A Tour of Portugal

September 06, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in Portugal

I hope you’re excited to see a lot of pictures of beautiful Portuguese architecture, because that’s much of what this blog is going to be. When our friend Bella planned a birthday celebration in southern Portugal, we took the opportunity to add on a few days in Lisbon and Porto as well.

We arrived in Lisbon several hours late due to a flight delay and a missed connection (thanks, Condor), so we spent a single day in Lisbon (for the second time - we had been here for about 24 hours at the end of 2019). We took the opportunity to go to some adorable coffee shops, eat good food, and walk up some of Lisbon’s many steep hills.

Picturesque churches and trolleys are everywhere in Portugal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A patient dog sitting beside an excellent example of how patios must be built on hills in Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lisbon was just as I remembered - colorful, beautiful, absurdly clean, and constantly hilly.

A steep pedestrian street (photo/Jason Rafal)

A person sits on a railing halfway up a set of stairs between two buildings. — Classic Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

A don't even know what's happening here (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fado mural in one of the pedestrian stairwells (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole sitting on a bench partway up a stairway between two buildings with tassels hanging overhead. — Resting partway up the stairs (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the nice things about cities with lots of steep hills is that they tend to have lots of great viewpoints.

A view over the rooftops of Lisbon, with a bridge and waterway in the background. — The beautiful view from Miradouro da Graça (photo/Jason Rafal)

A retro blue car following a yellow trolley up the street. — Antiquated-looking transit in front of the Arco da Rua Augusta (photo/Jason Rafal)

People walking across a plaza, with stately buildings and a statue of a person on a horse on one side. — The Praça do Comércio (photo/Jason Rafal)

A huge, brutalist concrete building jutting out against the blue sky. — A big brutalist building among the colorful houses (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiled building with tons of plants coming out of the first floor balcony. — A beautiful building facade (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large tree with massive roots snaking on top of the ground in a park. — A giant tree at the lovely Jardim da Estrela (photo/Jason Rafal)

A wide panorama of Lisbon from a viewpoint. — Sunset views from Miradouro da São Pedro de Alcântara (photo/Jason Rafal)

An ornate fountain with people sitting on the edge in the evening sun, with a church in the background. — Evening views (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two trolleys side by side on a very steep street. — Trolleys hanging out on an incredibly steep street (photo/Jason Rafal)

From Lisbon, we drove down to Alvor, where we met up with some of our favorite people to celebrate our friend Bella’s 30th birthday. It was three wonderful days of eating and drinking and laughing and we have very few photos (and most of the ones we do have are ridiculous).

Bella's birthday bash (photo/random person on the beach)

On our last day in Alvor, we took a boat trip from Lagos to Luz, along some of the stunning southern Portuguese coastline. It was a lovely afternoon spent cruising in a catamaran and swimming in the Atlantic with friends, and we ended the weekend tired and with full hearts.

A stone bridge between two rocky land masses over the ocean. — Natural and manmade rock formations (photo/Jason Rafal)

View of layers of rocky land masses in front of a plant-covered cliff face with a staircase going down to the water.. — More beautiful coastline (photo/Jason Rafal)

Boats and kayaks in the water in front of large rocks jutting out of the water. — A good day to be on a boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

After a wonderful weekend with friends, we flew to Porto, in the northern part of the country. Jason and I have been wanting to go to Porto for years, and we fell in love with the city immediately. It’s beautiful, interesting, welcoming, covered in tiles, and a little run down. It has so many tiny, amazing restaurants, coffee shops, and antique shops.

People walking up a narrow cobblestoned street. — Colorful buildings and cobbled streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of a spire through an open passageway between two rows of stores. — I loved this green roof/garden on top of an outdoor mall area (photo/Jason Rafal)

We booked a free walking tour for our first morning in Porto, which is something I always recommend (though they’re not actually free, because you do need to be a good person and tip the guide who is showing you around). Our guide, an Italian expat, walked us around some of the churches and government buildings and gave us context about the city. While it was never the capital of Portugal, Porto was the center of merchant power in the country. They’ve always been anti-authority, whether it’s the authority of the church, or the king, or the guidelines presented by UNESCO (apparently they’re constantly putting their status and funding at risk by building new, non-historic things in the historical center).

Looking up at the front of a church. — Looking up at the Igreja do Carmo (photo/Jason Rafal)

A row of tiled houses next to a church spire. — A very narrow church at the edge of the old walled city (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view looking out over the rooftops of Porto toward the river. — The view from the Miradouro da Vitória (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two modern tiled rowhomes in yellow and orange. — Even the more modern buildings are colorful - I wish we would go that direction in the U.S. (photo/Jason Rafal)

A corner of a building, half concrete and half covered with old-looking rock. — I don't even know what's happening here...seems like art, or a metaphor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Porto is famous for its iconic blue tile buildings, and while I had assumed that blue was tied to the city’s identity from the beginning, our walking tour guide told us that blue is used most frequently because it fades the least in direct sunlight. In the San Bento train station, which you can see below, the walls on the left that never got direct sunlight had many more colors in the tiled scenes.

Looking into a crowded train station with blue tiled walls and a yellow ceiling. — The beautiful Sao Bento train station (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dragon is the symbol of Porto - from what I can find, it symbolizes heroism, resistance, and the city’s invicta (unconquered, invincible) identity. Paired with this dramatic symbolism, I very much enjoyed the statues that featured little cat-sized dragons sitting on people’s heads.

A statue of a man holding a spear with a dragon on his head in front of rooftops. — A statue of a man with a dragon on his head to represent Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

A row of tiled buildings along a street. — Beautiful tile everywhere (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at a blue-tiled church building with a blue and yellow striped banner. — The Church of Saint Ildefonso (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a coffee shop with a menu that says "C'alma" on the wall. — Our favorite coffee shop of the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a lovely evening at the dramatic Casa da Música, where we toured the building (highly recommended if you’re a fan of weird brutalist architecture, which I’m not really, but it was still cool) and then saw a fado performance.

Looking up at a set of windows in a concrete wall against a partly cloudy sky. — Brutalist vibes at the Casa da Música (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a concert hall, with metalic tiger stripes through the walls on either side. — The main concert hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

As usual, some of the time we enjoyed the most was just spent wandering around, seeing parks, viewpoints, and buildings along the way.

Looking toward a stadium dome over lawns and flower beds. — The beautiful Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A peacock looking at the camera with gardens in the background. — One of the many free-ranging birds at the gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

Groups of people standing or sitting along a rock wall watching the sunset. — The crowd taking in the sunset next to the Parque das Virtudes (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out at the sunset over rooftops, a terraced park, and the river. — My favorite view in the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

Turquoise paint wearing off and revealing gold paint on a letter slot that says "Cartas". — Some sort of metaphor about layers of paint (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the top attractions in Porto is Livraria Lello, a bookstore that is said to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s description of Flourish and Blott’s in Harry Potter. It’s a really beautiful bookstore, but for me it’s not worth the pain of dealing with the lines and crowds of people trying to get perfect photos. I’m sure it’s better in the offseason, but if you do want to go in the summer, try to reserve the 9 am slot (days in advance) and be there by about 8:30 if you want to get in quickly.

Crowds of people standing in loose lines on the street. — The insane crowd outside of Livraria Lello (photo/Jason Rafal)

A line of people walking toward an ornate staircase up, with a view of the stained glass roof above. — The admittedly beautiful staircase and ceiling in the bookstore (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking over a railing at bookshelves, with the lower ones filled in modern books and the upper ones filled with older books and ceramic busts. — I enjoyed the contrast between the modern books for sale at the bottom and the ones to look old in the upper cases (photo/Jason Rafal)

A house narrowing into a corner with stone walls, a chimney, and graffiti. — Corners (photo/Jason Rafal)

While I was napping, Jason went to explore the Portuguese Photography Center at the Cadeia da Relação, a former prison. The building houses photography exhibits along with an incredibly extensive collection of cameras, mostly from a professor.

Looking into a room with glass cases full of old cameras. — A hallway looking into the prison photography museum (photo/Jason Rafal)

The prison is a key location in Porto’s most famous love story, and the two lovers are immortalized in stone in the courtyard. Camilo Castelo Branco and Ana Plácido were two writers who met at a dance and were friends and then lovers for many years. Eventually, Ana left her husband for Camilo. When the affair became public, Ana was forced into a convent, but then escaped and returned to Camilo. Then, because her bitter husband filed an adultery lawsuit against them, they were both imprisoned in the Cadeia da Relação, where Camilo wrote his most famous novel, Amor de Perdição (Doomed Love). They were eventually released, and much later the prison was turned into a photography museum, but the story and the statue remain.

A statue of a clothed man and a naked woman embracing. — The doomed couple - I'm not sure about why there's such a difference in clothing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the river over treetops. — Looking out over the river from Torreão do Jardim do Palácio (photo/Jason Rafal)

A clean, modern market with people walking between fruit stalls. — The very clean and modern Mercado do Bolhão (photo/Jason Rafal)

A chapel covered with bright blue tile. — The ornately decorated Chapel of Souls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two stairways converging between a row of houses and a greenery-covered wall. — I love a green wall (photo/Jason Rafal)

People walk between covered stalls selling goods in front of rows of tiled houses. — Wandering near the waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our walking tour, our guide told us a joke about how the best thing about Gaia, the city across the river, was its beautiful view of Porto. On our last day in the city, we headed over the pedestrian and transit-only bridge to the Jardim do Morro. It was indeed a beautiful last view of the city.

