtnuqXoRQwG8qjKSAtTCc6wrGndeq0Mb4YR9p_b1bLYKxE-EXBjxCkSFThdHTEJyzT5H63cONfdw1LJp9zICgbBECU/s1600/2StartingLine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_O6aFhkYmagkWEFQU8wxzzISUctIULfN2ylOqdZZ91Ykig-V8bQtnuqXoRQwG8qjKSAtTCc6wrGndeq0Mb4YR9p_b1bLYKxE-EXBjxCkSFThdHTEJyzT5H63cONfdw1LJp9zICgbBECU/s1600/2StartingLine.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting line</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGnseu9Y5kjoZfJJ4Mv25Pr4aZ8PrXE_91BnBEn8HnZCvsLnOGNIPKdHJSfKl11FHcUNVq9AJRGwRbMLN51ERIc84TF9LdyOc-_B13cYjw2K3xW1ysYqnLVy1FmQc-826u9I7p0Uvdjc/s1600/2Sasha_in_the_Lead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGnseu9Y5kjoZfJJ4Mv25Pr4aZ8PrXE_91BnBEn8HnZCvsLnOGNIPKdHJSfKl11FHcUNVq9AJRGwRbMLN51ERIc84TF9LdyOc-_B13cYjw2K3xW1ysYqnLVy1FmQc-826u9I7p0Uvdjc/s1600/2Sasha_in_the_Lead.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The swimming lessons did not sink in, apparently.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9dRhsGwCg03de_gxBGciQUMLXEo_iOHZZXGCCNsS94G25mYv6-mvZJEg4PmhqJqPfkmZSpgiiQ7e0uYzuAbE5wTHr7OegGEyRjaqzSsu4zARra7mBTh8Titb08DKCacbgrVaz-V-M-E/s1600/2Nearing_the_Finish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9dRhsGwCg03de_gxBGciQUMLXEo_iOHZZXGCCNsS94G25mYv6-mvZJEg4PmhqJqPfkmZSpgiiQ7e0uYzuAbE5wTHr7OegGEyRjaqzSsu4zARra7mBTh8Titb08DKCacbgrVaz-V-M-E/s1600/2Nearing_the_Finish.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearing the finish line. (count 3 back ducks over to the right of the person, and you'll see Sahar's duck (darker than the others)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LPYcCYkIMne7dECpoM22AHSgg1vqABpPQvfGOtXP3gq_FkTfVGhsMDA4wX3WyMF9cLNK2oKEkTPMzrSVC9E0uuoX9iPuqF-YueA5eHT-ycYIHhcsR8ILMqa8L8wxqxsE5ATGbKv2fRU/s1600/2At_the_Finish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LPYcCYkIMne7dECpoM22AHSgg1vqABpPQvfGOtXP3gq_FkTfVGhsMDA4wX3WyMF9cLNK2oKEkTPMzrSVC9E0uuoX9iPuqF-YueA5eHT-ycYIHhcsR8ILMqa8L8wxqxsE5ATGbKv2fRU/s1600/2At_the_Finish.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the finish line. The Brothers Grimm fish looks on in approval.</td></tr>
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Sahar's duck was the fastest of the three of our ducks, and might have placed in the top 7, but there was no photo finish, so another finisher was selected for the 7th place prize (last prize awarded) over her duck.<br />
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Anna's duck, unfortunately also outcompeted my duck, (despite neither of our ducks taking the typical right-side up swimming posture).<br />
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This meant that I had to buy the ice cream (poor me, having to buy ice cream... sometimes life is full of hardships).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXh6VYmIVCC4yPGgTGaDp6HacVKP9HiYW4bhz6xaST4cCqstd0W0Utd0MvkcW6g1dA9PxNrkZCmxYqhDJzpQ1wQP4yxFwA_w_c9lKiRLDrpB47UYBKHfdxyjVC8eZ-lwYalYIR6PirLs/s1600/0Victory_icecream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXh6VYmIVCC4yPGgTGaDp6HacVKP9HiYW4bhz6xaST4cCqstd0W0Utd0MvkcW6g1dA9PxNrkZCmxYqhDJzpQ1wQP4yxFwA_w_c9lKiRLDrpB47UYBKHfdxyjVC8eZ-lwYalYIR6PirLs/s1600/0Victory_icecream.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anna's MarDuck and Sahar's Harley Quinn both also placed among the nicest of the ducks:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnu-w5hirNey_Q_bHuyeCSm-_WV8l6YOEaXh369immq1t4_423vO_1EAnqRhZL0nKG4JxjdNDY7kY_eonN2IuSpzxM1Q733O73bQkxEy73cg4yGVRPSr1NkhMA0OcYHKIk0LAzYTB2qFU/s1600/0Anna_Prize_winning_duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnu-w5hirNey_Q_bHuyeCSm-_WV8l6YOEaXh369immq1t4_423vO_1EAnqRhZL0nKG4JxjdNDY7kY_eonN2IuSpzxM1Q733O73bQkxEy73cg4yGVRPSr1NkhMA0OcYHKIk0LAzYTB2qFU/s1600/0Anna_Prize_winning_duck.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at how practiced Anna is at holding the duck high. It's like she's won stuff before.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-X0gFkzkoeDftwuoxpclly9GDH1MaWjhoElc-X92CF1eR7GFB5aGpBqF2NxV9xnFVcaZzUCQ5Sy8M2ZqvAlAawE6vS2PWCEbKELxcIdp3PMMecrQBLi3auQ47zTbSnc1bMkYDRzYs1Y/s1600/0Sahar_Prize_winning_Duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-X0gFkzkoeDftwuoxpclly9GDH1MaWjhoElc-X92CF1eR7GFB5aGpBqF2NxV9xnFVcaZzUCQ5Sy8M2ZqvAlAawE6vS2PWCEbKELxcIdp3PMMecrQBLi3auQ47zTbSnc1bMkYDRzYs1Y/s1600/0Sahar_Prize_winning_Duck.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After interrogation about the origin of her name, Sahar also received a prize</td></tr>
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The weekend was also the Elisabethmarkt, which included the giant head art things again, and a Ferris wheel (turns out my wife has a strong affinity for Ferris wheels. Who knew?). A Ferris wheel is called a Riesenrad in German, which translates to the more intuitive Giant Wheel.<br />
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And would any blog post really be complete without a gratuitous castle picture?<br />
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Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-89982445814922683552014-08-15T11:57:00.001-07:002014-08-15T11:57:33.699-07:00New apartmentHi family and friends!<br />
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So I know, I'm remiss on finishing telling you about last year's trip to Provence, much less this year's trip to Provence (to see my parents) but we do have an excuse; we've been preoccupied by moving! No, we aren't back in the US (although I'm starting to apply for jobs, so if you know anyone looking to hire a genetics or microbiology professor let me know). Rather, we moved to a different apartment in Marburg.<br />
Our new apartment is fabulous, even better than we'd thought. Moving here is a bit of a tricky proposition, partly because the inexpensive rental apartment market is incredibly tight with the large number of students (and a number of factors conspired to lead to higher than normal numbers of students right now) but also because apartments are rented a bit differently here. There is no guarantee that apartments will have stuff in them. I don't mean furniture, I mean things like sinks and stoves and even lighting and flooring. I visited one apartment that had no paint on the walls, no flooring on the floors, and you could only tell the kitchen apart from the other rooms by the bits of pipe sticking out of one wall where water could come out/go back in. Needless to say, that wouldn't have been so practical for the amount of time that we'll be here in Germany. But, we really lucked out. We found an apartment with flooring and super nice landlords and these:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhT6W0bchzbbcWLY7omYAKA6IHEC4FEdcH9GBEAgJfiWhtBS91LFcNIKKEOh0C_XNxfnaCj2iaIemDYQAVSKco9_RzutlDy5SQPARkpivM_u20hDRIqHElJO1U4OrFoRR0b1aDUYf_QVy/s1600/stove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhT6W0bchzbbcWLY7omYAKA6IHEC4FEdcH9GBEAgJfiWhtBS91LFcNIKKEOh0C_XNxfnaCj2iaIemDYQAVSKco9_RzutlDy5SQPARkpivM_u20hDRIqHElJO1U4OrFoRR0b1aDUYf_QVy/s1600/stove.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjcvlG7tx5NAFQrSlf68U9uMti39AkbuuHgyBRklhOSJ_9XIQANHfFNAmdjBHuKrs9YV9vVnf_9vaLjcQ508Afs6X92FMV4_MENjgbkc0JVb2PYXaJI8Q1HwYk0Ie6SeYoTSzTXq0lNP_/s1600/kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjcvlG7tx5NAFQrSlf68U9uMti39AkbuuHgyBRklhOSJ_9XIQANHfFNAmdjBHuKrs9YV9vVnf_9vaLjcQ508Afs6X92FMV4_MENjgbkc0JVb2PYXaJI8Q1HwYk0Ie6SeYoTSzTXq0lNP_/s1600/kitchen.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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In case you can't tell, that's an oven! There are 4 burners that all work and a place for baking things! You may wonder what have we baked with this marvelous device? Well, I haven't actually baked all that much, but Sasha made blueberry muffins...although he might have temporarily forgotten that ovens are actually big, and may still have made them in 6 muffin batches because that's how you do it, right? I think it will take a while to get used to this luxury. And the picture on the right? Well, do you see, it's a whole room devoted to the preparation of food called a kitchen! Luxury of luxuries. And it doesn't double as our entryway, and our large toaster oven is no longer competing for space with our shoes. And look, it also contains both a dishwasher and a clothes washer. We haven't heard from our landlord that the dishwasher is connected properly, so we haven't used it yet, but we will any day now. Now, I'm sure some of you own houses and have such marvelous devices and don't realize how exciting these things are. But if you'll remember, our previous apartment had only these resources: http://annaandsasha.blogspot.de/2012/11/cooking-in-small-space.html so you can see why this new apartment seems like such an upgrade.<br />
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For furniture, we are using a number of things from our landlords (did I say super nice already) and need to make an Ikea run for a few crucial things like a dresser for Sasha, but we did find a nice bed at the used furniture store in town, and splurged on some nice mattresses (since apartments and stairwells are so narrow, 2 people beds often come as 2 smaller mattresses that you put next to each other, which can be really nice, since then you don't have to compromise on matress firmness, but can each get the perfect one).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA4S9hR82Ie6TkvHIktzJFG0x4DGz-3nj4nDJAhH2BEQn55_CaV5RUmLdrKCb9tOh0wbyjfBoT1MOk9b1AFKRgwbuXROnzEDOanNzSMKLjq1EmUwsVvNnkMqBqxRd9xGiytf4sEzz6O6KB/s1600/bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA4S9hR82Ie6TkvHIktzJFG0x4DGz-3nj4nDJAhH2BEQn55_CaV5RUmLdrKCb9tOh0wbyjfBoT1MOk9b1AFKRgwbuXROnzEDOanNzSMKLjq1EmUwsVvNnkMqBqxRd9xGiytf4sEzz6O6KB/s1600/bed.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We own a piece of furniture that didn't come from an Ikea now!! We may even try to take it with us when we move back to the US.</td></tr>
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But, even better than the kitchen, the fact that we no longer have to listen to the main entry door of a big building slamming at all hours of the day and night, and no longer have a view of the dumpsters out of our windows, we have outside space to use. Every night that it isn't raining, we sit out on our terrace eating dinner, watching the swifts playing or feeding in the evening air, and watching the sunset reflecting off the castle. Which is really pretty grand. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WWYhTW4k6aUTs33zQLPddjvK-oQwuDIMwojNLsl1ysgjZBxlu9ks5uPEiOVbhmrJmjhrxzB3ADhC2eQ3x6uRie2plPtrqbVpUj3HpJJlokmuGRiEeFy0LBEMz7n4n1yoYmD4NaaD3NCQ/s1600/dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WWYhTW4k6aUTs33zQLPddjvK-oQwuDIMwojNLsl1ysgjZBxlu9ks5uPEiOVbhmrJmjhrxzB3ADhC2eQ3x6uRie2plPtrqbVpUj3HpJJlokmuGRiEeFy0LBEMz7n4n1yoYmD4NaaD3NCQ/s1600/dinner.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which is better, Sasha, the view or the food?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSQMADpJeKCt3nov34-wPcaBq764_MsNBlDSaVivPus97NxhyhymsYxeC79b7Uqmtgv-SU4INzAlEzddEb1yyLlUL0OVOb1os7dhjzIo6xhGrhPG0Nx_g-Cx23F2kyZbZrUChukd9t8yU/s1600/view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSQMADpJeKCt3nov34-wPcaBq764_MsNBlDSaVivPus97NxhyhymsYxeC79b7Uqmtgv-SU4INzAlEzddEb1yyLlUL0OVOb1os7dhjzIo6xhGrhPG0Nx_g-Cx23F2kyZbZrUChukd9t8yU/s1600/view.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Come join us for dinner. The view is hard to beat.</td></tr>
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-42363138206763856292014-07-11T23:31:00.000-07:002014-07-11T23:31:19.542-07:00The Lahn River Part I: from source to RheinThis post is the story of a river. This river to be exact:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88bBOwbR4hSOxmxHJ3D-vZUU2He9EaPGG_qszQHnMt4wrK-9YttjCHOrJNR6b5mrSjR82RH_bHORckspb7IScjxjG09kYH1p5MhmCr7LH0C21izxe1O8R_lYSe_TivgXuG-mOYw9TpFA/s1600/IMG_9736.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88bBOwbR4hSOxmxHJ3D-vZUU2He9EaPGG_qszQHnMt4wrK-9YttjCHOrJNR6b5mrSjR82RH_bHORckspb7IScjxjG09kYH1p5MhmCr7LH0C21izxe1O8R_lYSe_TivgXuG-mOYw9TpFA/s1600/IMG_9736.JPG_comp.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Now, you might be saying to yourself, "that doesn't look like a river, that looks like a trickle."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYp5hSNEIfWXQaxhVGMCJB3UpZhSFnLXyy8AeY4Jz-givRQqdJYSeeDENBLNpiKmGCEKanK7pKZtMUVbyF7qSHNlX8Asudtb1_RcHBw-xUqmYwu6pVAPm3jcvX9vwMT6Y111BOuXpc9Y/s1600/IMG_9738.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYp5hSNEIfWXQaxhVGMCJB3UpZhSFnLXyy8AeY4Jz-givRQqdJYSeeDENBLNpiKmGCEKanK7pKZtMUVbyF7qSHNlX8Asudtb1_RcHBw-xUqmYwu6pVAPm3jcvX9vwMT6Y111BOuXpc9Y/s1600/IMG_9738.JPG_comp.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna: "I'm dubious. That doesn't look like a river, that looks like a trickle."</td></tr>
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But I assure you, that despite these humble beginnings at 604 m elevation, this IS a river. A respectable sized one at that. One you can take boats on. But that comes later in the story. You see, this is the source of the Lahn River. As you travel the Lahn, the Lahn trickle is quickly joined by other trickles, and soon begins to look like something that resembles a river.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusrqjrBTThay98Ek2LS6tzZ88jfV4o1rbv_uZGr3jTONhUTNPll0gsd6-12jNMOfwfd4hw_JVl3zZpXjMikbn_HEJWujyJx9or5MkDJM7Bar4BHSY-OqlnRcp2JFlbM6oT4rhkZA9_K4/s1600/IMG_9731.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusrqjrBTThay98Ek2LS6tzZ88jfV4o1rbv_uZGr3jTONhUTNPll0gsd6-12jNMOfwfd4hw_JVl3zZpXjMikbn_HEJWujyJx9or5MkDJM7Bar4BHSY-OqlnRcp2JFlbM6oT4rhkZA9_K4/s1600/IMG_9731.JPG_comp.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lahn, near Bad Laasphe ~21 km later and ~300 m lower<br />
(~310 m elevation, July 13, 2013)</td></tr>
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By the time you reach Marburg, the Lahn is a respectable river.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1txUAyeObhfLPebM9BSKPSn0PXhqdqRXKQvs8yEdxi-dsSufCSLsyyAcKFSK-hwHX3cQQaZtgiB3ySE6TVMVErFJpusBve7wrmdeirQYYJzca1CkuoDGfuQQtFAd1_Tfp_iL43F7oi7c/s1600/IMG_4820_Canoeing_an_der_lahn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1txUAyeObhfLPebM9BSKPSn0PXhqdqRXKQvs8yEdxi-dsSufCSLsyyAcKFSK-hwHX3cQQaZtgiB3ySE6TVMVErFJpusBve7wrmdeirQYYJzca1CkuoDGfuQQtFAd1_Tfp_iL43F7oi7c/s1600/IMG_4820_Canoeing_an_der_lahn.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canoeing on the Lahn in Marburg<br />
(67 km from source, 195 m elevation,September 8, 2012)</td></tr>
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And it continues to get wider as you go long. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObai-rIZzphIIk8SKy-rQ3n1Y4sHaPfkH_MIeEX8UfZv6aR04tpjTbO70QsLozHgTZfZcVdIZ0Rrs0OGcYT9p7ptcf3P0IlUwG9AbTxIDWeQkg5GyZ1jJVPtmsN9VxXLcd__lLG8GHD8/s1600/GOPR0177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObai-rIZzphIIk8SKy-rQ3n1Y4sHaPfkH_MIeEX8UfZv6aR04tpjTbO70QsLozHgTZfZcVdIZ0Rrs0OGcYT9p7ptcf3P0IlUwG9AbTxIDWeQkg5GyZ1jJVPtmsN9VxXLcd__lLG8GHD8/s1600/GOPR0177.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna taking a much needed cool-off swim on our ride along the Lahn (past Weilburg, 140 km from source, ~140 m elevation, June 7, 2014)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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By the time you reach Bad Ems, they've even put a fountain in the middle of it!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NwviF8ZZkYFPwGIhLfCZd08nOyxqNiWTX4nMMoFpa3LD4eYgiAoys7mnupADBgpnK3nlDotV3Qvn9mvW52apZdnCyoDKklnBqGfpOWm7IqS3y-O5GgAFN0FONbbnJ30xZUs60o5ZyA4/s1600/IMG_3059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NwviF8ZZkYFPwGIhLfCZd08nOyxqNiWTX4nMMoFpa3LD4eYgiAoys7mnupADBgpnK3nlDotV3Qvn9mvW52apZdnCyoDKklnBqGfpOWm7IqS3y-O5GgAFN0FONbbnJ30xZUs60o5ZyA4/s1600/IMG_3059.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lahn at Bad Ems (230 km from source, 80 m elevation, June 8, 2014)</td></tr>
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And finally, 246 km and more than 20 castles later, the Lahn reaches the Rhein.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLclJ09qrNSPG_O25dw5SZFKSitawBtYDGwxLEcfsQKguHuTXjs-IsfFoDGAlHU2eE6AmwH075IBnXHo8AqfbcgZ6WMk06IWFdwgaKXdseZDa2un5iMiqHtggJqQvxQsl4LVhn_miosuI/s1600/GOPR0218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLclJ09qrNSPG_O25dw5SZFKSitawBtYDGwxLEcfsQKguHuTXjs-IsfFoDGAlHU2eE6AmwH075IBnXHo8AqfbcgZ6WMk06IWFdwgaKXdseZDa2un5iMiqHtggJqQvxQsl4LVhn_miosuI/s1600/GOPR0218.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Confluence with the Rhein. It's a little narrower here, but deeper (246 km from source, 62 m elevation, June 8, 2014).</td></tr>
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Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-89589583738878319082014-05-29T10:03:00.000-07:002014-05-29T10:03:04.008-07:00A very important cultural landmarkWell, we had a guest this weekend, and I have pictures and stories, and I haven't finished writing all about Provence, but I have to pause a moment before writing about those wonderful things to share this extremely important and oh so impressive cultural landmark. The "Weckmilchstein" just outside the town of Moischt. I don't think your life will be complete without a visit.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_Q5KB5v8OAMWlEf21lZNkanbDkrNWuCmiIMjKZSulUFzTbQ4f3eEGU6Uix8B3mDsXZSQ3DPJx8J0FtowiftHQd1rpraLrcw-UEupNnFk6BC-rpK1Nsx_gS71TxhJ_y4ESGNt-MTcdQoZ/s1600/brunnen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_Q5KB5v8OAMWlEf21lZNkanbDkrNWuCmiIMjKZSulUFzTbQ4f3eEGU6Uix8B3mDsXZSQ3DPJx8J0FtowiftHQd1rpraLrcw-UEupNnFk6BC-rpK1Nsx_gS71TxhJ_y4ESGNt-MTcdQoZ/s1600/brunnen.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Elisabethbrunne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
How did we come to discover this treasure? Well, I went for a run, and after running past the Elisabethbrunne (which every time I see it makes me think of Indiana Jones) decided to go a bit further, and as I was heading home from Moischt, I noticed a sign. And of course, I had to follow it.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIclnDcnBDjJZN-FUMM-eZaCkBKB_7Iyxf047cOFwLN-HuYO0EDqlowC_yd_CW06muaRP3QvzTMOOvm94zyGuoH5ZZP2Kfgq0He6-rwQEd_Azk-OBUcr7QL654Thsa6hNHOmayQKQ6aj4/s1600/sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIclnDcnBDjJZN-FUMM-eZaCkBKB_7Iyxf047cOFwLN-HuYO0EDqlowC_yd_CW06muaRP3QvzTMOOvm94zyGuoH5ZZP2Kfgq0He6-rwQEd_Azk-OBUcr7QL654Thsa6hNHOmayQKQ6aj4/s1600/sign.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Because following the arrows leads to exciting things.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And I ran a few hundred meters into the woods on a forest road, around a hunting stand, and down a narrower path, and I saw this big, important sign, allowing me to understand the great significance of this cultural landmark.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCv4gI7AyQ6qQo25PkD3X1PGIsZXh4TajE6s-WG1vGfqAkkkkKWDdK7QSh8uu5a_iYX8t6-dDGEnctL6K9eE-GKHbH1rpcbQFZc9ueL2Oyipk1b4dZwDW0JdecOW9Fdhk39tlOc9r1BNsp/s1600/big_sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCv4gI7AyQ6qQo25PkD3X1PGIsZXh4TajE6s-WG1vGfqAkkkkKWDdK7QSh8uu5a_iYX8t6-dDGEnctL6K9eE-GKHbH1rpcbQFZc9ueL2Oyipk1b4dZwDW0JdecOW9Fdhk39tlOc9r1BNsp/s1600/big_sign.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
For those of you whose German is, ahem, "rusty", I will translate: "The Roll and Milk-bowl Stone<br />
The people of Moischt say [the same thing but in a hard to understand regional dialect]<br />
Because the bowl-like depressions so look like the bowls out of which our ancestors ate their rolls and milk, this remarkable stone is named after those [bowls].<br />
An important known-for-a-long-time natural landmark on the south side of the prominence the "house mountain" of the Moischt residents. (yes, this sentence really has no verb on the sign)<br />
It was already always a starting and meeting point for nature lovers, hikers, and friends of the forest.<br />
For berry gatherers, it has been also always a sacrificial altar; a few berries laid upon it, and one waits in suspense for the birds to come carry these away.<br />
The homeland and history club of Moischt has endeavored to maintain this natural landmark that is so important for us residents of Moischt."<br />
<br />
And, without further ado, here is this "wichtige Naturdenkmal"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3smP1FFe6P_lN_O0iUmbDthc8Cj464hYlM1eIHfonwmSAOpE_ccGZNFkKY1YMYxvfk4l15PN9Dn4Xi1G_JPd1j2tLKmmqP-XEQgugY084NuFizqujhnBx_cJUsovQHBIuZ6j0PLCZVVfp/s1600/rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3smP1FFe6P_lN_O0iUmbDthc8Cj464hYlM1eIHfonwmSAOpE_ccGZNFkKY1YMYxvfk4l15PN9Dn4Xi1G_JPd1j2tLKmmqP-XEQgugY084NuFizqujhnBx_cJUsovQHBIuZ6j0PLCZVVfp/s1600/rock.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm sure its majesty has left you speechless.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Marburg may have a castle and a tower, Schröck may have its fancy fountain, Paris may have its tower and cathedral and churches and....but do not overlook Moischt and its Weckmilchstein.
