Baden Baden, Germany

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Just got back from a long weekend hiking trip in the Black Forest with the lovely Rachel Mays.

We had a great time!

Friday:

Woke up early and made our way to Tourist Information. The Information center was located in a very grand old building.

We got a couple maps and set out for some hiking. Our general meandering course went something like this: Baden Baden > Castle > Rocks > Lunch > New town > Ruin > Saw some nuns hiking > Emerging from the woods we stopped at a hotel and enjoyed a glass (or goblet) of wine > Hiked some more > Lounged in a clearing up in a saddle for a bit > Hiked up to the peak > Ate Schnitzel, drank beer, watched the sunset > Caught tram down > Caught bus back in town > Ate wild boar dinner > Passed out. 

I would guess we hiked about 15km judging by our map...but I really have no idea.

A field on the edge of town we would later visit for star gazing:

Three-legged chair perched up on a castle wall.

Goblet of wine, and our ridiculous Disney-esque map of the area.

Pass me my Schnitzel!

Took a picture of it the next day, that is why it looks like daytime. This is the restaurant we went to after the sunset:

Saturday:

Woke up early. Hey here's a picture of our place!:

Making lunch: 

General overview of the day:

Had a grand homemade breakfast > Bussed out to Neuweier > Visited winery, sampled some wine, > Hiked through some wine country > Hiked up to Yburg (a peak with a castle/ruin) > Ate lunch > Hiked back to Baden Baden (just over 6km) > Made delicious dinner > Hiked up to field for star-gazing > Stopped for dessert on our way back through town > Passed out.

Schloss Neuweir Winery renewed my appreciation for Riesling. The main landmark/image of the winery is it's castle, set at the bottom of steep hills covered in vines. Jordan, the man manning the tasting counter, agreed to take us up the hill to a spot where we could hop on a trail. I thought we'd walk...but no...we got to take a bumpy ride up the steep terraced slope on a metal contraption with seats. It was fun. And a little scary. But mostly fun.

Here's a bumpy little video. Sadly it doesn't do it justice.

A picture with Jordan:

Sent us on our way with a couple glasses and an opener to enjoy our newly purchased bottles on the hike :)

Love the illustration of the two hikers on this sign:

On top of the world, Yburg:

Didn't manage to take any photos on the hike back to town, but it was beautiful. And we saw hardly any people.

Weird giant rose sculpture in front of a mansion.

Oktoberfest bier:

Time to make dinner.

Which one do you think is creme? I don't know...we better buy both. 

...Turns out they're both sour cream...I think.

Mushroom cream sauce pasta with fig/mozzarella/rocket salad. And a bottle of Schloss Neuweir Riesling.

After dinner we went up to a field for some star-gazing. After checking out the cosmic scene we stopped by a little Italian place tucked in an ally and enjoyed some tiramisu.

Sunday: 

Started out the day with a brisk walk through town towards the monastery. We followed a beautiful tree-lined road with a river running along-side.

Had to get a shot of this train/car. We saw him cruise by a few times.

 My view while I enjoyed an afternoon cappuccino:

Rachel selecting cake and chocolates:

The famous Black Forest Cake. It was...pretty good. It was certainly better than the first two pies that we totally struck out on earlier this trip.

Our train took off just before 6 and we arrived in Amsterdam around 11:30. Shared a bottle of Pinot Noir on the train and got some good reading time in.

I'm sore and tired, but I feel good :)

Next trip on the docket: London!

Thanks Mom!

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Got into the office today to be greeted with an amazing care-package from Momma Killings. One dozen plums (I've already had a couple and they're delicious), two pears, 4 heads of garlic, lavendar, 4 towels, grocery bag (I will use this a ton), and a lovely card:

"One of these days I'll be a cowgirl with tall leather boots & a beat-up hat that you can barely see my eyes under. That's after I get tired of traipsing around the world like a gypsy. well, what of it? Anyone knows a gal can be and do anything she wants."

Nice choice Dad. I particularly like the 'traipsing around the world like a gypsy' bit. As well as the cowgirl bit.

For our wall photos at work, we all posed behind glass with paper cut-outs taped onto the front of the glass. Here's your gypsy:

(Photo Credit: Dan Maxwell)

Time Travelin'

Friday night a co-worker, Marieke, threw a great birthday party. The theme was 'Time Travel' and a you were required to wear a costume. I didn't have a particular concept for my outfit...just mainly what I could find in the closet last-second. There was a great turn-out. Some amazing costumes. Lots of champagne and dancing.

Saturday was lovely out, so it made a perfect day for De Bos (giant forest/park in southern amsterdam).

So we did a lot of this:

Sunday was also a decent day, so a crew of us headed to the beach. The water was a bit colder than it was 3 weeks ago. I only lasted about a minute in it. We spent much of the afternoon kicking the soccer ball, and tossing the frisbee.

Iced espresso in style:

Yep...this came by:

Soccer and sunset:

Turkije

Wow.

I recently returned from 5 days of heaven at the Macakizi Hotel, Bodrum, Turkey.

The catalyst of the trip was the lovely Neeza to celebrate her birthday. What better excuse is there to get some sun and time with friends? And sunny it was. Not a cloud in the sky. And we were helpless to do anything but spend our days lounging, swimming, eating, and drinking.

Here are some snippets from the trip:

Nothing like packing for a trip and finding your Amsterdam>Turkey flight stub from a couple years ago tucked away in a pocket. The old, and then new :)

Macakizi Hotel

The best place on earth. Beautiful. Crystal clear water. Delicious food. Great water-front lounging. And of course, endless people-watching. 

