Sunday, May 31, 2009
26 More Days!
In twenty six days we leave to what promises to be a very relaxing vacation. Today we are making the final arrangements for our stays in the various cities we will be staying at.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Leyva Vacation 2009
We can hardly believe it has almost been a year since our last summer vacation. This years travel is not as far and impressive as in 2008, but we are hoping to have a wonderful time as well. This year we will be flying to Fort Laud. Florida late in the day on June 25th, arriving on the 26th. in the early morning. We will head to Clearwater FL and spend a few days there, on June 28 we head to Miami for a 5 day cruise. The itinerary to be announced in the future...Our last stop will be the Keys until the day we fly back on July 7th
43 more days until we leave!!!
43 more days until we leave!!!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Scottsdale Arizona
It's been a few weeks since our last entry. It's been hard to catch up after being gone for a few weeks. Europe was awesome but at such rapid pace. We don't think we ever got to bed before midnight, even Alec! With everything to see and do, plus the fact that the sun sets so late it was difficult getting the much needed rest, which is why we chose to take a relaxing, slower pace, lazy vacation. This time we drove to Scottsdale Arizona, about a 7 hour drive from Los Angeles. We stayed at a hotel in a very nice newer part of town and enjoyed the pool and the scalding hot Jacuzzi (the scorching heat during the day plus the already warm water made it unbearable!). The second day after our arrival we went tubbing to the river about 45 min. away. What an adventure! We rode about 4 hours downstream with such a fantastic view of the dessert. Huge cacti, mountains and just nature at it's dessert best! We even got to see horses right by the river bank getting a drink of water. Beautiful sight to contemplate in the stillness of the day...that is until a group of young men interrupted the ride with their expletives combined with alcoholic beverages and other substances that we chose to not mention. There was also the men with the loud radio playing old rock songs and yelling at the top of their lungs that they were "white trash" yes, they were yelling that to anyone that would listen! We had to then explain to Alec what they were saying...to which he responded: "why would anyone call themselves that?" Ahhhhh all the questions! All which remind us that we have an eager, inquisitive, curious child that we are molding everyday with experiences and opinions that will likely be part of him for a good long time. We don't have pictures of the experience because our camera is not waterproof and besides Julio forgot the battery so, until our next "field trip".
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Last Day
Our last day in Paris was almost a carbon copy of our first. Rainy, overcast and a bit colder than most other days. We had planned on going to the Eiffel tower one last time so we could get a daytime view of the city but that was not possible due to the weather. We decided to visit St. Michel one last time, so we could savor the crepes at a stand we had tried out earlier in the week. We also had one last pastry and a cup of thick, thick chocolate. Now, that was good!!! We will remember that for a long time (and so will our expanded waistline).
We headed back to Brussels in the P.M. Grateful that we got to experience Paris even under not the best weather conditions. We got the most of it and learned so much from a rich city on so many levels.
Our afternoon trip back to Brussels was rainy as well but a pretty good close to our entire trip. We had dinner at a local restaurant close to our hotel. It was the prettiest place that we could have found, quaint, and extremely cozy. So cozy that we must of all been sitting less than a foot from our neighbors at the next table. Interesting concept for us Americans used to a lot of space between us. The tables at this restaurant must of been about 6" (inches) from each other, they almost seemed communal! We ate a very simple late dinner and spend more on the water that accompanied our dinner than we did on an entree...We learned to order soda instead, just a little late.
God has been gracious and kind to us these last few days. We did not get sick despite all the smokers exhaling in our faces (Europeans smoke soooooo much!), all the drenched clothes and the exaggerated chocolate and french fries, pardon us, Belgium fries, that we ate.
We are happy to report that we have decided to visit Europe once again, hopefully in the near future, so until then...
Arrive'derci (clue to our next destination)
Thanks for following our Blog These last few days. See you all soon....
We headed back to Brussels in the P.M. Grateful that we got to experience Paris even under not the best weather conditions. We got the most of it and learned so much from a rich city on so many levels.
Our afternoon trip back to Brussels was rainy as well but a pretty good close to our entire trip. We had dinner at a local restaurant close to our hotel. It was the prettiest place that we could have found, quaint, and extremely cozy. So cozy that we must of all been sitting less than a foot from our neighbors at the next table. Interesting concept for us Americans used to a lot of space between us. The tables at this restaurant must of been about 6" (inches) from each other, they almost seemed communal! We ate a very simple late dinner and spend more on the water that accompanied our dinner than we did on an entree...We learned to order soda instead, just a little late.
God has been gracious and kind to us these last few days. We did not get sick despite all the smokers exhaling in our faces (Europeans smoke soooooo much!), all the drenched clothes and the exaggerated chocolate and french fries, pardon us, Belgium fries, that we ate.
We are happy to report that we have decided to visit Europe once again, hopefully in the near future, so until then...
Arrive'derci (clue to our next destination)
Thanks for following our Blog These last few days. See you all soon....
