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We had such a fantastic final week of our European Adventure 2015 in Greece with our friends, Jim and Debbie.

Greece is amazing.  The food is delicious and cheap.  Everyone we met spoke at least a little English which made getting around pretty easy.  Except the buses… apparently you have to watch for your bus number coming, then jump out in front of it to get it to actually stop at a designated bus stop.  We did not do that, so we waited for a long time, then eventually took a different bus that someone else got to stop.

We arrived in Greece in the middle of the night and made it to a hotel neat the Piraeus Port.  After sleeping in the next morning, we jumped on an afternoon ferry to Paros Island.  We celebrated with our first Greek beer!

We made to Paros in time to settle into our bunks on the good ship Morpheus before enjoying an incredible dinner right on the water in Paros.  Did I mention that the food was REALLY, REALLY good!  Standard fair included Tzatziki and pita bread, Greek salad, stuffed grape leaves, so much seafood, and yummy veggie dishes.  We often went for Gyros when we wanted something quick instead of a big meal. mmmmmmmmm.

Day one, the winds were supposed to pick up and our friend, Jim, was itching to get some kite boarding in.  We dropped Jim off at the kite boarding beach and Bret, Debbie, and I circumnavigated the island of Paros.  We stopped for an incredible lunch in a small, beach town (calamari and octopus) and made it to the mountain town mid-afternoon.  Things tend to shut down in the late afternoon in Paros (then they pick up again in the early evening), so there was not much to see other than views of the ocean.  We cruised back to the kite boarding beach and had evening cocktails on the beach.

Day two, Bret was feeling a little under the weather and the winds were up.  Debbie, Bret, and I again dropped Jim off for some kite surfing and we hopped on the ferry to Antiparos (claim to fame…  Tom Hanks has a house there).  We had a nice lunch in the ferry town, then explored a giant cave.  The cave is apparently home to the oldest stalagmite in Europe!  It has been an attraction since the late 1600s and there are signatures from all sorts of visitors all over the cave.  The oldest date we could find was 1776.

We made it back to town in time for sunset cocktails.

The next day, the winds were still up and the forecast was looking at more of the same for at least a few more days.  It wood be at best uncomfortable and at worst dangerous to try to sail outside of the protected port in Paros.  It looked like our best chance to see another island would be to take a ferry, so Bret and I jumped on a ferry for the island of Ios.  We stayed at a nice hotel in the port town and hiked up to the mountain town for dinner. We stumbled upon the prime sunset watching spot at exactly the right time.

We ate dinner at Sally’s place!

The next day, we hiked over to a really beautiful beach for a morning swim before we caught the afternoon ferry.

We had a long ferry ride back to Paros, but it gave us a chance to see some other islands (and put them on the list of places we need to get back to someday!).  Don’t worry, we made it back into for sunset cocktails!

The weather, stubbornly, remained unchanged for our final two days in the Cyclades.   Luckily, there was plenty to do on Paros to keep us happy.  We even went for a couple of train runs along the coast.  We ate well, and enjoyed a couple more incredible sunsets before heading back to Piraeus on the ferry.

After a long, crowded ferry ride, we had a really nice afternoon in Athens.  We explored the ancient Agora and had great views of the Acropolis and saw lots of torsos.

There was lots of good and bad graffiti near our hotel.  From our window we could see this homage to both my mother and my niece!

We got our last sunset cocktail on the roof of our hotel… pretty sweet view.

After another dinner that could not be beat, we flew back to Paris the following morning and started the long journey home.  Pretty nice view of the Alps from the plane though.

We can’t thank Jim and Debbie enough for hosting us on their beautiful sailboat.  Although it would have been real fun to get to sail around on Morpheus… the gods were not on our side.  Or maybe they were, Paros was a pretty nice place to be ‘stuck’ for a week.

As I posted before, I was very impressed with the city of Nantes.  Of all the cool things in the city, my favorite was Les Machines de l’île.  The biggest attraction is The Grand Éléphant.

It is a free attraction to look at, and wanders around the industrial park.  It costs to ride the elephant, and for the carousels, and the indoor park with many other mechanical animals.

