Surf's Up - Portugal

Back in the Fall of 2014 we went on our first LBS trek. It was a Surfin Safari to Baleal Portugal.  The weather was warm and sunny.  The beaches were sandy and beautiful.  And we had a blast surfing during the day, eating large in the evening and socializing late into the night.  Below are some highlight pictures.

One of Baleal's many choice beaches for catching the waves

This is Turco he was our guide.

We had surf lessons in the morning and afternoon for two straight days.  We were fortunate enough to be in the group led by Turco.  Turco was amazing.  He would lead us on these long and hilarious stretching exercises that were probably quite helpful.  He had energy, he had passion and on the first day he was the most nicest and encouraging guy.  Turco even took cool photos for and with us.

Taking lessons from the legend

Day 2 Turco was a different story.  He was a task master telling us to paddle left then paddle right then go deep then come back into the shallow water.  It was brutal and exhausting and he would mock us if we weren't paddling hard enough.  While it was a bit discouraging, we can't argue with the results.  We caught some awesome waves and rode them a long ways into shore.  Definitely one of our best surfing adventures yet.

After the lessons we'd relax a bit back at the lodge.

Megan on the Indoboard

 Then we'd head out for awesome but lengthy dinners.  The Portuguese diet is heavy on steak, fries, fish and wine.

Teddy and Jeff giving the thumbs up for a great meal

Megan and Darren showing us their model side.

The team organizing drinks - there were 30 of us total

That weekend there was a professional surf competition in town.  It was a huge attraction; locals and tourists both showed out in force for the event.  Megan even got to meet one of the surfers.

Panorama of the surf competition.  Huge crowds and huge waves.

Megan met a surf pro!

Our buddy Tom.  He's a riot.

Berlin Germany with the Zipfs

In mid November we visited Berlin Germany with Stef Zipf (one of Megan's bridesmaids), James Denue, Stef's parents and her brother.  Stef's mother grew up in Germany and her father was stationed in Berlin for a few years during the Cold War, so it was a great opportunity to learn from former locals.  They showed us around to some of the key historical attractions and they taught us about German culture.

Enjoying a beer with the Zipf family!

Us at the Brandenburg Gate

Historical Berlin

It's hard to think of a city more intertwined with the history of the 20th century then Berlin.  It was the capital of Germany during both World Wars.  Following the defeat of the Nazis in WW2, Berlin was divided into sectors and West Berlin would be an outpost of democracy surrounded by communist East Germany.  Berlin was the site of a major blockade/airlift, an infamous wall, many espionage adventures, and the fall of communism.  Walking around Berlin you can see many of the building and landmarks that played a pivotal role in world history.  There are bullet holes from the Battle of Berlin in 1945.  There are still standing sections of the Berlin Wall with varying levels of artistic and political graffiti. There is the iconic Brandenburg gate - site of so much history including the fall of the Berlin Wall.  There is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - a bombed out building that was left in disrepair as a testament to the destruction of war.  The list goes on and on

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - left bombed out as it was at the end of WW2

The Berlin Cathedral with a shot of the TV tower to the left and the Altes museum in the foreground.

In addition to the landmarks there are also great museums to see in Berlin.  We visited the DDR museum which shows what life was like under communist rule.  Life under communism started off with optimism and then steadily grew into poverty and despair.  The museum had many interactive components including a driving simulator in a Trabant car, a model communist home, a voting simulation (spoiler: if you don't vote for the communist party it doesn't end well) and a modified foosball game showing the futility of playing for East Germany.  We later found out that the East German secret police (the largest police force ever) would break into people's homes and 1) steal their underwear and 2) move their possessions around to create paranoia and make their victim's questions their sanity.

The infamous Trabant cat - made of plastic, frequently broken and with a waiting list of 14 years!

Modified Foosball at the DDR museum - The East German side
can only defend against the West German side, with no way to score!

Another great museum we visited was the German Historical Museum.  The exhibits were very robust and well constructed.  It was fascinating seeing how Germans portray their role in history.  Besides the museums we took a History Walking Tour.  There we passed by many of the aforementioned monuments and learned more of Germany's history.  It was insightful, moving and thought provoking.  We even learned that the costumed guards at Checkpoint Charlie are actually strippers.