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saint Chapelle
What a difference a day makes. Today we visited in our opinion one of the most beautiful Cathedrals since our trip began. We almost missed it too. On Friday we were turned away because they close the tours for their two hour lunch. Since we are on a schedule we couldn't go back. How happy we were to get the opportunity today. St. Chapelle is such a pretty place, hundreds of stained glass windows with awesome stories to tell in simple gorgeous frames! The passion of a person to build something so long ago that would be worthy of worship. Very nice, well worth the line (unlike Versailles that we still can't get over ;-)
Today was shopping day, we had been told that the Marais area was open every day of the week, yet we found that many shops were closed because it was Sunday.
Our second and third stops were the Orsay museum and the Orangerie. Pretty fun to see Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh "in person" we had a good fun art learning experience. Our museum pass was put to good use although the cutting in line part of it didn't work at the Orangerie because it was a "free day" anyway. At the St. Chapelle it doesn't apply so we stood in line for about 15 min. and met a Mexican guy from Veracruz that now lives in Paris. Funny but we had met another guy from Veracruz on our second day in Paris. He was the boat narrator, his name was (is) Miguel, with perfect Spanish, good English and what sounded like pretty good French. Better than ours at least.
Well, time has flown by here and we must get ready to go home pretty soon. We look forward to seeing and telling you more of our stories in person. We still have another entry. Until then
Hasta Manana
Today was shopping day, we had been told that the Marais area was open every day of the week, yet we found that many shops were closed because it was Sunday.
Our second and third stops were the Orsay museum and the Orangerie. Pretty fun to see Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh "in person" we had a good fun art learning experience. Our museum pass was put to good use although the cutting in line part of it didn't work at the Orangerie because it was a "free day" anyway. At the St. Chapelle it doesn't apply so we stood in line for about 15 min. and met a Mexican guy from Veracruz that now lives in Paris. Funny but we had met another guy from Veracruz on our second day in Paris. He was the boat narrator, his name was (is) Miguel, with perfect Spanish, good English and what sounded like pretty good French. Better than ours at least.
Well, time has flown by here and we must get ready to go home pretty soon. We look forward to seeing and telling you more of our stories in person. We still have another entry. Until then
Hasta Manana
Versailles & Dinner Cruise
Saturday was a different day from all the rest that we have spent in Paris.
Not because we had to get up at the crack of dawn to be out of our room and at the metro stop by 8:00 A.M. Not because we had to travel far from our hotel room to get to our destination. Not because it was rainy and cold, of course not! It has been rainy and cold every other day that we have been here! It was because we finally visited a place that we felt was not worth our time. Many would probably disagree and perhaps in disbelief that we would feel this way. But it truly was not worth getting up so early, traveling a whole hour to get to a palace with hoards of people in every inch of the place. Lines everywhere! Even the restroom must of had at least 50 people in line. Yes the palace is nice and opulent but is it worth all the time to see rooms of pictures with people that looked like they didn't want to be there? None of us are really into
King Louis XIV furniture (we prefer the simple IKEA style), our passion is not in that era. We would have gone to the gardens but since it was raining it was not possible to enjoy those either. So in summary if you like 1600's furniture, history or art, Don't miss Versailles! If you enjoy standing in long lines and paying for breathing stale air full of people in small rooms (they seemed small because the hundreds of people) go for it, otherwise, Paris has much more to offer locally.
In the evening after the Versailles fiasco we had dinner on the Seine River, beautiful scenery and full on boat experience, very nice to make up for the morning. The food is not the specialty but we had a good time and that is what really matters. We probably won't remember the food a week from now anyway.
Not because we had to get up at the crack of dawn to be out of our room and at the metro stop by 8:00 A.M. Not because we had to travel far from our hotel room to get to our destination. Not because it was rainy and cold, of course not! It has been rainy and cold every other day that we have been here! It was because we finally visited a place that we felt was not worth our time. Many would probably disagree and perhaps in disbelief that we would feel this way. But it truly was not worth getting up so early, traveling a whole hour to get to a palace with hoards of people in every inch of the place. Lines everywhere! Even the restroom must of had at least 50 people in line. Yes the palace is nice and opulent but is it worth all the time to see rooms of pictures with people that looked like they didn't want to be there? None of us are really into
King Louis XIV furniture (we prefer the simple IKEA style), our passion is not in that era. We would have gone to the gardens but since it was raining it was not possible to enjoy those either. So in summary if you like 1600's furniture, history or art, Don't miss Versailles! If you enjoy standing in long lines and paying for breathing stale air full of people in small rooms (they seemed small because the hundreds of people) go for it, otherwise, Paris has much more to offer locally.
In the evening after the Versailles fiasco we had dinner on the Seine River, beautiful scenery and full on boat experience, very nice to make up for the morning. The food is not the specialty but we had a good time and that is what really matters. We probably won't remember the food a week from now anyway.
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