The conference I was attending hosted their Gala dinner here and it was very nice.  First, they opened up the inside part up for us to explore, then The Grand Éléphant made a dramatic entrance.  Then we were seated, where a 20 piece jazz band played for us while we ate with the elephant in the background.  Luckily, I was able to get a ticket for Emily to join us for the dinner.  Over the top nice…

They have big plans for expansion and we have talked about definitely trying to get back…

I wrote this post on my phone a couple weeks ago, but I could never get it to upload… more coming soon!

 

It has been a couple weeks with lots of fun and adventures!!

I was in Saulieu for my last post, two weeks ago. I drove from there to Geneva, passing through Pommard. I didn’t stop for wine, but the Pommard pinot noir clone is pretty popular back in Oregon.

It seemed like a lovely little town!

I had such a fabulous time in Geneva with my cousin, Cinda, and her family.
I saw the sights…

The jet D’eau

Where Lac Leman turns into the Rhone river.

Morrison and Quentin after their back to school haircuts.

After a wonderful weekend, I hit the road again. Next stop Chateauneuf du Papes.

I loved! Wish I could have stayed longer (and drank more wine)!

I then stayed two nights in Carcassonne. It is a medieval castle town near Toulouse. It was pretty neat, but apparently a lot of people thought so, because it was also very crowded.

Glass of wine and cassoulet with a view

From Carcassonne, I started making my way north and stopped a couple days in St. Cirq Lapopie. It was a sort of random stop I chose from the map. It looked like a nice stop between Carcassonne and Saumer (where I was meeting back up with Bret) where I would be able to find some nice hiking and few crowds. It was absolutely spectacular. My hotel was actually across the river from the ancient town, but had great views and offered an evening shuttle to a couple restaurants for dinner.

I had a really nice time wandering in the woods and eating delicious food!

After my mellow days in nature, it was time to meet back up With Bret and taste some Lorre Valley wines! Bret and his colleague, Belinda, met me in Saumer just in time to celebrate his birthday! I had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures… So I will leave that up to Bret.

From there, we headed back to Nantes for a few last days in France, but I will give Nantes its own post because it is really a neat town with lots of cool stuff.

Today, we took the train out of Nantes to Paris and now we are waiting to board our flight to Athens!!! Next adventure has already begun.

 

 

Having never heard of Nantes, France before, I was not sure what to expect when I was to be there for three weeks for a short course and conference.  Wow was I surprised.  It is a great city with lots of fun things to do.  I somehow managed to get by despite not knowing any French at all.  The hotel I stayed at was nothing special, but was on the river and had a pretty nice view.

Lots of nice old buildings and sculptures

I even found a sculpture by an American artist who also did a sculpture at Oregon State University that was just taken down http://www.stickwork.net/

There is also a great park with a great arboretum and some other pretty cool living sculptures.

Emily had a slightly embarrassing run in with a goat in the park…

There was also an amazing jazz festival while I was there and during my short course we got to go to the beach and see a little of the French coast.

In between the course and conference we got to go wine tasting in the Loire valley with Belinda from Oregon State University.

The highlight, however, was the Machines of the Isle of Nantes which I will post about in the near future.

Good times…

We arrived in Paris on Saturday.  Although we left Portland and arrived in Paris at similar times, we took different flights.  Bret went through New York City and I went through Minneapolis because Bret’s flight was booked by his employer and I booked the cheapest similar flight I could find.  Luckily, there were no problems.  The widespread availability of wifi makes communication pretty easy these days.

We jumped on the train and headed to our hotel in downtown Paris.  I highly recommend the Hotel Victoria Chatelet.  It is located in the actual Theatre du Chatelet.  It was relatively inexpensive, the staff were so nice, and the location could not be beat.  Just a few minutes to Notre Dame and the Seine.