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz01LtRqe4izBX_Q04BhvgXrBaTmaXv196URKWruxmwEkmh11WX67v3GrqSGUEN_Qku5BdAdiYzGMDlFHpKDq5LqKssymtOa0XlUWvcRCwsih95gtFfjbNE8Ki3tuVXPKEb1HkI3-jh07/s1600/DSCF2252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz01LtRqe4izBX_Q04BhvgXrBaTmaXv196URKWruxmwEkmh11WX67v3GrqSGUEN_Qku5BdAdiYzGMDlFHpKDq5LqKssymtOa0XlUWvcRCwsih95gtFfjbNE8Ki3tuVXPKEb1HkI3-jh07/s1600/DSCF2252.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha, contemplating the wonder.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-39875501295975728972014-05-11T05:34:00.000-07:002014-05-11T05:34:23.560-07:00Paris in springtimeSo, perhaps you remember, but we were in Paris for about a day last fall and I worried that Paris didn't have the same magic it had when I was in college. I am happy to report that that assessment was wrong. About two weeks ago, Sasha had to be there during the week to meet with a collaborator, and I took Friday off to eat my way across <span class="il">Paris</span>...I mean, join my husband. Perhaps the difference partly came because last time we were in <span class="il">Paris</span>
before heading down to Provence for our bike tour, and we were preoccupied
with dealing with bike trip preparations and stuff. If you are worried about packing your bike and about the train ride the next day, etc. then that makes it a bit harder to focus on touristing. Instead, this time, I took the morning train to Paris, got in around lunchtime, and the only thing on the agenda was to enjoy myself. I'm sure the season also helped. This time, I took the metro right from the train station, and when I came up above ground, the rought-iron balconies were all covered with flowers, the trees were blooming, there was crazy public art in the squares, and great window-shopping to be had.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiGkJJmaoVyZWozz4Xg-cnzlObhzRs1tENI1UJ5l-9kB3Zjvc7xU1B-YcC2brrllouMR6bBOF-4Jv0o-aoz2hyx2EkoYLWbw46hHPxIcAFULDnAfjQCkWhncKFzPh1r9T0ebKRvGs9qWn/s1600/DSCF2143.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiGkJJmaoVyZWozz4Xg-cnzlObhzRs1tENI1UJ5l-9kB3Zjvc7xU1B-YcC2brrllouMR6bBOF-4Jv0o-aoz2hyx2EkoYLWbw46hHPxIcAFULDnAfjQCkWhncKFzPh1r9T0ebKRvGs9qWn/s1600/DSCF2143.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCYirJKkz9nLoHUpwTCZfM7VfS_hVy81k9yUM0i5nuaDqzxDDQMgnAJXnI0hGcWe7vBMzrXKVsSVWVS7cxwqmAKXOTdFCXZy03UfxCy2XRFc1Y4CnJf4zeQczq-eugp24j6OoO1uHAgUw/s1600/DSCF2162.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCYirJKkz9nLoHUpwTCZfM7VfS_hVy81k9yUM0i5nuaDqzxDDQMgnAJXnI0hGcWe7vBMzrXKVsSVWVS7cxwqmAKXOTdFCXZy03UfxCy2XRFc1Y4CnJf4zeQczq-eugp24j6OoO1uHAgUw/s1600/DSCF2162.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last fall, I hadn't really
had a chance to prepare in advance a list of "must eat" foods, but this
time I did my research, and we had a bunch of really tasty things, even if most were things that are on every "foodie" tourist's lists (I don't consider myself a foodie; I don't like mushrooms or organ meat or the idea of molecular gastronomy, I just like good food). We
ate bread from a bakery called Poilane that is apparently famous and is also owned by
a woman that my sister was friends/acquaintances with in college (who needless to say wasn't there and I don't know; this is a BIG business by bakery standards). Their
main bread is this sour-dough bread with rye or whole wheat or
something, which actually is very German. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92Q0zG8PGcceTMLiPUNNQYBqAFAh5vEln8aZmwKMgv_qrI-UwGywKmrVTO5BBFhPHVSDGLJ-YZQcuAAkUwenkIEoUkAE1uDWHjeCUbTo9o_XWxAuAEFD2spqS2lBXFZ9IhrG1w-YtIQl8/s1600/DSCF2145.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92Q0zG8PGcceTMLiPUNNQYBqAFAh5vEln8aZmwKMgv_qrI-UwGywKmrVTO5BBFhPHVSDGLJ-YZQcuAAkUwenkIEoUkAE1uDWHjeCUbTo9o_XWxAuAEFD2spqS2lBXFZ9IhrG1w-YtIQl8/s1600/DSCF2145.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poilane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyODYn6KLvMSMi09Q_2wjJYIOSGhB20rdHWAS6lAPshFYfd5xwzOGj9aQHz9jlHMqq2FddvzgSbD-_Z1eNYl9FXaoyQgh4RigZITnVNrTkjFhKD2JHsh3pvGmsXbkllMZFEiUHB6fEC6Ef/s1600/DSCF2144.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyODYn6KLvMSMi09Q_2wjJYIOSGhB20rdHWAS6lAPshFYfd5xwzOGj9aQHz9jlHMqq2FddvzgSbD-_Z1eNYl9FXaoyQgh4RigZITnVNrTkjFhKD2JHsh3pvGmsXbkllMZFEiUHB6fEC6Ef/s1600/DSCF2144.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch next door.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
IT was good, but truth be told, while it made for great
sandwiches in the cafe next door, I prefer baguettes even if they are
less "healthy" what with the white flour. That crackly crumbly crunch as you break into your baguette, that enticing smell that is so much more than just white bread. A good french baguette just can't be beat. Needless to say, we ate a couple of those over the weekend. We also went to a famous ice
cream place, Berthillon that I have to admit was really amazing. It was expensive,
but we each got 2 flavors and each one was SO yummy; the flavors were so
intense. I got raspberry and chocolate and Sasha got praline and fresh
strawberry. Yum! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJpRgyOcxOTe1j0Bap2pi1Tf8X4S6EYkXlKhx5ZG736P9qzhPU5WrptC_NUoonAzEzRZZK5REGqLCBO0usI5nbp6qBmdNMXfXKmbmwlhehGvxfjPSDqW5w-PMY707MPNc-gYier9QQwbw/s1600/IMG_2304.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJpRgyOcxOTe1j0Bap2pi1Tf8X4S6EYkXlKhx5ZG736P9qzhPU5WrptC_NUoonAzEzRZZK5REGqLCBO0usI5nbp6qBmdNMXfXKmbmwlhehGvxfjPSDqW5w-PMY707MPNc-gYier9QQwbw/s1600/IMG_2304.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha trusted me to hold his ice cream long enough for a picture...brave of him!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The most exciting dinner was at a place called
Relais de l'entrecote, which was expensive but worth it. It is a
strange restaurant. The waitresses are all in traditional waitress
attire and every one eats the same thing: a small salad with a mustardy
vinaigrette, baguette, steak in a delicious, mysterious sauce, and fries. When the
waitress comes by the table the first time, you order drinks and then
just tell her (or him) rare, medium or well done. The meat was so
tender and the fries were hot and crispy and thin, and then we ordered
dessert; Sasha ordered this giant towering thing of meringue and ice
creams, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, and I got a giant
serving of raspberry sorbet, and we had the house red wine, and it went
pretty well with the steak. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs9MS0GNx56ikQYX-aypTAYakYX-tBROE1WzIipi1Xil48u_uC2owD9K9RniSGYth2oK63pxYKAApKfBmb-AG3m7zAJrRe6yAnP3OwxRZVdK9KwreZaSC90-Yb7tcawcCdcome_38y6G1/s1600/IMG_2628.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs9MS0GNx56ikQYX-aypTAYakYX-tBROE1WzIipi1Xil48u_uC2owD9K9RniSGYth2oK63pxYKAApKfBmb-AG3m7zAJrRe6yAnP3OwxRZVdK9KwreZaSC90-Yb7tcawcCdcome_38y6G1/s1600/IMG_2628.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waitresses plating someone else's dinner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeydqn6QaEboayjDu4PoWEjPtg8mblHthhnZXAQGfMkjORkEEvF7WdPqgHhP6tU9kA_aTMsVL2rvHfKCsN1GVfGPi4yKVnOS38QjW5qQad1zlaCveMUvWxqIKhGHptsRnvWklYro6MUAXw/s1600/IMG_2624.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeydqn6QaEboayjDu4PoWEjPtg8mblHthhnZXAQGfMkjORkEEvF7WdPqgHhP6tU9kA_aTMsVL2rvHfKCsN1GVfGPi4yKVnOS38QjW5qQad1zlaCveMUvWxqIKhGHptsRnvWklYro6MUAXw/s1600/IMG_2624.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha's tower of dessert</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
On the non-food side, Friday I spent a few hours in the Musee d'Orsay, and
there was a nice temporary Van Gogh exhibit, but I failed to find the
paintings that were my favorite when I went to the museum in 2002. I
could have asked at the information desk I guess, but that would have
taken out some of the suspense of trying to find them. (or would have
led to disappointment earlier; this way I can still think that I just
didn't make it into the right room, rather than that the curators didn't
find my favorite paintings worth showing). <br />
<br />
The highlight, though, was
spending Saturday wandering around Versailles. We've been to tons of
castles in Germany and some in Spain, but while everyone says castles
like Sanssouci near Berlin or Nymphenburg near Munich are modeled after
Versailles, I don't feel like I really appreciated the scale of
Versailles. It is HUGE! We could have spent a day just in the gardens.
Or the minor palaces and their (separate) gardens. The hall of mirrors
and the royal bedrooms in the main palace that have been restored are
pretty fancy, but I have to say the gardens were my favorite part,
particularly the gardens behind the Trianon (the minor palaces). It was really amazing to me not just how many gardens there are, but how different they all were, from the neatly manicured gardens right around the main palace and the Trianon with gravel walks and swirls of bushes and flowers, to the "garden rooms" with small open areas and fountains surrounded by tall tree/forest hedges, and the vast fields and forests, and then the trimmed but less strict gardens around the trianon which (it was April afterall) were filled with flowering trees and flowers of all sizes and colors, and with cute gazebos and nooks of all kinds. We had to wonder as we wandered through the palaces and gardens what the various Louis or Marie Antoinette would have thought of all these "peasants" wandering through their rooms and posing next to their royal beds, and buying postcards and cups of coffee and just generally living modern normal life in what was their very royal home. I have to think the many 10s of thousands of workers employed during Versailles' construction would have to feel somewhat satisfied knowing that their descendents would have as much a right to visit the place as any king or duke or earl. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoLH_nr15msRchxBt-ofEdtzi3f6SEaYHgxThbX0aSLLtosNUiTLiAAYQh4ka_TtVBqUHkU5KteR9L3ewveGTSKZetkR2RyD_M7051dTSqS2ZqzaM3z2FAAxN29vZLElSwaUxNjomvMaN/s1600/DSCF2189.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoLH_nr15msRchxBt-ofEdtzi3f6SEaYHgxThbX0aSLLtosNUiTLiAAYQh4ka_TtVBqUHkU5KteR9L3ewveGTSKZetkR2RyD_M7051dTSqS2ZqzaM3z2FAAxN29vZLElSwaUxNjomvMaN/s1600/DSCF2189.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fountain in one of the "outdoor courtyards"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxW7S9XDZZUvZTnIHg6h2xdFs9N1N_TagUtq0ByXu8UQezAAQATH2iTpFnJni3kJom8ZBfGFvzrdVFeBMBKrrgOhAFDGuS1I6LmXILdDef7xBQQB5IXhuoQNuosLP6u_pqZfQZDzv4wj-/s1600/DSCF2197.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxW7S9XDZZUvZTnIHg6h2xdFs9N1N_TagUtq0ByXu8UQezAAQATH2iTpFnJni3kJom8ZBfGFvzrdVFeBMBKrrgOhAFDGuS1I6LmXILdDef7xBQQB5IXhuoQNuosLP6u_pqZfQZDzv4wj-/s1600/DSCF2197.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I bet these are much easier to maintain with gas-powered hedge trimmers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNzmnWsK8zLP8InKwNmlbkjB287qIoMB086KT43PZ5_M6FIXW6AQDLlLGTuK2mQUBWP3jpIIKXYvzj4qYEZJIAAe4SJJ2E2rNjl13kA03oKYrCaXUgq0xdBRhCcisT662K4FJtnzIWA9V/s1600/DSCF2209.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNzmnWsK8zLP8InKwNmlbkjB287qIoMB086KT43PZ5_M6FIXW6AQDLlLGTuK2mQUBWP3jpIIKXYvzj4qYEZJIAAe4SJJ2E2rNjl13kA03oKYrCaXUgq0xdBRhCcisT662K4FJtnzIWA9V/s1600/DSCF2209.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hall of mirrors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXR8jV3-rD7PjUb4O48uWsSLf2NiGz4ulxIH8k2G7oFwgJEV8bshahaiGi0xk9G8ODFaPf5cetaCnFf5VysFYVDgMWSuAtGVP04wGud3uoA1Y4RA8KYBKyKUbQ1k3H0R_Nmxk7xI_hvsy/s1600/IMG_2595.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXR8jV3-rD7PjUb4O48uWsSLf2NiGz4ulxIH8k2G7oFwgJEV8bshahaiGi0xk9G8ODFaPf5cetaCnFf5VysFYVDgMWSuAtGVP04wGud3uoA1Y4RA8KYBKyKUbQ1k3H0R_Nmxk7xI_hvsy/s1600/IMG_2595.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How would you like one of your sitting rooms to look like this?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUBnww_s4Up5VrywzYetKaJ7yglLORzuU-zguuRmAKzW4GuyuDx5_X7WaVfKIQdcYHXivCGxfD-okINIn8o7B1VpYK2VDC0nevpm7cU9tcPvou6nuHnfLyBMWyGK8tUD5_7M35SZZb5pR/s1600/IMG_2433.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUBnww_s4Up5VrywzYetKaJ7yglLORzuU-zguuRmAKzW4GuyuDx5_X7WaVfKIQdcYHXivCGxfD-okINIn8o7B1VpYK2VDC0nevpm7cU9tcPvou6nuHnfLyBMWyGK8tUD5_7M35SZZb5pR/s1600/IMG_2433.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "sun king's" castle sure is impressive!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuRC2YotKkskPX90EUKX_lHo8_XgHu0EIbRPwHXqYOf9Ybcg0QUE1qgCB-Qt44J0xTJRV-KzpgdYrNgvwRvz-UBEkoMjMj4fLzaTNW9k50sCbNo9HKSFmGch_YpmVpAzTTuGu4UZZcBXv/s1600/DSCF2215.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuRC2YotKkskPX90EUKX_lHo8_XgHu0EIbRPwHXqYOf9Ybcg0QUE1qgCB-Qt44J0xTJRV-KzpgdYrNgvwRvz-UBEkoMjMj4fLzaTNW9k50sCbNo9HKSFmGch_YpmVpAzTTuGu4UZZcBXv/s1600/DSCF2215.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't help but wonder if he's really trying to say "get out of my palace"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Sunday, we went all the way
up the Eiffel Tower and then went to the Sacre Cour church/cathedral.
