Archive for the 'Travel' Category
July 3rd, 2006 by Blythe
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We celebrated our wedding anniversary in Amsterdam over the weekend, with perfect weather, cool museums, exciting World Cup action, a canal boat ride and a huge Indonesian dinner. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to mark 8 magnificent years. Here’s to you, JJB.
I dubbed the city the Las Vegas of Europe after witnessing the number of bachelor/bachelorette parties roaming the streets, and watching the street sweeper clean up the aftermath on Sunday morning. There’s much more to this beautiful city than sin, but try telling the young British tourists. Maybe they were just drowning their sorrows after Saturday’s match?
June 19th, 2006 by Blythe
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Please excuse The Blythe Spirit’s temporary identity crisis. It’s starting to look like a football blog, but that’s not a permanent condition. I promise a return to regular programming soon. But this World Cup stuff is just too much fun to ignore.
Jeff and I were in the stands during the USA vs. Italy match on Saturday evening. It was an exciting night, not least because Jeff has been a football fan since he was a little kid, and has watched this event on TV for years and years. It was a thrill for him to be there, and a thrill for me to experience it with him. I’ve asked him to write a rundown of the match; I’ll post it when it’s ready. Today, I’ll share my impressions of everything outside the competition, since my football expertise only recently came to include an understanding of the difference between a yellow card and a red card (crucial intelligence in Saturday’s match).
We arrived wearing our red, white and blue two hours before the scheduled start time, and the stadium was packed. Blue jerseys from Italy dotted the stands, along with plenty of stars and stripes sprinkled among them. We sat in a section populated by both Italians and Americans, all of whom were friendly and completely engrossed in the match. See the photos for a visual sample of 46,000 screaming football fans. I thought Jeff might need a tranquilizer by the end of the game, which finally closed in a 1-1 tie and included several tense calls. But I’ll let him fill you in on those details later. I was squished next to April Heinrichs, former USA women’s coach, in the park-n-ride shuttle after the match. We (accidentally) followed the USA team bus, along with its giant security escort, down the Autobahn on the way back to our hotel. And now we’re looking forward to Thursday’s Ghana vs. USA contest with more anticipation than we’d expected to have. Cross your fingers and look for us in the stands (and say a little prayer that Italy beats Czech Republic too).
June 3rd, 2006 by Blythe
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Our visit to Roma was full of sunshine, gelato, pasta, and old stuff. Really old. I’ve never before visited a city where ancient ruins and buildings stood in such harmony with surrounding modernness.
Click on the photo to see more pics from our trip.
May 8th, 2006 by Blythe
There are times when I reject my role as trailing spouse. Waking up in the morning and realizing that my main objective for the day is to acclimate to a culture where I don’t have any formal niche is strange. Taking language lessons, deciphering the recycling system, unlocking the mysteries of our washer and dryer, all because my husband was offered a job in a foreign country. It’s an odd existence.
Last week, though, I trailed quite happily to France. Jeff had business there, and since I didn’t have a job or a meeting or even a television show I really wanted to watch, I tagged along. We stayed in Strasbourg, a charming town just across the border. It incorporates aspects I like about Germany (comprehensive grocery stores and organized public transportation) with the lovely French language, tasty and meticulously considered food, and snotty waiters. We lingered over dinner (seafood three meals in a row, mmmm…), strolled around the cobblestone island at the city center, and slept late on Saturday. I read two books, bought a sun hat, and soaked up the eighty-degree weather.
As long as Jeff continues to feed me well, I think I’ll happily trail along for a while more.
May 1st, 2006 by Blythe
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Friends and family who visit us will be featured prominently in this blog, consequently rising to fame and fortune. See photo to the right.
Jeff’s sister and her boyfriend spent the weekend with us. We acted like tourists, visiting the medieval town of Rothenburg and climbing up to the castle in Nurnberg.
I know summer is almost here because I bought a banana cream Frappuccino at Starbucks yesterday.
April 19th, 2006 by Blythe
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Photos of La Sagrada Familia have always frightened me. The spires are too tall, the stone is too dense, the sculptures drip down from their oblong niches like the faces of the villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark who stared too directly at the Holy Spirit. I was as excited as I was terrified to see the real thing for myself.
