2 things – I actually
had this ready to post yesterday, but we’ve been without internet/phones/etc
for 2 days now so I couldn’t get my post uploaded. Second, I took about 1,000 photos over the
last 5 weeks, but they are all safely stored at home on my computer and personal phone. So these are the few measly photos that are somehow in the cloud…whatever that means.
Anyways, I tried to sit down and start writing laaaaast
Sunday night, and I got so overwhelmed with the amount of info that I gave up
and watched Gossip Girl until I fell asleep – major failure. There’s just so much that’s happened in the
last 5 weeks, but I guess it’s my own fault for neglecting to update in a
timely manner. I’m prepared to put in
the time to not miss a single detail, so here we go….
I got back to Houston on Wednesday (June 10th)
and did what’s become my normal routine.
Get off the plane, pick up a rental (since I am no longer a car owner)
and start running the necessary errands which typically include spin class,
Target, and a much needed mani/pedi. I
get in a shower (sans shower shoes) and then turn right back around to get on a
plane. This time I headed to Dallas to
start prepping for Nana and Papa’s 60th Anniversary Party!
Side bar – I did finally go to the doctor to make sure that
my vertigo episodes weren’t the result of a growing brain tumor (thanks
WebMD). The good news is that my brain
looks A-OK, the bad news is that my allergies are probably the source of my
head spins and I basically just have to deal with it, oh and I have a slightly
deviated septum (proof that I have a legit medical reason for my occasional heavy
breathing and alleged “snoring” episodes).
All of which I can deal with :)
The rest of the Houston clan all safely arrived in Dallas
Friday night, and preparations began for Saturday’s party. After a morning of procrastinating, we all
kicked it into high gear around noon and things started coming together. Folks were right on time, and our
50-something guests begin arriving around 2.
To say that the party was a success is an understatement. First off, the looming storm that was over
Dallas basically all weekend held off for the whole time. Things started getting a little hairy after
all the real guests had left and just the cleanup crew was left, which helped
expedite the rush to get everything inside.
More importantly, I think it’s very rare to have a family get together
with distant family (most of which you’ve never met), and legitimately have a
good time. But on top of everything,
Nana and Papa were overjoyed with the out pour of love and the fact that all of
these people showed up to celebrate THEM.
It was simply fantastic.
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| ladies (ignore my weird leg) |
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| LOVE this sweet, sweet photo |
It just so happened that my 10-year high school reunion (OMG, I'm old)
was same day as the party, so I just mentioned to the younger generation that
we should probably go downtown after the party and head to the venue (which is
a very large restaurant/bar in Dallas).
The place was open to the public, there was just an area that was
blocked off for the reunion. I’m not
really sure why or how, but everyone agreed, so cleaning up we had Mom and Dad
drive us downtown and drop us off at the party.
As we walked in Chad commented that he could not believe that I was
walking into my HS reunion with 7 guests, and I guess I may have failed to
mention all of the details to everyone…BUT in my defense it really wasn’t a
high school reunion like you see in the movies and imagine they should be. It was just another night out with my
favorite people, so whatever it was a good time :)
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| PROOF that they had a good time... |
After spending the afternoon with Chad’s grandma and sister
(mostly napping on the couch) we headed to the airport, and it was back to Cali
for him and onto Houston for me. I got
myself together Sunday night to head to Scotland with Brian Monday afternoon! This would be the first trip across the pond
for my big brother. Houston has been
getting hit with some crazy weather, and it looked like it was headed to the
bayou again Monday night, so needless to say, Brian was a liiiiiittle nervous. I tried to calm his nerves a bit by getting
to the airport 3 hours early, and all was good until we got on to the plane
headed to Newark and the delays began.
We ended up sitting on the runway for over an hour due to air traffic
control, apparently it was pouring in NYC as well. Before we even took off from Houston I already
had it in my head that we weren’t going to make our connection, so I was at
peace with having to hunker down and spend the night in the Newark
airport. So we landed safely, and my
mom’s texts started coming in as soon as I turned on my phone. She watches FlightAware like a hawk (like
mother, like daughter) and said that our connecting flight was also delayed
like 10 minutes. Brian and I started
prepping to haul to the gate. Since we
were late arriving, there was no ground crew to get us off the plane – of
course. So we sat, and sat, and sat, BUT
thankfully (and shockingly) United kept holding that plane for us. When we finally got off, Brian and I
sprinted, I mean full out sprint, to the gate, and 40 gates/1-mile later, we
walked on the plane, sweating. And then
we sat and waited for the other 10 or 12 passengers who figured walking to the
gate would be fine to casually walk onto the plane. 7 hours later, we landed in Edinburgh. Nothing like starting the trip off with a
little drama!