At the Eiffel tower, we took the stairs to the 2nd landing and then the
elevator from there to the top (you aren't allowed to walk the whole
way up, which is probably just as well; I can imagine people getting half-way between the top and the second landing and having their legs give out and being REALLY stuck).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsa-YWJTB6UwjM_j5xu3RyTge5udglwu0x4gPKKejqi4GEmwqpqj_vl4KV6jdaR7SuQAWkRYpmp8JtiSoVUgEWbFff2WzLIE2Yd433xJa9GJmQPg9m2o8vWuzU9gtAzTkQfY4kJ-li1Ofx/s1600/IMG_2709.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsa-YWJTB6UwjM_j5xu3RyTge5udglwu0x4gPKKejqi4GEmwqpqj_vl4KV6jdaR7SuQAWkRYpmp8JtiSoVUgEWbFff2WzLIE2Yd433xJa9GJmQPg9m2o8vWuzU9gtAzTkQfY4kJ-li1Ofx/s1600/IMG_2709.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a LONG way down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxnjQe1Ul5dTJANqPVT5qj99qszEr5VuGtp0rmnn7jhlqxNcRcwr5v0MNSyIzyplWwseByxuf9nR7FaZICqP_V6X1F8a8Qc3I5be_sRc3KKddriOJU2HrnsqAAOovgjFLfQy55X-AqtC9/s1600/IMG_2737.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxnjQe1Ul5dTJANqPVT5qj99qszEr5VuGtp0rmnn7jhlqxNcRcwr5v0MNSyIzyplWwseByxuf9nR7FaZICqP_V6X1F8a8Qc3I5be_sRc3KKddriOJU2HrnsqAAOovgjFLfQy55X-AqtC9/s1600/IMG_2737.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4IP8KbFw3V9drdfipB63icf4l62lJ1NKDvO7f22HxMAYxeqGQ_btbdGWdhHiI_DKA4yT8MKORIP6Jvto5DMGHCgn6_E44FtTVlJYGaBSvYNDqQt4TzI5gvCJyQHEhv4MRAYEoygaix0e/s1600/IMG_2668.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4IP8KbFw3V9drdfipB63icf4l62lJ1NKDvO7f22HxMAYxeqGQ_btbdGWdhHiI_DKA4yT8MKORIP6Jvto5DMGHCgn6_E44FtTVlJYGaBSvYNDqQt4TzI5gvCJyQHEhv4MRAYEoygaix0e/s1600/IMG_2668.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I bet you didn't know that the real purpose of the Eiffel tower is as an anti-UFO laser gun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhColRPRWubEiexnVNbb0Wc049tmRQ4PDhADLZBfZSVnZpoky5eaqlB5E56drF9ZAkoUu7gWyaPeLgtyU1nub-HtlK1WIHPE-bNyPk9KePq0weJkONCjF1svWLoP_hG0GtjnLDhz3X0JPMa/s1600/DSCF2229.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhColRPRWubEiexnVNbb0Wc049tmRQ4PDhADLZBfZSVnZpoky5eaqlB5E56drF9ZAkoUu7gWyaPeLgtyU1nub-HtlK1WIHPE-bNyPk9KePq0weJkONCjF1svWLoP_hG0GtjnLDhz3X0JPMa/s1600/DSCF2229.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
The view is pretty amazing. <span class="il">Paris</span> as a
whole is really something. It is so dense with people, and yet (aside
from the touristiest areas) it never feels that crowded, and I really
love just wandering, window shopping, stopping at a shop for cheese or a
green grocer for some tasty bit of produce, marveling at some of the
ridiculous prices or outfits on display, stumbling across some amazing
bakery and getting an amazing baguette or delicious cake (we grabbed
cake to eat on the train ride home with our various leftover breads and
cheese, and it was just from some little bakery by the train station,
and the croissant was a reallly good one, and the cakes were so
delicious). <span class="il"></span></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKfRCTM-DpRASliYFrh_1UTuOyb4e_QxZC3ZvLfTVK_6ZfIW8vqmwV6_XI-CeruQB06lsJ8MKfy0xT1GPyHaJdSxPEEK1BOHSHM1FzeEPWqa8eY7XMSYdcdYpNTnOXULYqdB3eBHH_SL1/s1600/DSCF2147.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKfRCTM-DpRASliYFrh_1UTuOyb4e_QxZC3ZvLfTVK_6ZfIW8vqmwV6_XI-CeruQB06lsJ8MKfy0xT1GPyHaJdSxPEEK1BOHSHM1FzeEPWqa8eY7XMSYdcdYpNTnOXULYqdB3eBHH_SL1/s1600/DSCF2147.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OK, just look at that fabric!?!?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yBD92y1lAfUJn1_jqyB3UOBWMcnExmAurNmqtOVYNHrXaa1E2pQ-8e84rZ53VhHj9SZsV4tUGgIKxmv1xgKyF_dl3VX0bu9Q0EwEgfmbGc01mKldbxudlVlSV4GFWiOCSHDXJ3NiGMGt/s1600/DSCF2152.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yBD92y1lAfUJn1_jqyB3UOBWMcnExmAurNmqtOVYNHrXaa1E2pQ-8e84rZ53VhHj9SZsV4tUGgIKxmv1xgKyF_dl3VX0bu9Q0EwEgfmbGc01mKldbxudlVlSV4GFWiOCSHDXJ3NiGMGt/s1600/DSCF2152.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did my eyes deceive me or was there a marshmallow boutique?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oloZM-MIqjH3W-ZBjUnw74rsCthz2auxlBi4UIMoY5Xy46BBlEpgXnT4xL_acfkt9b-IYUYtJuKMCGaW8FuKb1fLmXYzZ4hk2alCSDjHck0LHBQZn3O6vZoOyOqLTAja-zhHTrxWJmpR/s1600/DSCF2148.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oloZM-MIqjH3W-ZBjUnw74rsCthz2auxlBi4UIMoY5Xy46BBlEpgXnT4xL_acfkt9b-IYUYtJuKMCGaW8FuKb1fLmXYzZ4hk2alCSDjHck0LHBQZn3O6vZoOyOqLTAja-zhHTrxWJmpR/s1600/DSCF2148.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Such hats! I wanted one of each but they were a bit pricy for an impulse purchase.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVdMcwZK1-uVdM6x5mujsImELF_RBNup8SZ1JRK-Bd5Q23b1FQx63g9PGeZs3ERe-MIor7dMDW5GRdZxJCZpg7EHk1UlGZHroK25HjggfGRlul2UHPNJHd-fB_tYb8uvgEdqLz1PRxfsH/s1600/DSCF2151.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVdMcwZK1-uVdM6x5mujsImELF_RBNup8SZ1JRK-Bd5Q23b1FQx63g9PGeZs3ERe-MIor7dMDW5GRdZxJCZpg7EHk1UlGZHroK25HjggfGRlul2UHPNJHd-fB_tYb8uvgEdqLz1PRxfsH/s1600/DSCF2151.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I bet you don't "just happen across" a cheese shop with a selection like this in your home town! It was 360 degrees of cheese! (but I only took one picture because I didn't want to be too obnoxious)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
I'm not sure Sasha will ever feel the same way about Paris. Maybe it's because he didn't grow up reading Madeline and watching Molin Rouge and Casablanca and considering Julia Child and French Cuisine as the "ne plus ultra" of cooking and dining. But I did. I never want to move to <span class="il">Paris</span>,
because sooner or later, I think the banal day-to-day things would kill
its magic. Phone bills and laundry are just not romantic. Instead, I'm happy knowing it is there for whenever I next
make it back. We'll always have Paris.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxu8Gim9dx3Jq8mmjDHgOAssnSNWLcboyFznVzbGAHWVynbF7fzqiPVpRAzrvLY2d4thLUvxYE0wZs-dJAL28_6SkvKD2AnfzV0p53V8nsfYRbcnGlF8-MSQWkI0IUCk6sCxskRh8B18I/s1600/IMG_2763.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxu8Gim9dx3Jq8mmjDHgOAssnSNWLcboyFznVzbGAHWVynbF7fzqiPVpRAzrvLY2d4thLUvxYE0wZs-dJAL28_6SkvKD2AnfzV0p53V8nsfYRbcnGlF8-MSQWkI0IUCk6sCxskRh8B18I/s1600/IMG_2763.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-32323210014966971952014-03-27T09:46:00.000-07:002014-03-27T09:46:00.096-07:00Provence part 3OK, let's see where I left off. Oh right, we were in Comps sur Artuby and heading into the Gorge du Verdon.<br />
<br />
The guidebook said to start early, because traffic would get heavier around 10, so we got a relatively early start, and after a short pedal, we had a fun looping descent and then we saw it, the Gorge. The book called it the "grand canyon of France" and while it might not be as impressive as the Grand Canyon in the US (not that I've seen it except from an airplane), it was still very pretty. We wound around one side of it to a bridge, that is effectively The Bridge, which was pretty impressive, and then we wound up the other side of it climbing up to the high point of the day. It wasn't as much climbing as the first day, but it wasn't flat either. However, in addition to frequent gorgeous views of the canyon, we also were rewarded at the top with Madeleines from some impressed French tourists who were driving up in their RV, and while Clara was waiting for the rest of us, she made friends with an older Italian and with her Spanish, they could kind of understand each other.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wLvJlx0O0Zam7xoPYOvSZfU6UHiLXRyiS22V8iF_BQYQA3Mwflp-rUBDFQH2pCCDWndCIDhcB3Pv19pElnHWbYJh_iG9zm5I6g-Qe1qBfOl3vbXC_Sgq300MgAqo9_6Vo5-mTvQr-xpx/s1600/IMG_0407.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wLvJlx0O0Zam7xoPYOvSZfU6UHiLXRyiS22V8iF_BQYQA3Mwflp-rUBDFQH2pCCDWndCIDhcB3Pv19pElnHWbYJh_iG9zm5I6g-Qe1qBfOl3vbXC_Sgq300MgAqo9_6Vo5-mTvQr-xpx/s1600/IMG_0407.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The problem with beautiful, bright sunny days is they make for harsh lighting for photos</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cGS48gayy-EkMMsYvBRLm_fAp5S6TIZJ5jKHM7-7yjEf_Abk4rSgB3Cs2W9KfcnadqTmvOX7gyBu-Rtp-rJwvzgZOoGeL2Bqfdml0c3pYSxTvFSMtRDkGoIjXeZexIpM_YCfO6fXflFS/s1600/IMG_0410.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6cGS48gayy-EkMMsYvBRLm_fAp5S6TIZJ5jKHM7-7yjEf_Abk4rSgB3Cs2W9KfcnadqTmvOX7gyBu-Rtp-rJwvzgZOoGeL2Bqfdml0c3pYSxTvFSMtRDkGoIjXeZexIpM_YCfO6fXflFS/s1600/IMG_0410.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bridge</td></tr>
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From the highpoint, the road leaves the gorge but the scenery was still rather nice, and there is a big, blue reservoir that is rather lovely and pleasant for swimming (although only I can attest to that). We stopped in a small tourist town, Aiguines, for a lunch break, but mostly ate food we'd brought, supplemented slightly with food from a small, expensive and unimpressive shop. The town had an unusual chateaux, though, which was near the park we stopped in.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unusual chateaux</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swimming!</td></tr>
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We then headed North-ish up past the reservoir and crossed it where the river flows into the canyon. The river is a bit wider there, and there were people boating on the turquoise water into the canyon. It would have been tempting had we not had all of our stuff and bicycles in a not easily-securable manner.<br />
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That night, we made it to the town of Moustiers Ste Marie, which was absolutely lovely. It is definitely "discovered" and I think we were many decades younger than all the other visitors, but it was well worth the visit. The town is cute and perched above it is a pilgrimage chapel, and rugged hills reminiscent of Utah, so we went for a short hike before dinner (those of us who didn't feel like napping). The only drawback was that all the restaurants were quite expensive, and we inadvertently picked an expensive but fancy one where the food was delicious but portions were, shall we say, not meant for cycle-tourists. Oh well. At least we found another amazing artisan bakery just next to our hotel. Yum!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwA9SG1vorRUO9zmta6G88dSjYgVL6ns2CyGkn1BK16lpkjLqB4rtFdmOnwYbENZsHzS7-2S9j3DcnrQvke0Af4qFh5NKFTCBBK1nYLBjaRylWSRi6ZyspivVEl3VyQLUTwQ8RzMwqSr5/s1600/IMG_0530.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwA9SG1vorRUO9zmta6G88dSjYgVL6ns2CyGkn1BK16lpkjLqB4rtFdmOnwYbENZsHzS7-2S9j3DcnrQvke0Af4qFh5NKFTCBBK1nYLBjaRylWSRi6ZyspivVEl3VyQLUTwQ8RzMwqSr5/s1600/IMG_0530.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our hotel room balcony. Not too shabby.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCMdmxjELs_Zgk1VoW9wcp4uzec_xsQyl11lkyiChmk62Y8772U2P-WrwhCmJa37nxa3_-AxfcOoeh65TpsZ-ALw3nOWcyKSiBHbTp2vkftxwtwegpNSlF4czH7Ro88KzseRO_4xiTf00/s1600/IMG_0547.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCMdmxjELs_Zgk1VoW9wcp4uzec_xsQyl11lkyiChmk62Y8772U2P-WrwhCmJa37nxa3_-AxfcOoeh65TpsZ-ALw3nOWcyKSiBHbTp2vkftxwtwegpNSlF4czH7Ro88KzseRO_4xiTf00/s1600/IMG_0547.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back towards town from our hike</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Appetizer at the fancy restaurant. Yum! </td></tr>
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The next morning, my birthday, just happened to be market day! I love markets, and this one was particularly awesome, if a bit small. We got olives and cheese and sausage and fruit and candied dried fruit and cookies and would have got so much more if we hadn't had to schlep it all with us. Alas, the downside of bike touring. But artisan pastries, french cafe au lait, and market. I can think of few better ways to spend one's birthday morning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1lhDV2no-cHMMfVDXU9Wd_irmw6F3ZZQa3civ5w5khAFDrpNBO7HnXDePnXw1hcWnv8ogQqOmh1guh26q7j-nlda4yQT2fO9_B7_d0Sg3Z8QZmQU9gwhVNrKHZ62v8wvmHB-XjJN7BWyH/s1600/IMG_0578.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1lhDV2no-cHMMfVDXU9Wd_irmw6F3ZZQa3civ5w5khAFDrpNBO7HnXDePnXw1hcWnv8ogQqOmh1guh26q7j-nlda4yQT2fO9_B7_d0Sg3Z8QZmQU9gwhVNrKHZ62v8wvmHB-XjJN7BWyH/s1600/IMG_0578.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wanted ALL those cheeses!! But only if someone else would carry them...</td></tr>
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That day's riding was less notable than many (not bad, mind you, just no stunning gorge), and we ended in a larger town (Manosque) and stayed in an "extended stay" type hotel with kitchenettes in our room. We wandered around town a bit, but largely spent our time there riding around the outskirts looking for the (very nice) bike shop to aquire a few items we needed and get some minor service done...(just an aside, cyclists, if you ever want a fun Charades phrase, try chamois cream; we got funny looks and weren't successful at a sporting goods type store in Nice, but managed to both communicate our need AND get said product in Manosque). We also managed to find a nice bakery and got some gorgeous and delicious pastries for birthday dessert.<br />
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The next day we were effectively switching between two recommended routes from our guidebook, and had a short day of riding. One benefit of being off the recommended route was riding through a cute village totally off the tourist path. There was a chapel at the top that we had all to ourselves and there was not a post card in sight anywhere in the village. After we rejoined the book route, though, it's not like we were fighting the crowds either, though. We stopped at a ruined monastery called the Prieure de Carluc and pretty much had the place to ourselves there, too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReS8RDIV106ifRuokPAE1co3FZZTHbZxQrAxwV_blIZNW19mJpabPcJut6T4j9QGIORSZIlVPve6siEp20wDvKDy2kwgQELhl7RLF3UVFYzK1ASw8ZvoZq75w7XfckE-2OrGES6tuwXbb/s1600/IMG_0630.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReS8RDIV106ifRuokPAE1co3FZZTHbZxQrAxwV_blIZNW19mJpabPcJut6T4j9QGIORSZIlVPve6siEp20wDvKDy2kwgQELhl7RLF3UVFYzK1ASw8ZvoZq75w7XfckE-2OrGES6tuwXbb/s1600/IMG_0630.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the Prieure. It was really a fascinating place. It is strange sometimes wandering around a place that has been ruined for centuries, imagining when those holes in the rock were filled with the roof beams, and the place was filled with monks.</td></tr>
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We rode to the town of Apt and got there in time for lunch AND right as the market was closing. We thus had to limit our market acquisitions, but riding up Mt. Ventoux was only a few days in our future, so we were starting to get careful about loading up our saddle bags, even with food, so we just got some bread and a melon and such. We ate lunch in a restaurant about a block off the main square and it was one of the best meals of the trip. I had a lasagna that was not tomato-y at all, but creamy and meaty and delicious. Since we were going to cut off a few days of the guidebook recommended route through the Luberon, Clara and I took an afternoon ride to visit two more villages, Roussillon and Bonnieux. Rossilon is famous for its Ochre cliffs, but it was a zoo of tourists and tour buses, so we looked at the cliffs and then went on as fast as we could. Bonnieux on the other hand was quite lovely. We shared an organic crepe and went up the hill to a fancy church and, although we would have loved to wander the streets for longer, we had to cut our visit short to meet back up with our husbands for dinner, a dinner of cheese and bread and tomatoes and melon and such that, though simple, was so yummy.<br />