We were determined to do better with the jetlag on this trip than we did when we arrived in Ireland (it took us about two weeks to adjust), so we really pushed through the exhaustion to stay awake until after 9pm. Our philosophy was to just keep moving…

So we walked all around our neighborhood, ate some food, walked some more, ate some more. We even had some wine with dinner, although we were worried that it would just put us to sleep… when in Paris 🙂

The next morning, we actually slept later than we expected.  We grabbed some breakfast, then met up with a family friend, Jo Ann.

We had a lovely morning exploring Paris.  We walked along a beautiful greenway on a converted elevated train track.  We went to a market near the Bastille.  Then we got to see Jo Ann’s home, across from an 11th century church that was converted to a science and technology museum (several centuries ago, but I can’t remember the details exactly).

After a lovely lunch with Jo Ann and her family, we were off to explore again.  I have a strange love for boat tours and the day before I had seen a river boat go by with couch seats in all the windows.  I thought that would be a relaxing way to spend the evening.  Bret and I walked down to the Eiffel Tower along the river, but we could not figure out which boat offered such a cruise.  All the ones we found were really packed in with people or included dinner, which we were not interested in.  Eventually, we gave up on the idea and continued to stroll along the Seine.  We made it to the Statue of Liberty on the Ile aux Cygnes.  It is a 35 ft replica of the original commissioned by some Americans living in Paris.  We started making our way back from there.

Here are some pictures of the Eiffel Tower from every angle.

and some pictures of how I spent most of the afternoon… watching Bret trying to get the perfect shot (I am sure his pictures will be much better than mine when he posts them).

and then again after dinner…

We were pretty exhausted when we got back to the hotel… according to my watch, we walked around 17 miles through Paris in all that day!

The next morning, we slept late then got some food before we caught the high speed train to Nantes.

Bret will be in Nantes for the next few weeks, working, while I explore France and visit my cousin in Geneva.

First stop for me, Saulieu in the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan.  This town looked much smaller when I was booking my hotel, but I have enjoyed my stay here so far.

The area is very rural and is marketed as a mountain biking destination.  I hiked along a mountain biking trail.  Which was mostly a walk on very quiet country roads and rocky, former roads.  It was very nice!

I also found a beautiful wool shop!  The shop keeper keeps her own herd of Angora goats and makes the most beautiful wool and some hand knit scarfs.  I would have loved to buy everything in the store, but I managed to leave with only a few skeins of soft yarn.

Today, I am off to Geneva on the no tolls route… should be interesting!

We have been pretty busy lately despite trying to lay low before our European adventure.  We headed up to Portland for the weekend, last weekend.  On Friday, we went to a Timbers game and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle.  They have a very nice place right on the river which was very convenient.  We also had a very nice visit with them.  On Saturday we briefly caught up with Kas and Peter, then headed to Chris and Channa’s.  We stayed with them, then headed to the Bridge pedal Sunday morning.  The bridge pedal is a 35 mile bike ride where you get to ride over 11 bridges in Portland.  It was very crowded, but fun for the most part.  We made it over 10 but skipped the most popular one because it was so crowded.  This picture was from the first and southern most bridge.

This next picture was from the Fremont bridge which is normally closed to bicycles.  Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jim’s condo is just above Emily’s left ear.

Mid-week last we had a plumbing problem and an abscess show up on Oval about the same time.  A few hours of work got the plumbing problem fixed and a couple of trips to the vet took care of the abscess.

On Thursday night, we bottled our second beer, Mok’s Porter, named after our second favourite pub in Ireland.  Hope it turns out good!

Emily headed to the coast on Friday and bought some Tuna, fresh off a fishing boat, at the dock.  We BBQ’d some Friday night, made tacos Saturday, and canned the rest.  Today we harvested some roma, cherry, and pear tomatoes.  We dried the small ones and made sauce with the romas.

 

 

 

Bret was nice enough to stay home and watch over the garden and the puppy so I could go to Colorado for  a lovely, long weekend!

I got to stay with my good friends, Kirsten and Matt, at their lovely home just under the Flatirons in Boulder.  We were able to enjoy a beautiful hike in Boulder’s open space right from the back door!  Of course, I forgot to take any pictures.

I also got to revisit many of my favorite places and reconnect with fabulous friends that I have not seen in much too long.