I loved Edinburgh, and I think it was the perfect place to
take Brian for his first trip overseas.
It was big enough to keep us busy, but felt like a quaint town that we
could easily cover on foot. We landed
and got to our perfect little flat with no problem, so I immediately started
researching the best pot pies in town.
After we stuffed ourselves with traditional Scottish cuisine and several
pints, the jetlag hit and we headed back to snooze for a few hours. Later that evening we were walking around,
stopping at pubs, and people watching. I
looked at my watch and realized that it was 9PM and we hadn’t eaten dinner –
probably because the sun was still shining as if it was 6PM…that definitely
took some getting used to.
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| Grassmarket Street |
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| Edinburgh Castle from our apartment :) |
The next day we took a day trip into the highlands, and I fell in love with Scotland's countryside. EVERYTHING is beautiful, literally everything. There are bodies of water everywhere and it just smells clean. We stopped in a little town in the middle of nowhere and it had the most beautiful abbey just on the outskirts of town right on the water. Then we went on a hike in a forest (that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me) and took a hike back into the pines. It literally smelled like Christmas, I could have stayed there forever. Our last stop was #1 on the list, Glenturret Distillery. It just happens to be the oldest distillery in Scotland, NBD. Every step of the process is still done by hand, so it's not distributed outside of Scotland (so you better believe we walked away with a few bottles). Glenturret is part of a blend called The Famous Grouse, so we got 4 different samples of the different varieties - this is where my problem with falling asleep on every bus ride for the remainder of the trip began.
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| Biggest bottle of whisky in the WORLD! |
The next morning, we headed up to Edinburgh Castle to see what the fuss was about, and it was definitely worth the trip! This this was a city. We could have stayed in there for hours, but we pulled a rookie-tourist mistake and did not dress warm enough for the top of the hill. It didn't look like it was that much higher than where we were, but it WAS. After the castle, we headed to Calton Hill, which is a beautiful view point on the opposite side of the city from the castle - and lucky for us it was much warmer!
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| East side of Edinburgh from Calton Hill |
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| Edinburgh from Calton Hill |
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| American Solider monument in Edinburgh |
After our 3AM wake up call, we arrived in Amsterdam more
than a little groggy, but I was so excited to see the rest of the group I
couldn’t stop pacing the boat! Once they
were all finally on board safely, we all crashed out until our afternoon tour
through the city. We took an hour long
walk through Amsterdam, and it exceeded all of my expectations. I had this image of Amsterdam as this super
dirty city just because, as everyone knows, basically everything is legal
there. I was pleasantly surprised how
clean and just all around beautiful it was.
Our tour guide mentioned that, while everything is still legal, they
have put a few more regulations in place to clean up the city. As a result, many families that had moved out
into the “suburbs” have moved back into the city. There is a very friendly vibe to the city,
and everywhere you look is picturesque…this is where my love affair with flower
baskets began. I will say the only thing
that made me a little leery were the cyclists.
There is no such thing as stopping for pedestrians in those parts…
After cruising through the night, we docked in Kinderdijk,
Netherlands….the land of the windmills! We came to find out that at each stop we would
have some kind of guided tour with a local guide. It sank in that I was going to be one of
those people wearing the headsets that look like they are zombies walking in a
daze through a city. I was all about it,
but I’m pretty sure that Brian never got over being a part of the
embarrassingly large group wearing our headsets that scream “I’M A
TOURIST!” He usually tried to hide his
headset under his jacket, I just giggled.
Anyways, we were able to actually go into one of the windmills that a
“Miller” family still lives in and operates.
It’s pretty amazing that 55% of the country is actually below sea level,
and they were able to figure out how to deal with all the water around 275 years
ago!
