Magical Mystery Tour (of Europe)

Munich, Strasbourg, and Namua's Farm!

2009-11-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! We’re in Cordoba, Spain having a bit of down time. The siesta sleep schedule allows tourists to become well acquainted with their hotel rooms. For those that don’t know, everything closes in Spain from about 2 in the afternoon until about 6 or 7 in the evening; there really is nothing to do between those times except wander around aimlessly and we did plenty of that yesterday. Given this, it’s been over a month since we’ve updated the blog last, and so much has happened! We’ve traveled hundreds of miles from Munich to the Iberian Peninsula. We’ll save Spain for another post, here is what we did in Southern Germany and France.

We left our WWOOF farm in hopes of reaching the small town of Burghausen in South East Germany, right on the border of Austria, to catch The Sun Ra Arkestra: one of jazz’s most notoriously weird ensembles. Burghausen is somewhat out of the way, and even though it is probably a 3-4 hour drive from Dresden, it took over eight hours to get there via train. Luckily, the Deutsche Bahn (German national train lines) offers a weekend pass that lets you go anywhere in the country for thirty or so euros. We arrived in Burghausen about an hour and a half before the concert was supposed to start. It took us about forty-five minutes to find our hotel due to unclear directions and then another forty-five minutes to find the venue. We were in a bit of hurry and forgot the camera at the hotel, so we don’t have any pictures from the evening. We arrived just in time to grab a drink and a seat. The band was on as expected! They played three fantastic sets, alternating between slower and faster songs, all of which accented by their fabulous costumes and charisma. The band itself has undergone significant changes since their inception. The original band leader, Sun Ra, died in 1993 leaving quite a legacy. He had his beginnings as a jazz musician in the 1930s. According to legend, he visited outer space in the 1940s, forever transforming his life. He claimed to have been sent to earth by extra-terrestrial life forms to bring black music to black people as a way to liberate them from white oppression. Musically, he was one of jazz’s most prolific artists, releasing multiple albums every year from the 1940s until his death in 1993. After his death, he passed the torch on to another band leader, whose name escapes me at the moment, who died in the early 2000s. The band we saw was the third generation of the Sun Ra Arkestra led by Marshall Allen. Many of the musicians had been with the band since the 1960s. Here is a video of Sun Ra from his film Space is the Place so you can get an idea of what we saw. Be prepared for weirdness; you've been warned.

The next day, we hopped a train to Munich. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon. We checked in to our hostel, and went out for a quick bite to eat. After dinner, we went down to the city center and took a couple of pictures. The city center itself has been over run with kitschy shops and outlet stores. However, The Rat Haus (what the Germans call their City Halls) was one redeeming factor. We snapped a few pictures, grabbed a quick drink and called it an evening.

The next day we set out for the Dachau Concentration Camp. This time we decided to bring our camera, but tried to be humble about when and where to take pictures. Dachau, of course was incredibly depressing. Like Auschwitz, I was struck by the industrial nature of Dachau. I find it so unbelievable that a massive industrial system was devised to slaughter millions of people. The cruelty of this place is truly unfathomable, and yet as soon as you walk through the gates, you’re struck with the reality of it. Here are a few pictures from our visit to Dachau.

"Arbeit macht frei" is inscribed on each entrance to each concentration camp. It translates to "work makes you free".

The main camp area at Dachau. All of the prisoners would have to assemble here for a morning roll call that would last for several hours. This area was also used to make a public example of prisoners who did not follow camp rules. Thousands were beaten and/or murdered here.

This is a sculpture dedicated to those that died at Dachau.

We didn’t really feel like doing much after Dachau, so we cooked a meal at the hostel, did laundy, and took it easy for the rest of the evening. The next day, we set out for the Museum Brandhorst: a large private collection of one of Munich’s top collectors. This was one of our favorite museums of the trip. They had multiple pieces from Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst; the latter which we came to appreciate more so after this museum. He had one piece, the effect of which would be lost in a picture, titled Looking Forward to a Complete Cessation of Pain, which was a glass box containing four televisions blaring migraine medicine commercials; we thought it was hilarious. The top floor was dedicated entirely to Cy Twombly, an artist neither of us understand and would appreciate an explanation of, if someone could please provide us one. Here are a few of our favorite pieces from the museum.

This might be my favorite Andy Warhol piece that I've seen. We've seen so many, that I'm convinced that you don't have a modern art museum until you have at least one Andy Warhol.

An explanation for an exhibit that Ashleigh and I found hilarious. The exhibit was a bunch of enlarged plastic sewage. We thought we'd spare you a picture.

A piece by Damien Hirst titled In this Terrible Moment We are All Victims Clinging Helplessly to an Environment that Refuses to Acknowledge the Soul. On each of the little shelves is a different pill. As for Hirst's dramatic titles, I think they're all satirical; this piece does seem a bit more serious, though.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around Munich, looking for an English bookstore and trying to find food. We snapped a few pictures here and there. We had a mug of Gluhwein in a park outside of a giant structure modeled off of Chinese tower. We’re pretty sure the park we were in is where they have Oktoberfest every year. We ended the day at a veggie restaurant, where I had a plate of veggie curry-wurst and had a fantastic glass of Bavarian lager. Ashleigh doesn’t recall what she had to eat but she does remember that there was definitely a Disclose poster on the wall! Hey Dan!

A square in Munich.

A square devoted to the famous sociologist Max Weber.

Bon appetit!

The next day we set off for Strasbourg. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon, cooked a meal at our hotel and walked around for a bit. The next day, we set off for the modern art museum. The museum was really neat; they had a lot of stuff from artists we had never heard of. We particularly enjoyed the wood-carved pieces. Here are a few pictures.

This light platform was set up around an entire exhibit: beginning when you entered the exhibit, and seeing it's conclusion on the other side of the exhibit. It basically looks like this all the way around.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the area known as Petite France looking for a decently priced cheese plate. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. But we were able to snap a few photos before the camera died.

We had trouble staying busy in Strasbourg. After the modern art museum, we were somewhat at a loss for what to do next. The next day, we wandered around some more and took some pictures. The cathedral in the middle of the town was particularly cool, but it was hard to get a good photo of it. We did our best with the fisheye lens. After this, we found a desert shop and had the best Crème Brulee ever, as well as an amazing cherry tart.

The fruit in France, and Europe in generally, is exceptional. It's a clementine with the leaves still on it.

The next evening, we killed as much time as we could before taking our night train to Peripignan, where we could catch a bus to La Roque Des Alberes, the small village our next WWOOF farm was located in. We killed so much time that we ended up missing our direct train. We had to take a night train that involved a 4:30 AM change in Avignon, with a three hour lay over at the station. We didn’t leave for Peripignan until 7:30 in the morning, arriving there around 10:30. We ended up missing our bus, so we had to wait until 6 o’clock that evening to catch the next bus. Groggy, and with five hours to kill, we worked on the blog in a coffee shop. We caught our bus to La Roque that night with no problems, and made it to our WWOOF farm where we would spend the next three weeks.

Our host was named Namua. She lived with one of her son’s, named Ralph. Another one of her son’s, Louie, ate regularly at her house, but didn’t actually live there. Her and her husband bought their little olive farm about 15 years ago. She was widowed about two years ago. When we arrived Ralph was on vacation, and there were three other WWOOFers at the house: Sena, Darryn, and Oli. Sena was a Iranian-born Canadian, who was incredibly out going. Darryn and Oli were both English and considerably more reserved than Sena. Darryn was about thirty and had a master’s from Warwick (one of the grad schools I applied to); Oli was about eighteen, and we got along well from the beginning, largely due to a mutual interest in Black Sabbath. While we were there, Ralph would return from vacation, Sena would leave, and others would arrive. By the time we left, Darryn and Oli were still there, and Marie Claire, Lea, and Glyn had arrived, and would also still be there by the time we left. Marie Claire, originally from the Netherlands and currently residing in Belgium, was a free-spirit type, who was very interested in the spiritual aspects of permaculture and organic gardening. Lea was from Germany and taking a gap year before heading off to University. Like us, she was trying to travel cheaply through Europe. Glyn was from Wales, and was technically not a WWOOFer, but a Help-Xer. Help-X is a program like WWOOFing in that it provides laborers for those that need labor, but is not specifically geared toward farming. He had been to Namua’s before, and knew his way around more so than the rest of us. All of these people were incredibly friendly, and it was a pleasure to get to know them over the three weeks we stayed there. As for the farm itself, Namua did much to try and recycle her water usage. That means that anything that was put down a drain had to be biodegradable. We weren’t allowed to use any of the soaps or toothpaste that we had brought, but thankfully Namua provided some we could use. Namua used store-bought soaps, but made her own toothpaste out of clay and mint oil; it was like brushing your teeth with dirt, but surprisingly very effective. All of the water that was used was connected to pipes that would lead out into the garden to water her plants. Namua also made use of compost toilets, which was essentially like using a cat-box for our bathroom needs. Instead of a toilet-bowl, there is a bucket with a biodegradable plastic bag in it; after you are done using the toilet, you cover it with wood-chips. The buckets need to be taken out daily to the “shit-shack” (see pictures below, nothing graphic), where the plastic bags (the contents safely contained within… unless the bag breaks) are placed and covered with branches to keep the animals out. This of course was only necessary for the indoor toilets; their was an outdoor toilet, as well as a urine bucket for the boys, which needed to be taken out every month or so. It takes about a year for the bags to biodegrade before they are usable as compost. The compost is not used for any plants that will be directly eaten.