Looking back toward Porto from the top of a bridge. — The view back across the river from Gaia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking at Porto over the river, with a gondola and boats in view. — One more view of Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

We really enjoyed spending more time in Portugal - it’s easy to navigate, beautiful, and has great food. Lisbon, Porto, and the southern coast were all worth the trip (though I am, as usual with European destinations, jealous of the ease with which east coasters can visit - it’s a trek from Seattle). Next time we travel to Portugal, my top priorities are visiting Sintra and spending some time in nature. Until then!

The Anglo-French Holidays

January 17, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in France, England

When our friend Bella got a new job in France, we decided (with a couple of other friends) to visit her for New Year’s. When we got a deal on flights to London, we decided to add a couple of days in London, since Jason knows a lot about England and loves their media but had never been.

It’s always interesting traveling over holidays, and we didn’t expect London to close down quite as much as it did for Christmas. Luckily we had a friend living in the city who had us over for a delicious dinner (thank you, Sam!), and we spent the next couple of days wandering around and enjoying some of the sights (and even a little sunshine). If you have a specific list of things you want to see and restaurants you want to visit, I wouldn’t recommend a Christmas trip, but if you just want to wander and have a generally weird experience (and see where the locals actually hang out then they’re not working), it’s not bad.

Classic telephone booths in an empty Smithfield Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Christmas scene at St. Paul’s Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nice collection of architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cathedral dome through the city at night (photo/Jason Rafal)

I wonder if you can monitor depression in London using this box (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Tate Modern, which we don’t love the architecture of (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Millennium Bridge, my personal favorite (photo/Jason Rafal)

A multi-layered tower with a very shiny clock (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo of a castle wall with a sunstar. — A sunstar at the Tower of London (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking across a bridge, under ornate castle architecture. — The locals were clustered around certain parts of the city, like London Bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large, angular apartment building with a green reflection in the windows. — A weird pointy building with a cool reflection (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tall, ornate, and nearly empty market with a Christmas tree. — An empty Leadenhall Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Cannon Street tube station, completely empty. — It was pretty cool to see some of the places so empty (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up portrait of a snowman statue. — There were several of these snowmen around…smiling at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking toward the London Eye, bathed in golden hour light. — The London Eye was also very busy, with a pop-up market and lots of strolling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking across the river at Big Ben and the castle. — Looking over at Westminster (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at the Big Ben clock tower. — The clocktower (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking down a street under red lanterns. — Chinatown in London (photo/Jason Rafal)

On the one day we were in London when attractions were open, we took the train out to Kew Gardens, since we always like to go to a nice garden. It didn’t disappoint. There are two old-school glass greenhouses and one very cool modern one, and lots of beautiful grounds in between. It would be an amazing place to spend a day during the summer when it’s a little warmer, and it could keep you occupied for hours.

A waterfall surrounded by palm trees and other plants in a large glass greenhouse. — An indoor waterfall at the amazing Palm House (photo/Jason Rafal)

An ornate orange flower. — A flower that looks like it was sculpted (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up a walkway alongside a row of plants with a plaque that says Africa. — Scenes from Africa (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking over the top of the tall plants hitting against the ceiling of the glass greenhouse. — We took the stairs up to the greenhouse catwalk, where we could look down onto the greenery below (photo/Jason Rafal)

The modern greenhouse was composed of many half levels, and it was a kind of maze to go through it. It was really fun to wander through, and there was always something new around every corner.

A hanging planter with long, white tendrils hanging down toward the floor. — This plant was amazing and completely unlike anything I’ve seen before (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down the tall stalks of a cactus. — Many spikes (photo/Jason Rafal)

A path winding through a glass greenhouse with plants everywhere. — An incredible assortment of plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tank with a lot of plants and a tiny orange shrimp. — A tiny shrimp in its tank habitat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole looking at a tree with an orange flower in the foreground. — This is a Brugmansia, and I love them (photo/Jason Rafal)

The other attraction we decided to visit was the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was even more enjoyable than I expected. It’s composed of everything that wouldn’t necessarily go into another collection; it’s a museum of chaos, and we loved it. We wandered around between rooms of jewelry, metalwork, statues, glasswork, paintings, and all sorts of other things.

An old globe that fades out in the northwest of the United States and Canada. — A globe that had not yet discovered the Pacific Northwest (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down into a room full of statues, including a statue of David, with art hanging on the walls. — A chaotic room - David, Greek goddesses, religious paintings…and a balcony? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A statue of a white and black dog stepping on a snake. — A dog that is very proud of itself (and maybe still in danger?) (photo/Jason Rafal)

A person under a large statue in a tall, dark, brick room. — A very moody room (photo/Jason Rafal)

After our days in London, we headed to Toulouse to see Bella in her new home. We met Ian and Kelly there for a few days of eating, drinking, walking, partying, and very little sleeping.

Nicole and Belly holding hands on a train. — Reunited and holding hands on the train (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first day in Toulouse, we actually went to Carcassonne, a medieval town and fortress a short train ride away. Its name has a fantastic potential origin story in which Charlemagne was besieging the city for years, and when food and water were running out, Dame Carcas took the last wheat and fed it to the last pig, and then threw the pig over the wall at Charlemagne. Seeing that the city still had enough food to waste both wheat and pigs, he lifted the siege, and the city was free. Dame Carcas was clearly a master of game theory and deserves to have a city named after her.

A street and lightly colored buildings with the castle in the background. — Looking up at the Cité de Carcassonne from the bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A stone wall with turrets with green grass on the ground and a town in the distance. — The outer wall and a good example of the choice to replace the traditionally terra cotta roofs with slate, a decision Jason hates (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the castle towers from under a bridge. — Looking up from the drawbridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A window display of pillows printed with cats in medieval dress. — An intensely dedicated window display (photo/Jason Rafal)

A castle wall across from old buildings with a lightly cloudy sky and sunstar in the background. — Inside the city walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking down at children passing through a door in a stone wall with the town in the background. — From atop the castle walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

View from above a stone wall with regular towers, with a town in the background. — The cars in the yards in the medieval driveways were a bit odd (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view down a walking street with old buildings on either side and holiday lights hanging over the street. — Walking through the lower town of Carcassonne (photo/Jason Rafal)

Over the next few days, we explored Toulouse, which is lovely. It’s known as the Pink City because of the brick color used in much of its architecture, which contrasts beautifully with the sky. It’s also the center of the aerospace industry in Europe. The city is transected by rivers and canals, so there’s always some lovely water nearby to walk along.

People shopping for fruit at an open-air market on the street. — One of the street markets (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunny street with people cleaning up from the market. — The aftermath of the street market (photo/Jason Rafal)

A Japanese garden with a building, carefully shaped bushes, and a red bridge. — The Japanese Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo of a street with a small car and ivy-covered building through a tunnel. — A photo from our trip, or from a moody noir film (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of people on the street watching a firetruck lift two people up to the side of a building. — While shopping we walked by…something happening with one of the buildings (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Toulouse capitol building, lit up by late afternoon light, with a stall selling baskets in the foreground. — A market and the capitol building (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunset view over a river with old buildings, a dome, and a bridge. — A gorgeous sunset from the river (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a church with lots of colored stone and stained glass. — The inside of the Couvent des Jacobins, which was quite beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking up from under an arch in a church, with colorful stonework and stained glass. — During the French Revolution, this stone was white washed over, and it’s now partially restored (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bella and Ian sitting in a pew and looking toward the front of a church. — Bella and Ian in Saint Stephen's Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went inside the capitol building, where Bella had heard good things about the art. There was an incredible amount of painting on the walls and ceiling, and lots of statues as well.

Painting of a person with a coral-colored full length body suit and cape sitting with pen to paper and staring into space. — A very moody person (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down an ornate room with colorful paintings on either side. — The happy, pastoral wedding room (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking through a long, ornate room with statues on either side and detailed paintings on the ceiling. — A long room of art (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at a ceiling painted with a scene of a woman in a chariot pulled by lions being pursued by a dark army. — Some of the amazing ceiling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down a mostly empty street with closed shops on either side. — Quiet mornings in Toulouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pink building with an art piece of a model train driving off the roof. — Train crash art? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rounded tower with blue sky behind it, flanked by walls. — More lovely pink architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

It was a whirlwind trip, and it was so nice to see friends and explore new places. I’m sure we’ll be back to both London and Toulouse, and next time we’ll probably see some more tourists there.

The Sparkling Lights of Madrid

January 13, 2023 by Nicole Harrison in Spain

The day after Christmas, we took the train from Barcelona to Madrid for the remainder of our trip. High speed trains are wonderful - it was about 2.5 hours between the cities, and it was nice to be able to alternate between reading and looking out at the farmland around us. I’m always sad about our lack of trains when I’m in Europe or Asia.

We had seen something about a forest in the Madrid train station, so I dragged us over to it before we went to our hotel. The internal hallways between the trees were blocked off, but the forest itself was amazing - it gave a sense of calm to the area, and it was nice to see so much lush green right next to the hectic terminal.

I want a forest in every train station now (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we arrived in Madrid, we were struck by two things: there were beautiful lights everywhere, and the city was FULL of people. Apparently everyone has family in Madrid, and they seem to visit them over Christmas.

The holiday lights in Madrid are extensive, and I’m sure part of the reason that the city is so crowded over the holiday. There seemed to be a big strolling culture, and people spent the afternoon and evening walking through the central streets, shopping, and taking pictures.

