The Travel Buggers

London: Our Last Stop

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:47:00 +0000

After a restful five hour train ride, we arrived in London, the final destination of our European tour. Lorenzo and Kim spent the afternoon washing clothes, while Travis stayed behind in the hotel to relax. That evening we went to one of Lorenzo's favorite restaurants, Yo! Sushi. Yo! Sushi has a 125 foot long sushi conveyor belt and we each selected a variety of colorful sushi plates as they passed us on the belt. After dinner, Kim and Lorenzo headed to a movie theater in Leicester Square for opening night of Sex and the City 2, while Travis went to a nearby club. The next day, we rode The Tube (the London metro) to Harrods, a huge luxury department store, where we ate at a dim sum restaurant and purchased some tea for souvenirs. We continued our shopping in the Piccadilly Circus area before stopping for fish and chips. Our last stop for the evening was the Tate Modern Art Museum where we appreciated (even if we didn't fully understand) colorful and creative works of art. We begin our next day in London with lunch at a small pub with fantastic and inexpensive food. We all ordered meat pies, or pot pies as we call them at home, and thoroughly enjoyed our delicious and filling meals. After eating, we began a walking tour of London. We started at Trafalgar Square, walked along Whitehall past the horse guards to Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. Despite the strong wind blowing particles into our eyes, we continued our walking tour to Buckingham Palace. For dinner we enjoyed more British comfort food at the West End Kitchen - Kim and Travis had salmon and chips, with the more adventurous Lorenzo trying a liver meal. On the morning of our last full day in London, we boarded a tour bus for a 1.5 hour drive from London to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was a little smaller and less dramatic than we expected, but was still interesting and mysterious because no one knows the original purpose. Stonehenge could have been used as a clock or calendar, observatory, or for religious purposes. Whatever the purpose, we enjoyed learning about Stonehenge and exploring the beautiful countryside surrounding it. We ended our time in London with an evening walk across the Tower Bridge for a fantastic view of the city.

South of the Thames River with St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance

Yo! Sushi is a must do whenever we come to London

This stack of sushi plates is about ready to fall

Finally! Sex and the City 2

Kim and Lorenzo eating a London classic: fish and chips

A day of sightseeing makes these two very tired

Meat pie is a traditional pub food

Lorenzo and Travis on a huge lion in Trafalgar Square

Travis doing gymnastics

Lorenzo and Kim with the horse guards

Houses of Parliament

The London Eye

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace

Lorenzo's liver dinner . . . yum!

Stonehenge from afar is smaller than we imagined

Kim and Lorenzo at Stonehenge

Travis playing in the countryside - just like at Grandma's house

Lorenzo enjoying the British countryside

The Tower Bridge at night

Amsterdam, Holland

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:00:00 +0000

After a five hour train ride with a transfer in Brussels, we arrived in Amsterdam to find that the temperature was about 25 degrees cooler than Paris. We donned our jackets and waited for Travis to make an entire wardrobe change since he was the only person in Holland in shorts. We then purchased train tickets for the next part of our trip from Amsterdam to London and rode the tram to our hotel, Hotel Aspen. Even though it has extremely steep stairs and no elevator, we found Hotel Aspen to be comfortable and centrally located with a very friendly and helpful owner. We were extremely hungry after checking in, so our first stop was Sara's Pancake House located just a few feet from our hotel. Sara's has a wide selection of large crepe-like pancakes made to order with almost any ingredient we could imagine. We loved the pancakes so much and we were so impressed by Sara (who is in her 20's and runs the business alone) that we ate here three times in our two days in Amsterdam. After eating, we walked around the city admiring the canals and trying not to get run over by the many bicyclists. Next, we walked over to the Anne Frank House and respectfully toured the home where the Frank family hid from the Nazis during World War II. That evening we explored some of the unique aspects of Amsterdam - we ate french fries with mayonnaise like the locals and walked through the red light district. The next morning we went to Sara's again for breakfast, then we sampled picked herring (a local specialty) from Stubbe's. The herring was surprisingly tasty, especially when eaten with pickles. Our next stop was the Heineken Experience, the tourist attraction Travis was most excited about. We learned about the history of Heineken and how beer is made before doing a beer tasting. That evening we went to Sara's again for dinner before heading to the Leidseplein area where many clubs are located. Overall, we loved the slower pace of Amsterdam and the fact that almost everything was in walking (or biking) distance. Amsterdam is a very charming city with friendly people and we enjoyed it much more than we expected.

Lorenzo making his way up the super steep stairs

Kim in front of Sara's Pancake House

Lorenzo's Belgian pancake from Sara's

Lorenzo and Travis on one of the many bridges

There are so many bikes in Amsterdam!

Travis wasn't so sure about the mayonnaise

Kim in a very large shoe

Lorenzo and Travis tasting pickled herring

A close up of the pickled herring

Travis and Lorenzo at the Heineken Experience

You're not supposed to taste the hops!

Travis did a little shopping at Heineken

Kim posing at a canal

The smallest car in Amsterdam

Travis ready to eat another pancake!

Kim and Lorenzo with Sara

A canal at night

Paris, France

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:06:00 +0000

When we arrived in Paris, we were surprised to find that our hotel lobby was under construction and our room was not yet ready. We left our bags at the hotel, picked up a map, and rode the metro to a more central area. When we got off the metro we did not know exactly where we were, but our plan was to walk toward the Eiffel Tower. Although it didn't take long to see the Tower in the distance, it took us about an hour to walk to its base. We then relaxed in a nearby park while admiring the Eiffel Tower and planning the rest of our time in Paris. The next morning, while trying to find breakfast, we stumbled upon a street market around the corner from our hotel. We walked along the food stalls before Kim decided on a croissant and Lorenzo tried some green beans. After breakfast, we rode the metro to Notre Dame so we could begin another Rick Steves walking tour. We followed the audio tour from Notre Dame to the Left Bank, before stopping at Subway for lunch. Then we continued walking on the Left Bank to the Orsay Museum. The Orsay is in an old railway station and contains many classic works of art. We especially liked the art by Monet and Van Gogh. Later that evening, we walked along Champs-Elysées, a famous avenue with cafes, restaurants, and luxury shops.

The next morning, we changed hotels and Lorenzo headed to the airport to meet our brother Travis who would be traveling with us for the next 10 days. Once we all finally met up, we headed to Champs-Elysées. We happened to be in Paris when the Champs-Elysées was "going green" - it was closed to cars and filled with plants, trees, and animals to support Parisian farmers. It was also about 85 degrees, so we tried to stay cool and dodge the crowds while walking up the avenue to the Arc de Triomphe. Next, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower so Travis could see it for the first time. Despite the heat, we continued walking around the city and ended up at the Louvre. It was too late to buy a Paris Museum Pass to use the following day, but we finally took a break and ate at the food court. We began the next day with a visit to the Louvre, one of the world's largest museums and the most visited museum in the world. Some of our highlights included seeing the Mona Lisa (although it was much smaller than we expected) and Travis posing next to statues and paintings throughout the museum. Next, we toured Notre Dame and the Modern Art Museum at the Pompidou Centre. We ended the day with dinner at a restaurant near our hotel that specialized in mussels. It was too late to go up the Eiffel Tower after eating dinner, so we headed over to take pictures of the Tower at night. The next morning, we rode the train to Versailles to tour the royal Palace built by Louis XIV. The Palace was richly decorated with various styles of art. We particularly enjoyed the gardens and the famous hall of mirrors (surprisingly the mirrors are on only one side of the hall with windows on the other). That afternoon we used our Paris Museum Passes at the Arc de Triumphe, where we climbed hundreds of curvy stairs to the top of the Arc for a great view of the city. Finally, we ended the evening with another visit to the Eiffel Tower. This time we rode the elevators up to the top level. It was amazing to see the city lit up at night and we were able to spot various landmarks that we visited during our stay in Paris.

