Germany and the open road

We are off once again. We headed out from the little town we got stranded in to go to Hildeshime, Germany where we were going to visit an exchange student my Aunt Lulu (hi auntie lulu) And Uncle David (hi unca d) had staying with them this past year. The drive was beautiful and we discovered that Germany is a lot like Oregon as far as the trees and even climate goes. It was pretty amazing to go from the hilltops of the Alps to the valley below. I've discovered that I LOVE driving in other countries. You got it! Germany really doesn't have a speed limit. Oh they have posting and such but people don't necessarily follow them. I played leap frog with a few cars and just enjoyed the road until I looked down and realized I was driving and 200 kl/hr! Yeppers! I did it! And we are still alive with no scratches or dents on the car to prove it! What we didn't realize with this part of our trip was that we would end up driving accross almost the whole country! Oh well...we're on vacation we don't really care.


We finally met up with Michael and he took us to 3 hotels before we found one with any space. This hotel was perfect for Taylor and I, right in the middle of their main square. It was pretty and quaint all at the same time. Our hotel is the white building in the picture and Taylor couldn't help but read me some of the history of the city. She's always in learning mode and helps to keep me sharp so I didn't mind that at all! :)



Because of the silly car breaking down we were only able to spend one night in this cute city and with Michael. What a sweet guy and his friend Madeline too was very nice! They showed us arround and even took us to a club that night. Not really our scene but it was fun to see where some of the locals hang out. So we met for lunch and had a great time.




















They wanted to see our pictures of Greece and who are we to decline such a request so we sat at lunch with my computer and showed them all our pics....boy did we take a lot! Then...they picked up the tab!! What sweet people! We were sad that we had to go. It would have been fun to

spend a little more time in this area but none the less...tomorrow we head for home!











For those of you who don't know me very well....I'm a sucker for clouds! This shot was of sundown on taken while Taylor held the steering wheele for me so that I ddin't miss the beauty of the sky this night!

Hope you are all well!
OXOX,
Tamara

Salzburg, Innsbruck and anywhere else we happen to be in Austria....

Well the flight from Athens to Munich was pleasant and sad at the same time. We loved Greece so much and will make plans to visit again!! Once we landed we found the rental car agency and they had our car ready and available to us. We did ask for GPS this time however, Taylor didn't want the silent treatment as my navigator and I didn't want any reason to give her the silent treatment! So we were supposed to have a A class Mercedes but with navigation ended up getting a C class. Lets just say we love the car...until today! More about that later!

Salzburg was a destination I wanted to go to having been there before and knowing how wonderful it was. However, we quickly realized that it was a sleepy little town compared to where we had just come from. They close the shops at about 5 pm and we're not exactly sure where people go or what they do in the evenings. So the first night there we ended up meeting some people from a German soccer team. So we went to a "disco" with them for a bit then headed back to our hotel only to have them howling outside our window...they didn't know it was our window however!

Our next day in Salzburg was my birthday! We first got up at 8 am but it was really 7 am...Taylor is a stickler about time and didn't realize her clock was an hour off still. We caught a tour bus for The Sound of Music tour. That was pretty fun. After that we went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit...i believe we even laid down for a nap and both of us zonked out! We got ready for the evening and headed out to dinner at the fortress! It was very pretty up there. We had a pleasant dinner then a concert in one of the ballrooms. 4 string quarted played Mozarat music for us and it was very much enjoyable!

The next day we decided to head out to Innsbruck. There is a lot to do and see here! It has been most enjoyable and today we even met a great gal named Susie from Austraila (hi Susie) and did a few things arround town with her. I won't really write much about Innsbruck because a picture really does tell a better story. It is up here in the Alps and very breathtaking views from all sides! So we got on the road arround 4ish to head to Hildsheim, Germany to hook up with one of Aunt Lulu's old exchange students.

We wern't on the road 15 minutes when something was going wrong with the car (brand new and no one had dirven it but us).....pulled over to the side of the road and the car has no guts at all!! We did manage to get to a Mercedes dealership where we met a very nice man who was helping us out but unfortunately ended up being put up in a hotel here in the little town of Thaur....there is NOTHING to do here....I repeat NOTHING!! They took our car and put us in a cab to stay here we're hoping the car is done tomorrow!! We did manage to have a nice walk arround the town (no people out or any shops open) and we had a nice dinner!