Photo of lit up trees and a monument with a horse and rider on top across a lake. — Completely lit up trees across the Great Pond of El Retiro (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole walking down a street in a crowd of people toward a tree. — Walking toward the tree at Puerta del Sol (photo/Jason Rafal)

Statue of a man on a horse on top of a stone pillar with writing wrapped around it, riding toward a giant lit up tree. — Carlos III rides into a giant Christmas tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of an overhead light display between three buildings. — The most impressive part of the light display, IMO (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of crowds of people walking down a street with red light displays in the shape of ribbon overhead. — Giant ribbon loops of light over tons of people (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking down a crowded street toward a large Christmas tree. — More tree, more lights, more foot and car traffic (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our first full day in Madrid, we did a free walking tour. I’d highly recommend looking one up in a new city if you have time - we’ve always had great experiences and learned a lot of good information. Note that while the tours are free, you should definitely tip your guide (it’s a pay what you want system). If you’d like some overall Spanish history, Jason enjoyed these videos: The Animated History of Spain and Why 70% of Spain is Empty. We’re both fascinated by the fact that in the 1970s, after democracy was re-established at the end of the Franco regime, Spain actually reinstituted a constitutional monarchy.

Our actor-and-tour-guide, Paul, walked us through the different kings and quirks of Madrid’s history, which all revolved around his claim that the Spanish are superstitious and like things simple. The city was originally built by the resident Muslim forces to defend Toledo, the original location of the Royal Court, until the Royal Court moved to Madrid in the mid 1500s. The history that Paul walked us through was over the Habsburg reign of one Carlos, and then three Felipes, and then another Carlos (he illustrated this with a hamburger analogy, which was entertaining).

We spent some time in Plaza Mayor, the square in the center of the old city, was built and re-built from wood three times before they decided to rebuild using stone so it would stop burning down.

Photo of a circular bench with engravings of people walking and dancing. — A historical scene depicted on one of the benches surrounding a lamppost at Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

We learned that the first time the statue of Felipe III and his horse was erected in Plaza Mayor, the horses’s mouth was open wide enough that birds kept getting in and dying, and the constant noises made people think the statue was haunted. They redid it to fix the issue.

Photo looking up at a statue of a horse being ridden by a king. The horse has huge, weirdly shaped eyes. — Whoever was carving Felipe III’s horse’s head was struggling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two towers through an archway that leads to another street. — One of the archways leading out of Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also learned about a weird quirk of the city’s clocks, where the number 4 is represented by IIII instead of the more widely accepted Roman numeral IV. Upon some research, it looks like this was fairly common in old clocks and watch faces, and there are some theories as to why. The one Paul told us was that there’s a greater visual balance to using IIII across from VIII on the clock, so it was originally preferred and lasted into modern times.

Photo of a life-sized figurine leaning out of a second-story balcony and holding a clock. — A figurine of a watch maker with a clock representing 4 as IIII (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looping back to superstition, Paul told us about the traditions that people had in order to maximize their chances of winning the lottery. There is one shop that sells lottery tickets that is vastly more popular than all the rest because it’s sold to multiple winners. He also took us to a statue of a man, called “The Curious Neighbor,” who has a shiny gold butt from all the people trying to replicate the luck of a man who touched the statue shortly before winning the jackpot. Most of our group touched the butt.

Photo people looking at a statue of a man leaning against a railing. — The Curious Neighbor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Paul ended our walk with a quiz, which was surprisingly fun. We did much better than expected.

Photo of a man squatting in the center of a circle of people and holding up three fingers. — Paul asks us something about the superstitious number three in our quiz (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of Jason’s friends recommended the naval museum, which was pretty cool even as someone who is not super interested in the navy (Jason is much more into it). There were tons of boat models, and many of them were cut in half to see the inside of the boat.

Model ships in glass boxes in the naval museum (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a room with a tapestry and cabinets displaying jugs and plates, with a mirror on the ceiling reflecting the tapestry. — A collection of items found in the sunken *San Diego* in 1992 (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of three buildings, one with a mural of fruit, one pink, and one dark yellow, with a statue of a cross in the foreground. — A colorful view near Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

On one of the clearer days, we walked over to the Temple of Debod for sunset. Aside from having nice angles for photography, it’s also on a hill that has a nice view overlooking the city. The temple itself is a bit controversial; it was relocated from Egypt in the 1960s so it wouldn’t get flooded by a dam, but it was reassembled in a different order than the original setup, and it remains uncovered and exposed to the elements. It sounds like there’s a plan to cover it soon.

The view from the temple (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset on a building (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of many peafowl in the garden outside of the royal palace (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our hotel was near the giant and lovely Parque de El Retiro, which features beautiful buildings, museums, and miles of walking trails. In such a dense city area, it was great to have this giant piece of nature so close.

People strolling in front of the Palacio de Cristal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nice lumpy fountain in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

This empty path at dusk felt starkly different from the rest of the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

We happened across a feral cat colony getting fed (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a skyline of trees and buildings viewed over a full vessel of water. — Dusk reflections from the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

I was sick for part of the time we were in Madrid, so we didn’t do as much sightseeing as we’d like, but when we could get away from some of the crowds, the city was lovely. We’d like to go back and visit some of the museums we weren’t able to get into, and also take a day trip out to Toledo. We had a great time in Spain and are excited to do some more exploring in the future.

Photo of a man shopping at a small storefront of books. — One of the adorable book kiosks near El Retiro (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Jason holding up a togo coffee cup that says "Feliz Coffee" and has a stamp of small shapes, including a moka pot, camera, and flower. — A cup from one of our favorite coffee shops (photo/Jason Rafal)

Christmas in Catalonia

January 08, 2023 by Nicole Harrison in Spain

First, Barcelona is a great winter holiday destination. The weather was 60s and sunny, only a couple of attractions were crowded, and we were able to get into almost all the restaurants and bars we were interested in. We immediately loved the city for its walkability, great food, and highly available specialty coffee.

Barcelona is in Catalonia, a region of Spain that identifies as having a unique language, history, and culture. There have been off-and-on movements to separate from the rest of Spain. If you’d like to learn more about that, Jason found some videos that explained some of the history: Catalonia’s Independence Movement, Explained and The History of Catalonia.

Photo of Nicole and Jason taking a self portrait in an elevator. — Our customary jetlagged-in-a-tiny-European-elevator picture (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a park with two tall buildings in the background and a structure with a golden chariot pulled by golden horses on top. — The view from our hotel room (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two exterior walls, one colorfully painted and one covered with ivy. — A colorful corner in Barcelona (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a butcher stall in a market. — A butchery in a market (photo/Jason Rafal)

In our explorations of the city, we went up to Montjuïc, where we had lunch overlooking the city and then went up to the castle. I wouldn’t consider the castle a must-do, but there’s a beautiful walking trail around the outside of it, and the views from the top of the hill are lovely. We took the gondola back down into the city.

Photo of a path with grass on one side and wide, lumpy trees on the other. — The park at Mirador de Miramar (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole ducking to go through a tower door on the castle. — I’m too tall for this (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the Montjuïc castle wall. — The Montjuïc castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also spent some time at Christmas markets, where we struggled to understand some of the local jokes.

Photo of a market stall with a figuring of a man pooping on the roof. — We kept seeing this figurine everywhere, in various sizes (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the Fira de Santa Llucia. — The market (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo looking down a walking street toward the Arc de Triomf. — A nighttime view of the Arc de Triomf (photo/Jason Rafal)

I don’t usually go out of my way to recommend bars and restaurants, but we had a really wonderful experience at Two Schmucks, which is a top 10 cocktail bar in the world. It was pretty empty so we were able to chat with the very friendly bartenders, and the drinks were unusual and incredibly good. The decor was also very fun, and they sent us home with stickers and restaurant recommendations.

Photo of a wall in the Two Schmuck's bar, with writing all over one side. — The decor at Two Schmucks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a light brown cocktail next to a glass of water. — A delicious drink with the longest ice cube we’d ever seen (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also had absolutely wonderful coffee, and we didn’t even make it to all of the places that looked good. The coffee shops were often adorable as well.

Photo of a small coffee trailer in an industrial space. — The adorable and infrequently open Skye Coffee (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the inside of a small coffee shop with a stone and brick interior and a green espresso machine. — The equally adorable Xiloteca Coffee + Botiga (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also paid the entrance fee to go into la Palau de la Musica, which is just a very beautiful concert hall. The ceiling has a massive dewdrop of glass, and the entire thing is colorful and impressive.

Photo of an intricate ceiling with elaborately carved stairs going up in the background. — The staircase going up to the auditorium (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two rows of colorfully tiled columns with Nicole in the background. — Beautiful balcony columns (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of an auditorium with stained glass windows on one side and a huge stained glass skylight in the center of the ceiling. — The inside of the auditorium at la Palau de la Musica (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the the ceiling of the auditorium, with the stained glass skylight surrounded by carved roses. — Another shot of the amazing ceiling (photo/Jason Rafal)

On Christmas Eve we took a day trip out to Montserrat, which is wonderfully accessible by train and has great hiking around the monastery. The landscape is vast, dry, and full of giant lumpy rocks. It vaguely reminded me of the American southwest. There were many well-established paths (though the map was not as helpful as I hoped) and we took the Sant Joan funicular and climbed up to a viewpoint to see all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and watch the climbers on one of the giant rocks near us. It was a nice way to get some fresh air and see more of the area.