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OK, so we took tons of pictures, and all of those km of riding that I'm not describing were generally winding in oak forest or through fields (some lavender) and we could see mountains in many directions, and the sun was shining and we had tasty snacks and...so basically, yes, you should be jealous. Until you book your own trip, that is. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_66KEI7pmmCFq5aFgoEExkaQl7uxyZ-R8YvjG-u1AiY1Lrskqj1Pu6siaNBooOYSeFwastXWrHzA3tJP-aPb4PAm2eIib1Ih_vICl1OZTW1rr4ibIL771geWdqeiGpmHtFcZO9qcov29/s1600/IMG_0609.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_66KEI7pmmCFq5aFgoEExkaQl7uxyZ-R8YvjG-u1AiY1Lrskqj1Pu6siaNBooOYSeFwastXWrHzA3tJP-aPb4PAm2eIib1Ih_vICl1OZTW1rr4ibIL771geWdqeiGpmHtFcZO9qcov29/s1600/IMG_0609.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our cute "off the beaten track" chapel<br />
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Bonnieux</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ochre of Roussillon</td></tr>
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-84842238025405358272014-03-21T14:00:00.002-07:002014-03-21T14:04:51.373-07:00Nocturnal Biodiversity<br />
Spring is here! And it really feels like it here in Marburg. On Wednesday, we observed one of the signs of spring - the frogs came to our local vernal pools to lay their eggs (vernal pools are are temporary pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals, according to Wikipedia. They look like puddles. Okay, some are bigger than puddles. But it depends on how much rain there's been.).<br />
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So, this blog post will be relatively short, and highlight some of the biodiversity one can see in and near the vernal pools of Marburg in spring:<br />
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First: the star of the night: Feuersalamander! Or Fire Salamanders, for those of you that speak English (some words are just better in German, although the Latin <i>Salamandra salamandra</i> is pretty awesome too!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYtHVdDncOuzDbCCp5W6sqfLV-omTNjcQ3EcOXA2aQN5IWlWGQe05t4o7UTjZDUm_6TCXLnzGXvN81u2WzWrUFTjyGSdXGKulayF0fsxKG3Wk3H8kJ83GwlHbEVErIJWkdE2dTi1MCOA/s1600/IMG_1942.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYtHVdDncOuzDbCCp5W6sqfLV-omTNjcQ3EcOXA2aQN5IWlWGQe05t4o7UTjZDUm_6TCXLnzGXvN81u2WzWrUFTjyGSdXGKulayF0fsxKG3Wk3H8kJ83GwlHbEVErIJWkdE2dTi1MCOA/s1600/IMG_1942.JPG_comp.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The photos don't do them justice. They look even cooler in real life!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8lRvU6uiZLbo9JFK1UVTKpqhiMFgO5SVI1LA7t0eee0_8uZvUtmNTYUkcZuicsHHyd33SfZZKoP5oFTeskj7KbK4Y2Wz9_GHZH0vPpjlONsbg8m2D2bHsNDO_XWrF_4iF-vdmnwZayVk/s1600/IMG_1939.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTL4rM2FJtLapUTQyA8Pm2JMPgQXnF5uLej1a4hqQ8WOGyVMCH5zcUad_qV4HjaNWtfGYTofmY1cqZfnDQOQZQoQALlYNGauWwC5mL2lGd1f1B7_GC4vqpp7cy2KirpVyvusHNmq3SCjI/s1600/IMG_1938.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZV5GSkTXM4NILaSShcn4mPHuZ3hpBulJaCaHoqX0E05Dbq5mXcl_h3uGvhQuNB2XWcoatWrks_0CNhqcGKTdBrlNGY9-FcEGTSi5BoZ3171ry51ophXS-_3pmve27cuIMR01yLG_rUc/s1600/IMG_1935.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZV5GSkTXM4NILaSShcn4mPHuZ3hpBulJaCaHoqX0E05Dbq5mXcl_h3uGvhQuNB2XWcoatWrks_0CNhqcGKTdBrlNGY9-FcEGTSi5BoZ3171ry51ophXS-_3pmve27cuIMR01yLG_rUc/s1600/IMG_1935.JPG_comp.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The coin is a 1 Euro, which is 2.3 cm in diameter (for those of you wondering what that is in inches, switch to the metric system, it's better!)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtZDdCgMSkrcha7pxEHDN0ybg7U2ZqtVPAi2Q4mGp2MVc9yGXs_kbOK6pJuXRdBM0Fj-311IOxjhOFzddkTUfPrz939uTJMBAg3wCVs4mA8KehbA3fip3x7wrt_fe40IDbYo_a5YLzaw/s1600/IMG_1929_little_salamander.jpg" height="257" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most likely a Fire Salamander larva. Breeding takes place on land, and then the females carry the eggs and young larvae around for months before letting them loose into the wide world of hungry predators </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-xe_qGgHBOpHIgqtZBLUqg_OANXMmdJxFuMqieS4Zoe53qqY7eQeNO9Joxw7MNU2Hwk5RgSLMinMWUbOS0KNQOgsXeGfYZMLuolS1z6JV8d_9nUkP6gDtS0mZEYG59VEanlN65fD3wc/s1600/IMG_1927_frog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-xe_qGgHBOpHIgqtZBLUqg_OANXMmdJxFuMqieS4Zoe53qqY7eQeNO9Joxw7MNU2Hwk5RgSLMinMWUbOS0KNQOgsXeGfYZMLuolS1z6JV8d_9nUkP6gDtS0mZEYG59VEanlN65fD3wc/s1600/IMG_1927_frog.jpg" height="270" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Likely the Common Frog (<i>Rana temporaria</i>)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nWTd3TcsdcRTN9L8D5qsmMwiDchB7Kw5XE1axUk7v6fXWW9wDSLgBwl7blAsRoQ6a-cnzfe1W5pNQRtdTCQv4AfF2_e14Pgs7OtLaRqTQDQwLiv-sRQjPQoRDQCLx9m3IdbZBLDMg_Q/s1600/IMG_1924.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nWTd3TcsdcRTN9L8D5qsmMwiDchB7Kw5XE1axUk7v6fXWW9wDSLgBwl7blAsRoQ6a-cnzfe1W5pNQRtdTCQv4AfF2_e14Pgs7OtLaRqTQDQwLiv-sRQjPQoRDQCLx9m3IdbZBLDMg_Q/s1600/IMG_1924.JPG_comp.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frog eggs!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguX1HJgixnL8wGcGE6fNtbKG7jIu_M4ZwrqIGMo6OzpfrmjtrT8_CP7T_wMHOQ7PeEtxozkJLXlQYUZVN8l8wMwG2l9yOJMDX0HBLR36mD-9vsPAmaEzetNmt5Z9_Gmz_PXbanYOlbh98/s1600/IMG_1928.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguX1HJgixnL8wGcGE6fNtbKG7jIu_M4ZwrqIGMo6OzpfrmjtrT8_CP7T_wMHOQ7PeEtxozkJLXlQYUZVN8l8wMwG2l9yOJMDX0HBLR36mD-9vsPAmaEzetNmt5Z9_Gmz_PXbanYOlbh98/s1600/IMG_1928.JPG_comp.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even more eggs!</td></tr>
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Vernal pools also have invertebrate life. Below is a diving beetle, and below that are some pictures of two spiders (you can see them at night by their bright green eyeshine!) and also a cool yellow slug.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rKqtP83v6nTRnFCo1_N-FOmxtsHsyIKbm3lp14r1NRMvrPBw2yX3GH4H1Efv05gt2wbVKi3Pmo159byTePhqfRGhd7k3rgydkLCpmg1d_svgNMWX-DvmPgafGZ9UD0dRGAvkp3Fbr_M/s1600/IMG_1944_beetle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rKqtP83v6nTRnFCo1_N-FOmxtsHsyIKbm3lp14r1NRMvrPBw2yX3GH4H1Efv05gt2wbVKi3Pmo159byTePhqfRGhd7k3rgydkLCpmg1d_svgNMWX-DvmPgafGZ9UD0dRGAvkp3Fbr_M/s1600/IMG_1944_beetle.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larger than life size</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7sJeTztuFXdG6M_Vs6OKe0Mb2Vhtq6ws0LF67ajRrgSb5_GI04cQ0bmRjSJy89SVktQV6NN2H3cGx1hMCYnpvqrgh2XWzfHNBS-TILD3zgvOLG9qQGnHxQW-z1GTr66legzEFM6Okdzk/s1600/IMG_1923_spider2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7sJeTztuFXdG6M_Vs6OKe0Mb2Vhtq6ws0LF67ajRrgSb5_GI04cQ0bmRjSJy89SVktQV6NN2H3cGx1hMCYnpvqrgh2XWzfHNBS-TILD3zgvOLG9qQGnHxQW-z1GTr66legzEFM6Okdzk/s1600/IMG_1923_spider2.jpg" height="441" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larger than life size. Otherwise there would be fewer mice.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7cf2ocaUNR75NNFlDNw2uhT6CrDXrDBiu82Jg7d6TZZPUZ5mR5lg-NVjKuooZB-imtLjIsLZEYjPFva_0DuchqrbcOHfndmQZqNI3X1BEGeKzg5LRhT0D5nyouxL9x6almsNz7IC5qM/s1600/IMG_1922_spider1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7cf2ocaUNR75NNFlDNw2uhT6CrDXrDBiu82Jg7d6TZZPUZ5mR5lg-NVjKuooZB-imtLjIsLZEYjPFva_0DuchqrbcOHfndmQZqNI3X1BEGeKzg5LRhT0D5nyouxL9x6almsNz7IC5qM/s1600/IMG_1922_spider1.jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76qJ5KxSmgF8Hjeh_daIjEirYGCWbBNxyLzWmJofH8v6zADlJypUJmsrx1TPs7Hmvt157l6gBZy12H2UsU0aVOt8AL5qduPR2Tm0sR8CorispNs05mP0y4Au7SmwGiKzz8acYvqC3ps4/s1600/IMG_1946_spider3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76qJ5KxSmgF8Hjeh_daIjEirYGCWbBNxyLzWmJofH8v6zADlJypUJmsrx1TPs7Hmvt157l6gBZy12H2UsU0aVOt8AL5qduPR2Tm0sR8CorispNs05mP0y4Au7SmwGiKzz8acYvqC3ps4/s1600/IMG_1946_spider3.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even in the water, you are not safe from spiders.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8upHoAA2lvXxEAt6BTPs2tCAtAt4G_f7v_hbDuZdx_SDQE5GPNVnzghgg0E9xXmHoydncwpmJNVBdMazu5GW5tBBVeGgS7a73GS2cX_x9iWwg2VEAWM5eSyRj7tFz6Ma52hP0XlHkXQ/s1600/IMG_1932_slug2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2ygzlHoVykOhKOnprGOFIzTY8G5E745t8LnVTMvep720vtkk-at-1oZkceCcWp6Hzc4TS9pNwvTMBk8Lei2t7szPl7nVvY7vXfInmsVGChJmk-6fhcIdAhsTbdy-apO2OxSDFGUch54/s1600/IMG_1931_slug1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2ygzlHoVykOhKOnprGOFIzTY8G5E745t8LnVTMvep720vtkk-at-1oZkceCcWp6Hzc4TS9pNwvTMBk8Lei2t7szPl7nVvY7vXfInmsVGChJmk-6fhcIdAhsTbdy-apO2OxSDFGUch54/s1600/IMG_1931_slug1.jpg" height="328" width="640" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8upHoAA2lvXxEAt6BTPs2tCAtAt4G_f7v_hbDuZdx_SDQE5GPNVnzghgg0E9xXmHoydncwpmJNVBdMazu5GW5tBBVeGgS7a73GS2cX_x9iWwg2VEAWM5eSyRj7tFz6Ma52hP0XlHkXQ/s1600/IMG_1932_slug2.jpg" height="245" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are cool slugs in Germany. This one was yellow. I don't know if it will turn into the giant orange slugs we see later in the year.</td></tr>
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-V2l0tzQokZY%2FUyyUgx5y5gI%2FAAAAAAAAAbU%2FNN2ZQ6DCDAg%2Fs1600%2FIMG_1931_slug1.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2ygzlHoVykOhKOnprGOFIzTY8G5E745t8LnVTMvep720vtkk-at-1oZkceCcWp6Hzc4TS9pNwvTMBk8Lei2t7szPl7nVvY7vXfInmsVGChJmk-6fhcIdAhsTbdy-apO2OxSDFGUch54/s1600/IMG_1931_slug1.jpg" -->Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-19148938709687381282014-03-16T05:59:00.000-07:002014-03-16T06:01:26.824-07:00Pi day!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsihnXBqwL7rQzVZcne_T1LpWZiQBqJxfRgK5RnwlSOtvlqsOlCmB3Ilh9Qt3Q_HHnj9AI_OPQwDbikiwdQ2H3rJlA2icytVan0Fxz9MjEZ6kwxH35Yc-g69KMnN3WkqXGOhJ2jg367TC/s1600/DSCF2139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsihnXBqwL7rQzVZcne_T1LpWZiQBqJxfRgK5RnwlSOtvlqsOlCmB3Ilh9Qt3Q_HHnj9AI_OPQwDbikiwdQ2H3rJlA2icytVan0Fxz9MjEZ6kwxH35Yc-g69KMnN3WkqXGOhJ2jg367TC/s1600/DSCF2139.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I hope you all had a good pi day. Now, pi day is not something traditionally celebrated in Germany. Some could argue that it's not traditionally celebrated in the US outside of areas with high concentrations of math nerds (ie science museums and college math departments) but that's beside the point. It really isn't celebrated here for 3 reasons: 1. Here, everyone writes the date differently. In Germany the 14th of March, 2014 would be written 14.3.year instead of 3/14/year. Clearly 14.3 isn't pi (and unfortunately 31.4 just doesn't exist). So that's problem one. 2. they don't pronounce it like "pie" but rather like "pee". 3. pie just isn't a German dessert. <br />
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BUT, I am not a German, I am an American, and thus, if I want to eat pie on the 14th of March and celebrate the wonders of pi, then I will. And since I try to keep Sasha and I from having a horrible diet (sometimes), I decided that my lab should celebrate pi day. As I wrote to them in an e-mail, "There is pie. Free pie for you. Are you really going to complain about celebrating a minor US holiday? I think not". And they got more into it than I thought they would. In addition to serving our pie at 1:59, we had the "1st annual MPI for terrestrial microbiology Ecophysiology department pi digit recitation contest" for which Monika was the winner:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyrlDjxLqm_63gDb4YWC8qmCS9P5PYoBVgHS90pOePOzUJoI9GUTZTnvZDdbg7G_i3pJzJl_Ohy_zDX-pVpXA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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And we all ate pie (one is cherry, one is apple). And it was delicious. And very educational. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0IivbAxIMi54oLJTpNaEQ3MuVrSP1MgfAEW4YVd7hTz00SlMZ95N2CWfOuup5Gu1pSsGcUUf89JaBioICxyb41X509hgiRaq6adelBWWEoeWmyPWkQN8j-JAVfsiAP3PydZmDoXXpQ1b9/s1600/DSCF2142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0IivbAxIMi54oLJTpNaEQ3MuVrSP1MgfAEW4YVd7hTz00SlMZ95N2CWfOuup5Gu1pSsGcUUf89JaBioICxyb41X509hgiRaq6adelBWWEoeWmyPWkQN8j-JAVfsiAP3PydZmDoXXpQ1b9/s1600/DSCF2142.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold, the amazing number of pie, er, pi.</td></tr>
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-26873980261823434642014-03-09T09:19:00.000-07:002014-03-09T09:19:00.541-07:00Find a castle, March 2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjW0aSN66S4RVZupRT_KqL0lhTtEjEeU-ptvmI4tjmKPFJPTIZeGMB3K7liKlu_I29NC-4xyNEbQPceKCRCHKCn1RWOJkhX4nc2bEoW7FuEvi0L70Rb3EjjKjEDzqANbv52C6PjDDF93dv/s1600/IMG_1880.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjW0aSN66S4RVZupRT_KqL0lhTtEjEeU-ptvmI4tjmKPFJPTIZeGMB3K7liKlu_I29NC-4xyNEbQPceKCRCHKCn1RWOJkhX4nc2bEoW7FuEvi0L70Rb3EjjKjEDzqANbv52C6PjDDF93dv/s1600/IMG_1880.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring is sprung here in Hessen.</td></tr>
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It is spring here, and has been for almost a month now. There are bulbs blooming and trees spreading their pollen and today I think I will go for a run in SHORTS!! I know some of you still have tons of snow, of which I am sort of jealous since we only got to go skiing a few times while in the US over Christmas, but I am rather enjoying today.<br />
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This weekend and last weekend, it stopped raining long enough that Sasha and I thought we could play a few rounds of "find a castle" without risking hypothermia while poking around in the woods. We are 3 for 3 for March so far, and the castles ran the range of ruinedness. <br />
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Last weekend, we picked a ruined castle symbol on the map near towns called Friedensdorf and Buchenwald. The ruin even had a name on the map, so that seemed promising. Although the name was "Hohenfels" which translates more or less as "high rocks", so perhaps I should have expected what we eventually found...<br />
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We took roads and then the bike path for a while before we had to cut in on a hiking/mountain biking trail. I suppose now would be a good point to mention that we had road tires on our bikes and it had rained a good amount the previous week and there was major logging going on on said hiking trail. Oh well. We'd had the foresight to take running shoes too, so we were prepared for this:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqwABSgBISffmOCx9ra-ltJ9DuqFG2ei1NN-GIYO8ZoYq4lhtFvKzB3EcRpMsCOWG3X-KnQ8E9bW7gLJLt8PJxNC1imu07z1UXj-ZheFucmS0DvtZDQMNrI6eABIRIojTdTKJ9TOVzEiG/s1600/IMG_1807.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqwABSgBISffmOCx9ra-ltJ9DuqFG2ei1NN-GIYO8ZoYq4lhtFvKzB3EcRpMsCOWG3X-KnQ8E9bW7gLJLt8PJxNC1imu07z1UXj-ZheFucmS0DvtZDQMNrI6eABIRIojTdTKJ9TOVzEiG/s1600/IMG_1807.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perhaps mountain bike tires would be more appropriate</td></tr>
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We got up to the top of the ridge and found a sign telling us that it is illegal to deface the ruins, but where were they? We wandered around the local maximum and convinced ourselves that there were some manmade earthworks and maybe a wall, but it was underwhelming. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicY3BDIsOKPqVWYgHE1hlZLPNDGCyUf79atpEm_ToEpzs4skrT54oXNzfiLI31hrWe84vhXLrZu_IURS9Jt2HT1xAlopHe7elZTy8lTp1tT_MmF8Dy5L_3TdSsKwxkHmWgsGz8QY-iivC-/s1600/IMG_1819.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicY3BDIsOKPqVWYgHE1hlZLPNDGCyUf79atpEm_ToEpzs4skrT54oXNzfiLI31hrWe84vhXLrZu_IURS9Jt2HT1xAlopHe7elZTy8lTp1tT_MmF8Dy5L_3TdSsKwxkHmWgsGz8QY-iivC-/s1600/IMG_1819.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least we are allowed to climb around unsupervised when the ruins are unexciting.</td></tr>
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So we ate a snack and rode onward, trying to make our way back home.