We cruised through the night and left the Netherlands for
Germany. The next morning we docked in Cologne
and headed out for our walking tour. The
main attraction in Cologne is the massive cathedral in the city center. In fact, Dan Brown just finished up a trip to
the cathedral and there are all kinds of rumors about Cologne being the center
of a new book that may be coming out. Of
course, he got to see all the nooks and crannies that us common folk didn’t get
to – which I’m actually okay with because those blocked off passageways looks
WAY too creepy for me. We also got the
rundown of the local beer that Cologne is known for – kolsch. There are TONS of brauhaus’ in the city, and
each has their own brew, basically a light lager with a high alcohol content
that our American light lagers. After
our tour was over, we had some free time in the city, so naturally we headed
towards Frueh – the largest brauhaus in the region – for some goulash and
kolsch. Frueh did not disappoint with
its prompt, yet unfriendly service. Thank
goodness our tour guide gave us the inside info about putting your coaster on
the top of your beer to signal that you’re done/pausing because that guy kept
them coming!
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| This cathedral was so massive, I couldn't get it in the frame for a photo! |
After dinner that night, we left Ma, Andrea, and mom on the
boat and headed back into the city for a brew tour with a local guide that did
not disappoint. I’m still not really
sure what his name was, but we all called him Dede. He took us to 4 different stops to taste the
kolsch brews, and believe it or not there was definitely a different distinct
flavor to each of the places. He also
let us know that it’s customary to buy the server a glass each time you order a
round. As if they weren’t prompt enough
filling us up, buying an extra for them made them even quicker to the
punch. It’s kind of deciving because
thry don’t serve pints, they serve 0.1 liters which are dangerously easy to
drink and even easier to lose track of exactly how many you have had…no wonder
those Germans drink like fish!
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| Brauhaus Tour clan! |
We cruised through the night again and docked the next day
for our trip up to the Marksburg Castle.
This castle was built by the Eppstein family in 1100 and was more of a
family home rather than a community like the Edinburgh Castle, but it was still
massive! It was established as a castle
to protect the town of Braubach and to enforce customs to ships traveling along
the Rhine. It was attacked on several
occasions because having control over portions of the Rhine was critical
throughout history. I still have no idea
how people though they could overtake the place. It was basically on top of a shear-faced rock
and had about 4 walls protecting. If I
remember correctly, I think that it was the only castle on the Rhine that was
never captured (I could be totally making that up though, we learned about lots
of castles….) One silly fact that they
told us in the castle was that back in the day people didn’t spend much time in
the restroom. There was no ‘reading’ on
the pot because it was the most vulnerable places to be – an open hole for
folks to sneak in unexpectedly. In fact,
they typically didn’t even close the door while doing their business. I am SO thankful things have changed…
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| Marksburg Castle from the Rhine |
We got back on the boat and to start our “day at sea.” Unfortunately, the weather was not
cooperating with us and it was damp, drizzly, and COLD all day. BUT I was actually impressed because the
crappy weather didn’t stop the most passengers from taking in the sights from
the sun deck – the Johnson/Freund/Wurzbach clan included. We all looked a little silly laying on lounge
chairs bundled up in 3 or 4 blankets, but it was 100% worth it. The crew was amazing too. They came by often asking if anyone needed
more blankets and came out with hot cocoa and warm donuts (as if we needed more
food). We went through the entire Rhine
Gorge and the views were just breathtaking.
It was so hard because Lutz (the program director that was pretty much
the best) was giving us facts and pointing things out all along the way. So we would get up to take photos, sit back
down and just when your fingers were starting to warm up something else amazing
would come up that was too good not to get up and take photos of….i know, I
know tough life, right?! That evening we
docked in Rudensheim, yet another adorable little town on the Rhine, known well
for its regional wine. We went out on
our own little excursion before dinner and visited Wine Alley to taste the
local flavor.
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| Vineyards were EVERYWHERE along the Rhine Gorge |
We sailed through the night again, and the next morning we
got on a train to head to Heidelberg, Germany.
There is a massive castle, Schloss Heidelberg, on the top of the hill
overlooking the city, so we stopped there first for a tour before heading into
the town. A good chunk of the castle had
been destroyed by the French, which was a common theme, but even the remaining
ruins were incredibly impressive. We
walked all over the town before stopping to try the local brew, Vetter, and a
plate of cheese and sausages. We tried
to eat like the locals eat, but this plate of cheese and meat was a litttttttle
too foreign for us. I think Pa was the
only brave soul to try everything, including the mystery pate. Overall, I think I’d have to say that this
was my favorite stop while we were on the Rhine. It was SUCH a cute little town with so much
character.
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| Heidelberg, Germany |
If Heidelberg was #1, Strasburg is a close
second. This was our next stop, and the
first time we all put our feet on French soil.