Checkpoint Charlie = tourist trap

New Berlin

While Berlin has a fascinating past, it also has an exciting future.  It's blessed with heaps of amazing art including the aforementioned graffiti.  The Holocaust Memorial is a moving example of great artwork in the physical space.  Berlin also has a thriving technology startup scene.  It's changing industries with new fascinating companies.  The blend of art and technology has created a culture that attract the hip and cool of Europe.

The Holocaust Memorial at Dusk

Another shot of the Holocaust Memorial at dusk.

During our visit the Christmas markets started opening up.  They are a German tradition and although they've inevitably taken a modern slant in terms of goods and availability and location, they still hold some German traditions such as the wood decor and food offered.  It seemed like there were markets everywhere in Berlin and it was only mid November!

Christmas Market at Night

Beer Advent Calendar!  24 days of beer.

Fried Pork Knuckle is fantastic

Berlin has a thriving nightlife scene.  It has both really cool bars and pumping nightclubs.  If you want to party from 3pm on Wednesday night thru 4am on Monday you can do that in Berlin.  Megan and I passed on the club scene though and explored the pub/bar scene.  We sampled quite a few places and they all struck me with their: friendliness - it was easy to interact with locals, beer quality - they had an awesome selection of beers including some from Saugatuck Michigan, music - the music was typically good and always at a perfect volume (not too loud to talk but not too quite that it's awkward) and entertainment - in the form of foosball or shuffleboard or trivia or something else unique and interesting.  Berlin's beer scene was awesome.  Beerlin/Barlin.

German food: pretzels, soups, and sausages with local beer at a German Beer Hall!

The beautiful Brandenburg Gates at night.

A lovely weekend trip to Oxford

Fancy dinner we weren't invited to.  Hogwarts anyone?

Oxford is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation and also one of the prettiest and most unique.  Quick cool fact about Oxford University.  It's older than the Aztecs.

Beautiful building and quad - they are very protective about their quads.

One weekend in September we visited our friend Holden who does his fair share of travel and just completed his MBA at the amazing Said Business School.   He was a gracious host and showed us around the beautiful campus of Oxford, took us to some of the unique pubs and encouraged us to see the beautiful English country side.

One of the oldest public houses in Oxford, complete with low ceiling and crooked floors.

Turf Tavern - where Bill Clinton famously "did not inhale"

Another beautiful school

We also went punting!

Jeff steering the ship (it's hard) while Holden chills

Action shot of Holden

Megan glamour shot

What a day!

Venice: Book Smarts and Canal Smarts

We write from aboard a train in Northern Italy; taking us from Venice to Florence.  The lush green fields with pastel houses are an interesting contrast to the canals and concrete urban-ness of Venice.

We loved Venice.  It’s a controversial tourist destination in that visitors either love or hate it.  We were in the former category based on: our ability to get off the beaten path, our interest in history, and our trip’s timing (late October – good weather with smaller crowds).

Venice’s population of 55 thousand is small relative to the millions of tourists that visit annually.  Consequently the economy is geared to serve tourists.  Common sites included tourists restaurants, stalls hawking souvenirs, gondola drivers offering rides and tourists meandering around with cameras.  There are heaps of tourists traps but there are also just as many great exciting places to try.  We took a great tour on our first full day and were rewarded with dense history, architectural trivia and insider dining tips.  A little bit of research and one can handle the hordes and skip the traps with ease.

San Marco Square - home of the tower and Saint Mark's Basilica

Venice as an idea is really cool.  It’s a city built in a lagoon on mud hills.  It came to prominence during the middle ages when barbarian invasions forced Italians to take safety in the seas.  Venice grew in prominence from the 9^th to the 15^th century.  Venice’s growth was fueled by trade with the East and managed expertly through political and military maneuvering.  Venice’s wealth was concentrated amongst the noble families.  The noble families returned the money to the city through churches, artwork, and celebrations.   Venice today is full of gorgeous churches ornately decorated on the exterior and interiors and chuck full of beautiful artwork.  There are also many museums housing the overflow of great artwork made by Venetian artists or sponsored by wealthy Venetians. 