Our first view of the Eiffel Tower - EXTREMELY exciting!

Lorenzo reading a travel guidebook at a park near the Eiffel Tower

Lorenzo exploring the street market

Kim on a bridge over the Siene River with the Orsay Museum in the background

Inside the Orsay Museum

Welcome Travis!

Kim and Travis eating bakery treats on Champs-Elysées

Travis and Lorenzo in front of the Arc de Triomphe

Kim and Lorenzo in front of the Eiffel Tower

Lorenzo, Kim, and Travis taking a break at the park

Must be jet lag...

Kim at the Louvre with the Mona Lisa in the background

Travis doing one of many poses at the Louvre

Pompidou Centre housing the Modern Art Museum

Kim with Notre Dame in the background

Travis and Lorenzo resting in Notre Dame

Kim admiring the stain glass windows in Notre Dame

Travis and Lorenzo eating mussels

Travis and Lorenzo under the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

Kim and Lorenzo in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles

Travis listening to the audio tour at Versailles

Kim and Lorenzo at Versailles

Travis in the extremely small elevator at Hotel Republique

Travis and Lorenzo at the top of the Arc de Triomphe

View of Paris from top of the Eiffel Tower

Travis, Kim and Lorenzo at the top of the Eiffel Tower

Madrid, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:13:00 +0000

We arrived midday in Madrid, and after a bit of confusion, we found our small, centrally located hotel. After a short break, we excitedly headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was Casa Rua for calamari sandwiches, a specialty in Madrid. We ate our sandwiches as we walked around one of the main squares in Madrid, Plaza Mayor. Later that evening we tried small Spanish donuts called rosquillas. The donuts were surprisingly hard and extremely sweet. The next day we continued our culinary exploration of Madrid at the Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham). We ate standing up at the counter as the locals do. Lorenzo ate a plate of cut ham and Kim tried a ham sandwich. After lunch we walked to the Royal Palace, but unfortunately, the Palace was closed for "official acts" so we were not able to tour it. Fortunately, we happened to visit Madrid during the San Isidro festival, a festival that honors Saint Isidore and marks the start of the city's bull fighting season. So, on our second night in Madrid, we attended a bull fight at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. We didn't know what to expect and we were both surprised when we saw that each bull is actually killed. The experience was very interesting, but between the gruesome bull killing and the cigar smoke, we decided to leave early and only watched two of the six bull fights. After the bull flight we rode the metro to Chocolateria San Gines to try a local favorite, churros con chocolate. The chocolate was thinner than we expected, but we enjoyed our late night dessert. On the way back to the hotel, we walked up a busy pedestrian street that also happens to be Madrid's red light district. The young women stand on the street in groups throughout the day and at night, often looking bored or talking on the phone while waiting for their next customer. The next day we headed to the Mercado de San Miguel to have a tapas brunch. Madrid has a wide variety of delicious tapas and we sampled a plate of olives, seafood on bruchetta, and an apple pastry. Later that evening, we toured the Prado Museum and saw a wide variety of art by Spanish artists. On our last day in Madrid, we had lunch at El Botin, the oldest working restaurant in the world. Lorenzo ordered El Botin's specialty, suckling baby pig, while Kim ordered lamb. We enjoyed our meaty meals and the ambiance of the restaurant. We left Madrid later that evening on an overnight train to Paris. Our tiny, private cabin consisted of two seats, two twin bunk beds that flip out of the wall, and a small sink. We spent the evening watching movies until we asked our cabin attendant to flip the beds out so we could go to sleep. It was a bit difficult to sleep because the train was going extremely fast to make up for extra time spent at the border stop and the man in the next cabin was snoring loudly. After a few hours of sleep, we awoke to a breakfast of toast and jelly, juice and croissants in the restaurant car. Once we arrived in Paris, we were excited to get off of the cramped train and out into the open air.

Kim eating a calamari sandwich in front Casa Rua

Rosquillas

Kim in front of a statue in Puerto del Sol

Plaza de Torros

Kim and Lorenzo at the bull fight

In the midst of the bull fight

After the bull is killed

Churros con chocolate

Mercado de San Miguel where we ate tapas

Lorenzo about to eat some tapas

Lorenzo checking out a painting at the Prado museum

El Botin

The suckling pig at El Botin (notice the Carolina shirt in the background)

Lorenzo in our train cabin

Kim in the top bunk on the overnight train

Valencia, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:11:00 +0000

We arrived in Valencia on a sunny day, typical of this city that has an average of 300 cloudless days per year. Too bad we can't bottle up some of this year-round sunshine and bring it home with us. Once we got checked in and settled in our room, we discovered that we had an amazing view of the City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural and architectural complex that includes the largest aquarium in Europe, L'Oceanografic aquarium. Lorenzo has wanted to visit this particular aquarium for years, so we made a B-line for that area because he couldn't wait one second longer. We ended up getting aquarium tickets for the next day to ensure that we had enough time to enjoy it. After getting our tickets, we headed across the street to a shopping mall to purchase some supermarket items to make sandwiches for dinner. Buying drinks and snacks at local supermarkets is one way that we saved money on this trip. We walked back to our hotel to prepare for an exciting and fun day tomorrow at the aquarium. On our first night in Valencia, we noticed that the sun didn't set until 10pm, which confused us because we thought it was much earlier than it actually was. The next morning, we woke up later than planned and missed the noon dolphin show, so we started our aquarium visit by viewing other animals, including small colorful tropical fish, playful seals and sea lions, jellyfish, penguins, and exotic birds. We also walked through the aquarium's two 360 degree glass tunnels. Finally, we visited Lorenzo's favorite, the beluga whales, right before heading to the 3:30 pm dolphin show. The Valencia aquarium was our favorite activity and is a must see when visiting the city. After a full afternoon at the aquarium, we strolled over to the Old Town area, where much of Valencia's shopping and restaurants are located. Along the way we passed through streets lined with oranges and we saw a Brazilian Carnival styled band playing in the street to celebrate the upcoming Nations holiday. We began the next day with a visit to the Central Market, a large indoor market full of stalls selling fresh meats, seafood, and produce. Central Market was similar to La Boqueria in Barcelona, but less charming and interesting. From Central Market, we walked to the Valencia Cathedral. The Cathedral is is not only the first Christian church that we've visited in Europe, but is also the home of the Holy Grail. Following the provided audio tour, we learned about the art in the church and the human remains on display. Finally, at the end of the tour, we entered the Chapel of the Holy Grail where we saw the cup in person. According to history (or legend depending on who you ask), this is the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Viewing the Holy Grail was the highlight of the day and we spent the rest of the day wandering around Valencia observing everyday local life before heading to the train station to purchase our tickets for the journey to Madrid. For our last day in Valencia, we went to the beach. Valencia is famous for its beaches and the beach was one of our main reasons (other than the aquarium) for adding this stop to our trip. After taking the metro and then a tram, we finally saw the palm tree lined boardwalk filled with restaurants, and beyond that, the beach. The sand is finely ground, almost dust like, and the beach was full of families and friends tanning, fishing, and playing sports in the sand. We walked along the beach and sat on the sand to enjoy the view. We really wanted to get into the water, but it was a little to cold for swimming. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Valencia. The city was cleaner, smaller, and less touristy than many of the other cities we've visited. We appreciated the slower, relaxed pace of Valencia, and luckily we are well-rested because our next stop is the big hustle bustle city of Madrid.