Given that it was just Namua at the house, we did a lot tasks that were not related to farming. This was no problem; we were happy to help. We had to do a lot of work related to the compost toilets, such as make more woodchips by collecting dried wood and running it through a wood-chipper; as mentioned above, taking out the indoor toilet buckets was a daily task. We had to water the garden and the poly-tunnel (see pictures below) everyday, too. A poly-tunnel is basically like a green house, except considerably cheaper to make and maintain, and more earth-friendly as you’re still making use of the natural environment. Basically, it’s just a plot of land that’s covered by plastic; it helps keep pest out, as well as moisture inside. This isn’t the first time we encountered a poly-tunnel; the WWOOF farm in Wales also had a poly-tunnel, they’re very common on European organic farms. Namua’s land was divided into two parts: the lower part, which is where the house and garden was located, and the upper part, which is where the olive trees were being planted. It should be clarified that Namua was in the process of creating an organic olive-farm: it wasn’t producing olives yet. When we weren’t doing work maintaining the house, we were on the upper part of the farm either planting olive trees, or clearing land for planting. About a week before we left, Namua purchased a hundred olive trees for us to plant; by the time we left, we had planted about sixty of them. For income, Namua sells books at a local weekend market, as well as online. We did some work related to her book business. Overall, the work was very light and pretty relaxed. We could work at our own pace. As long as we worked 5 hours a day, she wasn’t picky about how we spent it, or when exactly we did it.

Namua is a practicing vegan and has been so for most of her life. All of the food we ate the farm was absolutely amazing vegan food. She was an expert in vegan cooking, and as such, all of the meals we ate were very well rounded. When we arrived initially, our sleeping arrangements were in the house, but as more people arrived, we were moved to the caravan outside. Besides people, there were a plethora of animals: four dogs (Ben, Freya, Ash, and Obie), 15-20 cats, and 8-10 chickens in a chicken coup. We had one cat that liked to hang out with us in our caravan named BC. We spent many of our off days lazing around the farm, reading or cooking. A couple notable exceptions would be a trip to Coullier, which is a small beach town, where Dali and Picasso used to hang out, as well as an eight hour hike up to the highest peak in the region, the name of which I can’t remember. We also went to the market in Ceret with Namua, where we bought some fantastic cheese. Here are some pictures from our time on Namua’s farm.

BC in our caravan.

The poly-tunnel

The "shit-shack": all of the plastic bags are stored in the compartments to the right. The left is used for spare brush.

The indoor compost toilet.

Clay toothpaste!

The view from Namua's back porch.

The back of Namua's house with Glyn to the left.

Our caravan.

Freya and our caravan.

A freshly planted olive tree.

The beach in Coullier.

Ashleigh and Oli in Coullier.

That day, we found a rock to sit and drink a bottle of wine on. French wine is exceptionally amazing and inexpensive.

The view from our rock.

Taken on our hike.

Left to right: myself, Sena, and Oli

the view

Lea and Darryn on Namua's back porch.

Namua with an armful of clothes.

That’s all for now! Our trip is almost over! We’ll mostly likely do one more post (maybe two) covering our trip through Spain and Portugal. After Cordoba, we’ll head to Seville, then we’re off to another WWOOF farm in Portugal! Hasta luego!

Czech Republic and the WWOOF Farm!!

2009-10-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!!

We're in the South of France in a small city called Peripignan, after a grueling 13 hour journey from Strasbourg. We're both incredibly tired and a little out of it, so forgive us if this blog shows it. We missed our bus today heading to our next wwoof farm outside of La Roque de Alberes, and the next one isn't for another 4 hours from now. It's about time to update the blog; we haven't done so, it seems, in far too long. So much has happened! Here is what we did after we left Poland.

Our last night with Jack was quite an evening, and so hangovers and all, we headed to catch an early train to Olomouc, Czech Republic. We were attracted to this little town because of it's historic center, featuring one of two astronomical clock towers in the Czech Republic (the other being in Prague) and also a myriad of fountains in statues and churches. Other than that, it's a sleepy college town, where almost everything closes on the weekends, giving the empty streets kind of an eerie feeling when contrasted with all of the architecture. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon, found our hostel, and grabbed a quick bite to eat. The hostel recommended a small tea house, where we could find inexpensive vegetarian options. Little did we know at the time, given the exchange rate, everything in the Czech Republic is inexpensive. Ashleigh and I had two full meals, as well as two pots of high quality tea, for about ten dollars. The rest of the first evening we spent wandering around the city center and talking with people we met at the hostel.

The next day, we set out for two museums, which happened to be free that day. First, however, we had to go see the Astronomical Clock chime at noon. This Astronomical Clock is quite different from the one in Prague. During the Communist rule, it was rebuilt to reflect the ideas of the revolution. As such, there are murals of working people, like blacksmiths, farmers, scientists, etc. We have to say the clock's performance did not live up to it's reputation. The melody it played was dissident, the little figures moved too slowly to hold our interest. It was really an overall, very boring display that lasted a grueling five minutes; five minutes, we'll never get back. The clock show culminated with a golden rooster coming out of his housing, cawing and flapping pathetically, and then going back in again. Ashleigh snapped some pictures of the clock tower, as well as some of the architecture in the square.

This contribution to the town square is recent, and quite controversial...

After this, we headed over to the Arch-Diocese Museum, which housed a collection of art pieces, as well as artifacts from the Arch-Diocese of Olomouc. This was quite impressive. There were some very ornate gold sculptures, as well as some very beautiful religious paintings, full of cryptic symbolism and imagery. After this, we headed over to the Museum of Modern Art, which housed a surprisingly interesting collection. It seemed to specialize in works from turn of the century "purists", who stuck to a more traditional format, while the rest of the art world made it's shift to more abstract pieces. That is not to say that there were not a healthy amount of works from their more abstract contemporaries. For some reason, we have almost no pictures from this museum; I guess we weren't in the mood to take pictures at the time. However, we do have some pictures from a viewing tower on top of the museum, as well as a few from the Arch-Diocese museum; the pics at the bottom are from said tower.

An old well in the courtyard of the Arch-Diocese Museum.

The next day, we set out for some of Olomouc's famous church's. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Taken from the bell-tower of one of the church's

After these church's, we went out for a piece of cake. It was fantastic!

After our relatively, short afternoon, we went back to the hostel, finished up our last blog post, and then set out for a microbrewery for a couple of drinks. We headed to bed early that night to catch our train to Prague the next day.

We arrived in Prague in the early afternoon, and made our way to the next hostel. After we got settled, we took around the city and tried to get ourselves oriented. We were immediately struck by the beauty of the architecture. It's really a fantastic place in every sense of the word. The next day, we set out for the Royal walk, which takes us by a number of fantastic sites. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Eventually, we ended up at the castle. It was toward the end of the afternoon, so we were able to walk around and see a couple of things without it being too crowded. One of our most favorites sites we've seen this far was Saint Vitus's Church in the castle complex. It had some of the most intricate and beautiful stained glass we've ever seen.

We left the castle complex as the sun was about to set, and walked across Charles Bridge.

Taken from the Charles Bridge

The next day, we got a late start. We wanted to go back and try to see the rest of the castle, but by the time we had arrived there in the early afternoon, it was already so crowded with tourists that we decided against it. We walked through a couple of exhibits, all of which did not allow us to take pictures, and then decided it wasn't worth the time and the claustrophobia. By this time, it was late in the afternoon, and most of the day had been spent. We wandered around in search of Franz Kafka's memorial statue and then went for a meal in the square.

Kafka's Memorial Statue

Here are some pictures from the square.

If you remember from our last post, we bought bicycles in Poland for cheap, expecting to use them for a while and then sell them. Well, my bicycle was broken by this time in our trip, so we decided to try to sell Ashleigh's while it was still in working order. We tracked down a bicycle shop and went well out of our way to try and get rid of it. When we wasted the afternoon trying to find this bicycle shop, we decided to leave it and make a lucky passer-by's day. As such, most of the afternoon on the third day was spent doing this, and there was only a bit of time to try check out the Franz Kafka's museum. When we arrived, it was on the verge of closing. The museum was kind of a let down. It portrayed Kafka as tortured soul yearning to be free in a world that is just oh so stifling. We can't help but have a different interpretation. As such, we thought the museum was a little much. The following is a sculpture outside of the Kafka museum.