Photo from the inside of a cave looking out over a concrete wall and toward the landscape. — Our lunch spot at Montserrat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole ducking to go under a rock overhang. — One of the more challenging parts of the trail (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking down a steep trail toward a small chapel. — Looking down the steep trail toward the Sant Joan Chapel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a large rock wall with two climbers working their way up. — Climbers on one of the big rocks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a building on a rocky outcropping with rocks and trees in the foreground. — The Ermita de Sant Miquel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking down a mountain from a gondola, with the other yellow gondola coming up in the distance. — Taking the gondola back down the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the surprises of the trip was how much we fell in love with Gaudí’s creations. We first went to Casa Batlló, where we were struck by the beauty, livability, and natural elements of the apartment. He prompts a sense of wonder and surprise that is missing from most (all?) other architecture, and it was so fun to walk through the rooms and see how everything was done.

Photo looking up at the facade of a building. — The facade next to Casa Batllo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a curved ceiling with intricate skylights. — Skylights in Casa Batllo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of an elaborate chandelier in the middle of a spiraled ceiling. — The spiral ceiling and chandelier in the living room (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of ventilation built into the ceiling. — Some of the ventilation in the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a door and two windows in a blue-tiled room. — Beautiful doors and walls in the central staircase (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking up through the central staircase area of the house. — The under-the-sea feel of the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a wooden door with a weird, curvy doorknob. — One of the doorknobs that Jason fell in love with (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two artistic sculptures on the roof deck of the house, one similar to a cross and one to a ridge. — Some of the tiled work on the roof of the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to la Sagrada Familia. I’m not at all religious, and I regard most cathedrals as very pretty (I loved stained glass) but vaguely uncomfortable. It’s usually a 5-minute in-and-out experience. From the outside, the building is very weird but not very appealing to me - it’s a bit brown and lumpy, and there are lots of religious carvings.

Photo of the outside of la Sagrada Familia with a lake and trees in the foreground. — The current state of the outside of la Sagrada Familia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of 6 spires, the central tower under construction, and a crane. — Some of the weird spires (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a carved facade of Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus with a pigeon roosting on the baby's head. — A pigeon rests on the baby Jesus’s head (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we walked into la Sagrada Familia, however, my jaw literally dropped. It’s one of the most incredible human feats I’ve ever seen. First, the scale is insane. Both of our necks hurt from looking up by the time we left. The columns, which I could only reach halfway around, reach impossibly high before branching like trees against the intricate ceiling. The stained glass, instead of clearly depicting scenes, is made up of abstract shapes, enforcing the feeling of being in a gigantic indoor forest. One side of the cathedral has cool shades of stained glass, mostly blues and greens, while the other has warm yellows, oranges, and reds. All of the stained glass brings in light that reflects off the columns and ceiling in a beautiful rainbow of light. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris has an impossible amount of stained glass, but the beauty and intentionality of la Sagrada Familia’s stained glass is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Photo of the high, elaborate ceiling and upper stained glass in the cathedral. — The remarkable ceiling of la Sagrada Familia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a corner between two walls of stained glass. — The cooler-toned side of the cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a dark figure between two columns in the cathedral. — A slightly ominous figure (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a corner of the cathedral with yellow and orange light pouring in and reflecting off of the ceiling. — The incredible warm wall of the cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of stained glass projecting a rainbow of colors onto a column. — I loved the rainbow reflections on this column (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of one side of a curved row of organ pipes with walls of stained glass in the background. — Some of the organ pipes in the church (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our third Gaudí exploration was Park Güell, outside of the city center. It’s a beautiful park, but it was quite crowded on Christmas, especially in the tiled areas. There are times in the morning and evening when it’s only open to locals, which sounds like a wonderful experience. It has a great view of the city, and more fun architecture throughout.

Photo of a pink building and palm trees with Barcelona in the background. — Looking out toward the sea from Park Güell (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of NIcole sitting on a rock bench in a wall of benches and stone columns. — Hanging out in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two Gaudi-designed towers with Barcelona in the background. — Another view from the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a while tiled ceiling with two green and blue tiled suns. — The beautiful tiles under the observation deck in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a lizard with tourists in the background. — The famous lizard at the front of the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a pond with an elaborate structure with a golden chariot on top in the background. — The lovely Cascada del Parc de la Ciutadella (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole walking through a tall stone structure. — Walking through the structure above the pond (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a statue of a crane standing over a fox that has knocked over a water vessel. — An interesting statue in the Parc de la Ciutadella (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a small, three-wheeled truck that says "Rockstar Lifestyle" on the side. — An excellent vehicle (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Many Charms of Bergen

October 13, 2022 by Nicole Harrison in Norway

Every time we told someone in Oslo or Svalbard that we were going to Bergen next, they were delighted for us. It was a high bar and we weren’t disappointed.

After a long travel day, (Longyearbyen to Tromsø to Oslo to Bergen with a painful customs and security process in the hangar serving as Tromsø’s temporary airport), we got in late and headed to bed. On our first full day, we explored the city center.

Photo of a park with a moat surrounding an internal green space, with colorful row houses in the background. — Muséhagen park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bergen exudes beauty, fun, and youthful energy. It’s a college town with hundreds of years of history that’s also covered in beautiful murals and (frequently painfully direct) graffiti. It’s touristy but there’s enough space to get away from the crowds. Everywhere you turn there are colorfully painted houses (why does everything have to be neutral colored in the U.S.?) and tree-covered hills next to glassy water. We immediately loved it.

Photo of an espresso drink in a white cup. — First, coffee (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking down a narrow cobbled street with colorful houses on both sides. — One more look at the beautiful colorful houses of Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a full-height blue and white mural of a bird on the side of a two-story building. — A beautiful mural (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a mural of a rainbow colored banana with a dripping ink blot above it. — Another excellent mural (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bryggen, one of the most iconic areas on Bergen, features a row of wooden buildings that contain shops and galleries. First established in the 14th century, the area has burned down several times, and continues to be rebuilt to the original plans using traditional (very slow) methods.

Bryggen was the home of the German merchant community in Bergen, where they dominated northern European trade to both the east and west for two hundred years. The neighborhood within Bergen functioned as a self-contained village for the Hanseatic League, only integrating with the rest of the city when it lost power in the 1700s.

Photo of a row of brown, yellow, red, and white storefronts along a wide wooden deck.

Photo of people walking between two wooden buildings on plank wooden flooring with a pride flag hanging on one side and a sign that says "Apent". — One of the inner alleys in Bryggen (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of a ship through a large arched doorway in a medieval-looking wall. — A ship through the wall of Bergenhus Fortress (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a pigeon perched on a bench next to a lake, with other pigeons on the ground around it. — Some of Jason’s urban bird photography (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the wooden buildings of Bryggen at sunset. — Bryggen at sunset (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the evenings we were in Bergen, there was a culture night where various amateur groups gave performances at different stages around the city center. It was an incredibly broad selection of things - there was hip hop dancing, orchestral classical music, pole dancing, tango, and much more.

Photo of a basset hound in front of a bandstand with flowers everywhere. — An adorable dog listens to the classical music (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a group of people watching two people pole dance on a stage set up in a street. — A pole dancing performance in downtown Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a walking street in Bergen at dusk. — Evening walks in Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

On day two we took the funicular up Mount Fløyen, which has a wonderful view overlooking the city. After hiking around a small portion of the beautiful and established trails at the top, we walked the steep, winding path back down to the city.

Photo of the view from Mount Floyen, with Bergen and the water below. — The view from the top (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole crouching next to five goats lying on the ground. — I was delighted that there were goats at the top of Mount Fløyen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a duck swimming through very still water. — A duck on a very calm mountain lake (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a painted wooden troll's head with a chunk of forehead missing. — One of the trolls at Trollskogen, a troll-themed park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking up the hill toward Mount Floyen, with houses wrapping around roads on the way up the hill. — The view up the hill to Mount Fløyen from Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

In the afternoon, we drove west of Bergen, near Telavåg, and went for a hike out to the coast. I found the trail by zooming around Google maps until I found some accessible public land, and it was a little longer and much muddier than we’d anticipated, but it was worth it. Sometimes the random side trips are busts, but sometimes they work out beautifully, and this was the latter.

Photo of Nicole walking up a steep hill toward trees at the top, with blue skies and wispy clouds in the background. — Walking up one of the very steep hills on the hike (photo/Nicole Harrison)

The scenery was gorgeous but not at all what I expected - it was mainly huge rocky outcroppings with small plants and marshes in between. For some reason I had expected more forest and less low brush. We saw some other hikers, but the area was mostly quiet and incredibly peaceful.

Photo of ponds of water between rocky outcroppings with a cloudy sky in the distance. — Little lakes of water between the rocks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a catwalk trail going through the marsh, with a fork in the trail at the center and steep wooden stairs going up a hill. — A fork in the marshy trail (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole walking on a rocky outcropping toward the ocean. — Finally spotting the sea (photo/Jason Rafal)

One thing about being so far north is that the light is beautiful for a much longer period of time. We spent a few hours at the coast, and all of it was beautiful even though the sun didn’t set until after we left.

Photo of a trail, some of it mud and some catwalk, winding through grass and rocks toward the ocean. — The trail was all rocks, mud, and catwalks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole standing on a rock above the ocean. — Nicole and the sea (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of six sheep, five white and one brown, in a green field at sunset. — Sheep grazing in the golden light (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the Askøy Bridge at sunset with a boat in the foreground. — Sunset from the lovely Nordnesparken in Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last day in Norway, we took a fjord tour. We drove out to Øystese for the tour, and stopped to see waterfalls on the way.