City of Arts and Sciences

A cheap and easy dinner

Lorenzo in front of L'Oceanografic

A sea lion sunning

Lorenzo in a walk through tunnel

Jellyfish

Two turtles

Lorenzo watching a beluga whale

Orange trees lining a sidewalk

Kim in front of Central Market

Lorenzo in a plaza near the Cathedral

The Holy Grail behind protective glass

The palm tree lined boardwalk at the beach

The sand at the Valencia beach

The beach - ahhh so beautiful!

Barcelona, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:04:00 +0000

We left Nice at 6 am to begin the 12 hour long journey to Barcelona (including a 4 hour layover at Montpellier train station). The sun was just beginning to set when we finally arrived in Barcelona, but our tiredness turned to excitement when we came out of the metro onto Las Ramblas - the most famous and most visited street in the city. We arrived on a particularly rowdy Saturday night, as Barcelona was playing Seville in futbol (soccer) and thousands of people and extra police filled the streets until the wee hours of the morning. The next day we headed back to Las Ramblas to watch a few street performers and to eat tapas (small appetizers) and paella (a seafood and rice dish). Although the restaurant we went to was disappointing, we were happy to have tried some traditional Spanish foods. After lunch, we caught a bus to Park Guell, a park designed by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. We got off the bus at the wrong stop and ended up walking in circles and up hills for 45 minutes before we finally found the park. However, it was worth the trouble, because Park Guell was one of our favorite things in Barcelona. The park is beautiful, whimsical, and colorful, like most of Gaudi's work. We walked around admiring the colors and tiles until we eventually ended up at the highest point in the park that overlooks the city. We rode the metro back to Las Ramblas and walked down to the marina and the waterfront. The waterfront area was surprisingly well developed with an IMAX theater and a mall. We wandered into the mall and missed a short rain shower while we window shopped. We ended the day with a very American meal of McDonald's salads and donuts from Dunkin Coffee. The following day, we began with a trip to La Boqueria, a famous public market with fresh meats, seafood, and fruit. La Boqueria is big, bustling, colorful, and full of tourists and locals. Lorenzo sat at the counter at a seafood bar and ate razor clams, a dish he saw Andrew Zimmern eat at La Boqueria on his show "Bizarre Foods". That afternoon, we walked to a nearby beach, Barceloneta, to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. The beach was full of other people also enjoying the weather, including a number of topless sunbathers. On our last day in Barcelona, we visited Gaudi's church, La Sagrada Familia. Even though La Sagrada Familia is still under construction (construction begain in 1886 and it is expected to be completed in 2026), we were extremely impressed by its architecture and detail.

Nice train station at dawn

Las Ramblas at night

Disappointing paella

Entrance to Park Guell

Kim rock climbing at Park Guell

Lorenzo at Park Guell

Park Guell

A view of the city from the Park Guell

The marina at Barcelona's waterfront area

The front entrance of La Boqueria

Inside La Boqueria

Lorenzo eating razor clams

A seafood stall at La Boqueria

The beach

Lorenzo taking a quick break at the beach

La Sagrada Familia

Nice, France

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:46:00 +0000

We enjoyed our 12 day, 4 city tour of Italy, but we were excited to move on to Nice, France. Kimalee is a beach bum, so she was especially excited to see the beautiful ocean water of the Cote D'Azur. When we got to Nice, we walked a few blocks from the train station to our small, modern hotel, The Hotel Berlioz. Most of the time we've been staying fairly close the train station to avoid carrying our heavy bags for miles as we did in Venice. Once we checked in, we didn't waste any time before heading down the city's main shopping street to the beach. Along the way, Lorenzo stopped at the Virgin Records Megastore and purchased an exclusive "Drake" mixtape that is not available in the United States. The beaches in Nice are different from most other beaches we've visited because instead of sand, the beaches are covered in thousands of smooth stones of all different colors. The stones are kind of difficult to walk on, but are great for not getting sand in your shoes. Although it was only about 65 degrees outside and a bit cloudy, the beach was just as beautiful as we remembered from our visit two years ago. The water was cool, clear, and ice blue. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Nice Etoile (the first actual shopping mall we'd seen in weeks!) and Monoprix, a supermarket/department store kind of like a Super Walmart. We stocked up on water, juice, and snacks before picking up some takeout sushi from OSushi at the mall. We then made our way back to our hotel and called a night while watching some good old fashioned American television via the free internet connection in our room. We started the next day by visiting the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. We saw some very creative and interesting art and some Andy Warhol pieces. In our opinion, the best part of the museum (other than the fact that admission is free) was the rooftop terrace which offered fantastic views of the city. We ate lunch at La Zucca Magica, a vegetarian restaurant not far from the museum. La Zucca Magica has a set 5 course menu, so we had no idea what we would be eating until each course came out. Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised by each creative meatless course. Completely stuffed and barely able to walk, we slowly strolled along the coastline from the marina toward the Promenade des Anglais - a palm tree lined street that runs parallel to the beach. Across from the beach, we noticed a park on the top of a hill (Castle Hill). We decided to climb the long stairs to the top and were rewarded with an amazing view of the ocean, marina, and city. We easily climbed back down Castle Hill and sat on the beach in the sun enjoying the warmth. The waves were crashing, the sun was shining, and we remembered why we love Nice so much. Next, we walked through old town Nice and stopped at Fenocchio's to sample some odd flavors of gelato. Fenocchio's has over 80 gelato flavors, including tomato and basil, chewing gum, and olive, but we decided to try rose, lavender, and violet. It was like eating ice cream while smelling flowers at the same time. Later that evening, we took a quick break at our hotel before heading out for dinner and to purchase our train tickets for the next day's journey. Goodbye for now to the south of France.

Our hotel room

Lorenzo on the beach

So many juices to choose from!

Lorenzo at a fountain

As assortment of sushi from OSushi

Kim posing in front of shoe art

Lorenzo in front of an interesting painting

View of the city from the rooftop terrace at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Kim in front of the vegetarian restaurant La Zucca Magica

Course number 3 at La Zucca Magica. The main ingredients were asparagus, zucchini, lemon, and rice.

Lorenzo at the marina

Promenade des Anglais and the beach

Lorenzo climbing the stairs to Castle Hill.