The next day, we woke up early and set off for our next farm adventure in Germany. The Weber's live in a small town outside of Dresden called Barenstien. They are a family of four, Brita, Jens (pronounced "Yens"), Luisa, and Ana. The latter are eleven year old twins. We have to say, our week with the Weber's was absolutely incredible. They took us into their home, and treated us like we were family. We stayed in the attic above one of the barns. We had our own kitchen, where we ate breakfast before work. As far as the work was concerned, we had hard days and easy days. Jens is involved in conservation work in the southeast German region. Jens had mowed a couple of meadows in the area, which needed to be cleared of grass-clippings to allow rare species to flourish. On a couple of days, we worked in the meadows. This work would not have been particularly difficult had it not been raining and snowing while we were working. The excess water weighed down the grass, making it more difficult then usual to carry. The area was experiencing a-typical weather while we were there. A couple of days into our stay, it snowed heavily (about six inches if I remember correctly), which is extremely rare for that region at that time of year. The ground was covered with snow until we left later that week. One of our easier jobs involved moving hay from one room to another to make it easier to fill hay orders. The grass that is clipped from the meadows can be dried and turned into hay, which can then be sold. Our easiest days involved correcting grammar for the English version of Jens' conservation organization's website. The organization he is involved in is called the Grune Liga. From what we gathered, he is the head of the Sachsen Chapter of the Grune Liga. I know he is still working on the English website; we'll make sure to keep an eye on it and post a link when it's up so everyone can read about it. He takes amazing pictures as well, so even if you're not into the Green movement, the pictures are worth seeing in and of themselves. The family also took us out to show us the area. Brita took us to Dresden one day, where we got a walking tour of the city and visited a couple of museums. Jens and Brita took us to a castle, the name of which escapes me at the moment, that housed a museum featuring a history of the area (natural history included). Jens also took us to a museum in Pirna, which housed exhibits of everyday goods from the German Democratic Republic (the East German Communist country). Brita and Jens both grew up in during the Communist era in East Germany and shared fascinating insights into the everyday life of East Germans. As a budding sociologist, I just ate it up. It was really great to hear the perspectives of actual DDR citizens. Ana and Luisa were also charming children, with a amazing grasp of the English language, considering their age. We were utterly astounded by these children. Both of them are avid readers. Luisa is writing a crime novel. To date, she has written 140 pages of it. Ana does the illustrations. They're both very outgoing and ABSOLUTELY hilarious. We just can't say enough about this family. We had the best time here, and it was an experience I'm sure we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. We didn't take to many pictures while we were there, but here a couple we took in Dresden and after the show had fallen.

THE BEST HONEY WE HAVE EVER HAD!

Thats all for now. We have to go catch our bus to our next WWOOF farm. We will be on this farm for three weeks. Hopefully, we'll have time to do a short update on Burghausen, Munich, and Strasbourg in the next couple of days. Take care!!!

Northern Germany and Poland!!

2009-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We're in the Czech Republic at a hostel in the small college town of Olomouc (pronounced Olo-moat). We're really loving it here! It's small, quiet, plenty to do and see; one of the better stops we've made on the trip thus far. Thats not to say that Germany and Poland weren't fantastic. They were everything we were expecting and more! Here is what we did...

We arrived in Hamburg early on September 15th. Our first day in Germany was thoroughly uneventful. We ate some food, drank some German bier and wein, and tried to track down another jacket for Ashleigh (her other one was stolen in Turkey). We went to a great veggie restaurant where we were able to eat some veggie curry-wurst. Curry-wurst is a favorite among Germans. Essentially, it's bratwurst with ketchup and a bit of curry powder sprinkled on top. The veggie version probably pales in comparison to the meat version, but we still enjoyed it.

The next day, we set out for the town to see what we could see. The first thing we did is take a train down to the riverside, to see the old Warehouse district, where goods from all over the world are stored. What we didn't know at the time was that the warehouse district is about half a mile long; the rest of the tour is through the Hamburg harbor, where one can basque in the beauty of cargo ships and Hamburg's trash dump. Oh... and the smells... oh the smells (yuck!). So, the boat tour wasn't quite what we had planned, but we got a few pictures. We spent the rest of the day walking around Hamburg, trying to take in what we could. We went to St. Nikoli's Cathedral, the Planten und Blumen Arboretum, and the Reeperbahn. We only got pictures of the former; the latter, however, is quite interesting. The Reeperbahn is Hamburg's Red Light District. More specifically, it's a street: on one side of the street is brothels and sex shops, the other is bars and a children's theater(!). On one of the side streets, there is a large gate that guards a section reserved for street-walkers; it reads "UNDER 18 and WOMEN PROHIBITED". Apparently, if you're a woman on the other side of the gate, you are considered to be a prostitute. Also, The Beatles got their big break in Hamburg off the Reeperbahn. We walked around and saw some of the places they played at, but they had all been transformed into modern night clubs, and weren't particularly picturesque. Anyway, here are a few pictures from Hamburg.

(Hamburg Shipping Yards)

(Warehouse District)

(St. Nikolai's Cathedral)

(A statute by our hostel. It's two centars fighting over a fish.)

The next day was spent walking around the town some more. We did some window shopping, went to an English bookstore, and tried to take care of some little odds and ins for the our trip to Bremen the next day. That evening we took a walk down to the Reeperbahn to see the area by night. It was a strange experience. We were able to park ourselves outside of a bar that wasn't also a strip-club/brothel to people watch. There was an interesting character trying to lure men into one of the brothels: an older gentlemen, slicked-back gray hair, wearing yellow sun-glasses (at night), and a terribly gaudy suit. We saw another guy with hair-tied back in a ponytail, wearing a similar pair of yellow sunglasses, and an all white suit. It seems the street we were on was where all the pimps hang out. Overall, the experience left a bad taste in our mouths, but we still had a good time and I'm glad we got to see what we could.

The next day, we made our train to Bremen and arrived early in the afternoon. We checked in at the hostel and immediately went to another veggie restaurant for lunch. Although it was incredibly expensive, the restaurant had an assortment of fake meats which were just amazing. I had fake-lamb in a goji-plum sauce; Ashleigh had fake- asian sausage and noodles. After this, we rented some bikes for the next two days. We biked through this fabulous park for about an hour and then headed down to the canal. The park was very beautiful, and quite massive, but it was the canal that became one of our favorite hang outs when we were in Bremen. The first night, we grabbed some drinks (top-quality German beer in my case!!), sat on a bench, listened to some street musicians playing jazz, and watched the sunset. It was such an amazing contrast to the craziness of Hamburg. It was here that we fell in love with Bremen. Sadly, we don't have many pictures of the canal from the first night, but here are a few of the park.

The next day, after spending most of the morning seeking out food, we headed to the Wesserberg Museum. This museum was easily the best we have seen on this trip thus far. It featured almost exclusively contemporary art works (i.e. mostly after 1970, many within the past 20 years). We saw amazing Fluxus works, as well as an entire floor devoted to urban art. The latter is best described the art world finally catching on to provocative graffiti. There were also a series of paintings on one floor which we were absolutely enamored by. I think the contents of the museum are best described in pictures. I'll add my own commentary for those who are interested underneath each picture for clarification. These are a few of our favorites:

This was the first exhibition we saw. It was dedicated to an artist from San Antonio. His work is something like an engineer-artist hybrid. The top picture is a mechanical human that would writhe on the ground eerily; the bottom picture is a remote controlled vehicle, the purpose of which was to destroy the walls of art galleries... we're guessing.

The book pictured here is the bible turned to the story of Noah's Ark. All the animals are the cheap little plastic one's you buy in the store for kids.

This is a photograph. We're particularly fond of the ice igloo in the freezer.

Possibly our personal favorites, this is a Fluxus work featuring a miniature statue of "The Thinking Man" with a camera on it; the television is a live feed from the camera. It's hilarity is lost in my explanation, but we just about died laughing when we saw it.

This is a work from the Urban Art exhibit. The whole painting took up the entire gallery wall. The left side features a portrait of a city in gray-scale. The rain effect is produced by paint-drips. We both think it's a really creative piece because of that.

This is me listening to "Paris Hilton's debut album", which was placed on the wall as a piece of art by the artist Banksy in the Urban Art section. It's really just a looped section of the record, where Paris is heard saying "that's hot" every twenty seconds or so. I thought it was great. Banksy's art is also worth a google if you're unfamiliar with it; this piece is definitely a-typical.

We had to add this to the blog because this is the cover of Sonic Youth's album "Sonic Nurse", which was released in 2004.

"Tattooed Jesus"

A metal cathedral built to scale.

Damn! This one is self-explanatory. We're pretty sure the woman was sculpted, which is pretty amazing. When I first saw it, I thought it was a real person.

After the museum, we biked over to the town square and took some pictures of the buildings. There is quite a bit of the Bremen city center that was untouched by WWII. There is a huge statue of a knight, a cathedral, and a sculpture of a donkey, a dog, a monkey, and a chicken stacked on top of each other. If you touch the hoof of the donkey, it brings you good luck. Sadly, they were having some sort of festival when we came to take pictures, so we can't really show the whole square. We tried to avoid it the best we could. After this, we biked back down to the canal and had a drink; we got some pictures this time around, but only one is really worth putting up.

The next day, we didn't do too much. We hung out a bit, posted the Turkey blog, and returned our bikes. That night we had another drink by the canal, and then we were off to bed. So far, Bremen was our favorite city in Germany. The more we travel, the more we find ourselves liking the less touristy, smaller cities. It's always the tinier towns that we remember the best. We had a great time just being there.

As such, Berlin was quite a change. It is quite a bit bigger, and I feel that I have to preface this part of the post by saying I don't think we got the full experience. There seems to be a whole world underneath the surface in Berlin. Upon arriving at our hostel (which was one of the most expensive and dirtiest to date), we found ourselves literally around the corner from a small art scene. The street was lined with small galleries, where artists were selling their work directly. Behind the row of buildings was another set of small galleries set up in tents. Here you could buy everything from metal sculptures to paintings. None of the art was particularly notable, but it was still cool to see that people take on a DIY approach to distributing their work. The rest of the evening, we spent walking around. We had a drink by one of the canals and then went to bed.

The next day, we woke up and went sight-seeing on the way to the Jewish Museum. Here are some pictures of us in front of the Brandenburg gate and Checkpoint Charlie.