Photo of a waterfall with dense forest in the background. — Mørkhølsfossen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of an Avis van next at the side of a road with two people in camouflage crouched near it. — You can see some guys doing military training on the right - we were amused that they used a rented van (photo/Jason Rafal)

In Øystese we put on thick, windproof full body suits and goggles and boarded a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and set out into the fjord with four other tourists. Our local guide alternated between telling us about the surrounding scenery and taking sweeping, high speed turns through the water just for fun. It definitely would have been chilly if the weather was any colder or wetter, but we got lucky. The boat was very fun, had great visibility, and was able to get right up to the cliffs on either side of the fjord.

Photo of Nicole with a warm suit and goggles on, looking excited. — Very excited to get on the boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a rocky, forested island with one golden coniferous tree in front. — A lone fall-colored tree on a rocky island (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking up at the top of a cliff with water spilling downward over the edge. Trees and blue sky are above. — There were tons of tiny waterfalls in the fjord (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of water spilling over a rocky cliff with trees growing in the background. — A tiny rainbow in the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of water falling over a rocky mountainside with trees going in the background. — One more picture of pretty water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a red and white commercial boat in the water with a forested mountainside behind it. — A photogenic red boat in the green water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a gray shed camouflaged against gray rocks, moss, and trees. — A little shed with a green roof hiding behind the rocks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a sunbeam over a rocky island with coniferous trees. — A little rocky island (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of three houses, two gray and one white, on a forested hillside overlooking the water. — We would like this house (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a bird taking off from the water. — Jason continues to improve his bird photography (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two birds perching on a wooden dock. — More birds (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were little towns everywhere in the fjord, some reachable by road and some only by boat. Many of them required a car or boat ride and then a short hike to reach the house.

Photo looking up a valley from the water, with some houses in a sunbeam on the lower hillside. — Dramatic fjord landscapes (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two buildings with a sailboat and a commercial boat in front. — A boat dock deep in a fjord (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of houses on a grassy hillside with lots of trees with a glaciated mountain in the background. — A dramatic glacier background for some lovely hillside houses (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bergen was the perfect ending to our whirlwind Norwegian adventure, and we understand why people love it. We’ll definitely be back.

Photo of Bryggen across the water. — Bryggen from across the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the front doors of two colorful houses in Bergen. — Colorful houses in Bergen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Jason taking a picture of us in the reflection of a mirrored art piece. — Self portrait in an art piece at the Bergenhus Fortress (photo/Jason Rafal)

78' North

October 07, 2022 by Nicole Harrison in Norway

We’d been excited for Jason’s work trip to Svalbard since he got the invite. An archipelago deep in the Arctic, Svalbard is home to Longyearbyen, the northernmost settlement in the world, and we knew it would be unlike anywhere else we’d ever been.

If you haven’t heard of Svalbard, I’d recommend finding it on a map for context. It’s closer to the North Pole than it is to mainland Norway. They have four months of midnight sun, two months of polar night, and another monthish where it’s just twilight all the time. We visited in the in-between time where there was both a day and a night, but it never truly got dark.

Traditionally, the human presence on the islands has been mostly Norwegian and Russian, but the Russian settlements mostly shut down in the 1990s. The region is considered an unincorporated area of Norway, so we had to go through passport control on the way there and the way back. The first prominent industry was coal mining, which is now mostly shut down and replaced by tourism and research.

Photo of red buildings with mountains and a glacier in the background. — Longyearbyen from the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were in Svalbard because Jason had a satellite conference hosted by KSAT, who owns ground stations all over the world (though the most exciting ones are in the Arctic and Antarctic, where they communicate with satellites in polar orbit.

Our first stop when we got off the plane at the Longyearbyen airport was the SvalSat ground station, where we were greeted by the eerie sight of more than 100 radomes appearing through the fog. The antennae and the radomes that enclose them range in size, but the largest ones are massive, as you can see in the first picture. We went inside one for the conference introduction.

Photo of two tour buses in front of an antenna dome with foggy mountains and ocean in the background. — The scale of the larger radomes (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two radomes with on a flat shale area with foggy ocean in the background. — The radomes had varying patterns (photo/Jason Rafal)

I have been a few places that I could describe as otherworldly, but nothing comes close to the plateau with these radomes. The ground was all brown and gray shale, and especially in the fog, there was nothing you could see except for radomes and the occasional building. Some of the KSAT employees mentioned that the people who live in Longyearbyen have conspiracy theories about what the ground station is actually for, and I can’t fault them for that.

Photo of dozens of radomes with shale in the foreground and fog in the background. — Radomes in the fog (photo/Jason Rafal)

The road to the ground station also goes past the Global Seed Vault, which houses more than a million seed varietals in case of any catastrophic incident that wipes out crops. The seeds are frozen and kept in the Arctic permafrost.

Photo looking down a curved dirt road with a view of the global seed bank with water and mountains behind. — Looking down the hill at the Global Seed Vault (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the global seed vault door next to a brown building with tundra and a dirt road in the foreground. — The door to the Seed Vault (left) and a building that we can’t help you identify (right) (photo/Jason Rafal)

After we checked into the hotel, we left for a boat trip into Isfjorden. It was dark and foggy and beautiful.

We went past Bjorndalen, the area I would hike in the next day. It was cool to see this valley from the water and then later be able to hike around.

Photo of a dozen houses on a brown and gray hillside across a wataerway. — A neighborhood leading into Bjorndalen, the valley between the two mountains (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went past one of the old Soviet towns that are no longer populated. Grumont was home to more than 1000 people, which is hard to imagine looking at it now. The remaining buildings are very apocalyptic looking, with no windows and disappearing paint colors.

Photo of a hillside across the water with four abandoned, crumbling buildings. — The Soviet settlement of Grumont, which was abandoned in the 1960s (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the coolest things we got to see were the jagged mountainsides emerging out of the fog. In the summer, this strip of cliffs is the home to tons of birds who make their nests here. We were in Svalbard after they had migrated away, but the cliffs were still green from all of the guano.

Close up photo of gray cliffs with orange and green vegetation growing. — Some of the most colorful landscape we saw in Svalbard (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of brown and gray cliffs with dozens of radomes visible on the top of the mesa in the background. — A view of the radomes from the boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Longyearbyen, the town where we stayed, is home to about 2000 year-round residents and about 1000 dogs. No other animals can be imported, and there’s no agriculture allowed. There are also 300-500 polar bears in the general area, depending on who we asked, and anyone going outside of the main town area has to carry a gun, flare gun, or both. There are about 20 miles of roads total, stretching in three directions from Longyearbyen.

Photo of rows of colorful houses in Longyearbyen with tundra in the foreground and hills in the background. — Colorful houses of Longyearbyen with snowmobiles in a row in front (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a row of brown, green, red, and yellow houses with fog in the background. — Some more of the colorful houses in Longyearbyen (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two people walking huskies, with one of them wearing a gun and a flare.

Along with the customary ban of cigarettes in Longyearbyen public buildings, you also can’t bring dogs or guns. The dogs are tied up outside, and the guns are checked into lockers or left in vehicles.

Photo of a door with three signs indicating that cigarettes, dogs, and guns are not allowed inside. — Three things not allowed inside public buildings in Longyearbyen (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of a dog tied to a pole in front of the Longyearbyen grocery store. — A dog patiently waiting for its owner outside the grocery store (photo/Jason Rafal)

For being quite literally in the middle of nowhere, the creature comforts in Longyearbyen were pretty solid. There was a fairly well-stocked grocery and general store (Jason couldn’t get over the fact that there was self checkout in the Arctic), multiple outdoor clothing stores (the locals abide by the general Norwegian sentiment that there is no bad weather, only bad clothing), and a few restaurants and bars. My favorite store was a husky cafe where we got some gourmet hot chocolate and spent some time with three adorable, friendly huskies.

Photo of a white husky in front of orange chairs. — One of the huskies we hung out with at the cafe (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a Circle K gas station next to a Toyota dealership. — The most northern fuel station in the world (and I have to assume the most northern Toyota dealership) (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a disc golf target with a playfield, mansion, and glacier in the background. — Yes, disc golf has made it to the Arctic (photo/Jason Rafal)

This is where the photos will be of significantly lower quality, because I took them with my phone or with Jason’s camera that I barely know how to use.

While Jason was in a conference room on the second day, I took a hike in Bjorndalen with an armed guide and a very nice couple from Switzerland. It was a great trip - we walked around in the Arctic tundra and saw reindeer and whales (I was torn about not seeing a polar bear but ultimately would have been very freaked out to see one on foot). I was originally supposed to go on a longer guided hike, but two trips had to be consolidated so the itinerary changed. While I would have loved to hike on the glacier, I’m ultimately glad I was on this trip because of the whales (more on that soon).

Photo of several houses on the tundra with the ocean and a mountain in the background. — The end of the road at Bjorndalen (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Our guide, a Swedish student who changed her major to study in Svalbard and then decided to stay after her program was complete, walked us into the valley and showed us the landscape, pointed out reindeer, and slowly spun in a circle every couple of minutes scanning for polar bears.

Photo of a small stream with green moss and small white flowers with two houses, one black and one red, in the background.

When I go somewhere new, it’s the presence of things that usually stand out - new architecture or city sounds or dramatic landscapes. In Svalbard, the most striking thing wasn’t the presence of anything, but the absence. It’s an absence of smells, because the tundra smells like nothing, and neither does the sea. It’s the absence of sounds, except for the occasional barnacle goose honk and the summer song of the migratory snow bunting. We had multiple people tell us with reverence of the first time they heard the snow bunting in the spring and the feeling of awe that overcame them.

There’s also the absence of trees, and bushes, and color other than brown, gray, white, and the occasional green moss. I’ve never been to a place that’s so close to sensory deprivation, and I can’t imagine what it’s like in the winter.

