13 posts tagged “travels”
I took a trip down memory lane when I saw this video while browsing the internet today:
We traveled to D.C. to visit the Cubby's family for the Easter holiday and to meet his nephew, Trip, for the first time.
My friend Jane and I went on daily strolls in her Oakland neighborhood during my visit a couple of weeks ago. She had a backyard that she was very excited to show me... a secret backyard. We snuck around the house, because the neighbors once told Jane that the owner didn't mind visitors. This is just a little of what we found:
... I was born.
... and these are just a few shots I got while in Virginia over the holidays.
Day 1:
Both Tim and I woke up very, very early in the morning thanks to good old jet lag. By 4:30 in the morning we were up and ready to scale the Alps! Unfortunately, we had to sit in our little room and wait first for the sun to rise around 8:15, and then for Harry (a.k.a. our unofficial tour guide) to come pick us up.
We hopped on the train to visit Schruns another little ski town nestled in the mountains. We walked around a bit and found a cozy little restaurant, the Restaurant Litz-Stobli. Tim and I were all about ordering the Schnitzel. Once again, friends and family, it did not disappoint! So delicious!
Time for some serious hiking. The plan for today-sledding! First, we had to board a bus which took us halfway up the mountain. We did have the small problem of our bus' engine exploding, but that wasn't going to stop us! We then hiked two hours up to the top of the mountain to grab a bite to eat and a drink. When you hike up to the top of the mountains in Austria there are usually huts for people to catch their breath and enjoy a nice hot meal before heading back down. Trust me, it is the only thing that gets you to the top. Forget a breathtaking view, Food! Food! Food! is all I heard in my head after each step...
During the entire trip I kept my eyes peeled for the best
place to ask the question. I even approached
our friend Harry. Apparently, it became a huge point of debate among his
family. His mother insisted that it be
done someplace romantic and sweet, but his brother claimed that if it isn’t
big it doesn’t count. He wanted to set
up search lights pointing towards the cliff while he and his friend rappelled
down with a giant screen professing my love.
This was to be followed by a massive fireworks display. While I was intrigued with this idea, I wasn’t
convinced.
On January 3rd I still hadn’t decided how I was
going to do it. While we hiked up a
mountain at the edge of the Brandnertal
Valley, I was overcome
with awe. Far up in the Alps we had the most
amazing views of the sleepy Austrian villages.
All around us the pure white snow blowing in the wind was unmatched in
its beauty. By the time we reached the
top, my mind was made up. This was the
place. After lunch in the mountain hut, I
told Harry and he agreed that it was perfect.
He convinced the owner to give us a bottle of champagne to celebrate the
event. Harry and I plotted while Brenda
got ready to walk back into the cold.
Invigorated, we jumped on our sleds and began the long ride down. A word about the Austrian sport of
sledding: Contrary to the American
variation, the Austrians take it quite serious.
They hike over two hours to reach the top of a mountain before beginning
a thirty minute sled ride down a narrow path that twists and turns around the
mountain. You shoot across bridges,
dodge hikers and hold on for dear life as you fly down the road.
About a quarter of the way down the mountain, Harry called for us to stop. He claimed he had something to show us. Brenda, reluctant to hike through knee deep snow, told us to go ahead. We assured her that she didn’t want to miss this. We came to an old wooden cross overlooking the valley. It was a sight to behold. Harry began to translate the sign that hung on the cross. I had hoped that knowing I was about to profess my love, Harry would change the translation if it wasn’t suitably romantic…I was wrong. “God save our animals from pestilence and bad weather!”
I told Harry to go over and take a picture of us. As he walked away, I started to whisper to Brenda. “We met in Europe over a decade ago. Since then I have traveled the world and met hundreds of people. Coming full circle I have reached one conclusion…I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want you to be the mother of my children, I want you to be my wife.” Then, I fell to my knee and pulled my grandmother’s ring from my pocket, “Brenda, will you marry me?”
Her response was not quite what I had expected, “Are you really doing this?” Luckily after her initial shock, she agreed to become my fiancé. And our friend with the camera (unable to hear what was going on) yelled out to ask if we were done. Then he opened the champagne and we toasted our future adventures together. Suddenly, a great wind came upon us and clouds of snow encircled us. Brenda and I had to lean on one another to stay standing. We had differing opinions about what that gust of wind meant. She insisted that it was God screaming “Don’t do it!” But, I know He was giving us his blessing and reminding us that if we want to make it in this world we have to rely on each other.
How sweet! And, what you can't see in those proposal pictures is the utter look of shock on my face. I guess I'm not too good with surprises because part of me wanted to kick him. I thought that living in sin was adding spice to our relationship, but apparently Tim wants to make an honest woman of me!
Harry turned Master of Celebrations convinced every bartender, in the Apres Ski Huts down in the village, to give us free champagne!
Day 6
So the rest of the trip was a bit of a recovery from my shock! We did more mountain hiking, sledding and eating!
Farewell Austria with your fresh air and luscious pine trees! We hopped on a train to Munich, stayed there for a night and caught our plane early in the morning back to our real lives in Los Angeles. Before I end the "longest post ever"- we were bumped up to business class on our 11 hour flight to Chicago- a cherry on the top!
Anne and I hit the town the night I arrive. As we walk down the street to the wine bar it turns into a contest to see who can manage to slip and slide their way down the street without falling on a curb and breaking their neck. Neither one of us can fathom having to get the other one home if something like that were to happen so we are extra cautious.
We catch up on old times at the wine bar, share some really good pizza and then head over to a little pub further on down the street. There we grab a couple of beers and sit down to sing very obnoxiously to Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" blaring from the jukebox. If you were to walk in at that moment you would think we were two crazy cat ladies who had been spurned by their only double date in years.
We were almost home, Anne really had to go to the bathroom and I really wanted to eat my hot dog but I could feel the foil it was wrapped in beginning to freeze through my gloves. I was Anne's cheerleader continuously telling her to just hold on until we were home. One more minute, just one more minute...when, Bam!, Anne gave us a brilliantly executed fall to the ground. And in her right hand, in it's death like grip, was the Chicago style hot dog. Not a chunk of tomato was gone and the pickle spear was still perfectly in place.
In my book that is four stars, a gold medal and a pat on the back. Anyone who manages to slip on ice, fall completely on their back and still keep their hot dog intact is a true Olympian in my book. We got home and ate our hot dogs which were more like frozen dogs at that point and the following morning we headed over to Hot Doug's Sausage Super Store to really celebrate getting home in one piece.
It's been awhile...and the pix I am posting happened awhile ago...so here we go!
Not too long ago I recieved an e-mail from one of the girls I used to watch in the Netherlands. I was overjoyed to hear from her considering it has been a little over three years since I have seen any of them. Three years since I have walked along the canals of Amsterdam, ran through a field of tulips (o.k. I never actually ran through a field of tulips but it would have been nice!), taken my lessons in Utrecht, shoved my face with Stroop Kookjes, or have even attempted to mutter a word of dutch!
Ah, Holland, ik miss jou! (Sadly, my knowledge of the dutch language has taken an extreme turn for the worse.)
And, to always remember my time in the Netherlands I will start to save up my money for this...
Of course, I need something to put in the basket so I will save alot more money and get this...
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