We arrived at the Jewish Museum during the late afternoon. The best thing about this museum is the architecture; the content was cool, but after a while it began to drag on for a bit. However, there were some very powerful exhibits about the Holocaust. The beginning of the museum is laid out on three axes: the axis of exile, the axis of the Holocaust, and the axis of continuity. These axes, in real terms, are hallways; they were designed as such to show how each idea intersects. The axis of exile leads to the Garden of Exile, which has a total of 49 pillars arranged in the shape of a cube, the tops of which are covered by olive trees; the aim is to give a disorienting effect. The axis of the Holocaust exhibits personal items taken from Holocaust survivors. I thought these exhibitions did a great job of humanizing the Holocaust. So often we hear the tragedy of the Holocaust expressed as an abstract figure: "six million people died during the Holocaust". It's difficult to get a real sense of what was actually lost when your reference point is just a number. We were able to see old typewriters, letters, children's toys, jewelry, pictures, musical instruments, etc, all of which left to neighbors and non-Jewish friends by the original owners for safe keeping. Each of these items were accompanied by a short summary of the individual who died in the concentration camps; we found the exhibition moving to say the least. The axis of the Holocaust culminated in a giant concrete room, where only a little light from the street was let in (picture after the paragraph). The axis of continuity lead to the rest of the museum. It culminates in a really cool stairway. Here are a few pictures from the Jewish museum.

(The ceiling above the stairway)

(The garden of exile)

(the Holocaust memorial room)

After the Jewish Museum we went and had a drink with Bertolt Brecht and went to bed.

The next day, we set out to see what was left of the Berlin Wall. Waaay on the other side of town from our hostel, there is a significant portion of the Berlin Wall that has been turned into a public art forum. Each section of the wall has been turned into a canvas for selected artists to come and create something on. Here are a few of our favorite sections.

(Apparently this really happened. There is tons of kitch with this image on it.)

After this, we made a round-about way to a museum taking us through a quiet, slightly dilapidated park. We arrived at the museum about mid-afternoon. This museum featured works from mostly Berlin artists, with the subject of most of the pieces being about Berlin. We learned a couple of things about Berlin's subculture. For example, after the fall of the Berlin wall, there were a large number of buildings that were left totally unoccupied. These buildings became a secret meeting place for fans of avant-garde dance music. There was a great piece featuring photographs of the entrances to these meeting places. Mostly though, the significance of many of the pieces were lost on us. We did see some original Dada anti-art pieces.

(A cool piece of urban art by Blu that we saw on the way to the museum)

(Dada)

The next day, we woke up somewhat late, did some laundry, and headed toward another museum. We don't have any pictures of this museum, but it was in an old train station. We saw a bunch of great works by Andy Warhol, as well as a bunch of really neat video pieces. For example, we saw a video of a man sawing a house in half. After a few hours here, we went and bought some food for the our long trip to Krakow the next day in an awesome open market and sat in a park for a little while. On our way back to the hostel, we stumbled across a museum, which was offering free entry. We walked in to see an extensive collection of Byzantine mosaics, sculptures, and paintings, all of which were absolutely pristine works. Sadly, no pictures.

The next day we headed for Krakow. The train ride was nine hours, which was incredibly exhausting. We arrived right after sunset at about eight o'clock. Our best friend Jack moved to Krakow to study at the university there. He picked us up at the train station, and then took us out for drinks. The next day he showed us around town, and we snapped a few pictures. These are the only pictures we took during our stay in Krakow. We ended up staying there for about six days. Most of the time, we hung out with Jack. On the days Jack was working or at school, Ashleigh and I went to a few museums. We also took a bus to Auschwitz toward the end of the week. All we can say about that experience is that the Holocaust was ineffable act; literally, there are no words to describe the cruelty exhibited by what went on there. Our perspectives on the Holocaust have changed immensely since we've seen it. It's a place everyone needs to see before they die; I feel I can't do justice to it with words, so I won't try. We didn't take any pictures while we were at Aushwitz, it just didn't feel right. All the pictures we have from Krakow are from the first couple of days.

Our tour guide, Jack Zagorski.

An EXTREMELY old fortification.

This is a church in the city center. Every hour, on the hour, for eight hundred years, a man stands at each of the towers and plays a little melody. This is done in remembrance of a trumpeter from the 13th century, who was killed in the middle of his song by the invading Tartars. True to tradition, the melody stops abruptly, just as it did that fateful day in 12-something.

Ashleigh and her Dylan glasses.

The old Jewish Ghetto from World War II.

Wawel (pronounced Vavel) castle seen through the fisheye lens.

Thats all for now. We'll do another update from South Germany on the Czech Republic.

take care!

Türkiye!

2009-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We're currently in Bremen, Germany at the hostel after a day of sight-seeing. We really like it here in Bremen; it's small and quiet: a nice change from the insanity of Turkey...

We arrived in Istanbul on the evening of the 3rd. We split a cab with some other young tourists and made our way to our respective hostels, which were in the same area. The cab ride took over an hour, and after some issues with finding our hostels, we finally arrived just as night had set in. Our hostel was located in the Sultanahmet region of Istanbul, which is where a large portion of the landmarks are located. It's considered to be "the old city" of Istanbul, and we couldn't have asked for a better location. That evening, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, and went to bed.

The next morning, we went directly to the train station to buy train tickets to our next destination. The night before, we decided that we wanted to go to Selcuk, where the ancient city of Ephesus is located. When we walked up to the window, the ticket seller told us there was no train to Selcuk, and we needed to figure something else out. Luckily, there was a woman standing by the window, who told us we could take a ferry and a train to Izmir and then a bus to Selcuk. We went ahead an purchased the tickets to Izmir, even though we wouldn't leave for two days after we had booked our hostel. We noticed later, that the woman was wearing a "North Texas" t-shirt, as in the University of North Texas in Denton and we immediately struck up a conversation. After a bit of talking, she agreed to show us the city and we ended up developing a good friendship with her while we were in Turkey. Her name was Nur, and she just finished up her Ph.D in Art Education at UNT. She had a four year old daughter named Selin, who would join us later. The first thing we did together was go to the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the oldest markets in the world (opened in 1461), and it still thrives today (mostly on tourists, like ourselves). After this, we went to the spice market, which has been open since the 16th century. Here are some pictures from the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market.

After this, we took a walk across the canal, and over to Taksim Square area. This might be one of the busiest places I've ever been in my life. It's a good time to note that Istanbul has a population of over 16 million people. The whole city feels like Time Square at five o'clock, twenty-four hours a day, everywhere; even then, people seem to concentrate in and around Taksim Square. We got a bite to eat off one of the main side streets, then walked over to another shop where we ate baklava. It was awesome. After this, Nur went to pick up her daughter and Ashleigh and I window shopped for a bit. When we met back up with Nur, and met Selin for the first time, we set off for the canal and spent the rest of the evening hanging out around there. We also took a boat ride to the other side and back. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

(Nur and Selin)

(taken by Selin)

The next day, we went to the Museum of Archaeology, which houses artifacts from all over the region. There were soooo many artifacts... too many. It was probably the fifth case of Trojan pots before we decided enough was enough. Before we got bored, we saw some really cool stuff from Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Assyria. The first picture is a tablet fragment, which has Hammurabi's Code inscribed in Cuneiform on it.

After this, we walked over to Hagia Sophia. It was a church originally constructed during the Byzantine Era by the Emperor Justinian between 532-537 A.D. This might be a good time for a short history of Istanbul, as it really plays into the history of Hagia Sophia. In the early 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman empire to the future site of Istanbul and renamed the city Constantinople, after himself; Constantine is also noted as being the first Christian Roman Emperor, ending Christian persecution in Rome, and also making it the official religion of the empire. The move effectively created two capitols of the Roman Empire: Rome in the West, Constantinople in the East. Given that the empire was in decline by this point, the western half fell to Germanic tribes in the mid 5th century. However, the Eastern half lived on for another thousand years; from my understanding, these people still considered themselves to be Roman, but historians refer to this era as the Byzantine Empire, or the Justinian Empire. So when Hagia Sofia was built, it was originally a church, and the biggest in the world for about a thousand years at that! In 1453, the Ottomans took over Constantinople. The primary religion of the Ottoman Empire was Islam, and Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque. The Ottoman's held power until WWI. When the empire fell, and the Republic of Turkey was founded, Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum for all to enjoy!! Given all of that history, Hagia Sofia is a remarkable place to visit. It has signs from both Byzantine and Ottoman rule: Muslim and Christian traditions housed under one roof, imagine that! Unfortunately, there was a huge scaffold in the middle that obscured a significant amount of the architecture. They're restoring a portion of the building, and the scaffold has been there for quite a while. This was hands down our favorite site in Istanbul. We took lots of pictures, here are a few of them.

While we were there, Ashleigh got a migraine, so we decided to call it a day. The next day, we set out to see the Blue Mosque. When we arrived, there was a prayer service going on, and we decided to wait until the service was over. I should also mention that our visit to Turkey happened during Ramadan, which is a very holy time for many Muslims. People from all over Turkey and Eastern Europe travel to Istanbul to pray at the Blue Mosque and other holy sites. It was an interesting time to be there, I just hope we didn't upset anybody by our presence. Anyway, we took a walk around the corner to the Mosaic Museum, which houses works from an excavated Byzantine palace. We really enjoyed the museum (it was cheap, too! only five lira a person, about $3!!!). We both developed an affinity for Byzantine mosaics during our trip to Turkey. Here are some of our favorites. I think we both agree, that our favorite is the mosaic in the second picture.