All that being said, there’s a striking beauty to the landscape, and the simplicity and repetition of the mountains and ocean are awe-inspiring.

Photo looking up the Bjorndalen valley with a stream running through the shale. — Looking up the valley (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of a streambed with a reindeer skeleton surrounded by hair with a mountain in the background. — A reindeer skeleton and some leftover hair blending in with the shale (photo/Nicole Harrison)

We did see a few live reindeer, but as I was having trouble making Jason’s camera work, I had to make do with my phone.

Photo of a reindeer grazing with a mountainside in the background. — Yes, this is the best picture of a reindeer I got - I also wish Jason had been there (photo/Nicole Harrison)

There is old mining equipment scattered around the area, and we saw some on our hike. All the mines but one have been closed, but much of the equipment is considered protected for historical purposes, so it just hangs out and poses for tourist photos.

Photo of a rusted mining cart sitting slightly off of tracks with a mountain in the background. — Some of the old mining equipment (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of hundreds of shore birds flying in a group with the ocean in the background. — Circling shorebirds (photo/Nicole Harrison)

After we hiked around for a while, we went back to a yurt near the airport (right next to a campground where a man was attacked and killed by a polar bear a couple of years ago) and had a hot lunch while I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong with Jason’s camera. A few minutes after I figured it out, we saw the first whales.

Belugas don’t usually breach or do anything else so dramatic, so they just look like a lot of whitecaps in the water at first. This was a lot of whitecaps, though, so we quickly walked to the edge of the water and realized that there were about 50 whales feeding right in front of us. Our guide was even freaking out, which is when you know you’re having a rare experience. I spent the next 45 minutes taking pictures and videos, shaking from cold because I had forgotten my gloves at the lunch site, and trying to absorb the moment.

Photo of the backs of dozens of beluga whales swimming with brown hillsides and houses in the background. — Dozens of beluga whales feeding in the water (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of a beluga whale's back in the water with two birds overhead. — The scarred back of a beluga (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of five beluga whale backs, one of them gray, in the water with a brown mountain in the background. — Swimming belugas - the gray one is a baby (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Photo of the backs of several beluga whales in the water. — Whales passing very close to us (photo/Nicole Harrison)

After the whales started moving away from the shore, we headed back to the site to sit in the yurt and warm up. We also drank a lot of toddy, which is not what I would think of as an American but was also delicious - it’s like a (non-alcoholic) berry syrup mixed with hot water.

Photo of the town of Longyearbyen in the evening with lights on in the buildings, with a glacier visible in the background. — The view of Longyearbyen at dusk (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were only in Svalbard for about 48 hours, but it was definitely one of the most memorable parts of the trip. I can’t recommend it for everyone, but if you want to go somewhere otherworldly and maybe, if you’re lucky, see some whales and maybe a polar bear, it’s a good choice.

Welcome to Norway

September 27, 2022 by Nicole Harrison in Norway

Our trip to Norway started out in an amazing and completely unexpected way - we saw the northern lights from our plane while flying over northern Canada. It was the first time either of us had ever seen them, and I wish there was a better way to take pictures. It was a very special start to the trip.

Before we went to Norway, I kept hearing that Oslo wasn’t a must-see and there wasn’t much point in spending more than a day or two there, so I was a little nervous that our two and a half days would be too long. After being there, I’m not upset about our choices. If you’re trying to do all of Norway in a week or two, sure, you can get a feel for the city in a day. But there’s also great food and parks and hiking nearby, and generally plenty to do. It’s relaxing but not boring.

Photo of a cobblestone street in Oslo with the palace in the distance. — Looking down a street with the palace in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a street in Oslo lined with pink flowers on both sides. — Another lovely street (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two statues in front of a formal-looking building. — The statues outside of the Oslo city hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a boat in front of the Oslo fortress with a cruise ship in the distance. — A many-flagged boat in the harbor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a waterway between two buildings with the sunset in the background. — Sunset from Aker Brygge (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a lot of time wandering through neighborhoods and trying coffee shops. Norway has really consistently good coffee, which was a nice surprise, and the food was great.

Photo of three French-themed public toilets. — We never figured out why these French public toilets were there (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a bird perched on top of a chair with a crumb in its mouth. — A friend at a coffee shop.

Photo looking down at the first floor of a food hall. — Looking down on Mathallen Oslo (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also explored Akershus Fortress, where some of the buildings have been since the 1200s. Something that became clear about Norway when we were there was that everything was originally built in wood and burned down several times over the years, so it’s pretty rare to have a very old building. Old areas, yes, but not as many very old buildings themselves.

Photo of a cobblestone path going between two fortress walls. — Walking between the fortress walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

The telefon booths were very cute. There are about 100 left in the country, and they’re all protected. They still have phones in them, but also free libraries and a plaque telling the story of the booths. They’re charming.

Photo of Nicole in a telefon booth. — Trying out a telefon booth (photo/Jason Rafal)

As is becoming our habit, we spent some time at Oslo’s botanic garden, which features sprawling grounds, large trees, and beautiful greenhouses showcasing different plant biomes.

Photo of a large greenhouse. — The beautiful Palmehuset (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up photo of a large purple flower with a greenhouse in the background. — A huge drooping flower (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a yellow cactus flower. — A lovely cactus flower in the desert greenhouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of six-foot art mimicking tree seed pods. — Helicopter seedpod art (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole sitting on a bench in a vine-covered mesh cave. — A cave of greenery (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a cascading waterfall through a garden of rocks and plants, with children playing and adults watching. — Another beautiful part of the botanic garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also spent some time exploring the Grünerløkka neighborhood, which is a lovely mix of river walks, great food, and amazing art.

Photo of an alley with murals on the walls. — Murals and graffiti (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a black-and-white mural showing different levels of industrialization. — One of my favorite murals in the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

The royal palace is a cool experience because while the palace itself is guarded, the grounds are free and open to the public, which adds another giant park to the city’s list. The informational sign even said “Please walk on the grass. Hug the trees - Enjoy!” which is the happiest message I could imagine on a park sign.

Photo of two people walking along a path in a park. — Walking through the park to the palace (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Opera House is iconic and wonderful. The sloped roof lets you walk all the way up to the top, where you get a lovely view of the city and the water.

Photo of one side of the Oslo opera house. — Walking up the opera house (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of floating saunas. — Some of Oslo’s floating saunas from the opera house (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of people sitting along the water in front of the Oslo opera house. — Sitting in front of the opera house at sunset (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the central library, opera house, and Munch museum. — The central library on the left, opera house in the middle, and Munch museum on the right (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to see the Oslo central library on the recommendation of our Airbnb host, and it was lovely - open, airy, lots of windows, lots of art, and lots of what people actually need from modern libraries (computers, work spaces, and good areas to hang out and talk with people).

Photo of a two-story art piece made of a rainbow of small pieces of paper in a library. — A massive art piece in the central library (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last day we went to explore the Vigeland park, which is known for its size and its enormous number of statues of naked people. Aside from the giant pillar of bodies, there were various interactions between pairs and triads on top of bridge railings and incorporated into steps. It was fairly weird, but some of the emotional ones were pretty interesting.

Photo of a statue of one person pressing their head to another person's head, with a tower of carved stone bodies in the background. — Statues at the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

The last thing we did in Oslo was head out to the peninsula that has all the museums. The viking ship museum is unfortunately closed for the next several years while they rebuild it, so we went into the Fram museum, which was also very cool and featured two 19th century polar ships that we could walk through. The fact that someone went to the south pole in 1910 is both fascinating and horrifying to me, and the fact that Admundsen also reached the north pole in 1926 is even crazier. My favorite part of the museum was walking through the ships and seeing the meticulous detail that has been restored to the living quarters, including life sized, realistic mannequins.

Photo of a mannequin of Admundsen in his room in a ship. — Admundsen in his study (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a ship's kitchen with fake food and cookware and a mannequin of a cook holding pancakes. — The ship’s chef (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a piano next to a map in a ship. — We were surprised to see they took a piano to the north pole…but entertainment is important on a six-year trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

Early the next morning, we left Oslo and headed very far north.

Photo of Jason taking a picture of us in a mirror in an elevator. — Tiny elevator self portrait (photo/Jason Rafal)

Eleven Miles and Six Gondola Rides

August 03, 2022 by Nicole Harrison in Switzerland

After leaving Italy, Jason and I headed to Switzerland for a few days. We’d never been before, and we had decided to split time between Zurich and Interlaken to experience both the city and the Swiss Alps. My two expectations coming into the trip were that it would be absurdly beautiful and very expensive, and Switzerland definitely delivered on both.

We took the train from Florence to Interlaken, where we stayed in one of the old hotels downtown. It’s always odd for me, as an American, to be in a place where there is such well-established tourism infrastructure dating back hundreds of years. I felt a bit like this in Yellowstone National Park, but Swiss mountain towns are definitely a whole other level.

The afternoon that we arrived, we took the funicular from town up to Harder Kulm. The ride was steep and showed off beautiful views. At the top there is a viewing platform and restaurant.

Photo looking out the front of a funicular over the heads of two riders — The view from the funicular on the way up to Harder Kulm (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a Swiss building with a red, pointed roof with a lake and mountains in the background — The view from the top (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Interlaken with mountains in the background and lakes on either side — The view of Interlaken (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up photo of a wooden sculpture of a man blowing into a horn — One of the decorations at the top (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a hotel in Interlaken with glowing mountains in the background — Alpenglow in Interlaken (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day, we followed an itinerary I had found online that included two train rides, six gondola rides, and 11 miles of hiking in between some of the mountain towns.