One of the funny things we noticed here at the hotels was that they don't really put sheets on the bed. In Salzburg we even had the guy from the reception area come up and check because he didn't understand what we meant but at this little hotel and the one last night....they all do it the same!

Well...I hope everyone is doing great. Taylor and I are fine, she's healthy and I'm still fighting this stupid cold I caught in Santorini and we're getting a lot of sight seeing in! Tomorrow we're hoping to head up to Germany then Friday we head home! Can't believe we are on the tail end of the trip!

Loves to everyone,

Tamara

Our fun and exciting recap of Greece

Well…tonight is our last night in the land of Greek men, shopping, and restaurants. We thought we’d share with you some of our observations and funny quips.

One of the favorites: We asked a local why there weren’t any female waiters….his response….girls can’t put the things in the fridge. Now as an American….I’m totally willing to adopt that line of thinking and will now have to find a man slave to put the groceries away for me! ~ Athens

During a regular conversation with another Albanian “local” he seemed to think that every time we said or did something right it was cause for a high five! ~ Crete

Dining at breakfast at Casa Delfino, it might be a good idea to bring an umbrella to cover your head and food because of the random tree droppings that might pelt you. ~Crete

Walking along the streets you need to be sure footed because the streets are paved with marble. Flip flops slip and can cause serious injury! Thankfully a skinned knee was all that happened! By the way…it wasn’t Taylor who fell! ~Athens

Dining is quite the experience but watch out for those waiters who “like to touch” and perhaps the price tag of the meal. Getting surprised by the bill is not an easy face to conceal, however can be softened by a bottle of local wine. ~Santorini

Never travel on a ferry in high wind and on the top deck of the boat. This can cause severe stomach upset which might require one of those fun little bags to hang on to. Fortunately the bag was not needed but both of us were sick. Some advice was to actually eat something! ~Somewhere in the middle of the ocean

When choosing a restaurant to eat at, don’t make eye contact with the barkers and hold out until they offer free food, dessert or drinks. ~Athens, Crete, Santorini, and Crete

Best dinner advice, bring a hollow leg. One night we had dinner and dessert….TWICE! Were we hungry for a second meal?? Of course not but when someone offers you free food are you really going to turn it down? ~Crete

Drinks….let’s just say if you don’t drink you will after Greece! And I will say….what happens in Greece stays in Greece therefore no questions please, however I’m concerned I’ve turned Taylor into a lush! Hmmm Germany here we come. ~EVERYWHERE

Our new favorite word is…Piknos….look it up! We used it everywhere! ~ Everywhere

If you think you’re going to come to Greece and be able to read their paper, billboards, signs, menus or anything written in Greek for that matter…forget it! Just ask the locals how to say it and then commit it to memory! ~Everywhere

Pictures taken in a museum are to be “serious” pictures not funny ones….heaven forbid we have a good time with the naked statues! By the way…she made us delete them before she would let us leave! ~Athens

While at a posh hotel and wanting to get out of your shell a little bit…try not breaking the pool! And when it is broken be sure to run, hide and avoid any questions that may come up! ~ Mykonos

Know your own strength! When a book falls behind the bed be sure to survey how the headboard is attached to the wall so as not to cause plaster to come off the wall while you’re heaving it with all your might! ~ Santorini

While dining beware of adorable young kids who come to give you flowers and in their broken English they say “for took” instead of to have! We couldn’t resist him!! ~ Athens

It’s not every day you’re given a free rose from some mystery man and if he looks creepy just don’t make eye contact! ~Athens

Getting your morning exercise may require avoiding donkeys, donkey droppings and other tourists. ~Santorini

Driving rules for Crete 101! Rule number 1…there aren’t any rules! ~Crete

Foreign meat markets are not just for buying meat…they can also be a great way to meet guys...especially frisky ones but be careful and know where their hands are!! I just about slapped one of them for being a little too touchy feely with Taylor. ~Athens

When learning new words from Albanian’s be sure you know what you’re saying before repeating it to another Albanian! ~Crete