After the mosaic museum, we walked back to the Blue Mosque. The prayer service was over, and the mosque was considerably less crowded: more so this time with tourists. We were required to remove our shoes, and Ashleigh was required to cover her shoulders. Ashleigh had covered her head, but we noticed most of the tourist women had not done so, and it didn't seem to be a problem. The Blue Mosque was unbelievably beautiful, I feel that our pictures don't do it justice. It was amazing to see.

(You'd never thought you'd see it!!)

After the Blue Mosque, we wandered around Istanbul for a bit. We ate some food, went to Taksim Square, and wandered around some more. As the sun was setting, we made our way to Galata Tower. It was constructed during the Ottoman era, and served as a watch over Istanbul. This had to be the biggest rip off we have yet to experience on our trip. It was 15 lira a person to go to the top. The outer rim was tiny and crowded. Granted, we got some good pictures, but a lot of the came out blurry because people kept knocking into us. Anyway, here are a few of the ones that came out okay.

After the Tower, we wandered around some more. We kept noticing a mosque that stood at the edge of the canal. As we passed this time, we noticed the doors were wide open and it seemed as if visitors were welcome to enter. We're not sure what this mosque is called, but Nur kept referring to it as the New Mosque, so we'll just say thats what it's called. Anyway, we went in, this time Ashleigh covered her head and shoulders, and we both removed our shoes. The mosque was unbelievably beautiful. We snapped a few pictures and walked out; Ashleigh said she kept getting dirty looks and she felt a bit awkward. I know we weren't the only tourists taking pictures. We're thinking that she was an area that only men were allowed to be in. In both the Blue Mosque and the New Mosque, there were sections reserved specifically for women. They were not allowed to enter the main floor; instead, they prayed behind a wooden screen. We try to be open to different cultures and customs, but this definitely made us both uncomfortable. Anyway, here are some pictures; I think the lighting was working in our favor.

(not sure what Birlik Rahmettir means...)

The next day, we met up with Nur. We had planned on going to some small islands in the Marmarat Sea, about an hours boat ride from Istanbul, and swimming on the beach. The islands are considered to be a part of Istanbul proper; the city provides a public ferry service for relatively nothing (3 lira each way, a little less than $2). We met up with Nur and Selin, early in the afternoon, ready for a day at the beach. But as we got on the boat, dark clouds started to roll in, and by the time we got off the boat at the farthest island, it had rained just enough to cool everything off, so that it was too cold to swim. Since we were planning on spending the day at the beach, Ashleigh didn't take her camera, so we don't have any pictures. The island was such a relief from Istanbul. Cars aren't allowed on any of the islands (except for public service vehicles); it was unbelievably relaxing. We took a horse and carriage (the primary means of transportation on the island, besides bicycles) to a beach area, just to make sure we wouldn't be able to swim. After we confirmed that the water was absolutely frigid, we had the carriage driver take us to the foot of a sizable hill, where we could hike up to a restaurant that sits on the top. After a rather arduous hike, made worse by our flip flops, we made it to the top and had a relaxing meal, overlooking the Marmorat Sea. We could see the other islands as well as part of Istanbul. It was truly amazing. We regretted not bringing the camera. After dinner, we walked back to the port, ate some ice cream, took Selin to a playground, and then caught the last boat back to Istanbul.

The next day, we went back to the Grand Bazaar and bought souvenirs and Christmas gifts for everyone. I won't mention all we bought exactly (I don't want to ruin any surprises!!), but I got a really neat chess set for myself. While, Istanbul is an amazing place to visit, and if you're able, you should make the journey, the moment the locals find out you're American, they immediately try to sell you stuff. At first, we thought it was charming and kind of fun, but by this point we were absolutely fed up with it. The people in the Grand Bazaar are particularly ruthless. We spent the whole day fighting off salesmen and haggling; by the end of the day, we were stressed out, frustrated, edgy, irritated... the list of adjectives goes on. It was not the best way to spend out last day in Istanbul, but we got some really great stuff, for damn good prices! That night, Nur, Selen, her brother Sadat, and his wife Pricine took us out to a lovely all vegetarian restaurant. We then went to a cafe for tea, and Nur taught us to play backgammon. It was quite a lovely evening with lovely people. It made up for our experience earlier that day.

The next day, we got up early to catch our ferry and train to Izmir. Fortunately, Nur, who was born outside of Izmir, was on the same ferry. She was heading home to her parents house with Selin. We had no problems making the ferry, all though we were extremely tired from the night before. We noticed while on the ferry that Istanbul had experienced some flooding, from the rain the city had been having. It had rain the two days before, and the rain had just let up long enough for us to catch our ferry that morning. When we arrived in Bandirma to catch our train to Izmir, it was raining steadily. As we approached the train station, we noticed that the parking lot was flooded and the train tracks were completely submerged. We boarded the train anyway, and I quickly fell asleep. I woke up to Ashleigh tugging my shirt telling me that the train wasn't able to leave due to all the flooding. We found out later that the train was delayed because the tracks ran by an old building, which was thought to collapse from all the flooding; the train speeding past would only aggravate situation. We ended up being stranded in the Bandirma train station for five hours. The train staff was kind enough to serve us lunch and tea. Right after that, they put us on a bus that went to Izmir. The bus ride took about six hours; we were able to sleep through most of it. We said our good-byes to Nur and Selin, when we arrived at her hometown. It was a small agricultural town specializing in grapes, olives, and tobacco. The whole city was surrounded by mountains; the landscape was astounding. We wish her the best, she was a fantastic guide and a wonderful person; hopefully, we'll see her again in the future. We made the rest of the journey to Izmir, which conveniently dropped us at the bus station, where we hopped on a minibus to Selcuk. What was originally suppose to be a eight hour journey, ended up being fifteen. Needless to say, we slept great that night.

Selcuk (Sell-Chuck) is a fantastic town! We absolutely loved it! It was small and quiet, and even though it attracted a ton of tourist, it still felt very Turkish. We stayed at a great hostel, where we had a wonderful little room to ourselves. The hostel was operated by a very friendly and helpful staff; they offered free bike rental and free transportation to Ephesus. They also had a restaurant that served amazing vegetarian food, and a great rug shop, where Ashleigh bought a hand-woven Turkish rug for cost price. They were nice enough to send all of the stuff we bought in Istanbul back home for us. I have nothing but good things to say about that place. Anyway, here is a picture Ashleigh took of the roof top view in Selcuk.

The first day in Selcuk, we walked around the town for a bit and then went to the beach. We didn't take any pictures of the beach, because we didn't bring the camera with us, but it was a very nice. Not too crowded, no hotels, the water wasn't as blue as we were hoping, but it was still great to swim in. The next day looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to put off our visit to Ephesus and work on the blog and plan the next few weeks of our trip. While it didn't rain until late that evening, the following day, it rained constantly... Murphey's Law. We decided we needed to go anyway, so we brought our rain jackets and did our best to prepare for it. Ephesus exceeded our expectations. It was unbelievable! The first stop was the amphitheater. It was massive! I had Ashleigh stand at the bottom, while I stood at the top, and we tried speaking to each other; we could hear each other quite clearly: more so, I'm sure, if everyone else was silent. Right as we were leaving the amphitheater, the rain started to fall. We hid under some old columns while the rain passed. As it started to let up, we made our way to the old library. The facade, as well as, the old arches and columns, were incredibly ornate and detailed. It was truly amazing. By the time we left the Library, the rain started pouring again. We took refuge under a covered archaeological dig site, that housed dwellings of the ancient aristocrats of Ephesus. There were some very beautiful mosaics on the floors and frescoes on the walls. We stayed under the cover of the dig site for over an hour waiting for the rain to pass. We made our way through the rest of the old city, while it rained on and off. We saw some more great sculptures and columns, walked on an ancient marble road, and visited another amphitheater. We don't have any pictures of the rest of Ephesus after the dig site, because it was raining to frequently for us to feel comfortable carrying the camera around. After leaving Ephesus, we went to a museum in Selcuk, which housed objects found after excavating the old city. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but note the pristine bust of Marcus Aurellius at the end of the picture series; I was very impressed.

(looking up from under the library facade)

(Dionysus on the left, Medusa on the Right)

(Room of the Muses)

(Marcus Aurellius)

The next day we took a bus to Antalya, where we would catch a flight to Hamburg two days after. The bus ride took seven hours, and Ashleigh got her jacket stolen. It wasn't so bad otherwise, but we were ready to get off by the time we got to the last bus stop. Antalya is a beach resort town that resembles Miami. We stayed at a hotel in the older part of the city. The following day, we slept in and then spent the afternoon at a small private beach. It was very small and crowded, but unbelievably beautiful. The water was crystal clear and a nice temperature, their were beautiful rock formations everywhere; it was picturesque sans all the people, and beach umbrellas. Yet again, no beach pictures. Here is a picture from a tourist website, so you get an idea. Sorry it's so huge.

The next day we got up really early and caught our flight to Hamburg. I'll save our adventures in Germany for another post. This one's already lengthy as it is! We head to Berlin tomorrow, and then from there, we head to Krakow to visit Jack! We'll probably have some time to update then, so expect Germany pt.1 in a couple of weeks.

Gutentag aus Deutschland!

THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM!

