Staying Active

The weather here is a bit chilly for my southern roots, but it is nice. Today it feels like a nice autumn day. With the weather being a bit cool, it makes riding our bikes even nicer. We ride our bikes everywhere we go, and rarely use public transportation. We are lucky to have a huge park across from us. We can ride straight through this park to access the city center. We can also ride through this park and access the "beach"--a big sandy beach on a lake. Inside the park, you don't even feel like you are part of a bustling city.

Craig and I walked around the park the other night, it was around 7pm (19:00) and we counted 45 people running inside the area of the park. This did not include the people rowing on the lake, bike riding, speed walking, taking a karate class... I think you get the point, people are active!

My favorite part is how many people ride their bikes. When I was a kid, we used to pretend that our bikes were cars and ride all day long. Now that I'm an adult, it is funny to actually be using my bike as my "car." It is nothing to see men dressed in their suits riding their bikes to work or a dad riding his bike pulling a "chariot" with his two kids inside. If you plan on visiting, don't worry about feeling left out, we have four bikes! This way our guests will be able to see the city like we do :).

Here are a few more pictures. Click on them to make them larger :).

Craig at the lake. It is about a 30 minute bike ride from our apartment.

Mom and Craig waiting at the tram stop. This is actually diagonal from our apartment which is very convenient.

Posing at the park.

This picture sums up why I love this city. You have an old building and a new building in the background of a beautiful green park.

Posing with my ride.

Tschüs!

Amy

Touring Leipzig

Guten Tag!

Today Craig and I decided to visit the Bach Museum. The famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach was a choir master at the Tomaskirche in Leipzig. We were really excited to see the museum. However, when we found the museum we discovered that it was only a small room with a small bit of information about Bach. We still were able to walk around and take some nice pictures.

Statue of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Entrance to Thomaskirche. Bach was a choirmaster at this church.

Another picture of Thomaskirche. According to wikipedia.com: "The tower was first built in 1537 and reconstructed in 1702, leading to its current height of 68 meters."

Bach also headed a boys choir here. This choir was founded in 1212 and the boys choir still performs here.

Wedding Pictures!

I wanted to post on here that I have finally been able to get our wedding pictures onto the internet. If you would like to view photos from our wedding, please visit: http://amygoodwin.shutterfly.com/.

photographer: Carolyn Holley (she did a fabulous job!)

Boats

Throughout our travels, especially in Monaco, we saw so many interesting boats. We decided that they warranted their own post.

If you look closely (clicking on the picture will make it bigger) you can see some of the sailboats. This picture was taken at the beach in Leipzig, Germany.

I think sailing in Lucerne would be fun!

Another sailboat in Lucerne.

Italy.

And now.... Monte Carlo!!!

Showing off the "garage" for the other boats.

The garage on the sailboat. We actually saw a guy get out his smaller boat to go paddling around the dock with.

This sailboat had propellers.

Unfortunately, these pictures do not truly capture the size of these boats. We saw boats that had full service kitchens, garages, dining room tables on the deck, etc. Plus, most came with their own staff.

July 10th - July 13th

On the morning of the 10th we boarded the bus for the last time to head to the train station. There we waited for a couple extra minutes for the train. We were thankful it was only a couple of extra minutes, as opposed to the experiences we had so far, which included having three trains (on seperate occasions) not show, and all other trains arrive late.

We boarded the train to France.

About five hours later, we arrived at our hotel in the French Riviera. It was wonderful to finally stay in a hotel, as opposed to a campground.

After a good night's rest, we woke up to explore the town and layout on the beach. We soon got bored, despite the beautiful surroundings, and decided to head to Monte Carlo for a little while. In Monte Carlo we were astounded at the display of wealth we found. The yachts were so impressive, we have decided to follow this post with an entry solely to boats.

Leaving Monte Carlo was insane. Our town was only two stops from Monte Carlo, but getting on the train was a nightmare. We waited at the station for 40 minutes for the train to arrive. When it arrived it was already full, but there were tons of people waiting to get on. The police actually got off of the train and told people they couldn't board. It was humurous to see that even after the police would say this, when their backs were turned, people would jump on the train. We took a step back from the chaos, watched and waited. Turns out, another train arrived 10 minutes later that was pretty empty. We boarded this train, making sure to stay close to the exit, and took it back to our stop for the concert.

From the train station we went straight to the concert venue to see John Butler. For those of you not aware, this concert was the starting point to this whole adventure. When we found out John Butler would be in France, we decided to go. We then started planning adventures around it.

Craig waiting for the gates to open at the John Butler concert.

Getting crazy before the concert!

The concert venue had a very chill atmosphere. It was a grassy area with a few trees and Christmas lights strung between them. We found a seat and waited for the show.

John Butler!!!!

July 12th, the day we expected to get home, was a very long day. We started out on a train on which we did not have seat reservations. Yes, we did have tickets, that we paid LOTS O MONEY for, but we did not have seat assignments. At first the train was pretty empty, but after a few stops it filled up pretty quick. People were not hesitant to ask us to get out of their seats. We ended up having to sit on fold down seats next to the door along with the luggage.

Amy was very sad to be riding next to the door :(.

We were luckier on our next train ride because we had reserved seats. However, our luck ran out in Offenburg, Germany just across the border from Strasburg, France. There we discovered the only way to catch a train to Leipzig that night was on a very expensive overnight train. We decided to spend the night in a hotel and try our luck the next day.