Late on Easter morning, we emerged from Barcelona’s metro system into the first sunny day we had enjoyed during our short visit. I knew the cathedral must be behind me, because the tourists ahead of me stopped short at the top of the metro stairs and craned their necks upward, shouting, “There it is.” So I turned and tipped my head back. And there, among construction cranes and throngs of student tour groups and blue Catalan skies, it was.
I’ve visited my fair share of European churches. At some point during the admiration of monstrous stained glass windows and hulking marble columns, someone, maybe me, says, “This took hundreds of years to build. Can you imagine, there are generations of people who only saw it partially completed. It is so ambitious and expensive and immense, something like this could never be built today. The religious fervor and the money just isn’t there anymore.” And then I would go on to the crypt and see the graves of the priests and the architects and one or two famous writers and artists who were buried there and who never saw the beauty of the finished product that I am enjoying.
Sagrada Familia is as gigantic an undertaking as I have ever seen. It incorporates hundreds of sculptures, tons and tons of stone, modern and ancient architecture, and years and years of labor. And it’s only half-finished. Only eight of the twelve spires are complete. One entire facade was erected within the past twenty years. Its unenclosed interior is filled with scaffolding, and its windows are sparkly and new. It is untraditional and modern; its interior columns look like trees, their branches supporting egg-shaped spires with words and mosaics adorning them. The story of its construction is dramatic, involving political battles, financial struggle, war, and the tragic death of its visionary architect in a tram accident before the first towers were erected. It may not be completed within my lifetime.
I searched the crypt museum for a model of the completed church; I wanted to know what it would look like as a whole, and I was troubled when I realized that I will never know. Then it occurred to me, how many people get to experience the birth of art? And what more proof do I need that faith and ambition are alive than to see the construction cranes rising above these spires, poised to build an even higher central tower and dome? It is a frightening and glorious place, and I understood why so many faithful were still working to complete Gaudi’s vision, to lift a giant hand to the heavens. If the Holy Spirit is anywhere, I realized, it’s in there.
And then I made my way out of the church just in time, before my face began to melt right off.
April 18th, 2006 by Blythe
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Enjoy these photos from our trip to Barcelona. It was a refreshing and magical weekend. I’ll write more about it later, after my siesta. What a civilized way to live.
I had a delightful birthday thanks to good wishes that came from every corner of my life (including the Interweb corner; thanks for your messages). And, I discovered that I share a birthday with Buffy and Farmer Ted.
March 29th, 2006 by Blythe
A few highlights from our trip to the Czech Republic last weekend:
-Switching trains in the dark, from the sleek German speedy train where I was chastised for propping my toe up against the seat across from mine, to the slightly worn and decidedly slow Czech train where our compartment door clanged open and shut whenever the train went up or down a slope, but the conductor just looked at our second-class tickets, noticed we were in the first-class cabin, said “Eh,” and moved on.
-Hearing and seeing more English than we’ve heard or seen in months. Never needing to learn how to say “yes,”"no,” or “thank you” in Czech. This was strange but, since we are basically lazy people, a little bit of a relief.
-Eating ice cream cones twice a day.
-Buying a pretty Czech crystal wine decanter.
-Visiting the largest castle complex in the world (according to our guidebook), and hanging over the castle wall to photograph the view.
-Getting a Thai foot massage in the lower level of our hotel.
March 27th, 2006 by Blythe
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We returned last night from a weekend trip to Prague. The city is filled with beautiful architecture, warm and friendly Czech people, and hordes of English-speaking tourists. We were glad for the opportunity to add to the throng. I’ve posted some photos here. I’m sure the urge to engage in Czech/check wordplay will wear off in a couple of days.
February 22nd, 2006 by Blythe
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-Ate a fresh oyster
-Explored Nurnberg like a tourist
-Found the lint trap in my dryer (Honestly, my mom did that. Leave it to Mom.)
-Read a book about Venice while riding in a train through Switzerland and France
-Giggled with my niece
-Ate homemade spaghetti sauce
-Watched Jeff golf in the sunshine
-Downed two steaks, two big plates of fries, heavenly secret sauce, and profiteroles. For lunch.
-Downloaded the latest Coldplay album (I know, I’m way behind)
-Won the remote control battle and watched Olympic figure skating
-Sat in the sun
-Bundled up against the snow