2009-09-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!! We're on top of a roof looking over the tiny city of Selcuk, Turkey. We're about 3 KM away from the ancient city of Ephesus, which houses one of the seven wonders of the world-The Temple of Artemis (only one column remains...)! We have yet to visit as it's been looking like it's about to rain all day, and yesterday, we went to the beach. More on this when we complete our travels here. Unfortunately, this won't be too long of a post. We didn't do too much in the Netherlands or Belgium, but I'll do my best to keep it interesting.

We arrived late on the 26th of August in Amsterdam. We didn't do too much that evening: got ready for bed and tried to prepare for the day ahead of us. The first thing we did the next day is rent some bicycles. We spent most of the day biking around the city and eating cheese and chocolate. There were a variety of great cheese we sampled, our favorite was most definitely a Danish Blue: a white cheese with little specs of blue all over it. Biking in Amsterdam is something of an experience. Everyone in Amsterdam bikes... literally everyone. I would go so far as to say that biking is the dominant means of transportation in Amsterdam; it dominates over car traffic and pedestrians. We saw people biking to work in business suits and dress shoes, heels and skirts. People attach little seats for their small children on the front or the back of their bicycles. It's seriously the way people get around there. As such, for the Amsterdam biking novice, this is a bit nerve-racking. I myself almost caused upwards of five accidents; luckily, everyone else successfully avoided my recklessness. After a friendly "excuse me" in good ol' American English, they understood our situation and pedaled along without conflict.

The next day, we woke up late and biked over to the Van Gogh Museum. Sadly, they didn't allow pictures, so we having nothing to show for it. We enjoyed the museum, but it was incredibly crowded. We walked around the museum tried to take in what we could, but kept getting pushed along by the crowds of people. My appreciation for Van Gogh didn't really increase after the experience. It was neat to see how his style evolved over the years; his later work was particularly interesting. However, the Museum also housed works by some of Van Gogh's contemporaries, like Odilon Redon. I think we enjoyed his work more so than Van Gogh's. He specialized in mostly black and white works, all of which were very detailed and surreal. After scouring the web, I couldn't find any pictures of our favorites, but here are a few works we saw:

We took these pictures in a park outside of the Van Gogh museum.

After this, we biked down to Dam Square and the Red Light District. Dam square didn't have much going for it; they were setting up some sort of concert event, and all of the cool architecture was interrupted by cranes, scaffolds, signs, and a make shift stage. We biked around a little bit, decided it was too crowded, and headed north toward the Red Light District. This was something to behold; not for children by any means. It seems like the whole area specializes in the obscene. There was a "coffee shop" every two door steps, a "smart shop" every third, prostitutes in windows on side streets, sex shops... whatever modern society frowns upon, is quite abundant in the Red Light District. We didn't spend too much time here; we walked through and didn't return. Most of the people were tourists, and shady at that. Not to sound too conservative, but this area attracts a certain type of hedonist that I'd rather not associate with. Regardless, I feel like it's somewhat necessary for a city like Amsterdam to have a place for this type of excess. It attracts the pot-tourists like a magnet; nice to get them out of the way, so we can enjoy the rest of the city. There is much to be said about Amsterdam's (and the Netherlands') liberal stance. From what I could see, alcoholism and homelessness are virtually non-existant in Amsterdam. Ashleigh and I spent a great deal of time biking around the city and I can't think of a single bum I saw drinking a beer at nine in the morning. Most everyone had a smile on there face, were happy to speak English to you and help you out, and overall had a pleasant disposition. It seems like everyone had some sort of job, a quiet place to live, and a bicycle. Amsterdam is one of the homiest places I've been to; maybe not the best place to visit, but Ashleigh and I both agree we could live pretty happy lives there. I haven't done any research, at all, into the political situation in the Netherlands, but it seems like there have been a myriad of reforms that have direct benefits on the people and their living situation; you can see it on their faces. If I take any image away from Amsterdam, it's that of a person out in front of their business or their home, up on a ladder, doing some sort of work. I saw multiple people doing this, and it seems that overall they were just happy as clams to have a place to live and a job. It was really amazing.

The next day we took a train to Arnhem, a tiny city outside of the fabulous Hoge Valuwe National Park. Ashleigh booked us a room on a house boat on the Rhine. It was very lovely. it had a little kitchenette, which was nice. Here are some pictures Ashleigh snapped of the view from our window.

The day after, we took a bus to Ede, where we thought we would have easy access to the park. Due to some road work, the buses weren't running to the entrance, so we spent the day walking around the little town. We noticed that even the small towns lacked any pre-WWII architecture. It was still nice to check out Ede and get a feel for the real Dutch life (not so different from American life, might I add). We had a drink and then made our way back to the bus stop. The bartender told us there was an entrance to the park in Arnhem... oops. We decided we would set off for the park in the morning.

The next morning, we got up bright and early and headed for the park. We got there at a reasonable hour, after breakfast. Hoge Veluwe National Park is an amazing place. The land was originally purchased by a wealthy family to use as a hunting lodge. There are three different types of landscapes: forest, grasslands, and desert. After paying the entry fee, the park provides white bicycles for you to use in the park. There are paved roads to ride on, and you can witness the changing landscapes at a comfortable pace. It was really a great experience. We took a few breaks here and there to take pictures. Ashleigh also had quite a time trying to take pictures while riding her bicycle: some attempts more successful than others. There is also an art museum in the middle of the park which was collected by the wife of the family - is only accessible by bicycle. Sadly, it was closed on the day we went, but we still had access to some sculptures outside. Here are some pictures from Hoge Veluwe:

(from the sculpture garden)

The next day, we made our way to Brussels. We booked our flight to Turkey from there, but decided to spend a day or so in the city. Upon arriving, we found ourselves utterly confused. The city was very busy; it reminded us a lot of New York or London. It definitely feels like one of the world's economic centers. We didn't do much but grab a drink and some food that evening. The next day, we set out on the town. We took a walk through Brussels' drab Jardin Le Boutanique and took some pictures. It wasn't the most beautiful place we had been, but there was a plethora of oxidized bronze statues, which was cool. We then made our way to the Bascillica. It was very amazing. There was a great park on the way up to the old church. We were taken aback by the magnitude of the building. After this, we made our way back to the area where our hostel was, and took a bus to the city Leuven. There is an old university there which offers graduate degrees in English, and I was interested in taking a look around. The town itself is really amazing. The city hall is one of the most ornate buildings I have ever seen. Here are a few of the pictures we took of our day in Belgium.

(city hall in Leuven)

The day after, we went straight to the airport and headed for Turkey!! We'll save our adventures here for another post. In a couple of days we plan on heading to the Greek island of Samos, and then I'm not sure where we'll be after that. Please comment if you can! take care!

The UK Update! (sorry it's so late)

2009-08-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Aberystwyth Castle, Wales

View from the Castle

   Entrance into the Castle site

   Ashleigh and Tomoe at the beach
   Jonathan at the beach

   Tomoe and Beasel the dog at our first WWOOF farm
   The view from the WWOOF farm in Wales
   Some of the buildings from the WWOOF farm
   One of the gardens from the farm and Tomoe's yurt in the background
   17th century chapel on the farm grounds along with it's cemetery!
   Another view of the chapel.
   Jonathan outside of the main house at the farm.
   Some of the front garden that Jonathan tended.
   View from the front porch out towards Jonathan's garden and the poly tunnel
   Cardiff Castle
   Stone circle in the park in Cardiff.
   Two nerds on a bench in Cardiff.
   Part of the extensive gardens in Cardiff.

   A cathedral we passed on our walk to the bay in Cardiff.
   Sculpture near the Cardiff bay.

   Ashleigh at Cardiff Bay.
   Obviously, this is Karl Marx's grave.
   Old headstone from the cemetery we visited.

Hey everyone! (Sorry, we are still working on getting the pictures up correctly)

Here is what we did in London, Cardiff, and our first WWOOF farm:

We arrived in London late Thursday evening (August 14^th) and were immediately struck by the hustle and bustle of the old city as soon as we walked out of the train station. After a short walk to the “tube station” (subway stations for us Americans) and a bit of confusion as to which stop to get off at, we arrived in a bourough of London known as Brixton, where our hostel was located. As we came to find out, Brixton is somewhat of a rasta hotspot in London. There are plenty of bars, restaurants, markets, and shopping in and around the area. According to wikipedia, it is the unofficial Afro-Carribean capital of London, which was very apparent, and it contributed greatly to the overall vibe. There was a huge open-air market next to the train station, which sold “off-license” vegetables and meats. Whole skinned animals were strung up from some of the market stands. It’s not what you would have in mind if you think LONDON, but in my mind, it was a unique place to call home for a few days. The hostel we were staying at, however, was less than desirable. It was on top of one of the most popular reggae and ska clubs in Brixton, featuring live music three nights a week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) until the wee hours of the morning. Not to mention there were a whole slew of permanent residents in the hostel; one of which was our roommate who felt no shame in bringing boys home at four in the morning, or sleeping almost completely naked. It ranks as the worst hostel experience I’ve had, but as we began to talk to some of the locals, it seems London is notorious for having awful hostels. The Hootenanny was no exception.