Throw the map out the window and pay a taxi driving to get you to the hotel! ~Crete

“Hi, where you live?” “Portland, Oregon” Quizzical look to which we responded “California” and then came the understanding. Seems everyone knows where California is but no one knows where Oregon is located! ~Everywhere

Girls are made of sugar, that’s why they always like dessert! ~Athens

Heaven forbid you try to pour your own water! The waiter watching from afar sprinted and leapt over chairs to fill our glass so that we didn’t have to lift a finger! ~Mykonos

They say blondes have more fun and we think in Greece it is true, perhaps too much fun! ~Everywhere

We’re not sure how it happened but we think we’re a part of 2 opposing mafia families! The benefits? Free food and drinks! ~Crete and Athens

Look up, make eye contact and you will have a friend for life. In Greece don’t be an introvert! They are very fun, easygoing and exciting people to get to know! ~ Greece!

Fashion forward thinking…capros, aka man Capri pants. Look out American men…they’re on their way! ~Everywhere

Sleep? Who needs it?

So tomorrow we head off to Munich and driving to Salzburg to spend the weekend and my birthday! We will be there for 3 nights then head back to Munich to see how we can get in trouble there! We have had a wonderful time in Greece and are sad to leave but this was all an introduction to the place we fell in love with and are sure we want to visit again.

Here we are in Mykonos

After a much better ferry ride this time and meeting a guy who was a former ER doctor from Atlanta we arrived on the island of Mykonos.


Mykonos is the place for relaxing! We spent some time out at the pool and were surprised when we jumped in that it was salt water. They have a swim up bar and an area deck for lounging and having lunch. To say the least our hotel was absolutely amazing with the view of the ocean from our room to the outstanding service and great food.

We spent 3 nights on Mykonos and went into town 2 of those nights. They have a bay area similar to some of the other islands but this place was hopping. We realized not to long into our trip that this was not exactly what we had expected.

After much thought we decided we’d rather spend a couple more days in Athens seeing what we could there and so decided to make those arrangements. Stay tuned for more from Athens…..

Beautiful Santorini

We are packing up already to head out of Santorini but had a wonderful time here! Pictures are of course worth a thousand words! Taylor and I have been amazed at the differences between each place we've been and it's hard to pick a favorite spot because they have been so diverse.

Santorini is built on the flat spot on the island and then down into the cliffs. The drive up here is quite the experience and not for the weak hearted. You start at sea level then before you know it you're staring out over the cliffs to the sea way down below. The contrast of colors is amazing and the people here are just as friendly as in the other places we've been. Taylor and I keep wondering where'd we would live if we chose to live in Greece.

Our first day was seeing the city of Fira which is where our hotel is located. They are probably the largest of the cities here on Santorini. After seeing a little of the town we headed to the pool and relaxed for a bit. Second day was spent on a sail boat going to the volcano island and swimming in the Aegean Sea. The water is so clear and very salty. We met 2 different couples while on board one from Australia and one from Canada. We don't seem to have a difficult time meeting people. :)

Our last day was spent back in the town a little bit looking arround but after Taylor climbed down the stairs and then back up....quite the workout. I chose to stay behind at a table watching her from the top - I was too much of a chicken! We did a little more laying out by the pool, I took a nap (trying to fight off a cold) and then we met our friends from San Diego for dinner in Oia.

All and all Santorini is a great place to visit and I have many more pictures to put up but not enough time! Many more stories but not enough time or space to write it all down so we'll have to fill everyone in when we get home. Hope you are all enjoying the pictures!

Today we're off to Mykonos for 5 nights!

Catching up with Crete

So I thought I'd fill you in on Crete. Once we finally found our hotel we realized how close we were to everything. We have lucked out with loacations...our travel agent has done a great job at finding just the right spots.

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and also seemed like quite the melting pot of people there. There were a lot of Albanians and Taylor and I seem to meet people pretty easily. On our last night there we were sitting at a table with poeple from Ireland, Albania, Germany and Kasakstan.