The first leg of our journey was a gondola up to Grütschalp and then walking to Murren. The walk was beautiful; it was a clearly marked path that wound through the forest and meadows. We saw cows and lots of flowers.

Photo of a water trough that says 1912 with an animal engraving — A water trough in front of a cow barn on our hike (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a cow under a large pine tree — A whole meadow and this cow was looking for food under a pine tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of seven bees on a flower — There were so many bees on these flowers (photo/Jason Rafal)

We took a gondola up to Birg, where they have installed a walkway midway below the top of the cliff that allows you to walk around the edge. While the walkway was slightly unnerving, and I’m not sure I can recommend it for people who are afraid of heights, the views were amazing. It also included some scarier elements, like walking along a cable or over a plexiglass floor.

Photo of a catwalk around a rock face with mountains in the background and a sign that says "photo point" — This made us laugh because it was an insane view all the way around the mountain…but this one point was designated for photos (photo/Jason Rafal)

Panoramic view of mountains — The amazing view from Birg (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole walking along a cable with the mountains in the background — The Birg catwalk had a lot of fun and alarming challenges hundreds of feet off the ground (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a gondola going up to Brig with the mountains in the background — Gondola views (photo/Jason Rafal)

From Birg we took another gondola to Schilthorn, which was full of information about the James Bond movie that was filmed there. It had 360 degree views of the mountains all around, and while it wasn’t as fun as Birg in my opinion, it was very enjoyable.

Photo of walking paths along the top of the mountain at Schilthorn — The view at Schilthorn (photo/Jason Rafal

Photo of small flowers growing out of rock shale — Tiny flowers among the mountaintop rocks (photo/Jason Rafal)

After hanging out for a while at Schilthorn, we took the gondolas back down to Murren and then hiked to Gimmelwald. It was more stereotypical Swiss pastoral beauty, always with the striking mountains in the distance.

Photo of a butterfly on a purple flower with a meadow in the background — A butterfly in the meadow on our hike (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a wooden building with a sign that sais "Willkommen in Gimmelwald" — Our welcome to Gimmelwald (photo/Jason Rafal)

Once we got to Gimmelwald, we took the last gondola of the day down to Schilthornbahn and then began walking back to Lauterbrunnen to catch our train home.

Photo from the inside of a gondola with a waterfall in the background — More gondolas (photo/Jason Rafal)

We walked down the valley through flat pasture land and watched the crazy base jumpers landing.

Photo of a person with a parachute between two tall rock cliffs — A base jumper comes in to land (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a meadow with a high cliff and a waterfall in the background — More meadows, cliffs, and waterfalls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of gliders coming in to land with mountains in the background — Gliders in the park in Interlaken (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day we headed to Zurich for the next part of our trip. We both really liked Zurich - it’s beautiful, easy to get around, has great vegetarian food, and generally feels very livable. It also oozes money, but in a very casual, classy way. At least half the cars were over $100k, and there were drivers waiting for their clients everywhere. When I would see a normal-looking brown Nissan or something similar, it was always a surprise.

It was also quiet. People seemed to use inside voices all the time, and I almost felt the need to whisper while walking around. The dogs were incredibly well behaved and just as quiet as their people.

One of my favorite parts of the city was the fountains. There are about 1200 of them, and they all provide drinkable water, which was lovely. The ones that were too large to reach always had a smaller, more convenient option for filling up a water bottle to the side.

Photo of a fountain in a square in Zurich — One of the many beautiful (and drinkable!) water fountains in Zurich (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of multicolored buildings — Some of the beautiful buildings in Zurich (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a cat walking down a deserted street — A cat wanders down the street (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a chair on a sloped street with a propped-up piece of plywood keeping it flat — The tiniest porch (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of our activities was visiting the university botanic garden, which was beautiful. It has three domes each featuring a different climate, and also had lawn and gardens around the domes as well.

Photo of a yellow flower — One of my favorite plants, the South American *Brugmansia suaveolens* (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Nicole climbing stairs to a platform in a garden dome — One of the beautiful domes at the botanic garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking across the river in Zurich at dusk — Zurich at dusk (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a street at dusk with Swiss flags and a clocktower in the background — Quiet nighttime streets in Zurich (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the recommendations we got from a local was to go to the Lindt factory, which was on one side of Lake Zurich. After some confusion about the ferry system, we arrived at the giant building, which features an impressive two-story chocolate fountain.

If you’re interested in chocolate production, it was a really impressive tour. We spent about an hour but could easily have spent two if we listened to all of the audio clips and read every sign. My favorite part was the room wallpapered with spectacularly high-res photos of a cacao forest, but the descriptions of chocolate additives (and the associated taste testing) was also a good section.

Photo of the inside of the chocolate fountain inside the Lindt factory — The real chocolate fountain in the Lindt factory (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the rest of the day wandering before catching our flight back to Seattle.

Photo of a giant meta sculpture with a man holding a child looking up at it — A giant piece of art that moved a few times a day (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two dogs next to a lake with a swan watching them — Most of the swans seemed very chill, but this one was hissing at the dogs (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a bee on a bright purple flower — More flowers and bees (photo/Jason Rafal)

We loved Switzerland about as much as we expected - it’s beautiful, full of kind people, and we found lots of great food. We’re excited to go back.

A Villa in Italy

July 15, 2022 by Nicole Harrison in Italy

In 2014, Jason and I visited Italy on our first international trip together, and when we took a day trip out into Tuscany, he said he wanted to come back someday and stay there for a week with friends. Eight years later, with friends we hadn't yet met, we fulfilled that dream.

On a whim last fall, during a boozy brunch with new friends, we booked a surprisingly cheap villa outside of Lucca for a week in June. To everyone's surprise, eight months later we actually went.

Everyone got to Lucca in various ways - some spent a couple of days in New York and then London, some just went to London first, and a few of us went to Rome for a day before taking the train north. We stayed by the Trevi Fountain, which had been wrapped up and under construction the last time Jason and I were in the city, so we finally got to see it. We also enjoyed a visit to the Roman Forum and our favorite spot in the city, the Orange Garden.

A photo of the Trevi Fountain from the side, with a view of the crowd — The crowd at the Trevi Fountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo of the inside of the Pantheon's roof — The roof of the Pantheon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of two buildings in Rome, one yellow and one red — Some of the buildings near our hotel in Rome (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a narrow street in Rome with outdoor restaurant tables — Narrow streets in Rome (photo/Jason Rafal)

A close up photo of one side of the Colosseum — The Colosseum against a cloudy sky (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the view along the wall of the Orange Garden, with the Rome skyline in the distance — Along the wall at the Orange Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up photo of a face whose mouth is a fountain — One of the amazing fountains in Rome (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking up an apartment wall covered in thick ivy — A green wall (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Roman Forum, somewhat under construction (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a narrow street in Lucca, with a tall arch connecting two buildings — The view down a Roman street (photo/Jason Rafal)

We weren't quite sure what to expect when we got to the villa, since it had looked amazing in pictures but we were still skeptical of the price, but it was amazing. Five bedrooms, most of them with their own bathrooms and sitting areas, and a large kitchen and dining room greeted us. There was a second kitchen outside, as well as a grill and pizza oven, a greenhouse dining room, and a pool.

Photo of a building with mostly glass walls in front of a tall blue house at sunset — The view of our villa from the backyard (photo/Nicole Harrison)

One of our first excursions was to the Villa Reale di Marlia, which was a large, stately house surrounded by incredible grounds and gardens. If you’re ever in Marlia (for some reason?) I think all of us would highly recommend it.

Photo of a very old building with open windows and a rock tiled floor — One of the beautiful views on the grounds of the Villa Reale di Marlia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the villa group between two high hedges with a clock tower in the background — The villa group at Villa Reale di Marlia (photo/some random guy)

The group also did a cooking class that focused on pasta. Everything was delicious, and the surrounding winery was beautiful as well.

Photo of a hand kneading pasta dough — Making pasta dough (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a person putting greenish white ravioli filling onto a strip of pasta — Filling the ravioli (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a person running a strip of pasta through a pasta machine — Making the pasta (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of three piles of fresh pasta — Finished pasta (photo/Jason Rafal)

On one of the days, we made an excursion to the town of Lucca, about 20 minutes from where we were staying. It’s a very cute town that features completely intact city walls from the Renaissance era. The top of the wall around the town has been made into a park with lots of trees for shade and a path around the parameter for walking, running, and biking.

The view down one of Lucca’s old, narrow streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a fountain with two humanoid statues in the foreground, and more statues behind the fountain — In the beautiful gardens of the Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca (photo/Jason Rafal)

Later in the week, we headed for Cinque Terre. In a day that featured a variety of transportation options, we drove to La Spezia, then took a train to Riomaggiore, then took a ferry to Manarola. The towns are absolutely beautiful - brightly painted houses against a coastline of clear blue Mediterranean water.

Photo of pink flowers with the buildings of Riomaggiore in the background — Looking back at the coast in Riomaggiore (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo looking away from the ocean over the buildings of Riomaggiore — Looking out across Riomaggiore (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a cat laying on the ground with an old wall in the background — A cat lounging in the town (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the colorful buildings of Riomaggiore along the coastline — The buildings of Riomaggiore (photo/Jason Rafal)

In Manarola, we went swimming and cliff jumping (with various levels of difficulty - the part I was jumping off of was more like a large rock than a cliff, but some of the bravest in our party jumped off the top part of the rocks in the photo below). It was the first time in the Mediterranean, and after I got over the initial shock of the amount of salt (the sea is about 10% saltier than the Pacific), I loved the perfect temperature and the ease of treading water.