Luckily, we picked a good direction, for we found a sign explaining the
ruins! There were indeed fortifications on 2 local maxima, dating from
the 1200s or so, and indeed the 2nd of the local maxima had much more
satisfying ruins. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSuXt4GzDzIpJd7wcOw_sPkqog-OzVYh96bF-dW6j9btn0HCsnkZN-NloOtXRbbS1ifDHPexfHqqSveywsBAqEfnGJVjS8gXLg_MG7eXWaEF7tK5ajO7I_T_MiX5DcmSFNzVGRiKcBzBm/s1600/IMG_1820.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSuXt4GzDzIpJd7wcOw_sPkqog-OzVYh96bF-dW6j9btn0HCsnkZN-NloOtXRbbS1ifDHPexfHqqSveywsBAqEfnGJVjS8gXLg_MG7eXWaEF7tK5ajO7I_T_MiX5DcmSFNzVGRiKcBzBm/s1600/IMG_1820.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you want to read about which Landgrafs and which Konrads and Heinrichs are responsible for this castle, here you go.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9eA1jiUkCD-_0OPbyEFcWxapb1JLZMGM2E8Fj7hoa2aprUazTfXUbOASTA5CWpKepSxPD5p8wZUmIUcFlR0hR2E2aodhuCwcjoe26ZnQI6tlSDJcfuIRr-qBY3_svg_bvF5bL18F2v40/s1600/IMG_1827.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9eA1jiUkCD-_0OPbyEFcWxapb1JLZMGM2E8Fj7hoa2aprUazTfXUbOASTA5CWpKepSxPD5p8wZUmIUcFlR0hR2E2aodhuCwcjoe26ZnQI6tlSDJcfuIRr-qBY3_svg_bvF5bL18F2v40/s1600/IMG_1827.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indisputably human made.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYEd3Fx3-tkT6r1Ew2Z12Sp2tifAXdC5UppW_ueRc8d7fkG4XSNEQ9Pzq1ZEI0VoGMYIS-Yi1CKh-GYRXbxb2Efkw52HwJ-KPsz0z58pVKAVpYzKk1QjzfNTLN6HgPUVyvgEkhHoTJ1hi/s1600/IMG_1825.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYEd3Fx3-tkT6r1Ew2Z12Sp2tifAXdC5UppW_ueRc8d7fkG4XSNEQ9Pzq1ZEI0VoGMYIS-Yi1CKh-GYRXbxb2Efkw52HwJ-KPsz0z58pVKAVpYzKk1QjzfNTLN6HgPUVyvgEkhHoTJ1hi/s1600/IMG_1825.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And look at those walls!</td></tr>
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Now, Dad, if you are reading this, I am sure you are shaking your head about your crazy daughter's castle obsession. But answer me this: wouldn't you like to go on a several hour bike ride through fields and forests, and isn't it nice having an excuse to go some new direction to explore some new woods? And if such a journey goes by an award winning bakery that serves raspberry cake AND hot cocoa, would you still protest against castle journeys, or would you perhaps join in our enthusiasm?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdM0Q1eRZha99LU8kPtX_FQcRrNpf7qwwC0v7VfsqvmzEsUesUs2-lXqAPprettQD9ZRH-qKLEurEhv8ebAkbXFYiF0WuYb2bPRT5t3XGdtMKuGC4VRaqHiExVF7ms2EQi4JBCaWpy-5kz/s1600/IMG_1802.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdM0Q1eRZha99LU8kPtX_FQcRrNpf7qwwC0v7VfsqvmzEsUesUs2-lXqAPprettQD9ZRH-qKLEurEhv8ebAkbXFYiF0WuYb2bPRT5t3XGdtMKuGC4VRaqHiExVF7ms2EQi4JBCaWpy-5kz/s1600/IMG_1802.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like cake!</td></tr>
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OK, so that was last weekend. Yesterday, we wanted to go on another adventure, but since Sasha had been out of town for a week for a conference, we decided against going anywhere too far away, so decided to bike the stretch of the Lahn from here to Giessen. This also involved trying to get up to two castles that we have seen from the train. OK, so since we could see them from the train, it wasn't the usual gamble about whether or not we'd find them, or whether they'd be castles or just remnants of rock walls, so perhaps this round wasn't quite the same challenge, but hey. The weather was so warm I got to ride my bike with a short sleeved jersey!! The downside to the nice weather was that the bike path (which we were on for a good part of the day) was crowded. The nerve of all those other people taking advantage of the weather.<br />
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The first castle was in Friedelhausen and was quite nice, and more of a manor house than a stereotypical castle. It was very private, unfortunately, but at least the fence/hedge was low, so we could get good views. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40n8z6xG8SW3fHTpFbIetoNxmVtNSAVeXNC4rfrPSplAOxIIkJjCubXcP2eJzPF0uNRC1UTjMPIDd7ZAVjhkEpYWCCkaO1EgtV_M0VTcyLDB7gS98EzO4EGHXTTOuIz88i_dSn4HUqyya/s1600/IMG_1867.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40n8z6xG8SW3fHTpFbIetoNxmVtNSAVeXNC4rfrPSplAOxIIkJjCubXcP2eJzPF0uNRC1UTjMPIDd7ZAVjhkEpYWCCkaO1EgtV_M0VTcyLDB7gS98EzO4EGHXTTOuIz88i_dSn4HUqyya/s1600/IMG_1867.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look, there is skin showing on my arms!! (yes, that's skin, not pasty white arm warmers)</td></tr>
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From there, we went on to the town of Staufenberg, which has both a lovely castle that has been turned into a hotel (a 4-star hotel no less, not that I have ever figured out who gives a hotel stars, or what they mean), and some satisfying ruins for clamoring around, including a tower with a spiral staircase.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sgOA8f-DqcYxSz_9_torBqYEBk9B7bEN1Q5o2M-0Oumm5bihQmahGDPkOZo58bos_TGYd8fhkIpw34NiwE2K-Xt4XfQZrzrgUF9kVL9hNs-h68tmW_BJFzAP3Bcj8W4l46YSfbJ_Kegq/s1600/IMG_1873.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sgOA8f-DqcYxSz_9_torBqYEBk9B7bEN1Q5o2M-0Oumm5bihQmahGDPkOZo58bos_TGYd8fhkIpw34NiwE2K-Xt4XfQZrzrgUF9kVL9hNs-h68tmW_BJFzAP3Bcj8W4l46YSfbJ_Kegq/s1600/IMG_1873.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the hotel part of the castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVVxCFUJhA8BQhjL19AiYlor0FFkGhS6xLR8jL5cgvnOCqFV3vCzWaL6A8LQWZENakkwj4unaIKqnbCsJ6mNMjSXgJfUzlIeRqFI1Zz0v-i_u1ZRtoXbQuFbFVT37T1ELSA94W75Fc7et/s1600/IMG_1881.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVVxCFUJhA8BQhjL19AiYlor0FFkGhS6xLR8jL5cgvnOCqFV3vCzWaL6A8LQWZENakkwj4unaIKqnbCsJ6mNMjSXgJfUzlIeRqFI1Zz0v-i_u1ZRtoXbQuFbFVT37T1ELSA94W75Fc7et/s1600/IMG_1881.JPG_comp.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruined tower with a nice view</td></tr>
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Now, if only the hotel/castle restaurant had had cake, it would have been perfect. Alas, we had to settle for pretty good.<br />
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From Staufenberg, we rode back down to the bike path along the Lahn, and rode the rest of the way into Giessen and caught a train home. Since Sasha likes birds, you will be pleased to note we saw a few birds, although nothing incredibly worth noting from a birders perspective. However, as further proof that spring is upon us in this Deutscher Land, there were baby geese!!! Yay for spring and cute balls of fluff! And warmth! and sun! May such things reach your corner of the globe soon if you don't have them yet.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EwhI93gA964gHAbiisya7q01edHzZn16dami3MwoOKwnL6TV0WKae_umeDAFKbBxDYnuEur8wv73sx8fLhNK-9kOYJBfrfzX5-2ZeWFojhlPUbBJYhDUOK4Fk7H28auiN_BsXiFNydOX/s1600/IMG_1894.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EwhI93gA964gHAbiisya7q01edHzZn16dami3MwoOKwnL6TV0WKae_umeDAFKbBxDYnuEur8wv73sx8fLhNK-9kOYJBfrfzX5-2ZeWFojhlPUbBJYhDUOK4Fk7H28auiN_BsXiFNydOX/s1600/IMG_1894.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Babies!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OGbsc99sQ6B4UNVU2N3frtBHFWJmRCDVsW2zp8R7Ul5xWBVFCp4bRKWtyqlAnYf38-GLqGQYBdUxRZeIQWZP8Q4-_1rok8ihyphenhyphenEOIJK3NkmzMygznWxt-wgsUgAeGnOWi0Y1yj4pLPYQM/s1600/IMG_1896.JPG_comp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OGbsc99sQ6B4UNVU2N3frtBHFWJmRCDVsW2zp8R7Ul5xWBVFCp4bRKWtyqlAnYf38-GLqGQYBdUxRZeIQWZP8Q4-_1rok8ihyphenhyphenEOIJK3NkmzMygznWxt-wgsUgAeGnOWi0Y1yj4pLPYQM/s1600/IMG_1896.JPG_comp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom or Dad. In case you are curious, these are Egyptian geese, which have been introduced here, but are now quite common in our part of Hessen.</td></tr>
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-69326308630201401622014-03-07T08:55:00.000-08:002014-03-07T08:55:12.472-08:00ABCs of German lifeHello friends and family!<br />
<br />
We've been in Germany for well over a year now, which is really hard to believe. This seems like a good time to reflect on life over here and how it is different from the States. I'm going to go through some of the things that I've noticed living here in Germany that have taken some getting used to, some obvious, some less so. Sometimes, the German way seems better, sometimes worse, sometimes just different. Some of these things would be obvious in a short visit, others became more obvious only over time, but hopefully this will be interesting to you. I'm going to do it alphabetically, and (to make the letters work better) am going to switch between the German and the English. Blogger's prerogative.<br />
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A: "Amt" or "anmelden": an Amt is basically a governmental office, and anmelden is the process of registering with the government any time you move. The government gets to know all sorts of details that to me seem like none of their business, like my religion.<br />
Yes, we have the equivalent of Amts in the US (think RMV/DMV, etc.) but I swear there are way more here. Now, if any of you are scientists and have come to Germany to give a talk, you probably were surprised at how easy it was to get your honorarium; at some point you were probably led to an administrative office and handed an envelope of cash. This might lead you to believe that the bureaucracy is less in Germany than in the US where such a simple task could be quite frustrating. Not so if you actually live here. I think there are forms and rules for the forms and rules. Luckily, however, there seems to be much less enforcement than regulation, however. Which is good, since I'm sure we've missed some form or another that I don't even know about. <br />
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B: bike paths: Boston has been voted a bike-friendly city by some magazine or other, and they're crazy. In the states, people paint a bike lane on a heavily used street and call themselves bike friendly (as if turning cars and opening doors on parked cars don't exist). Germany is actually bike friendly, which is good because in this college town, there are bikes everywhere. I think the hills keep many people from biking into my work, but a survey we read in German class said that biking is the most popular form of exercise here, and I believe it. In addition to bike lanes on the streets and/or sidewalks throughout every town I've been to, there are bike route signs and dedicated bike routes throughout the surrounding countryside. And not just one rail trail, we're talking hundreds of km in Hessen alone. Now, I may complain that it's hard to guess from the map which are paved and which are dirt (which matters on a road bike during mud season) but still, it's awesome here. Biking is really accessible to everyone.<br />
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blast doors: OK, so most windows have these crazy metal things, and many Germans roll them down over all their windows most nights. They're basically just shutters, but they make Sasha and I think that there may be storm troopers lurking nearby. Hence our nickname.<br />
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C: currency: We don't pay for things in dollars, but rather, in Euros. And I get
paid in Euros, too. I still have to double-check all the coins when I'm
paying for something, even though the coins and bills are more
different from each other than those in the states. I mean, the bills
are even different sizes to match their worth. If they ever made a
million Euro bill, I think it would be the size of a legal pad or
something. When I was in Germany for 3 months in 2002, the exchange
rate was almost exactly 1:1, but with inflation in the states and the
weaker US economy, it isn't any more. I still think about the prices as
if I just switched the currency symbol, though; I'm not good at doing
exchange rate math in my head, or about remembering that I ought to.<br />
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D: dogs: As many of you know, I'm not a dog person. They smell, they're loud, they jump on you, and most importantly, they are really scary if they are mean and are loose when you are just out for a bike ride or roller ski. After a year dealing with country dogs in upstate NY, my fear of un-leashed dogs while riding is at an all-time high, but I'm amazed that I really needn't worry so much here. The dogs are actually polite. Usually, I can ride by any dog, and it will not even bother looking up at me. If a dog barks or anything, I swear I hear it getting a lecture after I pass, on the order of "you are a German dog, you don't do that to people. It's not polite." Awesome.<br />
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E: effusive greetings: something the Germans just don't do (well, except for a subset of college women). Sasha's waved and said hi to people we pass in the streets, and they look at him with this scared expression like "who is this wierdo talking to us? We don't know you!" You are kind of allowed to stare at each other in a very impolite (by American standards) way, but don't wave or say hi. But it's also funny in that if you don't say hi to EVERYONE that you pass once you get to work (even random people in other labs who you don't know), people think you don't like them or are antisocial...still figuring out the unspoken rules, and who knows how specific they are to my workplace, etc. When do I not get to say hi, and when is it rude not to say hi? Tricky.<br />
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F: forests: Hessen seems to be a fairly agricultural state, but there are also large regions of managed forest, especially the hillier bits of land directly around Marburg. This is great. I can walk through the woods every day on my way to work, and the woods are full of birds and deer and wild pigs. The woods are FULL of hiking paths and roads that are open to bicycles, so that makes exercising quite pleasant. What really takes me by surprise, though, is the way the forests are managed. They don't seem to clear cut, but instead pick an area and heavily cut/thin the trees, and we're not just talking about areas of forest that are far from town, but the area with a designated fitness path near our house even gets logged. To me, it feels like if the Middlesex fells (Boston people) or Theodore Wirth Park (MN people) were logged, in terms of how close the logging is to town.<br />
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G: German: the official language of Germany is German and it's what the people speak. You'd think I'd get used to this, but working all day where the important conversations mainly happen in English and then coming home to an English speaking husband, there are days where I speak very little German. On those days, I wander by people and feel surprised all over again to hear German coming out of their mouths. I think what gets me is that I couldn't separate Germans from Americans from a line-up, so I always assume people are more like me than they really are.<br />
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H: half-timbered houses: you can picture them, the stereotypical German house with a tile roof, darkly painted wooden beams, and plasterwork between the beams that's painted white and sometimes has flowers or other designs pressed into the plaster. When I'm riding along some road in the woods, there are moments where I feel like I could be anywhere, and then I crest a hill and look down at a farming village, and the German-ness is unmistakable. Most of the farms around here are also in remarkable shape given the years carved into the beams; a far cry from some parts of rural US, where you're as likely to see run-down mobile homes as anything else.<br />
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I: ice cream: It's different here. I can't exactly explain how, but it is. Also, you buy it differently. If we go to an ice cream shop, you pick however many flavors you want, and then pay about a euro per scoop, and each scoop is pretty small. Don't get me wrong, I love Bedford Farms and Kimball farms in the Boston area, but it is nice to just have a little bit of ice cream if you're in the mood for something sweet and not to have a small that is so big that you feel sick for an hour after eating it.<br />
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J:jogurt: it starts with a j in German because they don't really go for those Ys. I like the yogurt here better than that in the states. I can't really tell you why, maybe the texture is nicer. It's liquidy and smooth, and comes in nice flavors and usually isn't too sweet. I like it with Muesli for breakfast. <br />
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K: kalium: that's German for Potassium. Our chemicals in lab are sorted by the name on the bottle, which means that sometimes (if the label is in English) Potassium whatever is sorted under P, and sometimes (if it's in German, which is most of the time) it is under K. This kind of fits under German, but it just seems funnier in the lab, since we mostly speak English all day. Making solutions, though, does sometimes turn into a German test...quick, what's the German name for urea, and which letter does it start with? <br />
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L: the Lahn. the Lahn is our river here in Marburg and it is very cute. We are trying to bicycle from one end to the other, and once we have, Sasha will tell you all about it. I don't know, maybe it's not particularly distinctive as rivers go, but it's here and it's cute and it starts with the letter L, so there.<br />
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M: Market/Markt. There are markets here, and they are awesome. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, there are markets in a few places in town, but the bigger one is over in the Sudviertel. It's not a farmer's market like in the states; it's more like people set up a bunch of small, portable shops. There are cheese shops and fish shops and bakeries and butcher's and people selling fruits and vegetables and flowers and honey and olives and all sorts of delicious things. I try to go on Saturdays. While not all of the produce is local, I think they must cut out a middleman or two because even the imported stuff is usually fresher looking than anything at the supermarket, and there are several stands with really nice local produce. It's starting to be apple season again. Yay! Also, there's my favorite butcher's stand, and they must have 20 different kinds of sausage of all sorts, sliced deli style or in lovely rings. I have my favorite, the Krakauer, that is kind of like a Kielbasa but not. They also often have hot ones with fresh crusty rolls and mustard. Yum! <br />
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N: north. I always forget that Europe is much further north than I think it is. I don't feel like Germany is far north (I mean, it's way south of Stockholm, and Stockholm is pretty far south in Sweden, so there's a lot more Europe north of here) but we are. We are at 50.8 degrees North here, and for perspective, Roseville, MN is on the 45th parallel, Boston is at 42.36, and Presque Isle, ME, which felt really far north, is still only at 46.67. That is nice in the summer with nice long days, but the winter is dark. And wet. (see R).<br />
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O: outsiders. I sometimes wonder if we moved here for good if we'd ever really feel accepted. Don't get me wrong, my labmates are nice and we've made some German friends at church, but there are still people we've been sitting near at church for over a year now who have never said "hi". Granted, we aren't exactly extroverts ourselves, so perhaps we have only ourselves to blame, but I definitely will try to make more of an effort once we get back to the states to try to be more intentional about being welcoming and friendly to newcomers.<br />
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P: pigs or pork. I don't know where they all live, but Germany must have a heck of a lot of pigs given the amount of pork that's consumed around here. While in the US, I feel like there's a good mix of hot dogs and hamburgers and brats going onto grills, here the mix tends to be: pork sausages, pork steaks, and thick-cut bacon wrapped around a stick. Yes, sometimes people will bring in chicken pieces or cheese or vegetables, but the predominance of pork is fairly representative of what's available in the grocery store (and presumably what most people eat). Here, I think it's chicken that would be called "the other white meat". Yes, we do eat chicken and beef (and do eat meatless meals sometimes) but we definitely are eating more pork than we would have in the states. <br />
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Q: Quelle. Quelle means source and Germans like their water from a source, and usually a carbonated one. I don't know how much of it is "mineral water" from springs and how much of it is just tap water that's been filtered and had CO2 added, but in any case, it is really hard to get a glass of tapwater in a restaurant. OK, I
mean we know the word for it, but half the time, the waiter/waitress
looks at us like we're crazy for asking, and then half of that time,
they bring out glasses so small it would take half a dozen to be
satisfying. OK, maybe just 3. People here drink sparkling bottled
water, and many people think that "still" water is gross. I find
sparkling water rather sour tasting, and not at all refreshing, not to
mention it seems like a waste to spend so much on water when it comes
free out of the tap and tastes fine, but oh well.<br />
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R: rain. It rains A Lot in Marburg. I swear it started raining in November and didn't stop until May. I would trade it for a cold but sunny MN winter any day. On the plus side, though, the crops all look healthy and bountiful, and at least the summer wasn't as rainy.<br />
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S: smoking. SO many people here do it, especially young people. AND, cigarette vending machines and cigarette billboards are legal. At least now most restaurants are non-smoking inside, which wasn't so often true when I was here 10 years ago. When the weather's nice, though, most people would rather sit and eat at the outside tables, which is nice, but we often do a calculation about the location of the open table relative to other tables and the wind direction to see if we can risk sitting outside without breathing in icky cigarette smoke.<br />