Kim resting on the way up to Castle Hill

A view of the marina from Castle Hill.

Kim enjoying the beach

Floral gelato flavors

Milan, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:39:00 +0000

We had a very relaxing train ride to Milan, although once we got there it rained nonstop. Through the pouring rain, we completed the short walk to our hotel from the Milano Centrale Station. We took some time to dry off and then headed out to explore the city. Right away we noticed that Milan is not nearly as much of a tourist city as the other places that we've been to thus far on this trip. Though it is a pretty large city of 1.3 million, there were very few people out and about in the streets throughout the day. People were also less friendly than they were in the other cities we vistited. Our first stop and main reason for coming to Milan was to see Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting "The Last Supper". Surprisingly between our hotel front desk, two people in the metro station, one person who worked at Castello Sforzesco (the Milan Castle that was home to the royal family), and a lady working at a travel agency, no one seemed to know exactly where the painting was located. They even seemed to not know who da Vinci was. Maybe it was the language barrier? Luckily due to Kim's great memory, we made our way through the rain to Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church where the painting is displayed, but unfortunately we could not get in because viewings were sold out for the next two days. Disappointed and soaked, we made our way back to our hotel after grabbing dinner and called it a night. The next day we decided to venture out to check out the shopping. Afterall, Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world. Still in the rain, we toured Via Monte Napoleone which is home to stores such as Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci and many others. The shopping is nice in Milan, but we didn't see what all the hype was about because we've seen the same stores in Los Angeles, Vegas, New York, London, Florence, and many other American and European cities. We next checked out the city's main gothic style church (Duomo di Milano) before making our way back to the train station to secure our train tickets to Nice, France for the next morning. All in all we would not recommend Milan as one of your stops if you are a traveling tourist. But if you're an aspiring model, this may be the place for you, especially during fashion week (late February-early March). This was our last stop in Italy. Now we are preparing for the long train ride to France.

Lorenzo relaxing on the high speed Eurostar train to Milan

Kim just getting off the train with all her bags

Dreary rainy view from our hotel room

View of the city

Just one of the many high end boutiques

What Milan is all about....fashion

Kim in front of Duomo di Milano (The Milan Gothic Church)

Lorenzo in front of a fountain at the train station

Tuscany, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:54:00 +0000

For our third day in Florence, we decided to take an all-day tour of Tuscany. Our tour bus left at 8:45 a.m., and by 9:15 a.m., we were in the midst of the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Our first stop was San Gimignamo, a medieval Tuscan town that is famous for its towers. We walked down the main street in the rain, stopping in stores to admire the ceramics and to buy waffles since we hadn't eaten breakfast yet. The next stop on our tour was Siena, a Tuscan hill town with a famous cathedral. We joined the rest of our tour group for an Italian buffet of bread, pasta, salad, cheese, meat and wine before taking a walking tour of Siena. The tour guide was a little slow for our liking, especially in the cold rain, but we enjoyed learning about the town. The third stop was Chianti, a much smaller town with a population of just 1,000. Here, we enjoyed the countryside views and ate THE BEST SANDWICH EVER from a little restaraunt that was recommended by our tour guide, Julio. The final stop of the tour was a wine tasting at Casanova Sant'Agnese, an organic farm that specializes in wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and herbal bath products. The flavors of the wine and olive oil were amazing and we were even more impressed to learn about the natural and organic processes used to make each product.

Lorenzo checking out the view at San Gimignamo.

The Cathedral in Siena.

Kim with her new Italia t-shirt purchased in Siena for extra warmth.

The beautiful countryside in Chianti.

THE BEST SANDWICH EVER!! Prosciutto, sheep cheese, lettuce, and tomato.

Lorenzo and Kim in Chianti.

The vineyard at the organic farm we visited.

The table at the end of our wine tasting.

Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:57:00 +0000

After four days in Rome, we were excited to get to Florence for a change of pace and to see the famous Renaissance art. It took us four hours to get to Florence on a Trenitalia regional train. The regional train was cheaper than the high speed Eurostar train, but was also less comfortable and took longer because it stopped more often. We stayed at Hotel Il Bargellino, a small, homey hotel near the train station owned by ex-Bostonian Carmel and her Italian husband Pino. Although the hotel is filled with beautiful art and our room connected to a garden terrace with fruit trees, the owners were a bit noisy, we did not have a private bathroom (which is common in Europe), and, most importantly, Lorenzo ended up getting 13 mosquito bites over the course of 2 nights sleep. After exploring our hotel, we walked about 10 minutes to the Duomo Cathedral which sits in the center of Florence. We were impressed at the size and openness of the inside of the Cathedral compared to some other churches we'd seen. While inside, we admired the art and architecture. Our next stop was the bronze doors of the baptistry which sits directly across from the entrance to the Cathedral. We carefully examined each of the door panels because each portrays a different story from the Old Testament. Later that evening, we walked around the city and were surprised by all the people, music, and celebrating in the streets. It turns out that we were in Florence during a holiday weekend - it was their Labor Day weekend. For our second day in Florence, we made reservations at the Accademia, the art gallery that contains Michelangelo's David statue. David was much taller and more impressive than we expected, and the details on the statue were amazing. After the Accademia, we followed Rick Steves' audio tour "Renaissance walk through Florence" which led us down a busy pedestrian street, through the square where the David statue originally sat (now a copy sits there), and to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Along the way, we stopped for gelato and discovered our new favorite flavor, frutti di bosco (mixed berry flavor). Later that evening, we explored the city sights at night.

Kim checking out the lemon tree on our hotel terrace.

Kim in front of the Duomo Cathedral.

Lorenzo lighting a candle in the Cathedral for his mother.

Kim lighting a candle.

Lorenzo in front of the bronze baptistry doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti.

We snuck a picture of David.

Lorenzo listening to the Rick Steves audio tour.

Lorenzo standing in front of a statue of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Lorenzo and Kim standing on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.

The Ponte Vecchio Bridge

The view from the Ponte Vecchio Bridge at night.

Lorenzo and Kim rubbing the bronze boar statue. The legend is that if you rub the boar's nose, you will come back to Florence one day.