One of the countless beautiful churches in London

We knew Venice was famous for canals but what surprised us was that it has only canals and sidewalks.  There are no cars, Vespas or bikes allowed.   The majority of buildings are right on top of the canals so getting from one place to another can be tricky as one has to zig and zag through sidewalks and plan strategically to find the bridges.  The first day was quite difficult.  By the second day we learned to use sign posts for key landmarks to navigate through the labyrinth.  Our intrepidness was an asset as we explored the paths less taken and were open to new experiences right around the corner.  The canals make Venice a scenic romantic place with plenty of good photography options.

The mean streets of Venice

Venice provided an opportunity to indulge in Italian cuisine.  We had our fair share of Gelato pre and post dinners.  The first night we found a unique local wine dispensary which provided great wines at low prices.  We purchased bottles of Prosecco and enjoyed them in a piazza at dusk. 

We also sampled an Italian aperitif called Spritz.  It’s a mixture of bitter sweet alcohol with club soda.  It goes down very easily and cleanses the palate to increase one’s appetite.  The Spritz helped clear the way for the pizza.  We found a local place, Ae Oche, that provided great thin crust pizza with a tasty tomato and mozzarella based sauce.  The most interesting type we had was Venetian which had mussels (in the shell), clams, prawns, octopus, crawfish, and calamari.  Somehow it all worked together to provide a tasty seafood experience. 

Lastly I will leave you with a great Mitch Hedberg joke: "In Venice, Italy they don't have streets, they have canals. So in Venice, we gotta keep the kids off the canals. In Venice if you're not book smart, but you do know what's going on, you are canal smart. "I got canal smarts [man]!"

Krakow: Return to the Motherland

After leaving Prague and Cesky Krumlov we took a nigh-train to Krakow Poland.  This was hugely important to Jeffrey as his father's side of the family is 100% Polish with his grandparents coming arriving in the US at a very young age.  Those Polish roots had manifested themselves in cultural traditions such as polish dancing (in polish costume), polish food such as Kielbsa and of course Polish jokes.  Whether it was a romanticism or a sub-conscious drive - Jeffrey did feel connected to Poland and the people there.

Night-Train Night Pain

We took the overnight train from Prague to Krakow.
The Good:

• Train stations are close to the city centers making transport easy
• Sleeping in the train overnight eliminated the cost of a hotel/guesthouse room
• Train travel is relatively authentic

The Bad:

• The tickets from Krakow to Budapest, which we had to book last minute, were expensive
• The bed mattresses were pretty firm
• There wasn't a whole lot of space at the top

Good thing we are both small.

The Ugly:

• We had noisy/obnoxious passengers in our car twice.  First it was two male UK college students who gossiped and complained like spoiled brats.  The second time was three french girls who had a picnic complete with stinky food and loud conversation while we were trying to sleep.
• Temperature control was non-existent making it very hot at the top.

It was survivable and definitely not the worst experience of the trip.  I think I might even recommend it to others if they have a decent pain tolerance and a talent for heavy sleeping.

Once we arrived in Krakow we walked from the train station to our hostel to drop our bags off.  We came across a rather unique scene; groups of folks were marching together singing and carrying banners.  Because of our lack of Polish language skills it was difficult for us to understand.  We tried to use context clues.  One being the high proportion of clergy (priests and nuns) in the procession.  Another being the continuous flow of people and rather up-beat spirit.  

I joked with Megan that in order to figure out what the parade was for, we could follow it to its termination.  Boy was that a bad idea.  We ended up learning that the procession was a pilgrimage to the shrine of Jasna Gora that just started and would last for 10 days and 120 kms.  Safe to say that would of altered our vacation plans a bit.

Instead of walking to Jasna Gora we grabbed a quick breakfast at a local cafe.  It wasn't fancy by any means but filled the void and gave us some energy ahead of our walking tour and museum plans.

No frills Polish Breakfast.

Main Market Square in Krakow

Our sightseeing began at the Main Market Square.  It's the largest medieval town square in Europe.  It's a UNESCO heritage site and the surrounding buildings still have their medieval architecture roots.  In old times the parents would bring their daughters of age into the square and past the cafes in hopes they catch the eye of a young bachelor.  Today there are still many restaurants and cafes where locals and tourists can enjoy the scenery. 

