I'm so glad we've had this time together.......

.......Just to have a laugh and see a country or two!!! It's hard to believe our swing through Europe has come to a close, but here we are. While it has been an amazing experience in many ways, we are also very ready for the familiarity of home. Here are some interesting statistics from our trip:

• We traveled through six countries and twenty one cities - Portugal (Porto, Lisbon), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Figueres, Bilbao, Granada, Seville), Italy (Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Pisa, Lucca, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Bologna) The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Germany (Berlin) and the Czech Republic (Prague).
• We've flown through nine airports.
• We've traveled by plane, train, bus, subway, taxi, rental car, funicular and streetcar.

Phew! Along the way, we've come up with some reflections on travel:

The World Really Is A Small Place. No matter where you go, you find similarities between you and the people around you, regardless of language barriers. As we’ve walked the streets, ridden the metro systems and sat in coffee shops, you begin to realize how much we all have in common - we are all just trying to take care of ourselves and the ones we love, we all have our frustrations as well as our hopes and aspirations. We share the same desire for love, friendship and the need to connect with one another on a human level.

If You Need Something, Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For It. I truly believe we could never have undertaken this travel odyssey if we were not willing to ask for help when we need it - which was a pretty common occurrence! I’m reminded of the friendly guy who worked at our hotel in Amsterdam who helped us find a place to get our laundry done. Not only did he take the time to find a place but wrote down step by step how to get there. It’s those kinds of interactions that restores your faith in humanity.

Don’t Worry About Getting Lost - You Probably Will At Some Point. As we plopped ourselves down in a new place, we know we knew we were going to get lost from time to time and that’s okay. We just learned to identify landmarks and if necessary, retrace our steps until we knew where we were again.

Lose Your Need To Control. I’ve learned the unexpected can happen at any time, and the plans we think we have in place can fall apart at a moment’s notice. As we’ve traveled, I’ve really had to remember this, reminding myself that I can’t know everything there is to know about a place and there’s going to be loads of things that pop up from time to time that I never would have expected.

Be Open To Other Ways Of Doing Things. As we’ve gone along, we are always encountering systems and products that are different than what we’re used to. While it may seem strange on the surface, I’ve found if I think about it there is usually a very logical reason why that particular place or people do it that way, which helps to remind me that it’s okay to have more than one way to reach a common goal.

Never Underestimate The Power Of Home. There is a lot we took for granted when we were home because it was familiar and what we were used to, but having been in a foreign environment for awhile, we’ve come to really appreciate being able to understand what’s being said around us and not having to struggle with interpretation at every turn. And even though we’ve gotten REALLY good at reading maps and getting our bearings fairly quickly, it will be so nice to be back in familiar surroundings where we don’t have to always cross reference where we are! Finally, just hearing the friendly voices of the ones we love from so far away, whether through email or phone, has certainly deepened our love and gratitude for all of our wonderful friends and family members who are in our lives.

So there you have it……our “European Sampler Tour 2011”, as I’ve come to call this trip, has wound down. We’re so looking forward to being back home for three weeks before the next adventure begins. On April 9th we head to New Zealand and then to Australia before finishing up in Asia. Sandwiched between these trips, we’ll be celebrating Jim’s 50th birthday in style so we’ll try to get some pictures posted on the blog. Thanks to everyone who has followed along on this adventure with us - your support and comments mean a lot!

Stay tuned for more dispatches.......

Cheers,

David and Jim

Photo Album for Granada and the Alhambra

Click below to see our pictures from Granada and the Alhambra:

Granada, Spain

Our three days in Granada have been exactly what we hoped for. Our main reason for coming here was to visit the Alhambra, which is the main draw for most travelers. We left Bilbao around 8:30 in the morning and arrived in Granada about 5:30, so it was a full day of traversing the country from north to south. We actually drove through some snow just north of Madrid - who'd have thought????

The Alhambra is truly an amazing sight and should be right up there for anyone visiting Spain. It's a palace and fortress constructed during the 14th century by the Moorish rulers who ruled this part of Spain at that time. It takes several hours to see the whole place as you have to buy tickets for a timed admission to the palace and then you can walk around the rest of the grounds at your leisure for the rest of your visit. Since it was a Saturday, there were a fair number of people visiting it, but I guess that's to be expected as the weather gets warmer. As you walk through the palace, you really get a idea of what life must have been like there during that time. The audio guide throughout the tour is narrated by an actor playing the famous American author, Washington Irving, who lived at the Alahambra in 1829.

The next day we decided to walk to the old part of Granada and the neighborhoods of the Albaicin and Sacromonte. Even though we had our rental car, it was a beautiful day for a walk and it ended up only taking us about a half our to get there. So much to see! the views of the Alhambra from the Albaicin neighborhood are really amazing and walking through the hilly Sacromonte neighborhood is amazing. The houses are actually called cave dwellings there because they are built right into the hillside! Probably very practical for cooling purposes during their hot summers.

Well, tomorrow we leave for Sevilla, which is about a 3 hour drive west........stay tuned!

Bilbao, Spain

Our very smooth 1 hour flight from Lisbon to Madrid brought us back to Spain at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. In no time, we had collected our bags, got our rental car and were on our way driving north. It was a bit of a change in weather coming from sunny, warm Lisbon to here. Northern Spain's coastal area has a climate and topography which is very similar to the Pacific Northwest, so when we arrived in Bilbao, it was cool, probably around 50, with lots of gray clouds and some mist. Felt just like home, actually!

Our main reason for coming here was to visit the Guggenheim Museum, which is one of those places that has been on my "bucket list' so to speak for some time. The main reason most people go to visit the museum is to see the building itself, but the museums exhibits were really interesting too. Designed by Frank Gehry (who, as our Northwest friends know well, also designed the Experience Music Project building) is really a sight to see. It was built in 1997, and houses exhibits on 3 floors. it is covered in titanium sheets on the outside, which according to the information we read on Gehry, are meant to look like fish scales, as he's always had a fascination with fish. The other REALLY cool thing that I just loved was the 30 foot high spider sculpture in front of the museum......must have something to do with my obsession for B rated horror movies. If you're interested in reading more about the Guggenheim, click here.

After spending about three hours there, we were pretty worn out, so we returned to the hotel to relax a bit before heading out to dinner.

Today, we walked around Bilbao's old town, which is probably one of the cleanest and prettiest town centers we've seen. The sun also made a stronger appearance today, so we got some better pictures of the river and the museum as we explored more of the city. Like Porto, we give extra points to Bilbao - as we were reading a map trying to get our bearings, a very nice guy came up and asked us if we needed any help. The second time yet on this trip!

Tomorrow morning we head out bright and early to drive down to Granada, which is about an 8 hour drive south. Let's hope we head into some warmer weather as we head down that way!