Roaming in Rome, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:53:00 +0000

After touring Venice for two days, we headed to Rome on the Eurostar high speed train. It took us four hours to reach Rome, and as soon as we stepped out into Rome's bustling Termini train station, we knew Rome would be very different from Venice. Rome is one of the largest cities in Europe (population 2.7 million) and like most large cities, it is diverse, loud, gritty, busy, and crawling with tourists and people trying to scam them. We made sure our belongings were secure and walked to our hotel, Hotel Montreal, which was just a few blocks west of the train station on a calm, quiet residential street. We spent our first evening in Rome eating pizza, spaghetti, and salad at a nearby restaraunt named La Gallina Bianco. The next morning we took the metro to Vatican City and the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. We waited in line, in the rain, for about 45 minutes before we finally entered the crowded museum. The museum was filled with paintings and tapestries and lead us along like mice in a maze to the Sistine Chapel at the end of the museum. Along the way we spotted Raphael's famous painting, "The School of Athens". Like the rest of the museum, the inside the the Chapel was suprisingly crowded, and the paintings on the ceiling were much smaller than we imagined. But, it was still beautiful, and amazing to see what we had only read about in school textbooks. After the museum, we walked to Vatican City to view St. Peter's Bacilica and St. Mark's Square. At the time, thousands of chairs were set up outside the cathedral, where the Pope has been addressing his flock amid all of the controversy regarding the Roman Catholic Church. We later treked back to our hotel for a rest before heading back out to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. We entered the steps from the top and saw that it was lined with beautiful pink flowers, so we stopped for a photo opp. Even though it was raining a bit and many people had umbrellas out, it was still a sight to see overlooking the streets of Rome. After some window shopping, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain over your right shoulder, you will come back to Rome. When we visted Rome in 2008, we both did just that, and here we are again. No reason to stop tradition now, so we both made the toss again to insure our return. While we hung around the Trevi fountain to see it light up at dusk, we took the opportunity to try a few new gelato flavors at a nearby gelateria. The next day we toured the ancient Roman highlights: the Coliseum, the Forum (the economic and political center of the Roman Republic), and the Pantheon (an ancient Roman temple). Before leaving Rome, we also explored the Borghese Gardens, a huge park with great views of the city of Rome, walking paths, bike rentals, snack stands, and people picnicking. The gardens reminded us of Central Park in New York and were a peaceful getaway from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. Finally and fittingly, on our last night in Rome we discovered a delicious gelateria directly across from our hotel and we strolled around the streets of Rome enjoying our Italian treats.

Kim just was weve arrived in Rome on the train from Venice

Lorenzo eating spaghetti at La Gallino Bianco

Lorenzo in front of a tapestry inside the Vatican Museum

Crowded Vatican Museum hallways

The Sistene Chapel ceiling. We snuck a picture even though we weren't supposed to.

Saint Mark's Square

The view from the top of the Spanish Steps

Kim stopping for a pose on the Spanish Steps

Kim window shopping at Bvlgari

Kim enjoying the Trevi Fountain

Lorenzo in front of the Pantheon

The Roman Coliseum

Lorenzo in front of the Arch of Constantine

The Forum

The view of Rome from the Borghese Gardens

Kim and Lorenzo overlooking the city

Lorenzo taking a break in the Borghese Gardens

Some random pictures from Rome:

Kim eating spinach ravioli with ricotta cheese

Lorenzo at an Italian ATM

Kim at the Arno River

The smallest car we've ever seen

Locals watching a soccer match through the window of a closed electronics store

Venturing in Venice, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Our arrival in Venice signified the beginning of our independent travel. No more cruise ship to go back to. Just us in Europe on our own. The guide books were right about one thing – it is difficult to navigate in Venice by street name and is much easier to use major landmarks. Our first task was to find our hotel. Luckily, we had been given a free map when we caught the vaporetto (the public water taxi, no yellow cabs here) from the cruise ship terminal. We got lost only a few times while walking past restaurants, shops, and people through the narrow alleys and open squares to our hotel. We stayed at Casa Boccassini, which ended up being much cuter than we expected with 10 guest rooms, friendly owners and their cat, and a courtyard garden draped in fresh lavender. Once we dropped our bags off, we headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was the Rialto Bridge, the most famous bridge in Venice, built in 1521, and one of only four bridges that cross the Grand Canal. The Rialto Bridge was much larger than we expected and was crawling with tourists speaking different languages and shopping in the little shops on the bridge. We watched as gondolas rode under the bridge and we were surprised that the gondodliers seem more like New York City taxis drivers – talking to and joking with one another as they squeezed past each other under narrow bridges – than romantic tour guides. As we strolled through the crowded streets of Venice, we stopped to take photos, looked in shop windows, dodged the cigarette smoke clouds of the locals, and ate Caprese sandwiches (tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil on pita-like bread), panforte (a dense Italian cake with fruit and nuts) and gelato – Kim’s favorite Italian treat (like ice cream but creamier and better). Our next stop was Saint Mark’s Square, the most famous square in Venice which contains Saint Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s Palace, and the Clock Tower. Like the rest of Venice, Saint Mark’s Square was overflowing with tourists and kiosks selling Venezia hats and tee shirts. In addition to the two major tourist sites, we also walked through the Jewish ghetto, wandered around the fish market and the Sunday market randomly set up in a square near our hotel and spent entirely too many Euros buying bottled water from the shops in the tourist areas. Our favorite thing to do in Venice was to wander away from the tourist areas to find quiet bridges all around the city where we watched boats and gondolas floating by and took tons of pictures. Venice is definitely a pedestrian city which we explored on our two very tired sets of feet.

Lorenzo with all his bags in front of Saint Mark's Basilica

Kim walking in the narrow Venice streets in search of the hotel

The courtyard garden outside our hotel room

Kim and Lorenzo in front of the Rialto Bridge

An example of the crowds in Venice

A group of gondolas under a bridge

Saint Mark's Square

Lorenzo sitting next to an Italian woman taking a rest in St. Mark's Square

Kim sitting in front of one of Venice's many canals

Kim buying a necklace at a local market

A caprese sandwich - our favorite!

The Grand Canal at night

Kim eating spaghetti with mussels

Kim's favorite canal picture

Africans selling fake purses - reminiscent of New York or Washington, DC

Lorenzo enjoying the view from a bridge

The Gem leaving Venice

Malaga, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:41:00 +0000

Though many may have never heard of Malaga, Spain, it is actually a somewhat large city with a very large port that the company Maersk ships from. We began our journey of Malaga through its typical narrow shop lined streets. Malaga is heavily marketing itself as the center of the upcoming cultural festival “Malaga 2016” and has literally laid out the red carpet for this event and covered the sidewalks in red. After walking around the shopping area, we walked over to the bull fighting arena before heading to the man made beach for a break from all the walking. It was a little cool, so the locals were not out tanning as they were the last time we were here. We then made our way back to the city center, on foot as usual. By this time, our feet were killing us, but we got a great workout. Despite our fatigue, we toured a beautiful church that had recreated particular scenes from the life of Jesus Christ in life size figures in the windows. Although we intentionally skipped a few of the main sites because we had seen them on our last trip, we soon came across a familiar and exciting shop (and Aunt Linda’s favorite), Dunkin Coffee. It’s the same company as Dunkin Donuts back home, so we had to get a couple of treats for nostalgia’s sake. We continued to roam the streets and take in all that the city had to offer before heading back to the cruise ship. We have three more days at sea until we arrive in Venice, Italy where the next part of our trip will begin. Adios for now.