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T: Tiere (German for animals). There are sheep! I see them while riding and they are fuzzy and adorable. And sometimes there are goats! Also adorable. I keep asking Sasha if I can take one home, and he keeps saying no. Something about not having any space on our balcony. OK, so there are sheep in the US, but I see them more often here. Sasha, are you sure I can't have one?<br />
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U: Umgebung. Umgebung means surroundings or area. I don't really have a point to make, it is just a fun German word to say. Umgebung. You try it.<br />
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V: Villages. Driving riding or training around the countryside gives a misleading perspective. Germany is sort of close to Montana in size but has a population over twice as big as California. And yet, there is so much farmland and forest, everywhere. It's because the land is just settled differently. Many, many people live in apartments or multifamily homes, and the people with their own houses have very small yards (and small houses) compared to the US. Also, instead of each farmer having an isolated house surrounded by fields, the houses are all clustered in small farming villages, leaving the farmed or forested lands in bigger patches. I like it. I think the US model where so many people strive for huge McMansions in the outer suburbs and then drive an hour each way to work is unsustainable and inefficient use of the land. That said, I do want my own house and think many Germans do, too, but no sense having acres of grass to mow surrounding that house. <br />
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W: walking. Germans love to walk. We'll be riding through forests or fields, many km from any village and see Germans out walking around. Where are they going? Where are they coming from? Beats me. It is healthy, though. I also find myself walking a lot more here. Probably this is largely because it rains a lot and we don't have a hose/nice bike washing station, and partly because the hill we live on is so steep, walking is much more pleasant than riding sometimes. Plus, why would I want to wait for a bus when I could just walk and leave when I want and get there around the same time?<br />
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X: so I can't think of any X words that fit. Neither German nor English uses the X much, but I guess that's a similarity instead of a difference.<br />
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Y: years. It's been fun watching the seasons change here, and watching ourselves settle in to our work and our habits and surroundings. Some days I can't believe we've been here for so long already, and othertimes it seems like we've been here for forever. Well, maybe not quite, but you probably know what I mean. I guess that's always true with the passage of time, but I think our time in Germany will always be special to us, wherever we go from here (although we'll be here for at least 1-2 more years, so there's still time to visit, hint hint).<br />
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Z: ze accents. It's funny how much American accents are magnetic now. Like I said, I speak English all day, but mostly it is English spoken by non-Americans. By and large, their English is amazingly good, but still, if I hear another American at a seminar or even just in passing on the street, it's like part of me immediately homes in on them and thinks "there goes one of us." I don't even have to exchange words, but I get this warm feeling towards a person that I never will speak to and may never see again just because for a second, it is like a taste of home.Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-83087530340424551522014-01-28T01:52:00.000-08:002014-01-28T01:52:15.740-08:00All play and no work makes Anna a boring girl...(This is a post that I wrote a little while ago, and didn't quite get around to posting. We were both sick when we got back to Germany from the US, and since then, we've just been laying low and trying to get caught up on work, so I'll spend some time getting caught up telling you about previous adventures).<br />
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Or maybe that's not how that saying goes. In any case, I'm interrupting the narrative flow of my jealousy-inducing trip to France to prove to you that we do actually do some work now and again here in Europe. I spent the 9-16 of October in Heidelberg for a pair of conferences hosted by the european molecular biology organization (EMBO). One conference was on non-coding RNA and the second was about "New approaches and concepts in microbiology". <br />
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Heidelberg has a fabulous castle. Sasha came to visit on the weekend and we played a (very easy) game of find the castle, including the tour of the inside parts. The castle is big and a major focus of any tourist visit to Heidelberg, which in turn is a major stop on most tourist itineraries for Germany. It's a nice city, don't get me wrong, but I'm glad we're in Marburg, which has a similar amount of culture and history and beautiful architecture, but is really just a university town and not a university and tourist town. <br />
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OK, the conferences were pretty good (the second more than the first) but I just realized that my audience is so varied I don't know how to describe the science so it doesn't bore or lose all of you. So I guess I'll limit myself to a few pictures.<br />
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I presented a poster, the same at both meetings.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't I look knowledgeable? Nobody was interested in my poster, but I thought it was pretty cool!</td></tr>
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The conference center is cool; the posters go up these helical spirals, sort of representing DNA (but not accurately)<br />
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And inexplicably, there were sheep outside the conference center. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do they do the lab work after everyone goes home, or are they just fuzzy lawn mowers?</td></tr>
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There, see? Europe isn't just one long vacation, I do work, too!Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-37266256457180799372014-01-01T16:44:00.002-08:002014-01-01T16:44:27.910-08:00Happy 2014!Happy 2014 friends and family!<br />
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I hereby resolve to blog more often. I'm afraid the fall/start of winter was rather busy with work (and play) so I have many, many stories to share that I'll hopefully get around to shortly.<br />
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But, the most exciting of all, WE ARE BACK in the US for the holidays!!! We got to Germany in August of 2012, so it had been about a year and 4 months since we had been on US soil, and I wondered if in some way it would seem strange or foreign (the "reverse culture shock" that people warn about) but I am happy to report that didn't happen for us. We've had a few moments of "oh right, the US" when, for instance, dealing with the airline representative to follow up on our delayed ski bag and the airline employee spoke fluent, accent-less English (oh right, we're in the US) and cars are much, much bigger here (pickups and SUVs all over!!) but by and large, we slipped right back into feeling at home.<br />
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Although for me, I guess that still means doing new things. A high school friend needed a sub for a broomball game in their broomball league (I played broomball for a few weeks in gym class in middle school, but haven't played since then) and I told him I was in, if he could find me the equipment. For those of you not from Minnesota, broomball is played on ice like hockey, but instead of a puck, you have a relatively soft ball, instead of hockey sticks, you have small plastic/rubber wedges on sticks (they look like brooms if you use your imagination) and, the largest difference, you don't use skates, but run around on the ice with shoes (although they have these nifty shoes with soles that are sort of a cross between a sponge and a mop that slide around a lot less than normal shoes and feel more comfortable than many slippers). Luckily, there was a spare pair of shoes and a spare helmet and a spare "broom" for me to borrow, so I jumped right in the game.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm wearing number 7</td></tr>
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It was fun. I felt a bit like I was running on ice (perhaps because I was) but so was everyone else. You can actually run fairly well, it just is a bit tricky to stop or to change directions. Still, the team won by a healthy margin. I expect that I played a minor role in that, but I had a lot of fun! I'd join the team if I only lived a bit closer. This video is just a teaser; Sasha took a few better ones that give you more of a sense of the sport, which I'll try to make a link to sooner or later. Maybe I'll have to upload it to Youtube or something. I apologize if you can't view it; I haven't posted a video before and I just got a new computer, which I'm still trying to figure out.<br />
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After that, we got to finally meet my sister's boyfriend over brunch (although I didn't get a satisfactory opportunity to impart vague threats about how he better be good to my sister or else... another time, I guess, although perhaps it would be unwise given that they are both lawyers), and we drove back and forth between Minnesota and Wisconsin celebrating with our families, with occasional cross country skiing outings in the mix for good measure. I'll spare you the details on the food and cookies and presents and general family time and good cheer. Oh, except I finished an afghan for my mother in law, and since I think it turned out quite nicely, I'll subject you to the picture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all the color changing...I usually try to avoid that, but the pattern was so pretty I tried it anyway</td></tr>
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You will be happy to know there was birding and there was the annual McLoon New Year's Eve party complete with opportunities to catch up with many of my non-biological family (aka family friends who I've known for as long as I can remember) and after over a year of complaining, I finally got my haircut. And we got to spend some quality time with Spot, who also wishes you all a happy new year (or maybe he just is looking for mice, it's hard to tell sometimes).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">have a happy new...mouse, where's the mouse? (only in the freezer, Spot)</td></tr>
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-83172782429442910432013-09-28T05:15:00.001-07:002013-09-28T07:25:34.434-07:00Provence part 2Here's the next installment about our 2-week trip to Provence, covering September 10th and 11th. After a day sunning and swimming and seeing the sights in Nice, it was time to start riding. SO, I had never planned a bike tour before, and although we had some skype/cell conversations in planning the route, I was the one with the guidebook. We loosely followed 2 routes from the Lonely Planet "Cycling France", the "Grand canyon du Verdon" and "the Luberon and Mt. Ventoux" but we never started in the recommended cities and didn't want to fight with bikes on trains, so there was a bit of adventuring involved.<br />
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We knew that we were starting the first day in Nice, and we had reservations that night in a town called Comps sur Artuby, and another one day ride in the book covered a bit of that terrain, so we wanted to go up through Vence and across the plateau de caussols, but the details we needed to work out once on the ground. In Nice, we found a few scales of maps and Patrick brought a Garmin GPS (I totally want one now) and Monday night, we used their tried and true method of ride planning, which we more or less did the rest of the trip. Patrick had brought a highlighter, so we highlighted the cities we needed to go to/through and the most promising route, along with possible side-trips and any alternative routes in case a particular road turned out to be too busy. From the maps alone, there are roads of different colors from skinny little white roads, to yellow, to orange to red, and then special red ones that are the equivalent of interstates. Clearly you can't bike on the interstate ones and the white ones are the best bets for low traffic, but the orange and red ones can be a bit of a toss-up. Sometimes they are low traffic and have nice shoulders, and sometimes they are busy. The white ones, though, can also wind about and climb a lot more than the larger roads going the same direction, so planning a route in an area you haven't visited takes a bit of guesswork, and a bit of weighing options (given the distance, time, etc. do we want to do more climbing and more km, or do we want to ride with more traffic?). Then, that day, Patrick kept the maps and the GPS and did the on-the-bike navigation. He had a handlebar bag that made map access easier, and really, we mostly went off the GPS, just consulting the maps for more general progress checks, etc. The first day, we totally lucked out; even the red roads near Comps were very low traffic with good pavement. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first km were easy</td></tr>
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The only problem, however, was that in the planning, we knew it would be a longer day (75 miles or so) but what I hadn't taken into account was how much climbing there was going to be. We went up. A lot. I guess it figures, since Nice is at sea level, what with being on the coast and all, and it is surrounded by huge hill/mountains, which we were heading into. I guess the moniker "perched villages" should also have given us a clue that climbing would be involved; you don't have perched villages on a plain...it was a long, hard day, but was totally worth it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMI6CECwUktl9vuKrrIJEhnpzX_yJf-IoQ0_nNTablz2vaqIwkaPQNNKELZSzoKzuPK1VXLGTc94nsuOkYC-Q6KAOBa1BH2_nB-4FVaoKxNX_HliP3VaVTmJ054Qz-WVfdYM2TZH02p50b/s1600/tourrettes-sur-Loup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMI6CECwUktl9vuKrrIJEhnpzX_yJf-IoQ0_nNTablz2vaqIwkaPQNNKELZSzoKzuPK1VXLGTc94nsuOkYC-Q6KAOBa1BH2_nB-4FVaoKxNX_HliP3VaVTmJ054Qz-WVfdYM2TZH02p50b/s320/tourrettes-sur-Loup.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourrette-sur-Loup, perched village number one of the trip</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5GwuswMeybch2Obxo7C46XzzX0ohK9mHwYvkYGsKqA0QklzDe7W0kLqjEqW5KQo5zIh0odaCKYLRVutxsKMF1R-TBqutulcn1MxuqO1r59luEyGnKun-8b6uf_ShDw6ob8HCBHgd0rwe/s1600/Gourdon_from_below.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5GwuswMeybch2Obxo7C46XzzX0ohK9mHwYvkYGsKqA0QklzDe7W0kLqjEqW5KQo5zIh0odaCKYLRVutxsKMF1R-TBqutulcn1MxuqO1r59luEyGnKun-8b6uf_ShDw6ob8HCBHgd0rwe/s320/Gourdon_from_below.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gourdon from below</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGaJ5-xCB0X8OHmHzpzEuMDWV07irmlLtH7RKhoAXgQRytoJWuqIGV_OSRzo0wCtm847zi6Uu2Z6hhWC8oS_3x6CtsSFcXzmhgmJCWBgFDKN2phHfzRsRL09x53S53vbE8Rg_9QNOT9Zk/s1600/Gourdon_eye_level.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGaJ5-xCB0X8OHmHzpzEuMDWV07irmlLtH7RKhoAXgQRytoJWuqIGV_OSRzo0wCtm847zi6Uu2Z6hhWC8oS_3x6CtsSFcXzmhgmJCWBgFDKN2phHfzRsRL09x53S53vbE8Rg_9QNOT9Zk/s320/Gourdon_eye_level.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gourdon...at our level</td></tr>
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We started with 5 or so very flat km, riding along the beach to the airport, because there was a river we needed to cross and there are very few bridges across it. Then, we headed up to Vence and through a few perched villages and around a gorge and then Sasha got a flat (our only flat of the trip, amazingly) and as we were changing the tube, we saw these crazy buildings perched way up on the top of a hill and said "good thing we don't have to go up there"...until 2 hours of climbing later, we looked out and there it was. Oofda. And then, here's the kicker, it had looked like the highest thing around from below, but then, after we stopped for a very late sandwich in Gourdon, we kept climbing. And climbing. Poor Sasha; hadn't realized what he was in for that morning, but he powered through it and eventually we reached the highpoint and had a few more hours of riding through a mix of forests and ranchland, but eventually, we saw signs for the Artuby river, and reached Comps. So, I hadn't realized this, but I think the name Comps sur Artuby is like Marburg am Lahn. The town name is Comps (or Marburg) and then the "sur Artuby" or "am Lahn" tells you which river the town is on, and is a way of differentiating in case there are multiple towns with the same name. Not a bad system, really. Perhaps some US towns should try it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVx-Tbr85GSNazVYiHXIVZr0oFXT-AHHrm6RvNFM-SSNU7ZYuaFPQ5qHQKre4p_PPNeirn8PNk1kl-J4Cvlts8wdIlt_BD4rnV3-xesquObcrArFh_3GxPpMBVXV5mS0CucTj3CU5htHYT/s1600/climbing_after_gourdon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVx-Tbr85GSNazVYiHXIVZr0oFXT-AHHrm6RvNFM-SSNU7ZYuaFPQ5qHQKre4p_PPNeirn8PNk1kl-J4Cvlts8wdIlt_BD4rnV3-xesquObcrArFh_3GxPpMBVXV5mS0CucTj3CU5htHYT/s320/climbing_after_gourdon.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then after Gourdon, we just kept climbing!!!</td></tr>
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Anyway, Comps is a cute little village with (as far as we could tell) one tiny convenience store, two cafe/bars, one nice bakery, and one hotel with a restaurant, and one more restaurant over by the gas station a bit outside the village. We stayed in Comps 2 nights. We ate both nights at the hotel, and I think the food was some of the best of the trip. The first night was a bit of a disappointment because we misread the fact that you could get pate OR omelette OR salad OR soup with a fixed price menu (we thought it was pate OR omelette WITH salad and soup) and the omelettes were runny, but the main courses were delicious and they had about 10 desserts to choose from. The second night, we knew what was what, and I had a slightly more expensive Provencal menu with a salad with 2 kinds of duck and walnuts and then rabbit in this tomato sauce with olives and stuff and sorbet, and as I said, probably best dinner of the trip. I'd totally go back and get that same thing. I think Patrick took some pictures, but sadly, I don't have them, so you'll just have to imagine the food.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-4XE9jg79JXOFfP-faTYhTMYS6xj8aXwKgRtDGDoMfNP3-bSIJxeKnTxNj5dDC4jFlkXJrmw05zpnQ2PxAqsOThrtuNtLmdJYpiMKGe5Nb6k0qPNZjPCydR6L-zMXu65vqhzzXpB9BR2/s1600/stone_bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-4XE9jg79JXOFfP-faTYhTMYS6xj8aXwKgRtDGDoMfNP3-bSIJxeKnTxNj5dDC4jFlkXJrmw05zpnQ2PxAqsOThrtuNtLmdJYpiMKGe5Nb6k0qPNZjPCydR6L-zMXu65vqhzzXpB9BR2/s320/stone_bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stone bridge; I wonder what it used to connect?</td></tr>
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The next day, we did a loop from Comps and thus were able to do it with only 2 lightly filled paniers for the 4 of us (to bring jackets and non-cycling shoes, snacks, etc.) which was nice. We visited 3 perched villages, all of which were gorgeous and, while obviously not "undiscovered", there were cafes and restaurants and a few quaint little shops, but not row after row of tourist junk, and we saw relatively few other tourists. First up was Bargeme (OK, there's an accent mark in there somewhere, but you get the idea). We passed it on the ride into Comps the night before, along with this cool old stone bridge that looks like it serves 2 isolated farms. It was a fair bit of climbing up to Bargeme, although not as much as the previous day, but there were cool old stone ruins and a pretty old church and tons of old stone houses and such.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg5GrwN8cl2_HCKHiktWXmz364x4sLaYb_Tur9_a70byY0mmF3_MpW_Sl3sIlitaJ3BTVgeSIHHxZci1I4WbsaiNLrvaLqnz1-1XBnNMrtY_grSMLQgnbJqCE7gJbihbbf-jL5ZqcuqqX/s1600/bargeme3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg5GrwN8cl2_HCKHiktWXmz364x4sLaYb_Tur9_a70byY0mmF3_MpW_Sl3sIlitaJ3BTVgeSIHHxZci1I4WbsaiNLrvaLqnz1-1XBnNMrtY_grSMLQgnbJqCE7gJbihbbf-jL5ZqcuqqX/s320/bargeme3.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bargeme</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6h7l718wCRbAquWepbImqIw-m5qotUKS9lAlR8fpy7ht7YDepv6lI8-pbjVluQwJuNb-wPc9OCMC8gHkif-eow0g5HtxI4lSkpHxIjiyW1NGB34PFypIjnKPt9w19esMFt8Ou87szpgZj/s1600/bargeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6h7l718wCRbAquWepbImqIw-m5qotUKS9lAlR8fpy7ht7YDepv6lI8-pbjVluQwJuNb-wPc9OCMC8gHkif-eow0g5HtxI4lSkpHxIjiyW1NGB34PFypIjnKPt9w19esMFt8Ou87szpgZj/s320/bargeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bargeme and Sasha</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
The next two towns were pretty much more of the same, so I won't go on at too great lengths about them. Mind you, that's not a complaint; it might be possible to stop in too many Provencal perched villages with medieval ruins and yummy food, but I can assure you that we did not hit the point of overload in 2 weeks. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtLobJwXGbU3tHTr8IT6q94QQ-6aXDfvXIIpV_lmGbhk0Y8rJRgJiDKQvBagRvmjdIKqMSDjf0nCYQv4rAAHmdEvu0FR0HsuRByk8e5nAnMncEqqH7SFzrKxiFG7sqWh3GPgatJiQow6Ih/s1600/chateaudouble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtLobJwXGbU3tHTr8IT6q94QQ-6aXDfvXIIpV_lmGbhk0Y8rJRgJiDKQvBagRvmjdIKqMSDjf0nCYQv4rAAHmdEvu0FR0HsuRByk8e5nAnMncEqqH7SFzrKxiFG7sqWh3GPgatJiQow6Ih/s320/chateaudouble.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chateaudouble; this picture doesn't quite do the town justice. It was cute.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk3WhSK8NZUyBI9OdBZHGSLnQpMGnJR7mG_NF4-AWakQ5YAJD194UpVV-rPrOIlYV6zHhRNW7DQYzhAzsXmsghr4EETSfu08gIc2NseYxX4FfAyW-SY6DOoM3IDLBG9EEgVuCX9r8-t89M/s1600/looking+for+sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk3WhSK8NZUyBI9OdBZHGSLnQpMGnJR7mG_NF4-AWakQ5YAJD194UpVV-rPrOIlYV6zHhRNW7DQYzhAzsXmsghr4EETSfu08gIc2NseYxX4FfAyW-SY6DOoM3IDLBG9EEgVuCX9r8-t89M/s320/looking+for+sheep.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheep? Where are the sheep? We want to see sheep!!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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One of the highlights of the day, though, were SHEEP!!! You may remember that I love sheep and it turns out, Clara does, too. They are fuzzy and cute and taste delicious and their milk makes amazing cheese, so seeing these signs made us very excited. We were not disappointed. It turns out that they use sheep sort of like lawn mowers, keeping the grass down on the sides of the roads. Sasha, if you let me get sheep, maybe you'll never have to mow our hypothetical future lawn!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VzJ7saRaLHP03uKNGEhvRUbZIju2eOCZj2J-XZv_KiTU9OZRUrOfLS5e96YLZjZDdqukGItasV-4kjPdAe714RfzbUbgXRPfURZd375NtAYvCDuhP20hyphenhyphen4VCgA-837T5b4fzJwypreZK/s1600/Sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VzJ7saRaLHP03uKNGEhvRUbZIju2eOCZj2J-XZv_KiTU9OZRUrOfLS5e96YLZjZDdqukGItasV-4kjPdAe714RfzbUbgXRPfURZd375NtAYvCDuhP20hyphenhyphen4VCgA-837T5b4fzJwypreZK/s320/Sheep.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No wonder the road margins are so well trimmed.</td></tr>