(You can click on any of these collage images to see them larger).

A couple videos of the place: 

The food was great. We started everyday with an amazing buffet spread accompanied by a view of the water. Mid-day we would move from our lounge chairs to a table for some calamari salad, or something of equal deliciousness. For dinner, we spent a couple in the city of Bodrum, and had an amazing birthday dinner at the hotel. We ate a lot of fish on this trip. A lot. I ate my first eye.

 Sunset photo shoot with the birthday girl:

 Not SUV's...but just Land Rovers:

 Where we found ourselves shortly after arriving to the hotel:

 Ignasi and Pierre choosing our fish we would be feasting on:

 Massive brand new sailboat in the bay. Later meet the owner. He's a Macakizi regular:

 New shades:

 Neeza examining our options from a spread of 4 menus:

Lunchtime:

 Lunch a different day:

 Travel partner, Ignasi:

Afternoon view:

 Cigarette packaging. You won't have babies. You won't have a love life. You'll have tubes coming out of your face. Sorry, what brand did you say you wanted?

 Boat Day

The 6 of us splurged on a boat ride to carry us around all day Saturday. The captain took us to a few different places for swimming. He also spent some time in the water himself, harpooning our lunch. He only managed to catch 2 fish, but he had a back-up supply in the cooler. Our lunch was amazing. The fish were so good. And many of the fruits/veggies were from his garden. Just amazing.

After lunch, while cruising to our next destination, we spot an ice cream boat zipping by. So, we of course hail the thing down and get ourselves some icy treats.

 The boat was beautiful. The water was beautiful. The sunset was beautiful.

 Some video's from the ride:

 It was a fantastic trip. Many thanks to the company of my multi-national family:

The Iranian, Malaysian, French, Spanish, 'merican, and English

Often repeated quote of the trip: "This Sucks!"

A Week In Review

A brief overview of what I've been up to the past week:

Monday:

Notified my landlord of my increasingly unstable doorstep. He gave me a phone number of who to call on the matter. I didn't have much luck in reaching anyone at the number, but the problem did manage to get fixed on it's own a couple days later. Magic!

And yes, my auto-correct spelled orangutans wrong, but here's the email I had sent my landlord:

Tuesday:

Nearly got in a bike wreck when I saw this little beer store on my way to the book store after work. I was delighted to find a couple great west coast beers plus this long-time favorite delicious Imperial Stout from Colorado. 

 Stocked up on some books I've been meaning to read:

Wednesday:

After work I met some of Rachel's friends visiting from Chicago. After a couple rounds of drinks at the Dylan, we headed to de Kaas, a wonderful restaurant set in a greenhouse. The below shot is the greenhouse reflecting the sunset as we approached. Can you spot the heron?

Thursday:

I helped Rachel move into her new place. Luckily, her new place is only about 6 doors down from her old place; so it was just a matter of throwing things in bags and climbing down/up stairs. After 6 loads we had moved almost all of it. I forgot to take a picture of the day...sorry!

Friday:

Went to lunch at a new place...George. Enjoyed this little gut-bomb you see below:

After lunch, headed to see an Adam Fuss Exhibit. I didn't get any shots of the work, here's the amazing entrance hallway of the museum:

And my favorite sign in the museum:

(Photo Credit Andrew Koningen)

Friday evening I joined a bunch of ladies for a canal cruise.

Ilona pointing our way to petrol:

The ladies:

Sunset on the water:

Saturday:

We were fortunate enough to have a very nice day on Saturday. I would say it was the nicest day we've had since I've been here! It was sunny, and hot, and hot, and sunny...so...it was a day for the beach!

A crew of us grabbed our bikes and rode the train out to Beverwijk. From Beverwijk we rode about a half hour to get to the beach. I was afraid it might be a bit crowded at the beach, but since it is so massive, it wasn't crowded at all.

I failed to take many pictures during the day. I'm happy to say I was too busy swimming, laying about, throwing frisbees, and kicking soccer balls, to be on my phone snapping shots; but here are a couple from later in the day:

Ignasi delivering some refreshments:

Striking a pose:

(Photo Credit Neeza Adenan)

Watching the sun go down:

(Photo Credit Neeza Adenan)

Me & Ignasi:

(Photo Credit Neeza Adenan)

Dragon's eye:

An exhausted bunch on the train ride home:

We were expecting this train to be our straight shot back to Amsterdam. But we soon stopped short at a different station and were told the tracks were closed. So we were going to need to back-track to a different station, and then transfer to a new train to get to Amsterdam.

It was a very lovely evening out, and once discovering we were only 19km from Amsterdam, Nacho and I got the brilliant idea to jump-ship, and just enjoy a pleasant bike ride home rather than spending the evening on trains.

It was a pleasant ride indeed...and then I got a flat tire.

Luckily we had completed most of the journey home when the flat occurred, but we still were on the complete opposite side of Amsterdam just outside of Westerpark.

Take an exhausted person (Nacho)...then decide to do a 19km ride, then pile an additional person/backpack on their bike, and steer and extra bike the last 5km of the ride. How is that humanly possible?! I don't know. But he did it.

It was a pretty ridiculous predicament, and I wish I got a picture of it, but alas, I did not. The next day I drew him a thank-you note and dropped it in his mailbox:

Sunday:

Played catch-up.

Did dishes, did laundry, did food-shopping. Bought some flowers. Dropped my bike off to be repaired. Dropped off the thank-you. Read my book. Went to bed early :)