In front of the massive and beautiful Cloth Hall

One of the really cool buildings was the Cloth Hall.  It was the center of trade in Krakow which put itself on the map as a trading town and key stop-off on trade routes through Europe.  In the past exotic spices, foods, and metals were sold there, now its just mainly cheesy souvenirs.  I'm not going to complain too much as I bought both a hat and shirt (fulfilling my polish pride).

Another beautiful building on the Main square is St. Mary's Basilica with two rising towers.  Every hour a trumpeter emerges to play a tune to tell the town everything is alright.  The trumpeter abruptly ends the song mid-note to comemorate a trumpeter that was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm of invading Mongol attack.

St. May's Basilica

The Basilica is very beautiful inside as well.  We dropped in and sad a few prayers and paid respects.  On the outside of the basilica are a number of beautiful memorials including this one of Pope John Paul II (a former archbishop and student of Krakow).

The Town Hall Tower is also a cool site.  It was attached to a complete town hall building but part of it was demolished in efforts to open things up.  Now just the tower remains and it is beginning to lean as it wasn't meant to standalone.

Last picture with dopey me in it for a while.  I promise.

Nice Classical Architecture

We caught a nice walking tour around town and saw these sites as well as the Krakow campus (a very old university) and the Wawel Castle complex.  The Wawel castle was the seat of the Polish empire.  It is composed of the King's residence, many administrative buildings, and beautiful religious buildings.  The Castle towers over the town and is a great spot for views.

Back view of the Castle.

During our walk through town we saw the Opera house.  It looked especially neat at night.

Hostel & Partying

We stayed at Tom and Greg's Beer Hostel.  True story: Tom and Greg's Party Hostel was sold out so we had to settle for the Beer Hostel.  Here we experienced the best and worst of hostel life.  On the good side we met a lot of social people and had no problem making friends.  Every night the hostel hosted drinking events such as Sangria night and a Pub Crawl.  Our first night we took it easy because we were going for some heavy sightseeing the next day at Auschwitz the next day.  Our plans to get a good night sleep were thwarted by hostel shenanigans.  At 4am a drunk belligerent hotel guest pounded on our door for 30 minutes to be let in.  Eventually he realized he was at the wrong room and then passed out on the couch.  Those thirty minutes were painful and awkward.  The next evening we decided to partake in the Pub Crawl to get a heavier night's sleep.  Don't worry we were safe and sound.  The bar and club scene in Krakow is outstanding.

Now that is a Sangria night!

Polish Ethnography Museum

The Polish Ethnography Museum was a hoot.  Maybe not quite as entertaining as the KGB Museum in Prague but just as fascinating.  It's density of artifacts and facts was impeccable.  Each exhibit came with a 10 page report on the thorough history of life in Poland.  For example we spent half an hour learning about early agriculture methods including honey farming.  The museum was more anthropology and less entertainment.  Not for the faint of heart.

Hey Look a Bear - Nope it's a Beehive!

The Polish traditional costumes were particularly cool.  They had over 30 and they traced the differences based on region, class and time period.

Polish Food

I like Polish food but I understand that I'm biased being 50% Polish.  When I told my Italian friend that we enjoyed the food in Poland he said "you must be kidding me.  Even American food is better than Polish food."  (ouch)  I tried my hardest to sell Megan on Polish food and we had a few feasts.  We searched out the best in Kielbasa and Pieorgies - Polish Musts.  At Pierogi Vincent we even tried blueberry pierogis (they had over 30 varieties which you can see at their website http://pierozkiuvincenta.pl/menu).  We also tried a few different foods too.

Golabki - cabbage stuffed with ground beef - tasty sauce

Herring

Home of Pope John Paul II

One of the most famous Krakow residents was Pope John Paul II.  He was a student at the local university and he later became the Archbishop of Krakow.  There is a museum where you can visit where he lived and see some of his artifacts.  There was a variety of stuff like the kayak he owned as a young man, a set of skis, many church outfits and gifts he was given by world leaders.  It was moving and inspiring seeing pictures of him throughout his life.  It made me very proud to be Polish.

Krakow was great.  We enjoyed our short stay and would definitely recommend it to others.