So, needless to say, sleeping was kind of difficult. We woke up around two in the afternoon on Friday. We tried to make the most of the remaining daylight and headed down toward the Thames River to see what sites we could see. First, we visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. This isn’t the original Globe Theater; it is a reproduction that was finished in 1997 and built near the original site. The original burned down in the 17^th century. We bought “groundling” tickets (only five pounds!) for a Sunday night performance of Troilus and Cressida, a lesser-known Shakespeare play about the Trojan War. After that, we walked over to the Tate Modern. The Tate is one of the most popular art museums in the world. We were able to see more Pollacks and Picassos, as well as more modern pieces from art-world big-shots I’d never heard of. My favorite exhibition was on the top floor. It attempted to show the lineage between Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, and Pop Art. Here, we saw more works from Matisse, Warhol, and Balla; some really cool pieces by David Bomberg; a room devoted to the Fluxus Movement (which Yoko Ono was a part of); and, a room showcasing Communist propaganda. The latter was particularly interesting, because I had never considered the artistry involved in creating propaganda. A little later on, we went to a swanky restaurant overlooking the Thames. Here we met up with some local Londoners who were taking their Dutch cousin out for a night on the town. After dinner, they invited us to come along. They really showed us a good time. We ended up back in Brixton (somehow), which made for a quick and safe walk back to the hostel.

Overall it was a good night, but I think it will be the last that we drink that much for a while. After a night like that, it really takes a day to recover, and when you’re trying to make the most of a vacation, it’s just not worth it. So, yet again, we woke up at two, this time with headaches and uneasy stomachs. On top of this, there was an issue with the tube so we got a severely late start on the day. After a failed attempt of visiting the British Library, we decided to make all the usual stops on the London tourist list. We took our time getting to Big Ben and the Parliament building, taking a stroll through the heart of London all the way to the Waterloo Bridge. We walked along the Thames for a bit, visiting the beautiful gardens lining the waterside. After arriving at the Parliament Building, we snapped some pictures and made our way to Trafalgar Square, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then made our way to Buckingham Palace.

By Saturday, we had become immune to the loud reggae downstairs. We were able to get to bed early and wake up at a decent hour on Sunday. Our first visit that day was to Highgate Cemetary, where Karl Marx is buried. For those of you who don’t know, I grew quite fond of the man after doing an independent study on him with one of my favorite professors while I was at St. Edwards. I just had to get a picture next to his grave in London. Beyond that, Highgate Cemetary is a wonderful place; I actually found it very peaceful. There are hundreds of grave markers piled into a relatively small place. I had never been to a cemetery quite like it. After that, we took a trip to the British library, where we were hoping to see the desk where Marx wrote Das Kapital, but it was no longer on display there. However, we did find a remarkable exhibit housing dozens of historic documents. We were able to see an early copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, complete with Medieval illustrations and calligraphy, a document thought to contain Shakespeare’s handwriting, the Magna Carta, original handwritten Beatles lyric sheets (they have really awful handwriting!), and important religious texts from all of the world’s major religions. There was a pristine Daoist scroll, which contained an absolutely mind-blowing illustration. There were multiple pre-Gutenberg Christian texts, going all the way back to when the books of the Bible were actually books, and not a single canonical text. It was pretty unbelievable exhibit to stumble upon, and even though we didn’t see what we had come for, we were glad we went. After that, we made our way to the Globe Theater to catch the Shakespeare play we had bought tickets for. Troilus and Cressida was a great play; we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was by far the most exciting Shakespeare production I had seen (which doesn’t say much). The actors were dead on. It was even cathartic, something I had never really experienced in the context of a play before. We had bought cheap tickets, so in the usual Shakespearian tradition, we were standing in front of the stage. It was fun, even though it was a little hard on the legs; I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Monday, we took a bus to Cardiff, Wales, which is its tiny capital. It was quite a relief from the busyness of London. The city center is no more than a mile long; it’s located next to a bay; and there was plenty of cool architecture and parks to keep us interested. We didn’t do much in Cardiff besides walk around and take pictures. On Tuesday, we visited a wonderful arboretum that surrounded the main castle. Then we took a walk down to the bay.

Wednesday, we took a train to Caersws (care-SOOs), Wales, where we would then take a bus to Llanidloes (lan-id-lows), Wales, and from there, head to the WWOOF farm. Caersws and Llanidloes are part of a string of small towns in Northern Wales, which were about twenty miles apart. There was a local bus service that connected these towns with the main “urban” area and popular vacation spot Aberwristwyth (aber-wrist-with). We had no problem reaching the WWOOF farm. One of the hosts, Fran, picked us up in the Land Rover at about noon on Wednesday. We had just caught the end of lunch, and were able to sit down for the first of many amazing meals. That night we had a very elaborate Indian dinner. The whole area was very rural, and our hosts were no exception. Kevin and Fran had three children, Freya, Ionna, and Merlin; Freya was away, so we didn’t get to meet her. Kevin and Fran had lived in the area for twenty-two years, and had raised all of there children there. Along with the farm, Kevin runs an archaeological company and takes great interest in the Neolithic people that once populated Wales. Our hosts were some of the most ambitious people I had ever met. Along with managing four fully productive growing areas, having a small herd of sheep, two cows, a horse, bees, and an active interest in making cheese, wine and beer, they also are in the process of restoring a 17^th century chapel, and demolishing, moving, and rebuilding another barn from the 19^th century. They have made plans to build a small Neolithic settlement, which, when completed, will mimic the living situation of people at the time. For this, they have tracked down three Soay sheep, which are said to be the most primitive sheep to survive the sheep husbandry process, i.e. the sheep that would have been around closest to the Neolithic period. From soil samples culled from the archaeological digs, they hope to determine some of the crops the Neolithic people grew and are seeking those out as well. All of this, as well as Neolithic dwellings, will make up the Neolithic settlement. Our role in all of this was simply to lend a helping hand when needed. They assigned each of us a garden to tend. Ashleigh tended the green house and tried to salvage a garden they had started on top of a nearby hill. I had the main garden in the front of the house; mostly I weeded and picked strawberries, blueberries and zuccinnis. Ashleigh seemed to produce a lot of peaches. Along with this, they had us clearing areas for new dwellings, moving stone, chasing sheep; basic grunt work we were happy to do. That Saturday, we took a trip to Aberwristwyth with a fellow WWOOFer named Tomoe. Aberwristwyth is a neat town, with one of the most unique beaches I’ve seen. From what I understand, the sandy beaches are mixed with bits of slate to produce this strange gray color. There were also these cool rock patterns lining the beaches.

Right now, we are in the Netherlands, we’ll have a blog up about what we did here in the next couple of days (hopefully). We’re heading to Belgium tomorrow. The WWOOF host we were planning to stay with ended not being able to take us. With the three weeks that opened up for us, we’re taking a cheap flight to Istanbul, Turkey!! We’re very excited; we’re leaving on the 3^rd. From there, we plan on making our way to Budapest, Vienna, and Krakow. We’re not sure about the details in between, but we may also be making a stop at Sofia, Bulgaria, and Belgrade, Serbia. We also might just take a plane to Budapest… not sure. We’ll let everyone know how this turns out, as well as our short trip to the Netherlands, in a couple of days.

Take care!

NEW YORK NEW YORK!

2009-08-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!!

Ashleigh and I are in London having a great time! We haven't much time to do any updates, so we're a bit behind on the blog. Here is what we did in New York.

We arrived at New York’s LaGuardia airport in the early evening on Wednesday. For those of you that don’t know, LaGuardia is situated right in the middle of the Queens, which, by all accounts, is a little rough around the edges. Our friend Mark has family in Brooklyn who agreed to put us up while we were staying in the Big Apple. Getting their proved to be easier said than done. We ended up taking the wrong bus through Queens, taking a round-about route on the subway, and then an unplanned walking tour of Brooklyn, which put us at the opposite end of the borough from Mark’s sister Rebecca’s apartment. We finally arrived at Rebecca’s around ten o’clock with empty bellies and achy feet, but grateful to have finally found our friends and a roof over our heads.

Rebecca’s apartment was a bit crowded when we arrived. New York apartments are notoriously small and expensive, and Becca’s was no exception. Not only were our friend’s Dan, Mark and Larsen staying with Becca while being on tour, but Becca’s old roommate Chris was moving back to NY on the day we arrived. Counting Becca, her current roommate Casey, ourselves, and those mentioned above, there were a total eight people staying in the already cozy one bedroom. No complaints though, Becca offered us the fold-out couch in the living room where Ashleigh and I slept comfortably our first night, the rest piling into the bedroom, which was a bit more spacious.

We woke up relatively early on Thursday to try and make the most of our first day in New York. Larsen, Ashleigh and I decided to take the subway to the Natural History Museum, where we spent most of the late morning and early afternoon perusing ancient artifacts of various cultures, dinosaur bones, scale models of some of the world’s most fascinating animals, and displays housing some of humanity’s greatest taxonomical achievements. Stuffed finches to polar bears, otters to water buffalo, storks to toucans, I’ve never seen so many stuffed animals in my entire life! The Natural Museum of History houses some truly remarkable artifacts from virtually every culture that has ever existed. We particularly enjoyed the artifacts from Central and South America. Here are some pictures Ashleigh took of our day at the Natural History Museum:

After the museum we took the subway to Greenwich Village, where we walked around a bit, ate a slice of the best veggie pizza ever, and walked around some more. I made a quick visit to the New School, while Ashleigh and Larsen had a cup of coffee. That night, I played a show at a loft in Brooklyn, where we had a chance to talk to some of the locals and hang out with Dan and Larsen before they continued on with their tour.