The red carpet in the shopping area

Kim in front of a fountain

Dunkin Coffee

Kim admiring the flowers in the shop window

The Malaga beach

Lorenzo outside the bullfighting arena

The Last Supper on display in the church

Cadiz, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Once we arrived in Cadiz we headed straight for the famous beach. We took the long route and walked along the coast through the meticulously sculpted gardens, multiple theaters, and the University of Cadiz. It took a while, but we saw many interesting sites along the way, including discovering the Santa Catalina Castle, which we did not see the last time we were here. We explored the Castle which sat on the beach and provided a perfect backdrop for us to take a ton of beautiful pictures. We walked along the sidewalk that ran parallel to the beach and passed an elementary school as the children were getting out for the day. We were beginning to get hungry and hot from being in the sun, so we decided to head back toward the center of town. On the way back, we took a short cut through narrow streets full of locals. We saw men selling bags of oranges out of the back of a van, small cars and motor bikes speeding by us, shop owners cleaning the outside of their shops, children walking by in school uniforms, and men joking loudly with each other in Spanish. We eventually reached one of the main squares in Cadiz that has a Cathedral on one side and numerous restaurants on the other. The city of Cadiz also provides free wi-fi in the square and we took advantage of the connection to send a few emails. After a quick trip back to our ship to eat and rest (gotta take advantage of the buffet), we headed back out to the city for some shopping. Following Lorenzo’s memory, we found the main shopping street and ended our day with window shopping and buying a few Spanish snacks from the grocery store.

View from the Castillo

Lorenzo and Kim enjoying the sun and ocean views

Small fishermen boats along the coastline

Kim taking a stroll through the streets

Locals selling fresh oranges in the street

Lorenzo on the cathedral steps sending emails on his ipod via free wifi

Lorenzo shopping for a few snacks at a local supermercado

Lisbon, Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:08:00 +0000

We were really excited to get to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. We came here in 2008 and really enjoyed it. The last time we were here, we were mistaken for locals and this time was no different. Portugal is the only Portuguese speaking country other than Brazil, and Lisbon has a decently sized black population. Once we got to Lisbon, we took a shuttle from the cruise port to the city’s main square where we stumbled upon the end of a local road race. After watching the runners, we wandered around the Alfama area of Lisbon. We stumbled upon the Lisbon Cathedral and headed inside to watch mass. Lisbon is very hilly and we did some extreme hill walking that reminded us of being in San Francisco. Toward the tops of the hills were some amazing views of the ocean, the cruise port, and the red tiled roofs and white washed walls of thousands of homes below. Further up the hills and at the top of the city sits a fortress which was built in ancient times to protect the city. We toured the fortress for 5 Euros and walked along the narrow stone walkways and slippery staircases. While here, be sure to watch your step, but also be sure to pay attention to what’s around you, because these are the best views in the city. Other than the view, the best part about the fortress is being at the top of the hill so the walk was all downhill from there. After visiting the fortress, we made our way back down the hill, through the winding streets and past extremely small European cars and the street car, picturesque windows with clothes hanging on the line, and other tourists trying to take it all in. After spending hours visiting one of our favorite European cities, we made our way back to the port and walked along the waterfront. The waterfront was lined with authentic restaurants serving Portuguese favorites and it also had a great view of the statue of Jesus that is the sister statue to the one in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The Lisbon statue stands near a bridge that reminded us of the Golden Gate Bridge, which we thought was very fitting for a city nicknamed the San Francisco of Europe.

The early morning road race through the city

Kim walking one of the many hills

Lorenzo stopping to admire the view

Lisbon Cathedral in Alfama

Kim taking a much needed break on the Cathedral steps

Overhead view of the city

Arch of Augusta

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:49:00 +0000

Upon arriving in Ponta Delgada, the western most isle of the Azores, we perused the small fisherman’s town full of intricately laid black and white narrow cobble stone streets. We toured the town’s main church, peered in the windows of local shops, and watched the locals in their daily routines, like the teenagers mingling in the courtyard of a high school and playing soccer. It was surprisingly cold outside, and the cloudy sky that just made everything seem that much colder. After wandering the island and people-watching, we made our way to a shopping mall where we were able to pick up a wifi signal that enabled us to email our family and let them know that we are safe and sound. After all, it has been 5 whole days at sea since they’ve heard from us. They are just as happy to hear from us as we are to finally see land. Overall, Ponta Delgada is a very charming town where everything moves slowly and is stress free. Maybe we can bottle some up and bring it back to the States with us. After boarding the ship again, we spotted two whales, which are very common in the Azores. Our next port is Lisbon, Portugal.

Lorenzo and the Azores sign. The island chain where Ponta Delgada is loacated.

The perfect view of the island

The island's main church

Street view of the small city

A Carolina blue building. You know we had to take a pic.

Kim enjoying the day, with our ship in the backgroud.

Bon Voyage-First a 14 day cruise to Venice, Italy followed by 5 weeks throughout Europe.

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:29:00 +0000

We left Virginia around 5am for the car ride from Charlottesville to New York City with Lorenzo’s Dad, Aunt Linda, and Uncle Ira. We had a lot of fun laughing and joking (and napping) as they took us to NYC and dropped us off at the cruise port in Manhattan. We were excited to start our two week voyage towards Venice, where our Europe adventure would begin on land and by train, but we were sad to see them go. Next time we will have to plan a long trip for the entire family. As we sailed away, we passed downtown New York and the Statue of Liberty. Right away we noticed that the average age of our fellow cruisers was quite a bit older than us. Later we found out from the cruise director that the average age on board was 62, and our daily cruise planner listed available activities of knitting, grandparents group, bridge playing club, and yes, even an arthritis seminar. Wow!!! We’ve been on four cruises now in different parts of the world, and never have we seen anything like this. Nonetheless, we will have to occupy ourselves with the beautiful scenery, port stops, movies, and the sports court. Bon Voyage, and off to our first cruise stop, Ponta Delgada, Portugal.

Kim boarding the cruise ship

Lorenzo on the way to our stateroom on the ship

Our home on the sea, for the next 14 days

Kim and Lorenzo enjoying the outside deck and preparing for sailaway

The outside Lido deck on the cruise ship.

Great view of downtown NYC from the cruise ship

View of the Statue of Libery as we sail away

The majority of the people on the cruise. Average age of 62. Reading, knitting, etc.

Kim admiring one of many towel animals left by the cruise staff

Kim and Lorenzo relaxing in the hot tub on the ship

Sorry for the hiatus (USA trip stats & Europe info)

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:23:00 +0000

During our USA road trip (January 18th-March 12th 2010) we traveled 11,067 total miles, touched 27 different states, 11 state capitals and both national and state parks. Our favorite city was Los Angeles, CA and our favorite food was a small Russian bakery at the Fisherman’s wharf in Seattle called Piroshky Piroshky. We stayed at Holiday Inns and Crowne Plazas most often, and our favorite places to stay were Hyatt Place, Stay Bridge Suites, and the Millennium Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. Our new favorite deli style café is the Paradise Bakery and Café, and while on the road, we practically lived at Whole Foods. We are really enjoying ourselves and hope that we can inspire others to go out and see the world. We apologize for the hiatus and our failure to update the blog recently. We began our European journey with a 14 day cruise on the Norwegian Gem from New York City to Venice, Italy, with stops along the way in Ponta Delgada and Lisbon, Portugal, as well as in the Spanish cities of Cadiz and Malaga. The internet connection on the Gem was extremely expensive and slow, so we did not post blog entries during the cruise. After docking in Venice, we will begin our 5 week excursion across Europe and will meet up with our brother Travis in Paris for the last two weeks. Here come the first Europe posts. Hope you enjoy.

