Paris with the Edmonds

Well, we figured it was time for us to update the blog. It's crazy how fast time can go by when everyone is back to work.

We were lucky enough to have the Edmonds out to visit in July. We went to Paris, Normandy and a few places in Germany. Paris was warm, but beautiful as always. Here are some of our highlights.

Going up the tower at night is a must. We ended up going right before midnight! I couldn't believe how awake my parents were at this point. They must drink a lot of coffee!

Notre Dame was very busy that day, but we were lucky enough to go inside and take a look around before mass started.

The Louvre is always bigger than anyone imagines. My mom and dad are standing in the hall filled with royal jewels.

Bern, Switzerland - 10K race

Joslyn, Kelsey, Teri and I ran in the Bern Fraulaufen (Bern Woman's Race) in June. It was a lovely trip.

It was 85 degrees the day of the race, but many people had out sprinklers and hoses to cool us off. I'm rounding my 5k mark in this picture.

Kelsey, Teri, me and Joslyn before the race.

This is the "after" picture.

London Polo Match and Ball

Our friends from London, Derek and Leah, invited us to the Hurlingham Polo Match and Ball last month. It was definitely an "old English" tradition which we enjoyed very much. We always have so much fun with Derek and Leah.

Off to the ball!

Beers as big as your head! Munich, Germany

Munich was much bigger than I thought it would be. We took a 4 hour train from Zurich to the main station, and we spent 3 days exploring the city that was almost completely destroyed in World War II. Some people say that the rebuilding reminds them of Disneyland because the buildings were rebuilt to look just as they were. I'm grateful that Munich rebuilt their city in this way because it shows us what it really looked like in the past.... something beautiful.

I am standing at the famous Hofbrauhaus. This place was HUGE! You could only get beer by the liter. Crazy!

One cannot go to Munich, the birth place of Oktoberfest, without drinking a liter beer. We went to a beergarden in the English Gardens and had some local brew. Wow!

This is the Rathuas (Town Hall) which was not destroyed by World War II bombs. Amazing.

The view unto Odeonplatz was just beautiful at sunset.

This is taken in the English Gardens which are right in the middle of the city. It's a cross between Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York.

Our friends from Zurich, Natty, Tony and Esme were also in Munich this weekend. We meet up for a fish dinner.

Our hotel had many old BMW cars on display. I couldn't help but take a picture with the German cars that we know and love.

The Almalfi Coast - Wow!!

I have to say again... I LOVE Italy! There are so many cool, chic, relaxing, exciting, historical and beautiful towns to see. We flew into Naples just over Mt. Vesuvius and took a bus to Sorrento. We stayed in Sorrento for three days, spent a day in Capri, and then we stayed in Positano for three days. The views were just spectacular!




Capri. This place was just gorgeous. It was described as Octavian Augustus Ceaser's playground, and they were not kidding. The views were just spectacular!

We were very lucky to take a trip to Pompeii, an ancient city destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D. The city was covered up for over 1000 years before excavation work began. This place was HUGE! The volcanic ash completely kept the city intact.

This is a dining room in Pompeii. You can still see the paint.


The eruption happened so quickly and no one had seen such a sight before. Therefore, many people stayed put waiting to see what the eruption would do. The above picture is a plaster cast that was formed within a hole in the ash/muc during excavations. The hole was where this body had died.

Over 2,000 years, the body decomposed as normal, but left a vacant space within the ground. Plaster was poured into the wholes to see what would result. Once the plaster dried, the archeologists peeled the dirt of the figures and discovered shapes of people in their last moments on earth.

This would have been a still fountain in someones foyer. The pool itself was made completely out of marble.

We took a 4 1/2 hour hike from Positano to Priano. It was called "The Path of the Gods." It really lived up to it's name due to the high cliffs, beautiful views, and unbelievable nature.

It ended up being a much harder hike then we expected. This sign tells us that we have already climbed 1700 steps. We had at least 300 left to get to the top of the cliff.

You can see where the path takes us along the cliff side.

Back at our hotel room in Positano, we were able to relax and take in the views from our balcony.

I believe Positano is the most picturesque city in the Almalfi Coast. Capri is of course unbelievable, and Sorrento was busy and fun, but I really loved Positano.

If you would like to see more pictures from our trip, click the link below.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=193231240510816370/l=709417016/g=7389791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Lisbon with just the girls

I was lucky enough to travel with two great girls, Nadia and Molly, to Lisbon, Portugal for four days during my two week Spring Break. We had such a great time!






This church was almost completely destroyed in an earthquake. It's now an open air museum. Just beautiful.
We took a trip out to Sintra, a town just west of Lisbon, and ended up in a beautiful castle with gardens. This is a picture of a grotto we found after we were running through a dark cave.

Here is just a small part of what was in the gardens at the castle in Sintra.

Nadia, Molly and I had a picture taken from the castle in Lisbon overlooking the entire city.

We also ended up in Cascais, a great beach town up the coast from Lisbon. Of course I had to have a picture in front of a pink house!

Walk like an Egyptian...

I think this trip may qualify as one of our favorites due to the simple fact that we had the best of both worlds. We stayed in a great resort on the Red Sea with great food. We had beautiful climate to lay on the beach. Plus, we traveled 2 days throughout Egypt to visit some of the oldest historical sights in the world. If you hadn't noticed, Scott and I are sort of dorks when it comes to preparing for trips. We always read through travel books, watch documentary's, and read some historical fiction books about the area. I'd have to say we prepared more for Egypt than most of our trips.


Our room right off of the Red Sea.

This is a Sheesha. It's very similar to the Hookah that we have in the states. I think this is what gave me a nasty cough at the end of the vacation. =)

One day we took a bus to Luxor to see The Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatsepsuts Temple, and the Temple Karnak. Wow! We visited King Tut's tomb as well as 3 other Pharoah's on the Valley of the Kings. The Temple Karnak is 62 acres large!!! Can you imagine? It was being built for 1,000 years. Each Pharoah would build onto this amazing sight.

I bought a bracelet in Egypt that shows the cross like symbol in the above hieroglyph. It means to have a good life.

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The first Queen of Egypt to name herself a Pharoah.

Cairo. This place was crazy! It was similar to Mexico City, but you can see the pyramids in the background. !

We first went to visit The Citadel in Cairo. We had to take our shoes off as soon as we entered the mosque. Beautiful.

Scott inside the mosque.

We went into one of the pyramids, but we couldn't take pictures. It was very small, and it was almost scary because we had to go up and down stairs while bending down through the small tunnels. Unbelievable