It was another long day of traveling, but we made it back to Leipzig. Also, our train tickets were MUCH cheaper than the overnight train. Both of us went across the country for a total of 60 euros... I would say that is pretty good!

It was a very good trip full of very fun and interesting experiences. We learned a lot of lessons and were worn out from all the traveling. After comparing Leipzig, Germany to many others cities and towns in surrounding countries, we have decided that we like ours best!

July 7th - July 10th

We woke up very early to take down our tent and make our hike to the train station in Lucerne. There we caught our train and made our way to Italy. The train ride through Switzerland was incredible. The tracks took us right through the Alps, giving us wonderful views of the mountains.

It was at our first layover in Italy where we had our first taste of real Italian food. Amy got pasta and Craig got a pizza and all of it was absolutely wonderful. Plus, it was much cheaper than we had expected. For example, Craig's pizza (the same size as a Papa John's Large) was only 4 euros.

As we got closer to Levanto, our views from the train turned to the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The campground's website informed us that it was within walking distance from the train station. However, what it neglected to say was that this would be the most dangerous walk of your entire life. We made the 2 km trek, mostly without sidewalks or any place whatsoever to walk, through the winding country roads of Italy. We arrived at the base of an uphill trail that would deliver us to the campsite. Amy was very hesitant to take this path at first, not knowing exactly where it would lead us to. Thankfully, it dropped us off at the campground with us swearing to never make that walk again.

At first glance, the campground was nice. Then it was time to go to the Toilet. Craig went first, and came out to tell Amy, "You won't believe this.." Amy knew what he was talking about, for having already experienced this at the train station. The "toilet" was not a "real" toilet. It was instead a hole in the ground and there was no toilet paper in sight. Here is a picture to give you a good image of what we are talking about..

The grooves are where you put your feet.... ewww

The next day we took the bus back to Levanto and wandered the streets of Levanto for the morning. We checked out some market places and then took the train to Monterosso.

Monterosso is AMAZING! You get off the train and there is the beach. We spent the rest of the day wandering the narrow streets and playing in the water.

Craig wandering through the narrow streets.

Amy posing at the beach in Monterosso.

Craig jumping into the clear water.

Taking a break with the best Cannoli ever!

When we arrived back in Levanto from our amazing day at the beach, we waited at the wrong bus stop for an hour and ended up taking a taxi back to the campsite.

On day 3 in Italy we bought Cinque Terre (5 lands) passes. These passes allowed us unlimited train rides and to access the Cinque Terre paths.

**Here is a little blurb on Cinque Terre courtesy of wikipedia.com:

The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Rivieria. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. It is a very popular tourist destination.

We ate delicious pastries in Monterosso and then began our hike to the second village.

Amy making the Cinque Terre walk.

There were A LOT of stairs.

After an hour and a half of strenuous treking through vineyards and olive groves, we arrived in Vernazza.

View of Vernazza.

In this picture you can see Monterosso (in the distance) and Vernazza.

We stopped here for a quick lunch of pizza, and then it was off to the third village. While treking to the third village, we heard a very loud noise. We looked up to see a helicopter hovering over us. We also noticed two men on the trail wearing huge orange "headphones" and reflective vests. Behind them was a pile of items the helicopter was picking up. Sounds okay.. right? Well, being on a side of a cliff with the force of helicopter winds isn't always the most fun. Amy told Craig that she wanted to get far away from the helicopter. They saw where the helicopter was dropping off the items and tried to time it so they would stay out of its way. Back and forth went the helicopter to pick up stuff from one side of the cliffs, over the water, and then drop it off. Unfortunately, we made it to where the helicopter was dropping stuff off the same time it did. We then started running to try to get away from it's powerful winds and the mess it was kicking up. Isn't there supposed to be a clearance of 'don't get so close to this helicopter?' We made it into a covering with trees and could hear the helicopter just on the other side. Amy was on the verge of panic attack.

Scary helicopter.

We made it alive to the third village, Corniglia. This village was built on top of the cliff far above the Mediterranean.

Corniglia

We stayed here long enough to take a few pictures and buy a bottle of water, and then we headed off. We were looking forward to the next stop because we had read it had really great swimming coves.

Craig posing on the suspension bridge.

Another hour of walking and we ended up in Manarola. Here we went straight for the water and cooled off.

If you look closely, you can see people lining the rocks. This is where they would jump off of into the waters. The locals were very impressive with how high off they were willing to jump--especially since a lot of them looked around 10 years old.

After cooling off in Manarola we made the short walk to the fifth and final village, Riomaggiore. Here we just wandered around, did a bit of exploring, and then took the train back to Monterosso.

In Monterosso we had dinner at a small alleyway restaraunt. The food was incredible. The meal began with a sald, and from there we moved on to the main course. Amy had spaghetti with red sauce and Craig had homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli in a homemade pesto. For dessert we shared a heavenly homemade tiramisu and Craig had a teacup espresso.

Yummy..

After our delicious dinner we took the train back to Levanto with hopes of being able to take the taxi to our campsite. The workers at the train station had left for the night and all that was left was the bartender and a guy eating an ice cream. We went in to ask her how to call a taxi, but unfortunately she spoke no english. She did manage to make out that the taxi driver would be very hard to track down even though his car was outside. She convinced her friend, the ice cream eating man, to drive us to the campsite. And, the nice guy that he is, he did so. He wouldn't even let us pay him. For any asprining traveler reading this, especially you young ladies out there, NEVER do this.