Gary, Indiana and Detroit, Michigan

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:35:00 +0000

On the way to Detroit, we stopped in Gary, Indiana to visit the Jackson family home. We didn't know the address, but Lorenzo remembered "2300 Jackson Street" from the song, so we figured we'd go with that. Gary is a small city without much economy to speak of. The old Jackson family neighborhood, like the rest of the city, is pretty run-down and has numerous boarded up homes. We were surprised how small the home was since the Jackson family is so large, but it looked well taken care of compared to the rest of the neighborhood. Unlike most of the historic sites we'd visited, however, there was no plaque or sign in the yard identifying the house as the Jackson family home. We just figured we were in the right place based on the street name and the pictures, flowers, and balloons other visitors had placed along the fence.

Welcome to Gary!

The Jackson family home

The corner of 2300 Jackson Street and Jackson Family Drive where the Jackson family home is located

Because of Detroit's history as an automobile manufacturing capital, a factory tour was at the top of our must do list. We decided on the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, which included a Ford museum with movies and exhibits in addition to the factory tour. The factory tour led us on a 1/3 mile track above the floor where employees assembled Ford F-150's. It was really interesting to us to watch the different parts of the trucks come together. We saw windshields attached, headliners added, and the cab and bed of the truck connected.

Part of the Ford Rouge Factory

Historic Ford cars exhibit inside the Rouge

After the Ford tour, we headed over to the Motown Museum/Hitsville USA. Although the museum is relatively small, the tour lasted about 2 hours and we were really impressed by our tour guide's knowledge about Motown's history. The most interesting part of the tour was our visit to Studio A, where thousands of famous Motown songs were recorded. Before leaving Detroit, we also explored the downtown area, GM Renaissance building, and the Riverwalk - a walking path along the river that separates downtown Detroit from Canada. Although we did see some boarded up buildings around Detroit, overall the city seemed to still have an active economy and we enjoyed the history and sights.

Lorenzo on the front steps of Hitsville USA

Hitsville USA

Kim and Lorenzo at the Riverwalk

A view of Canada across the river full of floating chunks of ice

The GM Renaissance Center

One of many boarded up buildings around Detroit

We originally planned to go to Toronto and Niagara Falls after Detroit, but because Kim's grandmother passed away, we decided to end our trip a little early. We are still heading to Europe in April for the next leg of our journey so stay tuned!

Lincoln, NE and Chicago, IL

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:43:00 +0000

On the way to Chicago, we stopped overnight in Lincoln, Nebraska to break up the super long drive. The next morning we drove through Des Moines, IA to pick up a fresh pair of new Jordans for Travis' birthday. We also stopped to check out the Iowa 80 truck stop, the world's largest truck stop, before continuing on to ChiTown. This truck stop included numerous restaurants, a movie theater, shops, a truck parts store, and even a dentist. Its actually more like a mini-mall. When we finally arrived in Chicago, the first thing on our minds was to get something healthy to eat from a familiar place. Thus, we headed for an old faithful, Whole Foods, for organic salads. Afterwards, we drove around a bit and admired the skyline before calling it a night. On our first full day in Chicago, we drove by Harpo Studios where the Oprah show is filmed, and we browsed the Oprah store. We then headed downtown to the Cloud Gate (the Bean), Grant Park, and Millennium Park. We went to the NikeTown where they had a display of every Jordan shoe in all white. Lorenzo loved it. Next, we headed to Banana Republic where Kim purchased a trench coat she had been eying for weeks, for 50% off. What a deal. After what seemed like much more than a 1 mile walk along North Michigan Ave, also known as the Magnificent Mile, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Grand Lux Cafe, which included lots of veggies and some seared tuna, and headed back to our hotel. The next day we drove a few miles back west to the Aurora Premium Outlets, and while there, we were tempted to purchased a new netbook from the Sony Store to assist us in blogging and keeping you up to date at we travel throughout Europe on the second half of our trip. We couldn't visit Chicago without tasting some deep dish pizza, so went went for some of Chicago's best at Lou Malnati's. Here we picked up a couple of bottles of their famous house sweet vinaigrette. We later checked out the Chicago Bulls stadium, the waterfront, and the world's 3rd largest Whole Foods located in Lincoln Park, which included a fantastic sushi section and many other specialty areas. We ended the evening with a trip to the movie theater to see Brooklyn's Finest on our last night in the Windy City.

Lincoln Nebraska (literally the middle of nowhere)

The world's largest truck stop (Interstate 80 in Iowa)

Harpo Studios (Home of the Oprah Winfrey Show)

Kimalee at the Oprah Store

Cloud Gate (A.K.A., The Bean)

Us at The Bean

Ice skating in the city

Chicago's nighttime cityscape

The Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

Deep Dish pizza at Lou Malnati's

Cheyenne, WY and Denver, CO

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:04:00 +0000

When we left Salt Lake City, we drove through the Rocky Mountains, the last major mountain chain in our drive east. After spending the last few weeks traveling through mountains of varying elevations, we were looking forward to the flat grounds of the midwest. On the other hand, the driving time between stops increased as we drove across the northwest because the cities were few and far between. We decided to stop in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, to rest for the evening.

Some of the many mountains we drove across.

We literally drove through the mountains. Much faster than going over them!

The next morning, we headed to Denver, CO which is about 1.5 hours from Cheyenne. We decided to go to a Denver Nuggets game that evening. It was very exciting to sit amongst thousands of Nuggets fans as the Nuggets beat the Utah Jazz. Unfortunately, Ty Lawson was injured and didn't play, but Lorenzo still got a Lawson shirt and matching socks. The next day we explored downtown Denver and the state capital. We happened to be visiting the capital on a day when the state representatives were voting on medical marijuana, so we watched a rally by medical marijuana supporters which was soon broken up by the Denver Police. It was amazing how so many people who didn't appear to need marijuana for medial purposes rallied so hard for it. We didn't think it helped their cause much. Overall, Denver was one of our favorite cities with great shopping, nice houses and suburbs, and a very active downtown area.

Inside the Pepsi Stadium watching the Nuggets play

Lorenzo and Kim at the Nuggets stadium

Kim in front of the Colorado state capital

A close up of some of the people supporting medical marijuana outside the capital

Boise, ID & Salt Lake City, UT

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:01:00 +0000

Leaving Seattle, we drove through beautiful evergreen lined highways surrounded by snow capped mountains and crystal clear lakes that mirrored the sky above. Entering Boise, we noticed that although the city is the capital of Idaho, it was quite small. It reminded us of Gordonsville or Culpeper in Virginia, with just a tad more to do. Small, but charming, with a homey feel to it. After a two night stay in Boise that included nothing more than just exploring downtown, and a quick look at the capital building, we headed toward Salt Lake City.

Mountain drive to Boise

Oregon evergreeens

Idaho State Capital

After a long drive and before we even checked into our hotel, we drove straight to the Great Salt Lake. The lake spans 1700 square miles and is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere. The high salt concentration allows people to float in the water much easier than in ocean water. Once we got here, we walked the 100-meter beach to the water's edge where we took in views of various species of birds and the surrounding area of mountains and snow. The beautiful colors beyond the lake and into the mountains appeared blue, purple, and grey. After taking in the scenery, we stopped off at the FYE Superstore where we picked up some rare DVD's for Dad and Aunt Linda, and headed to our hotel. The next day we explored downtown including Temple Square (symbolic heart of the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints), the state capital building, and the University of Utah and Olympic Park (home to the 2002 Winter Olympics). We regret that we didn't have time to travel 90 minutes away to the Bonneville Salt Flats State Park - the 30000 acre natural wonder where they test speed cars. But, we'll catch it on the next trip. All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Salt Lake City. Next stop, Cheyenne, WY and Denver, CO.