When we were driving into Strasburg, I was a little disappointed because
it looked very modern and industrial, but as we got into the old town, the old
world charm was just beautiful! Similar
to Amsterdam, the town was full of canals and flower boxes. I think we were all inspired to install some
flower boxes at home after this trip!
Strasburg has a cathedral, called Notre Dame, that we went into for a
quick tour. Construction on the
cathedral itself started in 1187 and opened in 1439. It’s so interesting because the stained-glass
windows from the cathedral were removed during the war and hidden so they
wouldn’t get destroyed. They were all
successfully put back into place without one being damages – pretty
impressive. All that said, the most
impressive things about the cathedral was the astronomical clock. The clock is actually 3 clocks in one, the
first dating back to the 14th century and the 3rd
completed in the late 1800’s. Our tour
guide gave us so much information about this clock, there was no way any of us
took it all in, so I googled it….
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| flowers EVERYWHERE |
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| One of the many stained-glass window in Notre Dam (of Strasburg) |
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| THE clock. |
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| Much needed refreshments |
That afternoon we sent the boys off to check out the
Mercedes factory, and we ladies headed into the Alsace mountains for a wine
tour. We went to a family winery where
they had over a million bottles in their cellar. The bottles there dated back to 1927! Our guide said at that point it’s hit or miss
on whether or not the bottle is going to be good, so the bottles are not for
sale, just the family’s personal collection.
We tasted 5 or 6 wines, all whites with the exception of a rose and a
pinot noir. Surprisingly, my favorite
was the Pino Gris, which is not typically a wine that I like. Must be the French air that makes it that
much better! We headed back to the boat before
we set sail for the evening, we got our Scotty t-shirts and had family photoshoot. Brian was THRILLED!
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| lovely ladies :) |
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Most of the locks that we went through were during the
wee-hours of the morning when everyone besides Lisa Johnson was asleep, but
that night after dinner we went through one of the biggest locks. It was pretty neat because everyone was out
on the top deck checking it out – we weren’t the only dorks on the boat.
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| Some bridge somewhere along the Rhine...and the moon :) |
Ok so, I know that I gave Strasburg a close 2nd
to Heidelberg, but I forgot about our trip into the Black Forest….sooo maybe
there’s a tie for 2nd place.
After docking, we got on a bus that took us through Freiburg into
Hollental or Hell’s Valley. This was one
of the very few bus rides that I actually stayed awake on, and I’m glad I
did…it was gorgeous! We stopped in a
little town that got its claim to fame during Marie Antoinette’s bridal
procession through Hell’s Valley.
Initially, there was a small cart track through the valley, but in
preparation for the procession they turned the small cart track into a
road. Then in the late 1800’s the road
was turned into the Hollentalbahn, Hell Valley Railway, which is still in use
today. It was funny because during our
bus ride our tour guide, from Freiburg, kept saying Hell Welly, and I just
assumed that they name of the area was Hell Welly. It wasn’t until we started our guided hike
through the Black Forest, that a new tour guide annunciated Hell Valley that I
realized it was just her accent that I couldn’t understand. (I owe her a big thank you because otherwise
this whole story would be about Hell Welly.)
The only downside of our trip into the Black Forest is that it was too
short! We had 3 choices of activities –
hike into the forest, cuckoo clock demonstration, or Black Forest cake
demonstration, and there was no “all of the above” option. So we sent Ma and Pa to the cuckoo clock
demonstration and the rest of us hoofed it into the forest, which was gorgeous,
but we missed out on the clocks and tasting some delicious looking cake. There were also a couple of shops – jewelry,
cuckoo clocks, handmade glass – that we just didn’t have enough time to
visit. I guess the up side is that the
compressed schedule did save us all some money ;)
That
afternoon, the boys headed out on a World War II excursion while the ladies
went into the town of Colmar, France. It
made for a relaxing afternoon because Colmar was a pretty small little place. Part of me wishes that I would have joined
the boys on this one. They had a great
time visiting a WW2 museum and then headed to a very interesting memorial
honoring Audie Murphy. I had never heard
of Audie Murphy, but turns out he was one of the most decorated American heroes from the war. There is a movie all about his story called "To Hell and Back" that I plan on watching my next time off, so I'll report back with more details :)
We docked in Basel after dinner and spent our last night on
the sundeck finishing out our all-you-can-drink cruise with a bang. Needless to say, wakeup call the next morning
was a rough one. Luckily, all we had to
do was get out bags out and hop on the bus for a 1.5 hour drive to
Lucerne. The good news was that I got in
another hour and a half of sleep, the bad news is that I got another hour and a
half of sleep and missed all the beautiful scenery. We stopped off at the Lion Monument in
Lucerne, just outside of the old town.