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So, to get to Chateaudouble, we had to climb up to the village, but we'd had a nice, long descent that we had to get back up to get back to Comps. Oh well. At least we didn't have all our stuff with us. Clara and I did, however, stop at a dairy and pet some goats and buy some small goat and sheep cheeses, which we had for pre-dinner snack and lunch the next day.<br />
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We got back to Comps in time for Clara and I to take a short walk up the hill before dinner to look at the churches on the hill above Comps. There were 3, and the lighting was gorgeous, so it was a nice end to a nice day, especially if we include the delicious dinner that followed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJ6_jqCLRISbv_ED71ms2GkfeKiRZsuKg75ooNC31flaslw1cTffm2SG16_r3S2IY91Nml77QsrOwUwiZlyR-V4KttyCr4aan9wDNnACYP64qzcN2XfrR5S6Ym3SkOoECtHQt0GbYhyCK/s1600/comps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJ6_jqCLRISbv_ED71ms2GkfeKiRZsuKg75ooNC31flaslw1cTffm2SG16_r3S2IY91Nml77QsrOwUwiZlyR-V4KttyCr4aan9wDNnACYP64qzcN2XfrR5S6Ym3SkOoECtHQt0GbYhyCK/s320/comps.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comps sur Artuby and church near dusk. </td></tr>
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Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-71983616802140406882013-09-23T14:00:00.002-07:002013-09-23T14:04:19.030-07:00Provence part 1So, we're back in Marburg after 2 amazing weeks bike touring around Provence France. I'm sure I'm about to over-use this word in however many posts it takes me to fully impress you with the awesomeness of Provence, but just to fit it in a few more times, amazing A-MA-ZING. I think it's a good thing we were biking every day, though, because so. much. butter. OK, so maybe your average French person doesn't eat too much butter, maybe you don't eat them every day if you grow up with Brioche and Quiche and Croissants and all the various other tasty things that can be made with croissant dough (pain au chocolate, which is a square croissant wrapped around 2 chocolate sticks, or my favorite, pain au raisin, which is a spiral of buttery-croissanty goodness with a sort of creamy custard and raisins swirled up in the spiral). But I didn't eat them nearly enough growing up or something, and the hotel breakfasts were expensive and almost every day we woke up just a few doors down from an "artisan boulangerie/patisserie"and none of those days was I able to resist the draw of the buttery deliciousness. In a few days, once the France withdrawal kicks in, I think I'll have to make a batch of croissants. <br />
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But enough about the baked goods, and I'll save ravings about the cheese and fruits and stuff for later. Let me tell you about the trip. Two friends of ours from the states, Clara and Patrick, were the first non-family to take us up on the offer of coming to do cool stuff in Europe, but rather than explore anywhere in Germany, we decided to do a bike trip in Provence, which had been pretty darn high on my Europe bucket list, and it met the criteria of being neither too flat nor too mountainous. We rode from Nice to Avignon through the gorge du Verdon and over Mt. Ventoux, and then from Avignon to the Mediterranean at Ste. Marie de la Mer and back to Avignon. Clara and Patrick started in Italy and rode some 500 miles before meeting up with us, but we decided to take the train and spend a day in Paris before taking another train down to meet them in Nice. There was a bit of stress when 2 weeks before the trip, many hundreds of dollars of bike components were stolen from Sasha's good bicycle, but we were able to change our tickets around a bit and the bike shop built his bike back up in time for us to catch our train to Paris.<br />
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Paris is cool. I have to admit, it has lost a bit of its magic for me in the last decade; I went there to meet up with a college roommate in 2002, when I was living in Tubingen, Germany for the summer, and that whole weekend we spent in Paris lives in my memory with this special magical glow of "culture" and "history" and "Paris". I guess Sasha didn't read the same books or something growing up, because while he enjoyed seeing the sites, I don't think he went there with the long list of things that he -had- to see the way I did in 2002. Oh well. Paris was the bonus of the trip. I may no longer have the eyes of a 20 year old, "seeing the world" and traveling without my family or sports team for effectively the first time, but Paris is still a great city.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF66DzUJN6IX39VWYkAE2Ln1BH8kRVDkF5M4_4NxnDBCkHe-DfomdVRjOb3s6wmBLIzcnT93YcXKKQerwryq-D1WVve0w9WiAuHNTGj9qr9PurrA1GZAbF2xS7nW5tKER3jn2IYxA-EEBO/s1600/notre_dame_de_Paris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF66DzUJN6IX39VWYkAE2Ln1BH8kRVDkF5M4_4NxnDBCkHe-DfomdVRjOb3s6wmBLIzcnT93YcXKKQerwryq-D1WVve0w9WiAuHNTGj9qr9PurrA1GZAbF2xS7nW5tKER3jn2IYxA-EEBO/s320/notre_dame_de_Paris.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notre Dame de Paris.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqJ7U6HdA6hvmX3IoUnaOoVimsg5X4Q0kfwLPgwf8KK9nhrPpaP86HXQgpzaGx2b3vm2VHng-Opo6aF-UroU17g1G3BNcQkn4xCsPwMeiG3IqxIGC3t3UUuCePbwuzHUEZu6yW3-bs1LV/s1600/eiffel_tour_sasha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqJ7U6HdA6hvmX3IoUnaOoVimsg5X4Q0kfwLPgwf8KK9nhrPpaP86HXQgpzaGx2b3vm2VHng-Opo6aF-UroU17g1G3BNcQkn4xCsPwMeiG3IqxIGC3t3UUuCePbwuzHUEZu6yW3-bs1LV/s320/eiffel_tour_sasha.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sasha and the Eiffel tower</td></tr>
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On Sunday, September 8th, we took the train from Paris to Nice. So, we'd been planning on shipping our bikes in advance because you can't just wheel your bike onto most TGV fast trains in France, but what with the bike theft, that wasn't possible. Instead, my Lonely Planet biking in france book said that we could take our bikes onto the TGV if we put them in a bag, so in Paris, we found bike shops that sold bike bags, disassembled our bikes and carried them onto the train. We were a bit nervous about the whole thing, but it worked! Patrick had to help us with a few bolts and minor adjustments, but at the days end, we had working bikes in Nice, and saved a bit of money, too.<br />
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We spent Monday exploring Nice, seeing the sites, and spending some time on its famous pebble beaches. Or infamous, maybe. The biking started the next day. I'll write about that later.The Mediterranean was a lovely color, the water and sun were nice and warm, but I have to say, big rocks, even smooth, rounded ones, are not a nice beach surface. They are hard to walk on and pebble castles are way less satisfying than sand castles; they take a long time to build, and one misplaced rock and the whole thing collapses. Oh well. Sun. Sea. Gelato. Our first amazing bakery find of the trip. What's not to like in nice Nice? <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice. Nice.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">500 miles in for Clara and Patrick, 3 train rides in for us. And maybe 3 miles of biking.</td></tr>
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-49066233453173367532013-09-02T14:14:00.001-07:002013-09-02T14:14:18.838-07:00Iron chef MarburgOK, so no, we haven't been boring all summer, we just did so many fun things I got behind on the blogging and couldn't catch back up. Maybe eventually I'll post about Stockholm and our various bike trips all over Hessen...I think our local biking "find a castle" count is up to about 20, ranging from awesome to ones where we wouldn't know it was a ruin if there weren't a sign, but this post isn't about castles, it's about FOOD!!!<br />
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As you know, I like to cook and I like to eat, and a bit over a month ago I was reading the little free newspaper that gets shoved in our mailbox 2x a week (it's good German practice) and read about this cooking competition hosted by the local paper (the Oberhessische Presse) and thought it sounded like fun. The mission was to put together recipes for a three-course menu featuring potato. My coworker Nuria also loves to cook, and I thought it would be really fun to cook with her, so after much discussing, and some German editing advice from our colleague Anke, we put together an "international" menu featuring potato in every course. I'll admit, I thought we'd stand out with our VERY un-German recipes, and I tried to make ours stand out a bit more by instead of being boring and doing an appetizer a main course and a dessert, we had each course represent potato in a different season. <br />
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The menu (as we wrote it) was a "spring" soup with a chicken chive parmesan broth, peas, small potatoes, asparagus and lemon, "summer" tapas of Salmorejo de Cordoba (a chilled pureed tomato soup that is amazing) and Tortilla de patatas (often referred to as a Spanish omelette) and "winter" tourtiere (pork and potato pie) with sauteed brussel sprouts with pecans and shallot. <br />
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SO, for whichever reason, we stood out and were picked for the cook-off phase of the competition. 6 teams were selected, and were scheduled to cook two at a time. We were cooking against a German team in a Kitchen studio in a town between 45 minutes and an hour away from Marburg called Breidenbach. For those of you who are not German this may come as a surprise but here, if you rent an apartment or house, the kitchen will probably be pretty bare; there may or may not be counters, etc. and there will very rarely be appliances like stoves or refrigerators. This seems like a kind of crazy system since often there are space constraints and you need a specific size of refrigerator to fit in the funny space in your kitchen, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that there is a whole host of "kitchen studios" that will sell you a kitchen to put into that empty room where the kitchen should be in your new place. Anyway, if you remember, our current kitchen stinks (as does Nuria's who is my neighbor here in the guest house) and so we walked into this store and immediately I started coveting every kitchen in the place. Even those with odd colors or other things that wouldn't be my first choice were 100000000x better than what I am currently cooking in at my apartment. We went out on Wednesday to check out the place, but the actual cook-off was today; it was the battle between German and International.<br />
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So, we showed up at 1:30 and promptly had to modify our recipe because, while they were supplying the ingredients, apparently you just can't get brussel sprouts or asparagus in August (not so surprising). That's OK, we just left the asparagus out of the soup and served cauliflower with hazelnuts instead...<br />
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Anyway, they gave us nifty if ginormous aprons and we had about an hour to start getting everything ready before tons of people came, and then there were people watching us, 4 judges to taste the food including a professional chef and a sommelier with his own wine shop, fancy cameras and video cameras all over, etc. It was kind of distracting. I mean, not quite as bad as trying to race the Athen's Twilight crit or having to fight through the crowds to the pit after crashing at Athen's twilight (for the non-cyclists among us, it's a race down in Georgia where the course is about 4-people deep most of the way around with spectators, mostly drunk college students...) hence just kind of distracting.<br />
In any case, as nice as the kitchen was, we had to drag all our own stuff like mixing bowls and cutting boards over, and even a nice new kitchen is still a new kitchen to get used to. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cameras and stuff all over</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four judges judging</td></tr>
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What with the unfamiliar oven and all, my pie ended up underbaked, so the potatoes were a bit crunchy, which was very disappointing, but on the whole, we performed well, I think. The chef said that our Salmorejo and tortilla course was by far his favorite and that course got the best points from the judges of all of the courses that day, so go team "International"!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dWjTTVgiRlPPpQn1WgJI1d3Arux42rs-IxZfyB8QSfpCMQd-m210838OMx-8zPt4eTE82ibi_ikNVM9QZvJekB6HbyJkEXNxHrbFfHm8xqUWMbjpt-rRkvN-OUeSNftgXBUcvzrvDain/s1600/IMG_0018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dWjTTVgiRlPPpQn1WgJI1d3Arux42rs-IxZfyB8QSfpCMQd-m210838OMx-8zPt4eTE82ibi_ikNVM9QZvJekB6HbyJkEXNxHrbFfHm8xqUWMbjpt-rRkvN-OUeSNftgXBUcvzrvDain/s320/IMG_0018.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't that shaping up to be a lovely pie?</td></tr>
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Alas, the other team beat us out by a few points and will get to cook in the final round. Although, to be honest, that's a blessing because Sasha and I will be in Provence the day of the final round, and Nuria will be in a super special secret vacation spot with her boyfriend (he gets to find out when they get to the airport, so I won't ruin the surprise here that they're going to Peoria, http://www.gocomics.com/stonesoup/2012/12/15). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The soup</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salmorejo and tortilla de patatas</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourtiere and sauteed cauliflower</td></tr>
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Anyway, as the analytical person that I am, in retrospect, perhaps we should have done things slightly differently. I should have tested the pie more carefully when taking it out of the unfamiliar oven, and the chef hinted that the pie needed something to make it stand up better as a course (he said maybe a sauce, but goodness knows I can't think of a way to put a sauce on a savory pie that wouldn't just be weird). Also, perhaps we should have stuck to a more conventional menu format; we only had to feature potatoes in the main course, so we should probably have done some sort of dessert and not done the Iron-chef style "feature the special ingredient in every dish" approach. But on the other hand, maybe that was what tipped the scales to get us picked in the first place, since our seasonal approach was probably unique. <br />
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The sad thing about participating as cook is that it meant that I didn't get to try the dishes from the other team, although Sasha gave us a taste of their main course. It was good. Very German and (as is typically German) very salty, but good. Sasha said that ours were all better, although I suspect he may be a bit biased. Cooking with Nuria has made me appreciate cultural or personal differences in our cooking styles (what do you mean you never measure anything...how do you know when it's enough potatoes???) so it would have been really interesting to see the other team cook to see if Germans also have interesting differences.<br />
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In any case, it was a hilarious and crazy thing to do what with the driving through the country side and cooking in a kitchen studio and participating in an event where clearly foreigners were NOT the norm. I can't get over that here I'm the international one, American that I am. <br />
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OK, I'll add the recipes in a day or so. That's actually one thing that I'm pleased with about our menu. It's all things that are delicious, but that are totally approachable. So feel free to give them all a try yourself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Kitchen stars" after a successful potato battle</td></tr>
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<br />Anna McLoon.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13231416344766390470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925504181658144228.post-5753456219672166182013-07-07T03:28:00.001-07:002013-07-07T03:28:51.559-07:00Birds of Spain!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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When Anna said she wanted to move to Germany for a post-doc, I agreed on one condition: that we take at least one trip to Spain (where <i>I</i> could speak the language) with the principle aim of finding birds. The original pitch was a long weekend, which got extended into a week, on the grounds that Anna would rather spend a week with some non-birding time than a few days of non-stop birding.</div>
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The trip was AWESOME! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Since this is Anna’s blog, I will categorize
the birds according to the Anna taxonomy (well, since Anna is the final arbiter of the Anna taxonomy, and like most taxonomic systems it changes frequently, this is categorized according to my best understanding of the Anna taxonomy):</div>
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Large Raptors:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spain
was really good for large raptors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Highlights were large numbers of Griffon Vultures, the Spanish Imperial
Eagle, and large numbers of what I think were mostly European Honey Buzzards,
but feel free to correct me if there are other raptors mixed in!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAQGHeoZ-wgu9pXUePRWDWFEtdXGWl3Ym0OqW7ld9scFQVzW8J_26mJWTlZqKy545oK2eflG6sCpQg9-4Pxs3gprIgbfc6TrXGTj9upm-Kk43e6dX8qQ2eufCV2QX5dmq1jjHmSLoAjM/s1600/0Griffon_vulture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAQGHeoZ-wgu9pXUePRWDWFEtdXGWl3Ym0OqW7ld9scFQVzW8J_26mJWTlZqKy545oK2eflG6sCpQg9-4Pxs3gprIgbfc6TrXGTj9upm-Kk43e6dX8qQ2eufCV2QX5dmq1jjHmSLoAjM/s320/0Griffon_vulture.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Griffon Vulture, as seen from the castle o<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->n the top of the hill at Montfragüe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfWHBATN0iaiwG3fEZGNakQDeTR2SZkjsWYkOaIGS5aa8AG_UDMbZGAMWEVyC0W8dB3SJehe7p1k7PCqv8CEUbrGGkY787eNv1quvr2f958WXS7Yt2hFLYwgJ_h2nvk7wT3Anainx32Q/s1600/04vultures.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfWHBATN0iaiwG3fEZGNakQDeTR2SZkjsWYkOaIGS5aa8AG_UDMbZGAMWEVyC0W8dB3SJehe7p1k7PCqv8CEUbrGGkY787eNv1quvr2f958WXS7Yt2hFLYwgJ_h2nvk7wT3Anainx32Q/s640/04vultures.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Griffon Vultures seen from Salto de Gitano.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzlM1FmE_lt5r_Uhq6dFp6lbJOhPyI8PpOodlVZuCX7a9QhT8qYF18GoeNPsOlW1OhoweaTOvUT-JIlTFZ84qFr6lIoim24wb5hUkxkzdsgByCJohw3Omd7RlvUgSdVKhvWNTtqSHH-A/s1600/wifeplusvulture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzlM1FmE_lt5r_Uhq6dFp6lbJOhPyI8PpOodlVZuCX7a9QhT8qYF18GoeNPsOlW1OhoweaTOvUT-JIlTFZ84qFr6lIoim24wb5hUkxkzdsgByCJohw3Omd7RlvUgSdVKhvWNTtqSHH-A/s320/wifeplusvulture.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My wife, watching a Griffon Vulture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qb4HQ11qoVHyjjkeHOpY2tg4Qd2r-6GZX5P7pwpv2fpSWAKg153yUruQQRykEnfheb0N_r7NSltNn7a0LJd4PKzPnSQsI3AFR-Coh0Ajnog3Q-DVaiPW3J23Trf1mqN3d-xGJ5icAgM/s1600/09spanishimperialeagle2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qb4HQ11qoVHyjjkeHOpY2tg4Qd2r-6GZX5P7pwpv2fpSWAKg153yUruQQRykEnfheb0N_r7NSltNn7a0LJd4PKzPnSQsI3AFR-Coh0Ajnog3Q-DVaiPW3J23Trf1mqN3d-xGJ5icAgM/s320/09spanishimperialeagle2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spanish Imperial Eagle!!! Many thanks to the birders who pointed this one out to us! Note the diagnostic white on the leading edge of the wing (unless that means it's a California Condor...)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTD89IIC6lC8oRv9uXFlEeMhyzMfvO0Od0jEQnUK7I6QJuHFLnyXGOiT6ABuX_W8g3vvbRthkTFMK35fm4UxhNrDNyhM5QTE_Yx_d1AVtHO5FFrtsiiuSht3sXpfDFs0yZjGPQuVrkEIE/s1600/UNK3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTD89IIC6lC8oRv9uXFlEeMhyzMfvO0Od0jEQnUK7I6QJuHFLnyXGOiT6ABuX_W8g3vvbRthkTFMK35fm4UxhNrDNyhM5QTE_Yx_d1AVtHO5FFrtsiiuSht3sXpfDFs0yZjGPQuVrkEIE/s640/UNK3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A kettle of raptors. Kettle is the term used for aggregations of raptors all using the same thermal. A thermal is an area of rising warm air, where the raptors can gain elevation with relatively low effort, then coast until they reach the next thermal. I think they're mostly Honey Buzzards, but my raptor silhouette ID skills aren't that great, and I failed spectacularly at finding other birders to help me identify them. I'm pretty sure the bird in the middle of the group right of center is not a Honey Buzzard.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKu1CcSh1Dk9XCGsMQ9M3mRDHZhUXjxqtks8WQ5yZ9mw1OMBNZigHx8XyRvfQEuJQNaIO5IyYtI2R__rc-1-WIhgxwkcQAJnQ8hUa-rh_7IZdPo5BEIjZjScmUH1G5wUMoKgnnDN9Enzc/s1600/UNK3_closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKu1CcSh1Dk9XCGsMQ9M3mRDHZhUXjxqtks8WQ5yZ9mw1OMBNZigHx8XyRvfQEuJQNaIO5IyYtI2R__rc-1-WIhgxwkcQAJnQ8hUa-rh_7IZdPo5BEIjZjScmUH1G5wUMoKgnnDN9Enzc/s640/UNK3_closeup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up view of what I am pretty sure is not a Honey Buzzard.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREnGKNZSmoV7rbd3TnPxMYQ_oJf-TgxqS3mPJD_nXtOaIKjpxdYz5dZRZ-5lozRlykKKxp795w0QlbRBV2UWiFb8Eb5zUxjOeKRozW9lJGh6zAdWJjE4z4I56vled8pbLQ4HiqMoAXgA/s1600/29Honeybuzzard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREnGKNZSmoV7rbd3TnPxMYQ_oJf-TgxqS3mPJD_nXtOaIKjpxdYz5dZRZ-5lozRlykKKxp795w0QlbRBV2UWiFb8Eb5zUxjOeKRozW9lJGh6zAdWJjE4z4I56vled8pbLQ4HiqMoAXgA/s320/29Honeybuzzard.JPG" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one I'm pretty sure is a Honey Buzzard. If not, let me know, so I can take it off my life list...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6s6PHbcNLFH-2J2bXGmLE1PgFGywBmr8xVjjkKtUUl1jFQgHUk3yUOaq_ldhV-SdyvoOz34vL8ilOUbfpRVJO67YQbbmkFk7nLWjmSXE9yNz0IgkPkvVQFUBz8f4hvlD_EhzFRXH9DUM/s1600/17BootedEagle_Castilar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6s6PHbcNLFH-2J2bXGmLE1PgFGywBmr8xVjjkKtUUl1jFQgHUk3yUOaq_ldhV-SdyvoOz34vL8ilOUbfpRVJO67YQbbmkFk7nLWjmSXE9yNz0IgkPkvVQFUBz8f4hvlD_EhzFRXH9DUM/s1600/17BootedEagle_Castilar.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Booted Eagle - we saw a few of these too - very reminiscent of Swainson's Hawk!</td></tr>