Snowy drive through Utah

The Great Salt Lake

Scenic views around the Great Salt Lake

Us cuddling to stay warm in the wind of the Lake

The Salt Lake at night

The Utah State Capital Building

Kim's favorite spot on this trip. She relaxes while Lorenzo drives.

Seattle, WA

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:03:00 +0000

On the way to Seattle, we stopped off to view Mount St. Helen's. Mount St. Helen's looked so serene and beautiful that it was hard to believe that just 30 years ago it caused the deadliest volcanic event in the history of the United States. Once in Seattle, our first stop was the Space Needle. We rode the elevator up 520 feet to the observation deck where we were able to see 360 degree views of the city. The observation deck has both inside and outside viewing sections, which we greatly appreciated because it was extrememly cold and windy outside. We saw dense downtown skyscrapers, a working port, neighborhoods, and the snowcappped mountains in the distance. We were even lucky enough to time our visit so that we were able to see the views during the day, at sunset, and at night. After the Space Needle, we caught a bite to eat at a nearby Thai restaurant and called it a night.

Mount St. Helen's in the distance.

The Space Needle

The view of the Seattle waterfront from the Space Needle.

A view of the downtown area at dusk.

Kim and Lorenzo on the Space Needle.

The next day we took a 15 minute drive out to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. We stopped at the visitors center and the Microsoft museum where we learned about Microsoft's history and how Bill Gates started it all and about the company's current and developing technologies. Here you can play XBOX, listen to Zune, browse software on laptops and even test Microsoft Surface. We then browsed the Microsoft store where we saw employees picking up loads of discounted software. We left Microsoft for a late breakfast at IHOP on National Pancake Day, then headed to the REI flagship store near downtown Seattle. Downtown Seattle has a large variety of restaraunts and tons shops and we ended the day by shopping and eating downtown.

Microsoft headquarters

Lorenzo added his picture and message to a screen at the Microsoft visitor center.

Lorenzo joining the Microsoft founders.

Despite the windy and overcast weather, the next morning we walked from our hotel near the Space Needle to Pike Place Market which is located on the waterfront near the downtown. The Market is full of little specialty shops and restaraunts and stands selling fresh seafood, fruits, and vegetables. As we wandered around, we smelled dried lavendar and fresh flowers and saw purple potatoes and a giant octopus. We also tasted chocolate pasta and ate a humongous oatmeal cookie and a delicious apple pastry from a small Russian restaraunt called Piroshky, Piroshky.

Pike Place Market

Giant octopus at Pike Place Market

Kim taking a bite of a yummy apple pastry.

Lorenzo enjoying a mushroom and broccoli pastry.

Portland, OR

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:16:00 +0000

The 10 hour trek from San Francisco to Portand was like one long, continuous uphill drive. Although the drive was long, it was also very scenic with views of snow capped mountains and an abundance of evergreen trees. When we finally reached Portland, we were highly impressed by the downtown skyline and both agreed that it was the best one yet. Although we were visiting Portland, we technically stayed in an apartment-like hotel (Staybridge Suites) across the state line in Vancouver, Washington. On our first full day in Portland, we went downtown to checkout the Nike flagship store and also braved the cold Portland wind to walk to Voodoo Doughnuts where we waited in line for an hour to try six doughnuts including the Bacon Maple Bar, Grape Ape, and Apple Fritter. After tasting the absolutely amazing doughnuts and seeing the other 70 people also waiting in line, it was clear to us why native Portlanders consider this place an institution. Voodoo Doughnuts, like the rest of Portland, is a bit alternative, but this is a quality Portlanders are very proud of. After exploring downtown, the rest of our time in Portland was spent watching Redbox movies and taking a break from the fast-paced travel of the last few weeks.

Some of the hills we encountered on the drive to Portland.

The evergreens and mountains of Oregon.

The outside of the flaship Niketown in Portland.

The line at Voodoo Doughnuts

The Voodoo Doughnuts menu

A few of the doughnuts we tried - Grape Ape, Apple Fritter, and Bacon Maple Bar.

Evidence of Portland's pride of its weirdness.

Silicon Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Lorenzo and Kim) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:33:00 +0000

Considering that Lorenzo started his own web company and does social media marketing, we took an inspirational pilgrimage to the tech biz Mecca, including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Stanford University.

We first stopped at search giant Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Here we visited the vast campus which includes its own ampitheater, movie theater, and various restaurants. Google's campus is located in a large business park area, away from the rest of Silicon Valley, that also houses companies like Intuit. Isolation often births creative focus. There is an overwhelming presence of creativity, innovation and individuality here. Lorenzo couldn't help but to feel inspired and empowered in his current business ventures. While at the visitor's center in front of the main campus building, we suprisingly got the opportunity to see Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin outside on the way to a meeting. Though this guy is worth $15 billion, he appeared very unassuming, wearing jeans and a hoodie as he hopped on a bicycle to ride to the next building, with an iphone in one hand and a laptop tucked under his arm. This is creative capital in the flesh.

Google

Next we traveled only 10 minutes to the home of Apple Computers, Cupertino, CA. This area is much more built up than Mountain View. On this campus you will find employees checking their iphones while walking to the company shuttle buses. We went to the flagship company Apple store, where mostly all products are the same as you would find at any other Apple store across the country. But, this store did have a lot more apparel including our favorite, a t-shirt that stated "I've Visited The Mothership".

Apple

Apple visitor's center and company store

From Apple we drove to Sunnyvale to visit Yahoo. Yahoo is housed in a more residential area in twin silver buildings with the purple Yahoo logo, and unlike Apple, does not welcome visitors. Not much to see here. No one was outside as they were at both Google and Apple. Looks like their freely creative, experiential and playful business model has not yet rubbed off on Yahoo. Work-life balance doesn't seem to be as much of a priority, and maybe is what is affecting their marketshare and recruiting of the brightest minds on the planet.

Yahoo

Yahoo headquarters

We later went to Facebook, located in Palto Alto in what looks like an old library building in a residential area near Stanford University. Here you will see many flags of various countries and universities around the world, hanging over bright young creative minds hunkered down at their computers coming up with the next great social media creation. One of these flags included The University of North Carolina. Even Facebook is a Tarheel fan.

Facebook

Facebook headquarters inside old library

We passed through Stanford University and before heading out towards Sacramento, we stopped off in Menlo Park, CA, the home of the Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors that provide the financial fuel for these tech companies to go from university start-ups, to web giants. Here you will find many beige colored buildings with little to no signage nestled along Sand Hill Road, and housing such power players as Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and many others.

3000 Sand Hill Rd. The place to be if you're searching for Venture Capital.

Lorenzo left this area full of inspiration, knowledge, connections, and ready to work. Next stop, Sacramento.