My dad had mentioned seeing the Lion Monument before we left, so I
googled it and, honestly, I wasn’t that impressed. It looked like a small carving on some rock,
but I was so WRONG. The monument is for
the Swiss Guard, and I’ve never seen so much emotion portrayed so well in any
type of statue. It was absolutely
stunning, a must-do if you are ever near Lucerne.
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| Selfies on the last night :) |
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| "The saddest stone in the world" |
After getting checked into the hotel, we took a walking tour
around the stunning city followed by a boat tour on Lake Lucerne. Growing up, I remember Papa’s stories about
Lucerne and it being his favorite place that he’d ever been. I couldn’t agree more, it was absolutely gorgeous.
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| i LOVED this bridge. You can't tell, but there are flowers all along the outside railing |
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| Jesuit Church, STUNNING! |
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| Happy boy on the boat :) |
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| The Swiss Alps...a dream come true! |
The next morning we were off for our Swiss Alps adventure to
Mount Titlis (yes, that is the name).
Another win on the bus ride up for me because I stayed awake the whole
time! We made a stop at a gigantic monastery
in Engelberg (Angel Mountain) where they make some delicious fresh cheeses. We stopped for just enough time to see how
it’s actually made and do some taste tests before getting on the 1st
of 3 gondolas up to the summit of Mt. Titlis.
The summit is actually a huge glacier, so there’s a bunch of random
things that you can do up there. We
decided to test our fate and walk across a suspension bridge and then go
through the tunnel that was drilled through the glacier. Both of which were pretty amazing. After lunch, ice cream and taking in the
views in the SWISS ALPS. We headed back
down the mountain and loaded up for the ride back to Lucerne. My luck staying awake on bus rides had run
out, and I snoozed the whole way back.
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| View from the top |
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| creepy ice cave! |
After a lovely dinner on the patio, it began to sink in that
our European adventure had come to an end.
It truly was the trip of a lifetime, and I wouldn’t have changed a
second of it….except for maybe the 1-mile walk to the gate in Zurich followed
by the 5-mile (at least it seemed like it) walk off the planes in Dulles. In any case, we made it home safe and
sound.
After a day of recuperation in Houston (and 2 nights in my
own bed!), I headed to Bakersfield to spend my last 6 days with my babe. Initially, we had big plans of going to the
coast for a long weekend to celebrate the 4th of July and get out of
the 100+ degree Bakersfield heat, but since we (I) failed to plan anything we
ended up holding down the fort in town.
Normally when I go visit Chad we have a packed schedule either going out
of town or lunches/dinners catching up with friends, which I love. However, I must admit, it was actually a
really nice change to have a long, lazy weekend with not much to do.
Chad has a problem buying guns like I have a problem buying
clothes. I give him a hard time because
he has several new guns that he hasn’t even shot. So we went out Friday morning to the gun
range with Rachel and shot everything he had – pistols, rifles, and
shotguns. I haven’t been shooting in
years, so it was a really good time.
On the 4th we had planned to go celebrate at
Carrie’s house the all-American way – swimming and BBQ. About an hour before we were going to head to
Carrie’s Chad got a devastating phone call that his best friend from high
school had passed away in a small plane crash in his hometown. I have no idea how he managed, but he wanted
to still go to the party to take his mind off of things. He is such a strong cookie, and we were able
to have a great time. It breaks my heart
that I had to come back to work so quickly after such tragic news. Chad headed home on Wednesday to spend time
with friends and family and say goodbye to Ross.
So there it is 5 amazing weeks! Now I’m back at work. It's "winter" or dry season in Cabinda, and I literally have
not seen the sun since leaving Houston 6 days ago. I don’t remember this time of year being sooo
doom and gloom, but maybe it’s one of those things that happens and you just
block it out of your memory. The
highlight of my week actually occurred Saturday when I got the most WONDERFUL
news that my sweet friends Sally and Lincoln welcomed their perfect baby girl into this world….
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| Blake Elizabeth Floyd...the most precious little nugget! |
5 days down, 23 to go!
xoxo…