We did a lot of driving on Crete. The town or city was close but activities were a little drive. They have Europes best voted beach so of course we had to find that. Some of the drive had big cliffs and no guard rails but obviously we sruvived it enough to tell about it! We met a nice family who was staying in our hotel and were also headed to Santorini when we were. They were traveling from San Diego and have their 2 daughters with them. We have plans for dinner together when we get to Santorini.

Crete was relaxing and fun. We did beaches both days we were there and then walked around the little town we were in just to explore and of course take any pictures we could. We ended up having our last dinner at the same place we had our first dinner. The food was great and the wait staff was a lot of fun and I was impressed that they remembered both our names. I'm sure they do that a lot to get people to come back. I've added some pics for you guys to see and I'll have to catch you up on Santorini when I have more time.

Love you all! oxox

And they say California drivers are crazy.....

Our day started as most of the other days have....Taylor waking me up telling me to hurry so we don't miss anything....me begging for 5 more minutes of sleep only to give in to the excitement of getting out there and experiencing all that we possibly could. Actually today however, was a bit different. We had breakfast at a quaint little cafe on one of the squares near the hotel but this was after packing up our bags to head south.

Today we headed to Crete, the biggest of the Greek Islands. The arial shots were from the plane and of course Taylor and I can't resist the opportunity to click a picture of ourselves! ;) We had the most adorable couple sitting in front of us and kind of made me want to take their picture. Once we landed in Crete we headed to the rental car company to get our car.

This was my first experience driving in a foreign country and let me tell you...it was quite the experience! We were told it was a bout a 45 minute drive from the airport to the hotel....if you can find the hotel! We headed down the highway the wrong way and had to turn arround. I learned to drive in California but the drivers here are WAY worse! The roads aren't painted very well, if they want to pass you you're supposed to drive in the shoulder and NO ONE does any thing close to the speed limit. So after realizing I could drive this way....it was loads of fun. I think there were a couple times I kind of freaked Taylor out...she made comments like "maybe we could drive a little slower to enjoy the scenery".

She is the master navigator! We got so lost once in the city of Chania. We finally realized we kept driving arround in circles so we decided to stop for lunch. First thing we did when we sat down was pull out our map and ask the kind waiter where we were!

They keep giving us free drinks and dessert here! It's crazy! After lunch we decided to hop in the car again and try to find our hotel. Let me just say I used to think the one way and no right or left turn streets were confusing in Portland....they are nothing like that here! They are way way worse! After realizing I was driving through the middle of their market, closly clipping a moped and being completly frustrated I was laughing, I told Taylor "thats it....we're going to pay somone to get us to our hotel!" So thats exactly what we did! Nice older man must have thought we were somewhat strange to be asking for such a thing but once we got there he had us park our car in the lot then jumped in his cab to ride for a block only to discover that the street we needed to go to didn't allow cars to travel down there! I asked him what I owed him and he said whatever so I pulled out 10 euro and he gave me back 5 AND....2 nuts! Why??? Not exactually sure! But he did...I still have mine to prove it! ;)

We checked into our hotel and an nice bellhop offered to get our bags with us from the car (3 blocks away). He had a hand truck so don't worry! On our way back from the car he was making comments about how he hoped we weren't on the top floor of the hotel and.....you guessed it! We are on the top floor with no elevators. It is soooooo beautiful here! Come to findout however, we had lunch just about 5 blocks from our hotel!

More to come....

Sad....our last night in Athens!!!

After Taylor killed me going on the stairs earlier today (notice the view from the top of the hill and the busy street way way way down there.....thats where we started!)

and after we showered and changed for dinner we headed out to our favorite spot. We like to call it the square. We had great conversation....I think Taylor more puts up with my stories and antics then anything, great food and great atmospher.

We ended up looking for our friend Nikolas (aka Taylors idea of my husband)because he had invited us to drinks the night prior and I declined because it was late. Tonight we joined him at his table after we had dinner. Again the conversation with him was good and Taylor ended up giving him the bowl she brought so we of course used that as another photo opportunity and then he asked for a picture with me as well.....what was I suppose to say! And of course I love pictures!

We have had so much fun here in Athens it's almost sad to leave again! We are looking forward to our flight tomorrow to Crete (Kriti) and to see what the island life is like!

Stay tuned!