Neuschwanstein, Obersalzburg and Königsee = Fairytale Land

I don't have to say much in this post. The pictures say it all. They were taken in southern Germany this summer. We did "technically" take the first picture, but since it was of a poster, it's at an angle that's impossible for a tourist to take and it doesn't snow in September, I can't take credit :)).

Neuschwanstein Castle (King Ludwig's)

Eagle's Nest, Obersalzburg (Refuge for Hitler during WWII)

St. Bartholomä, Königsee, Berchtesgaden (Bavarian Alps)

I don't know how the Germans manage to keep such touristy places so peaceful, but they do a great job.

No Kangaroos in Austria

Now, I'm only a baby world traveller, but Austria is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to. Come to think of it, I've said that about Spain, Italy, and in a few days when I post about Germany I'll probably say it again! But each time I say it, I mean it. I honestly think that it should be mandatory, and included in tuition of course, for every college student to study abroad for a year, whether it be in South America, Europe, Asia...wherever. To experience and understand a culture that is not your own makes you realize just how immense and diverse the world is...enrichment that National Geographic can only attempt to give you!



Here are some photos we took while in Austria this summer. Some of them make you want to break out into song..."The hills are alive..." What impressed me the most was the cleanliness and order. No gum on the streets or trash in the corners. You've always heard about how clean and orderly Germany is...well, I think Austria's got them beat.

There's something about Austria that photos can't describe. The air. I don't know what it is I've been breathing all my life, but I think I took my first real breath of oxygen in the Alps. Every once in awhile I could hear Jose just breathing deeply. Soaking in every drop of air that his lungs would allow. Cool, crisp, clean, fresh. It was what air should be like. Pure.

I thank God for giving me the desire, the opportunities, and the means to know small parts of the puzzle. I'll never have all the pieces, but I treasure each piece that lets me see just a little bit more of the big picture. The rest I'll just have to get from National Geographic, I guess :)

Autumn

Here are just a few reasons why autumn is my favorite season:

• The changing color of the leaves on trees


• Jumping in piles of raked leaves


• Football


• Pumpkin patches


• Apple cider


• Warm boiled peanuts in a brown paper bag


• Hay rides


• Days that are sunny and cool, but not cold


• Warm roasted chestnuts in a newspaper cone (Santiago, Spain)

• Fleece


• Hot tea


• Trick or treaters


• Camp fires


• and the list goes on...

(Note: I can't take credit for the pictures. I found them online from various sources--Kevin Thom, Denis Flood, modernluddites, and alfanet)

In the twinkling of an eye ~ Merchant of Venice

Our first stop of the trip was Venice. It is an absolutely beautiful city. People have told me in the past that I wouldn't like it and that it was dirty, smelly and full of rats. So not true. I loved every minute of walking through the streets, crossing over bridges, getting lost in the back canals, and jumping from Vaporetto to Vaporetto.

I must say that my favorite thing about Venice was not the canals or the boats or the carnaval masks (all of which I really liked, mind you). What I loved the most were the PIGEONS!!

Here are a few of the shots my dad took...

Rules of the Road

Having driven for 10 years in the US means nothing to the Spanish DMV. I wouldn't be so peeved if it just meant spending 15 Euros and taking a quick test, however there seems to be a Driver's Ed mafia looming in Spain. The only way to get a driver's licence is by registering with a private "auto school"...registration price...85 Euros. Same as in the States, there's a written test and a driving test. Price that the Spanish DMV charges to take the written test...83.40 Euros. Before you can do the driving test, the auto school has to give the OK that you're ready. One 45 minute driving lesson with the auto school is 18 Euros. New driver's need between 10 and 12 lessons before they get the OK to take the test. If you happen to fail either the written or the driving test twice you have to pay 185 Euros up front before you can try again, plus you have to take 2 more mandatory private lessons. I'm convinced it's a mafia. People have to take out mortgages just to get their driver's licence!

Anyway, so that's what I'm doing now. Going to driver's ed classes, despite having a driver's licence for 10 years and never having gotten a ticket. The world's gone mad.

Note to self...

...diesel engines require diesel. Simple enough, you might think. Well, not simple enough for the Edwards family. How it's possible for a diesel engine to run for 5 days on gasoline is beyond me, but it did.

In Venice we rented a car and for the next 5 days we travelled to Verona, Padova, Trieste and Belluno, stopping twice to fill her up with GASOLINE. The most logical thing would have been to look at the big print on the fuel cap that said DIESEL before lifting the green, non-leaded gas pump instead of the black one, but that would have been too easy. We thought it would be much more interesting to sit for 2 hours at a gas station with a car that wouldn't run before deciding to call a tow truck, whose driver only spoke really fast Italian (Jose went a long way with the two Italian cassette tapes he had listened to years ago...imagine if he had listened to all sixteen!).

If you've ever seen a tow truck you know that there is only room for 2 maybe 3 people in the cab. We were five total (including the driver). My parents volunteered to ride in the car on top of the tow truck. All the people stared at my two very American parents being towed through a small Italian village. Good times. You have to laugh, cause otherwise you'll cry.

In Italy (and Spain for that matter), "I'll be there in five minutes" is a downright lie. Five minutes is like a milli-second on the Italian schedule. As said so exquisitely on the Princess Bride, 5 minutes is just "inconceivable". Our "five minute" wait for the only taxi available in the entire town to take us to the car rental place turned out to be around and hour wait in tow truck garage with mosquito assassins.

Needless to say, we finally got to the car rental counter at the Treviso airport to pick up a new car. Final words to the car rental man as we left the parking lot: "Diesel?" His response: "Diesel."

National Lampoon's European Vacation

We got back to Santiago on Saturday at midnight after a 14 day European adventure. Pictures and stories to come (I have to get everything organized in my mind first...lots happened to us). It was one of those holidays where you keep looking around to find the hidden candid camera. To be continued...

New Design

With all this free time on my hands now, I decided to give my blog a make-over. Hope you like it!

Tangled

This is what my brain looks like right now. I haven't quite disconected from my project yet. Today I sent it off in the mail, which was the final step towards sanity. But I still have a feeling of anxiety inside from it all. I'm a creature of habit...It's hard to get used to not having to do anything! Hopefully vacation time will cure me.

I'm Back!!

I am officially back to the blogging world. It's been a long and hard 3 months of translating, researching, project writing, and more translating, but it's OVER! I feel giddy. Now I just have to sit back and wait for my Master's diploma to come in the mail (that is if they pass my final project). I need a vacation.

Funny I should mention needing a holiday, because on Saturday we're going to Northern Italy and Austria for 2 weeks! Here in Spain, most people take a full month's vacation during the summer, either in July or August, so it's been hard for us to see all the happy people in the sidewalk cafes and going to the beach with no cares or worries while we've been working our tails off day and night. But now it's our turn! (I've already to decided to let out an extremely loud yodel when I'm in the mountains of the Tirol.)

As of for now, I'm going to go do a little cleaning (3 months of doing nothing calls for action) and then I'm going to sit down and finish reading Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber (in Spanish), which I started about 6 months ago and never had time to finish, with a nice cup of coffee. It's a cute book series and helps me with Spanish vocabulary.

That's all for now...hopefully my current scientific mindset will become a little more creative after a little travelling:)