The main event was a trail run in Golden Gate State Park.  We had to get up pretty early to get there in time to take a shuttle about 9 miles from the parking area to the race start. Shuttles were supposed to run every half hour from 5:30am to 8am for runners and spectators, but the first shuttle did not show up until 7:15 (the second one never actually showed up)!  Lucky for us, we got there around 7, so we did not have to wait too long for the shuttle bus. The shuttle bus driver was a pretty adorable old man who had no idea were he was going.  Needless to day, the 8am start time for the race was pushed back about 20 minutes to make sure that all the runners were able to get to the start line.

Kirsten and I before the race.

The race itself was really gorgeous!  It was a little crowed right at the start, since it was about a mile of single track with about 100 other 10k runners.

The first three miles were pretty tough… about 1100 ft uphill!

The last three miles were all downhill though, so I was able to take in the scenery and not just concentrate on breathing the oxygen-deficient air.

I took this selfie.

and a second later, did this

oops… probably should pay attention when running on rocky trails!

After the race, Kirsten and I were happy to sit in the shade for a bit and drink our post-race beer.

We were not quite as happy about the long wait for the shuttle bus to get back to the car.  Turns out the adorable old man bus driver got lost between the parking lot and the trail head (one turn).  Luckily, they started loading up suvs and shuttling people back to their cars.

We finally got back to Kirsten’s car around noon!  A bit of a long day for 10k, but it was worth it.  We were still feeling good, so we drove uphill a little further to Avon, Colorado to have lunch with another friend from my colorado days.  It was a super blue sky day, so the drive was really nice.

Sunday, we had a nice lazy day of brunching, lounging in the shade, and swimming in the pool before I had to head back home.

It was, of course, great to get home to these guys (old pics).

 

My Dad came to visit and had a pretty busy schedule visiting my Aunts, Grandmother, and us.  I went to pick him up at Grandmas and we got a game of cribbage in.

We had a project to work on as we needed a new hammock stand.  It kept us busy and was a great project for his visit.

Thanks Dad!

On Sunday we we had a barbeque which was a lot of fun and we had a nice visit.

Oval had a buddy named Tonka come over yesterday to hang out.  Good times.

Made some fridge pickles today.  Garden is starting to really produce!

We had another great weekend out in the Oregon summer sunshine.  Saturday we joined a team of seven intrepid (or more likely slightly insane) runners and ran 69 miles across the Oregon Coast Range from the Harris Bridge winery in Philomath to the Rogue Brewery in Newport.

The race is called the Barrel to Keg relay and it is a fundraiser for a local charity, the Community Services Consortium.  They started about 115 teams of runners and walkers, which ranged in size from 1 person to 7 people, in waves between 5am (solo runners) and 9am.  The course is organized into 14 legs that varied in length from about 4 miles to 7 miles.  In theory, they start the slower teams earlier, so everyone ends up at the finish around the same time.  Somehow, we ended up in the second to last wave…  which left a lot of people for us to catch up to.

We had so much fun, that this is the only picture I got all day.  I swear we posed for a picture with the barrel and the keg, but it somehow didn’t make it to my phone.  This was before the start… that is why we all look so happy and clean!  Ed was not in the picture because he did double duty and filled our volunteer spot early on the course, then ran a leg later in the race.

Despite being the person who actually got to assign legs to people on our team, I somehow managed to assign myself to 11 miles with almost 900 ft of climbing.  Clearly I did not take a good look at what I was getting myself into.  Bret ran almost 10 miles too!  It was a HOT, sunny day so the race was quite a challenge.  We went through a lot of water and quite a bit of PBR (energy drink of champions).  Two people on our team ran the longest distance they had ever run in a day… so a lot of accomplishments were accrued.  We finished in about 10.5 hours!

The next day, we were a little sore.  Oval had a lot more energy to burn than any of us, so we took her to the Willamette to run around with her friend Maia.  Her swimming is coming along nicely (she is the big splash right in front of me).  She was even swimming out to fetch balls all on her own!

Needless to say, we all slept pretty well last night.