The next morning, Ashleigh woke up with three mysterious bug bites on her arm, which we later determined were caused by bed bugs. EW! Apparently bed bugs are a huge problem in New York City; we kept seeing advertisements for bed bug exterminators on the subways and plastered on the sides of buildings. Regardless, Mark had another sister in New York, who happened to be out of town and had kindly offered up her place to Mark and a few lucky friends. Given that Becca’s place was crowded, and Ashleigh had suffered from a bed bug attack, it was a natural move downtown to the “spacious”, bed bug free, two bedroom. We spent a lot of our time hanging out on the roof of the building. It had an incredible view of downtown New York. It was nice to go up for some fresh air and take in the city in all its glory. Ashleigh took plenty of pictures with her fancy camera and fisheye lens. Keep in mind, most of these pictures were taken at night.

Earlier that day, Ashleigh, Mark, Chris and I took advantage of free target Friday at the Modern Museum of Art. Free admission began at four, and when we arrived at said time, there was a line already a line around the block. We had no problem getting in, but the museum was unbelievably crowded. There was an exhibition by Song Dong, where he put on display the contents of his Chinese mother’s house. I won’t go into detail about the artist’s purpose for creating the work (you can read about here), but Ashleigh and I both found the exhibition intriguing. We also saw other famous artworks from Andy Warhol (Campbell Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe), a few Picassos and Pollacks, and one of Salvador Dali’s most famous pieces, the name of which escapes now. I was also pleased to see Giacomo Balla’s Street Lamp, which you can see a reproduction of here.

On Saturday, Mark, Ashleigh, and I took advantage of our new sleeping arrangements and slept until the early afternoon. We spent the rest of the day wandering around central park. We walked past the Dakota (John Lennon’s apartment where he met his demise that fateful day in December 1980) but didn’t realize it until later after we looked at a map. That evening, we walked over to Lincoln Center to catch Rhys Chatham conduct a 200 guitar symphony; it was utterly astounding. The guitar players were lined up around the audience on the ground level. Chatham stood at the front of a big stage, where he directed four conductors, who in turn conducted a section of guitar players. The result was huge walls of sound coming from all different directions. It was enough to give me goose-bumps. One man even stood up during the pieces climax, and raised his hands in the air in praise of the piece’s sheer sonic magnitude. Really… it was that intense.

Sunday, we decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Arriving later than expected, we were only able to see a fraction of the museums contents. I really enjoyed the Met because it is like a walking history of art. We saw artifacts from ancient Greece, Rome, Cyprus, Assyria, Sumaria, and Egypt. There were also paintings and sculptures from the medieval period, as well. I was a bit disappointed with the Byzantine collection, only because it did not house as many painted icons as I was hoping for. Even then, the place is so huge, I may have just missed them. However, the collections ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary art are EXTREMELY comprehensive. We saw pieces ranging from Michealangelo to Chuck Close. Time was not on our side that day, and I feel like we missed most of the museum, which is amazing considering how much we got to see. It is definitely a place I would like to visit again. We forgot the fancy camera that day, so these pictures were taken from Ashleigh's phone...

While we were at the museum, we met up with our friend Elliot and his brother Austin, who just happened to be in New York at the same time we did. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and went back to the apartment to hang out on the roof, before they had to make their way back to New Jersey where they were staying. It was a great way to spend our last night in New York.

We flew to Birmingham, UK the next day. We had an hour lay-over in Dublin, which wasn’t too bad. We had no problems making our way to Coventry, where we had reserved a hotel to get over jet-lag. Our days in Coventry were pretty boring. We took lots of naps and ran little errands here and there. The town itself was very mundane: a lot of post-WWII buildings. There was an old cathedral in the city center, which helped give the town some character. I made a quick visit to the University of Warwick, got a feel for the campus and left. No one was around to discuss the program I applied for. Overall it has been very relaxing and a great way to transition into the European way of life. We'll do another update of our adventures in London. Next stop Cardiff, Wales!!

First Post!

2009-08-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, we have only a day left before it all begins! Here is our itinerary so far:

August 5^th – fly from DFW to NYC! Jonathan will be playing a show on the 6^th and we are staying with our friend Mark’s older sister Rebecca. There is also a chance that we will take a bus to Philly for a day trip and to see our friend’s band play.

August 10^th – Our European adventure begins, we fly from NYC to Birmingham, UK.From Birmingham we are catching a train to Coventry, where Jonathan is planning on visiting the University of Warwick. We plan on staying in Coventry for two nights at the Chace Corus Hotel to get over jet-lag.

August 13^th – We leave Coventry and head for London. We will actually be staying outside of London in Brixton at a hostel called The Hootenanny Hostel! Woo! We are going to stay there for the weekend and plan on checking out the many (free) museums and parks that London has to offer. We also plan on making a day trip to Brighton where Jonathan will be checking out the University of Sussex (which is by the sea, so Ashleigh can’t complain).

August 17^th – We plan on making our way to Cardiff, Wales, the capital city. We are booked at Howard's Garden Hostel. We plan on exploring Cardiff until our first WWOOF host takes us in on the 19^th. Here is the information about the farm we will be staying at until the 26^th:

Farm name: Old Chapel Farm

Host Names: Fran and Kevin Blockley

Phone: 01016864127

Email: franblockley@yahoo.co.uk

Region: Powys (North Wales)

City: Llanidloes

Postcode: SY186JR

Situation: Isolated

Description: A creative and friendly household in the beautiful hills of mid Wales. We run an archaeological company from here and are trying to build an educational and cultural centre based on prehistoric arts. We grow most of our own veg and meat, have a flock of Jacob sheep, Jersey cows, bees, hens and unbroken horse. Our home is a 17th century farmhouse which we have restored and this year we are working on the stone chapel and thatched barn (craft centre). We use alternative energy, have permission to build ecocabins, manage a 16 acre woodland and have done much to increase the biodiversity of our farm. WWOOFers work is very varied. We try to give them a taste of all aspects of rural living. Accommodation is in rooms or yurts or a tree. We love having foreign travellers to stay and we'd be really interested in having some long term WWOOFers/community members. Work 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

August 26^th – From Wales we will travel back to London to catch the underwater train to Amsterdam where we are staying at the HEM Hotel Amsterdam until the 29^th. We plan on biking everywhere and checking out the many, many museums.

August 29^th – Today we leave Amsterdam and head south towards the town of Arnhem, which is the closest town to Hoge Veluwe National Park! Links here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoge_Veluwe_National_Park

http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/default.asp?language=2

We will be staying on a houseboat bed and breakfast on the Rhine called The Anthonia. Here is a link to the website: http://www.anthonianet.nl/index.htm

Cute, huh? We will stay there for three nights until the 1^st.

September 1^st – Today is the day that we begin working on the farm in Antwerp, Belgium! We will be staying for around 3 weeks. Here is all the information:

Farm name: DE VERSCHOLEN TUIN

Hosts names: Lous and Luc

Address: Peter Benoit Laan 15 , 2100 Deurne , Antwerp , BELGIUM

Email : monballieuwijn@hotmail.com

Web : www.deverscholentuin.com

Country : Belgium

Location : small agricultural zone on the outskirts of Antwerp

Description: Retreat centre with extensive gardens (cycling distance from Antwerp). Work with vegetables, plants, animals, building. Run by Dutch/Belgian couple.Small diversity of languages spoken, delicious food, lively atmosphere, spiritually inclined (we tend to practice tai chi, yoga, meditation). We also like beer. Work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Around September 22^nd/23^rd – We will head to Munich and hopefully meet up with Jack at Oktoberfest. We will be staying for a few days (until we grow tired of German beer, which may take a while for Jonathan).

From Munich we will head to Krakow, Poland to stay with Jack until he starts grad school in the beginning of October. We are very, very excited about this! Hi, Jack!

From Krakow we plan on hitting up a few cities: Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. We have about a month of time to kill before our next WWOOF farm in France!

October 26^th through November 16^th we will be here:

Farm name: Mas Al Quinta

Host name: Namua Rahesha

Department: Pyrénées-Orientales, France

Address: 66740 Laroque Des Alberes

Email: amethystgateway@netscape.net

Description: We are a small, organic permaculture olive farm situated in the foothills of the pyrenees, about 8 km from the sea. We require help with all aspects of a sustainable, compassionate lifestyle. We are as self sufficient as possible, practise various methods of water recycling, grow fruit & vegetables for our own needs. We have 4 large dogs & lots of cats & hens. Meals are vegan with vegetarian options. We also have a biological swimming pool.

Here is their blog:

http://masalquinta.neufblog.com/mas_al_quinta/

From France we plan on heading down to Spain where we will stay in hostels in Barcelona, Madrid, and Cordoba until our next (and last) WWOOF farm in Portugal. Ashleigh is particularly excited about making a day trip to the Salvador Dali museum and to see southern Spain! Link to the Salvador Dali museum site here: http://www.salvador-dali.org/museus/figueres/en_index.html

Here is the farm information for Portugal (our last farm):

From Dec. 2^nd – 14^th

Farm name: Amo Frutas

Host names: Maria e Gil

Address: Poco da Massa 8700-206

Location: in the Algarve Region (Quelfes, Portugal)

Telephone: 917863511

Email: liveinbalance@hotmail.com

Description: we will be picking pomegranates, lemons and oranges by the sea! They will also provide us with mountain bikes to explore the area. Ashleigh is VERY excited about this.

That’s all we have so far. We will update it as the trip progresses!

Love you all!