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Colorful Birds:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hoopoe was Anna’s favorite bird of the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were worried that we would not see one, as
they were taunting us from a distance, with their distinctive<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>
song (not my video, but there is a link where you can hear the song here: http://vimeo.com/856613
).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But finally, we got nice views of one
in the morning as we were leaving El Rocio.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Bee-eaters, Blue Rock Thrush, Rollers, Azure-winged Magpies, and apparently Purple Swamphens, also fit into this category (my Roller & Azure-winged magpie pictures are less than amazing, and I didn't get any pictures of the Purple Swamphen, so you'll have to Google them to see what they look like)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hoo-poo-poo"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HpGR_1RXfYEbn40N067kHRPKr3vq0jIEW21PwU7zabDytoIRTv8vyfnvxR4I8hk3uANTtpjXqjzQYqgIXv8VGHiPlwVDe8hqOrczOj5WUPZgDEvYY2IjNl0NMmEwDZaT-vmidGNs45U/s1600/13beeeater2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HpGR_1RXfYEbn40N067kHRPKr3vq0jIEW21PwU7zabDytoIRTv8vyfnvxR4I8hk3uANTtpjXqjzQYqgIXv8VGHiPlwVDe8hqOrczOj5WUPZgDEvYY2IjNl0NMmEwDZaT-vmidGNs45U/s320/13beeeater2.JPG" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yum, bees!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Okay, so bee-eaters don't actually say "Yum, bees". I actually don't know their call very well. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11-LqxIFqz6bc8i09ZuhqWchqYYTR8tUxf_dSdsUR8I855j6J8Zo3BtWuD4515MucNH-Qj6yGqn3EMgMpTL6aWGYp2qNMHCHHYX1p5uUbwLQia0H8mrypAMES0TL-HJc7bTOhGv2MWgM/s1600/05bluerockthrush.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11-LqxIFqz6bc8i09ZuhqWchqYYTR8tUxf_dSdsUR8I855j6J8Zo3BtWuD4515MucNH-Qj6yGqn3EMgMpTL6aWGYp2qNMHCHHYX1p5uUbwLQia0H8mrypAMES0TL-HJc7bTOhGv2MWgM/s320/05bluerockthrush.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Rock Thrush: aptly named because it's blue and on rocks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Flamingos: Not sure if this is a sub-group of the Colorful Birds, or a taxonomic group in its own right (actually the real taxonomic experts can't decide whether Flamingos are their own order, <span class="order" style="white-space: nowrap;">Phoenicopteriformes, or whether they belong as a family in a different order). </span>We saw several flocks of flamingos, and had one close and obliging individual.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYe1M4iyJpFXrTSY-CcVurB7lawLJOaYvwG78sZbLgyHyGxeyjdTN6OM1AxAalBx6raeiVe8Jkq1ED3wkVM-16dOw-2LqtgDBRZYR8exK05eWjy8vj_eFJTz_X-fo-YikO3BELCA08_Y/s1600/11flamingos1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYe1M4iyJpFXrTSY-CcVurB7lawLJOaYvwG78sZbLgyHyGxeyjdTN6OM1AxAalBx6raeiVe8Jkq1ED3wkVM-16dOw-2LqtgDBRZYR8exK05eWjy8vj_eFJTz_X-fo-YikO3BELCA08_Y/s640/11flamingos1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzt8xre6Yr-HdTJv1NWBd3hAw81P6agtg7ybVKH6dLapBk0K_teyzFBGAJx6zcMsdO-4tkaRhFpOrbKDGjXMSNLWfJeK_SgqDMP6HFsZiWsUm71A9AAMQM4NMh5Z7ZV98_tvRyMxANXQ/s1600/11flamingo_Donana.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzt8xre6Yr-HdTJv1NWBd3hAw81P6agtg7ybVKH6dLapBk0K_teyzFBGAJx6zcMsdO-4tkaRhFpOrbKDGjXMSNLWfJeK_SgqDMP6HFsZiWsUm71A9AAMQM4NMh5Z7ZV98_tvRyMxANXQ/s400/11flamingo_Donana.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTc5CS0JXK2ieglXEY8o33u4hn0rLFLgAjud3m0Sn2_oWHBOWl4mV26dPYAZXbFLIsy7kt9jFsl-Q1xUi0Zn68ODYFk-3R5ssFf1QQWol27FN8gGmBQUt6QoeZRwlJypnEkS93nd3aN0/s1600/11flamingoDonana2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTc5CS0JXK2ieglXEY8o33u4hn0rLFLgAjud3m0Sn2_oWHBOWl4mV26dPYAZXbFLIsy7kt9jFsl-Q1xUi0Zn68ODYFk-3R5ssFf1QQWol27FN8gGmBQUt6QoeZRwlJypnEkS93nd3aN0/s400/11flamingoDonana2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWI8kldER53ZsKfz2jNVL4Cq44SgupL5GHlecc2qRTyC9UGqzIqSd1YLBjlm-U5fo7p0mocEfWe5wh85U9_fZX563v2VYLza-S99Eb-dmfkoAFutWw9ebQ_F-9syplE7HdeCOOD4o-CE/s1600/11flamingowife.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWI8kldER53ZsKfz2jNVL4Cq44SgupL5GHlecc2qRTyC9UGqzIqSd1YLBjlm-U5fo7p0mocEfWe5wh85U9_fZX563v2VYLza-S99Eb-dmfkoAFutWw9ebQ_F-9syplE7HdeCOOD4o-CE/s400/11flamingowife.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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Little Brown Birds:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For some reason, I have not succeeded in convincing my wife that little
brown birds are exciting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I try and try,
but have not had much luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This is tough, when one is a grassland biologist, where most of the species are little and brown. </span>But Spain
has a nice assortment of sparrows, larks and warblers, many of which were new for me.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScWJLEiL4lTRcorBQh1vGbsCzR7TLA5R6KWuEJMCqtTyE7bpUW7KndR_6b5EvSx2UOXNkwuqDWIZXVOORkiO1ZlCRkdGd23MKN0puEjGuaddHEFiTxyG_mOo7DtL812qhVhyphenhyphenawmnh7wA/s1600/14Reedwarbler2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScWJLEiL4lTRcorBQh1vGbsCzR7TLA5R6KWuEJMCqtTyE7bpUW7KndR_6b5EvSx2UOXNkwuqDWIZXVOORkiO1ZlCRkdGd23MKN0puEjGuaddHEFiTxyG_mOo7DtL812qhVhyphenhyphenawmnh7wA/s320/14Reedwarbler2.JPG" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, Anna did have to admit that this Reed Warbler was pretty cute.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqF_Zgm_S_G52355GZmCl9qnzsjONIKl6qmCPKHePen7H09p2U8lnLq26hDMxDuiJxvWBSCz65BNNXda1MOaoieXdeAHfgwl62iL85Zs7D0zyRamjKKvRSBHdK3RpmpHqz5epA7OyLMo/s1600/26TheklaLark2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqF_Zgm_S_G52355GZmCl9qnzsjONIKl6qmCPKHePen7H09p2U8lnLq26hDMxDuiJxvWBSCz65BNNXda1MOaoieXdeAHfgwl62iL85Zs7D0zyRamjKKvRSBHdK3RpmpHqz5epA7OyLMo/s320/26TheklaLark2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thekla Lark - larks were everywhere, but many of the species are similar, and I had a tough time identifying them!</td></tr>
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Shorebirds:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We really
struck out on shore-birds, but did see a few. Sadly, my best views of the Kentish Plover were looking at this photo afterwards, as it was really back-lit. Note that as a compromise in a long-standing discussion on how to pronounce the word "plover", my wife and I have agrees that it should be pronounced pl-ooh-ver, to rhyme with mover, and not pl-uh-ver to rhyme with lover, or pl-O-ver to rhyme with clover.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6P4ik0KTp0wPafRvOGMlygtiv3EGwIfhXWjbOwV3X2ZvoBsA4SIxxi4MnblZti5de3AC0PM_HEoANVXSOg1UuNFQAiHwR2r5TIcxyA2mnjNQjAqJE9Z-RopEe_fiufAuv4rkUxIOvIE/s1600/28KentishPlover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6P4ik0KTp0wPafRvOGMlygtiv3EGwIfhXWjbOwV3X2ZvoBsA4SIxxi4MnblZti5de3AC0PM_HEoANVXSOg1UuNFQAiHwR2r5TIcxyA2mnjNQjAqJE9Z-RopEe_fiufAuv4rkUxIOvIE/s320/28KentishPlover.JPG" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kentish Plover</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RERtC2vPIj82JrUOpoemHHgX6cVBB-JjA18XJ3lFjWieFvkvly_zO5GiZoI2-X-ILRJ6emp46BTv5k6Ab7DwDc2JWJekzfqLWR3j-mJHeTs61xe5KA-3vpYJj-CuC9EqRzQoL_Wc8bs/s1600/15Stilt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RERtC2vPIj82JrUOpoemHHgX6cVBB-JjA18XJ3lFjWieFvkvly_zO5GiZoI2-X-ILRJ6emp46BTv5k6Ab7DwDc2JWJekzfqLWR3j-mJHeTs61xe5KA-3vpYJj-CuC9EqRzQoL_Wc8bs/s320/15Stilt.JPG" width="276" /></a></div>
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Sea Gulls: My wife loves to call gulls "Sea Gulls", mainly in an attempt to get a reaction out of birders, since there are many birders who strongly object to the common name "Sea Gull". I think the funniest conflict over the name Sea Gull was when Utah tried to make it their state bird, and were told they couldn't, because there was no such bird species. In a show of state pride, they chose the California Gull as their state bird (the reason for choosing a gull is historical - there was a plague of locusts which was ended when flocks of gulls descended & feasted upon the locusts, thus saving the early settlers). We did much worse than I expected in terms of gulls - Yellow-legged gull was my only lifer, and one of the few birds we saw at Gibraltar itself, due to the fog.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwPVMx4mW6fJy-pN3bxcpuxBSYUInxNgIS5WA3GXypbGsP8bgAiCYEukpvoD_xxsG9F_eIPKGPMswB-ExZc8fn68vbTAO-ZxFoBKdxkSp08TPLtK9dhdY1qZL65NdU0EGiH1xUcCwbss/s1600/SeaGull.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIwPVMx4mW6fJy-pN3bxcpuxBSYUInxNgIS5WA3GXypbGsP8bgAiCYEukpvoD_xxsG9F_eIPKGPMswB-ExZc8fn68vbTAO-ZxFoBKdxkSp08TPLtK9dhdY1qZL65NdU0EGiH1xUcCwbss/s320/SeaGull.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow-legged Gull, aptly named for it's yellow legs, which are not shared by any other species of gull. Except the Lesser Black-backed Gull. And the Pallas Gull. And the Ring-billed Gull. And the... well, maybe it's not such a unique field mark among gulls after all... </td></tr>
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Herons: Donaña is really good for herons, especially at the Jose Valdeverde Center, where you can get nice views of a rookery.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SmXrLKjAmdC-Wnvmo77jLrDsSjX6rcN1t9xGnDY9UarFIYckdq10JoEFlEEjruCJHnZElcPihxZK4ySFjmCdQkiXwozxtOc5u5w1R0DkKHUYAjkM_1UNHXgr8xJRjtoRHOv-TLptN4o/s1600/24SQUACCO.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SmXrLKjAmdC-Wnvmo77jLrDsSjX6rcN1t9xGnDY9UarFIYckdq10JoEFlEEjruCJHnZElcPihxZK4ySFjmCdQkiXwozxtOc5u5w1R0DkKHUYAjkM_1UNHXgr8xJRjtoRHOv-TLptN4o/s320/24SQUACCO.JPG" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squacco herons really don't look like bitterns, despite the similarity in my bird book.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFbg77LOHyqNxWKxHtOX5kIvy-SKO-qkbKUW_D7xRNs6-TNSu45rwy9Zcv1LM8V3V850UKfbB__tqSJD77VqvClI_wrfGHfv7-hz1IKZvAgCtHHLLsNUdU0o8apwlJTNw8ZQpqitf544/s1600/19Herons2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFbg77LOHyqNxWKxHtOX5kIvy-SKO-qkbKUW_D7xRNs6-TNSu45rwy9Zcv1LM8V3V850UKfbB__tqSJD77VqvClI_wrfGHfv7-hz1IKZvAgCtHHLLsNUdU0o8apwlJTNw8ZQpqitf544/s640/19Herons2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the heron rookeries at the Jose V. Valdeverde Center in Donaña. Well worth visiting! This part is mostly Cattle Egrets, with a few Glossy Ibises. We also saw a few Black-crowned Night-herons, some Little Egrets, and a couple of Squacco herons.</td></tr>
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Coots: My wife is obsessed with coots, so they get their own grouping. So, here we were in Spain, at Donaña Natioanl Park, in a heron rookery, and my wife wants me to look at the coots! And these aren't even the red-knobbly kind! But I am of the opinion that it is still good to take pleasure in even the common species (probably part of what holds me back from being a really good birder, I'm too easily distracted by the ordinary birds!).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3-Y1JsAfRnJ8lX5wjd4ZUNUOSOpxBwjvbYLodFHIZsYmyfoaIAi-FjkO7GN79X339jcd-7UXmomcz0PijJm3M95_6LKpflUeRJuRBCXO4wJ3fNcYsEDzAPgUyYcHQ7Z9_CjaWKCoPO4/s1600/23_Coot_w_lots_of_oldmanbabies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3-Y1JsAfRnJ8lX5wjd4ZUNUOSOpxBwjvbYLodFHIZsYmyfoaIAi-FjkO7GN79X339jcd-7UXmomcz0PijJm3M95_6LKpflUeRJuRBCXO4wJ3fNcYsEDzAPgUyYcHQ7Z9_CjaWKCoPO4/s640/23_Coot_w_lots_of_oldmanbabies.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coots with young</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UjI5bjdcayvnVYNeOBEpgYZLRtbX9xrFCkAjti_sEMtArjQHY7qbKF-x0p_39fE0BFWPITD5SsTraUwFWOcwv3GLb1RcNHh6Gq5_0eYWejgAYjcV7dT7EA-OIiB4BBNjGnNBMu3gSlE/s1600/23Coot_w_oldmanbaby.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UjI5bjdcayvnVYNeOBEpgYZLRtbX9xrFCkAjti_sEMtArjQHY7qbKF-x0p_39fE0BFWPITD5SsTraUwFWOcwv3GLb1RcNHh6Gq5_0eYWejgAYjcV7dT7EA-OIiB4BBNjGnNBMu3gSlE/s640/23Coot_w_oldmanbaby.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A parent getting food for its young. Coots have old man babies - they're born with bald heads and what look to be beards. They later start to look like normal birds again.</td></tr>
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Even if we didn’t see everything I wanted to see, such as
little bustard, great bustard (listen to the vocalization for this one if
you’re in the mood for some immature humor), or either of the sandgrouse
species, it was still an awesome trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It just means I have to go back sometime.</div>
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Statistics – For those of you unfamiliar with birders,
birders like to keep lists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some just
keep a life list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others are more
obsessive, and keep additional lists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m in the somewhat more obsessive category, although I have refrained
(so far) from keeping lists by province in Spain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the list results from Spain are as
follows:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total species seen in Spain: 87</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total life birds from Spain: 40</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total birds seen by me in Europe as 7 July 2013: 184 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Approximate life list as of 7 July 2013: 982</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And part of the appeal of the birding was the scenery & context in which we saw the birds. Spain has a rich history and is a beautiful country!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrCDpPZEsJ884bSQu-R1VrDQVw5jSlxKlMZ53LuFEf8DqOmpFI1YYiqhCaTQqlYsLTsvYMdRaQ48KOKLXgv4am_0t-Z7oFOnwJz58Gz3fKFxp8EK29v_vl8yu3kuO6DSaygQ7u8Cae94/s1600/01storks2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrCDpPZEsJ884bSQu-R1VrDQVw5jSlxKlMZ53LuFEf8DqOmpFI1YYiqhCaTQqlYsLTsvYMdRaQ48KOKLXgv4am_0t-Z7oFOnwJz58Gz3fKFxp8EK29v_vl8yu3kuO6DSaygQ7u8Cae94/s400/01storks2.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A White Stork atop a historic structure in Trujillo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZatpqNO7WqakDxSEKj4UGHyfMe9eQiNVGBcOQu6GoXF6mlwOv7rt525lzYkONSy9OVb024TNsd4IKmD4BXNk1bAvAWFs_7_Jd0GOZ-ClsT-6zqPAkQVWOfJQbipIYa8Qxwq49TEY-szE/s1600/30_swift2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZatpqNO7WqakDxSEKj4UGHyfMe9eQiNVGBcOQu6GoXF6mlwOv7rt525lzYkONSy9OVb024TNsd4IKmD4BXNk1bAvAWFs_7_Jd0GOZ-ClsT-6zqPAkQVWOfJQbipIYa8Qxwq49TEY-szE/s320/30_swift2.JPG" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Swift breeding in the Alhambra, Granada</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge1KKoiudkbZyXiLH4XMOYDcZ3gK4LksZmH056s8vRkNOfEHggsLwzDtLWKXimrdbuQu2qAl6QL4FAMQN4t7mFfkYhSuDXG8vkCYrYG2-7ayR7ZMM7DsGvsekT5mZ2oX_FTUNnE3-yXI4/s1600/03Jackdaw_plus_kingdom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge1KKoiudkbZyXiLH4XMOYDcZ3gK4LksZmH056s8vRkNOfEHggsLwzDtLWKXimrdbuQu2qAl6QL4FAMQN4t7mFfkYhSuDXG8vkCYrYG2-7ayR7ZMM7DsGvsekT5mZ2oX_FTUNnE3-yXI4/s640/03Jackdaw_plus_kingdom.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Jackdaw overlooking its domain (Trujillo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the complete list of species we saw & were able
to identify:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eared Grebe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little Grebe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Great Crested Grebe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little Bittern</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black-crowned Night-Heron</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cattle Egret</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Squacco Heron</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little Egret</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gray Heron</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Purple Heron</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White Stork</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black Stork</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Glossy Ibis</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Greater Flamingo</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Spoonbill</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Graylag Goose</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mallard</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gadwall</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Pochard</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Red-crested Pochard</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Griffon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cinereous Vulture</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Egyptian Vulture</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spanish Eagle</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Short-toed Eagle</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Booted Eagle</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Red Kite</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black Kite</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Honey-buzzard</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Sparrowhawk</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lesser Kestrel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Kestrel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peregrine Falcon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Moorhen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Coot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Purple Swamphen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pied Avocet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black-winged Stilt</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Ringed Plover</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kentish Plover</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sanderling</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yellow-legged Gull</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gull-billed Tern</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whiskered Tern</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rock Pigeon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Wood-Pigeon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Collared-Dove</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Cuckoo</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Great Spotted Cuckoo</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Eagle-Owl</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Swift</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Hoopoe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Bee-eater</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Roller</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Crested Lark</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thekla Lark</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Crag-Martin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barn Swallow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Red-rumped Swallow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common House-Martin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White Wagtail</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Western Yellow Wagtail</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Robin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black Redstart</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black Wheatear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Stonechat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blue Rock-Thrush</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Blackbird</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Reed-Warbler</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Great Reed-Warbler</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Great Tit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Blue Tit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Woodchat Shrike</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Azure-winged Magpie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Magpie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Jackdaw</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Carrion Crow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Raven</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spotless Starling</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
House Sparrow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eurasian Tree Sparrow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common Chaffinch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Goldfinch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Greenfinch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
European Serin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Corn Bunting</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rock Bunting</div>
Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771560972638081295noreply@blogger.com0