Photo of a cove with swimmers and people jumping off of cliffs into the water — The cliff jumping area at Manarola (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of Manarola with the swimming cove in the foreground — Manarola (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last day in Italy, some of us left and the rest spent some time wandering around Florence. We saw the Duomo, which is always amazing, spent some time shopping at Ponte Vecchio, and walked through some of the Uffizi (we were too overwhelmed to do the whole thing). Jason and I loved Florence the first time we visited, and even though it was a bit too full of tourists this time for our liking, it was wonderful to get to spend time there again.

Photo of buildings at the Duomo — Some of the beautiful tile work at the Duomo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of an old wall cutting through Florence with dense green trees on either side — The view along the wall from the Piazzale Michelangelo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of the Ponte Vecchio bridge with the Florence skyline in the background — Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a full-wall painting of Tuscany specifically showing the sea monsters detailed in the sea — The sea monsters detailed in a full-wall painting of the area in the Uffizi (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photo of a close up of part of a statue that features a goose holding up some cloth, with two crossed legs in the background — And excellent goose in the Uffizi (photo/Jason Rafal)

Italy was our first trip out of the U.S. in two and a half years, and it set the bar high for future group vacations. It was wonderful to just hang out somewhere new, eat cheap and delicious produce, struggle with language barriers, and spend time with friends escaping the heat in the pool. Until next time, Italy.

Photo of nine people on one side of a long table recreating the Last Supper — One last group photo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Slightly Younger Tiles

January 12, 2020 by Nicole Harrison in Morocco, Portugal

On Saturday, we ventured out to visit a tannery. The tanneries of Fes are famous for their age and methods — the oldest dates to the 11th century, and they still operate essentially the same as they did then. The tanneries are on everyone’s must-do lists for Fes — they are smelly, but visually fascinating. Men pre-treat goat, sheep, and dromedary leather before moving the pieces into large vats of dye. When the leather has been sufficiently treated, it is taken up to the hillside to dry for a day. When the pieces are dry, they are brought back into the Medina to be cut and sewn into belts, bags, jackets, pillows, and shoes.

Ally walks through our riad (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The tanneries are surrounded by shops, and in order to see one, you essentially have to look like a tourist until someone offers to take you through a shop to see the tannery. We were picked up by someone who belonged to a cooperative, and they started us out at the leather shop.

It was a clear, cool morning, and the smell was surprisingly mild from the terrace at the top of the leather shop. The man who was showing us around handed us all mint to hold under our noses and then explained the details of the tannery to us as we took pictures.

A man works in the dye vats (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Afterward, we were taken through the shop and encouraged to purchase a variety of products. There’s a tension between the tourists who want to see the tanneries without paying anything and the cooperatives who want to make money, but we had already decided to look for some belts. Jason also found a jacket that fit shocking well, so we more than paid for our pictures.

After the tannery, we were swiftly guided to an argan oil shop, where we re-learned about creating argan oil (I hadn’t realized last time that the seeds are toasted to make edible oil and left untoasted for cosmetics). This shop had a few additional scents and products that the last one didn’t, and it also had Moroccan spice mixes and saffron, which we stocked up on. Saffron is expensive anywhere, but it’s much cheaper in Morocco.

Our third stop (I was starting to worry how many stops there would be, as it’s especially difficult to un-entangle yourself once you’re in the co-op circuit) was a weaving shop where men wove blankets, scarves, bags, and pillows from a combination of cactus threads and sheep’s wool. The man who owned the shop called himself Mohammad Couscous, and he was very excited to show us around the shop and tell us about the different products they made. He also taught us how to put on scarves for trips into the desert — we had a lot of people tell us that coming back to Morocco for a few days in the Sahara was essential.

Emilie learns proper headscarf use (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the weaving shop, we were guided to an embroidery shop, where women were doing some insane double sided embroidery onto table cloths, runners, napkins, and pillows. If you’ve never embroidered, I’m not quite sure how to explain to you how crazy double-sided embroidery is. Usually, you have a pretty side, and an ugly side, and that’s just how it is. The women in the shop in Fes were using a crazy double thread technique that allowed the pretty side to be both sides, so everything they made is reversible. Along with the addition of multiple colors, it was very impressive.

Crazy double-sided embroidery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In the afternoon, we headed up to the Marinid Tombs, which was supposed to have the best view of the city. It’s the place to go for sunset, but we went up a couple of hours before sunset, which was actually really nice because it wasn’t crowded.

To walk up to the tombs, we exited an outer bab and headed up the hill through the cemetery. The remains of the tombs are at the top of the hill, and they create great frames for the views of the city. Apparently not much is known about the tombs because there hasn’t been a thorough archaeological dig in the area, which is kind of crazy since it is believed to date from the 14th century. It’s a really cool area, and a great way to get a panoramic view of the city.

Hiking up through the cemetery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Fes, with the Atlas Mountains in the distance

More views of Fes through ancient walls (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Arriving at the tombs at the top of the hill (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the more adventurous climbers (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset from a teahouse in the city (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One thing that’s difficult in the old medinas, and especially in Fes, is that only half of the streets/alleys are on any map, even a downloaded Google map, so it’s difficult to figure out how everything connects. This creates some wonderful quiet wandering, but it also leaves obvious tourists susceptible to local teenagers, who will tell you that you’re going toward a dead end, guide you in a different direction, and ask for payment. At one point this happened when we were actually lost and unable to just brush the kid off, and he started yelling at us for not paying him enough. It’s uncomfortable, and difficult to always avoid.

For dinner, we went to a place that served both traditional Moroccan food and what I would call interpretations of other foods. We were constantly amused that the depictions of tacos were clearly pressed burritos. Ally and I both got pastillas, a traditional Moroccan dish consisting of meat and nuts wrapped in phyllo dough and covered with cinnamon and icing. It’s weirdly sweet for a savory dish, but sweet-savory combos seem to be a favorite in Moroccan cuisine.

A pastilla (yes, that’s sugar) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Sunday, we explored some more of the central medinas of Fes before catching our flight to Lisbon.

We first visited Al Attarine Madrasa, which is a 14th-century center of religious learning. The courtyard is incredibly intricate and beautiful, and the student’s quarters above are much more plain, but also provide beautiful views of the surrounding city. The tile work at this madrasa is really insane — there’s a bunch of Arabic calligraphy tiles, which are incredibly beautiful.

Another incredibly ornate room (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Emilie and Ally with some of the calligraphy tile (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Views through a window (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also walked by the nearby Kairaouine Mosque and University, which is considered the oldest university in the world. We were not allowed to go in, but there were a couple of spots where we could look through open doors onto the beautiful courtyards within.

We also wandered to the river, took pictures of one more bab, and had some tea before finding lunch.

The river through Fes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch, we ended up at the restaurant of one of the bigger riads near ours. It had a really large, beautiful inner courtyard, and it was a lovely, quiet, green escape from the surrounding medina. I immediately made a cat friend, who jumped on my lap, purred, and snuggled before the riad owner came and picked him up, saying that he usually puts the cat in his room for meal times so he won’t harass the patrons.

Nicole’s new cat friend (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunlight through a big tree in the courtyard (have you noticed Jason’s trip-long sunstar obsession?) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The lunch was a perfect goodbye to Fes, and we headed to Portugal full and happy.

Monday was our full day in Lisbon, and we all immediately knew that we wanted more time there. It’s just a very appealing city. The buildings are colorful and interesting to look at, the hills keep things interesting and beautiful, and the food is great.

Nighttime streets in Lisbon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One thing that we had really missed in Morocco was good coffee, so we visited two coffee shops on Monday morning. Both were delicious. We also dropped by Bertrand, which is the oldest operating bookstore in the world — it dates to 1732.

Emilie in front of Bertrand (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In order to get a feel for the city without stressing ourselves out trying to see all the sights in one day, we signed up for a free walking tour. This was a lot of fun and made us realize how little we knew about Portugese history. The 1755 earthquake, which was one of the most defining events in Lisbon’s history, was the most frequent topic as we walked through some of the central neighborhoods of the city.

Narrow original streets in Lisbon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The 1755 earthquake happened on November 1 (All Saints Day), which meant that most of the Christians in Lisbon had lit candles in their houses and gone to church for the morning. When the earthquake, which was an estimated 8.5-9.0 in magnitude, hit in Lisbon, the churches and other large buildings collapsed, the candles set the city on fire, and the tsunami killed an enormous number of survivors of the first two catastrophes. While there were more surviving humans and buildings in the Jewish and Muslim communities on the hillsides, the center of the city had to be completely rebuilt. It’s really interesting to see the differences between the old surviving architecture and the much newer template of the rest of the city — the buildings are all colorful, and have similar architecture, but the grid, including streets and buildings, is much wider in the rebuilt part of the city.

One of the churches that lost its roof in the earthquake (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also learned about the 1974 revolution, which felt surprisingly recent. A military coup marched into Lisbon to overthrow the authoritarian regime, and an unexpected civil resistance joined in. Impressively, the government stepped down with almost no violence, and when the public took to the streets to celebrate, someone put a red carnation into a soldier’s gun. The symbol spread through the streets, and became the namesake of the peaceful Carnation Revolution.

Our guide also walked us through Alfama, one of the original remaining neighborhoods in Lisbon. It features tiny, narrow apartments inhabited by mostly older residents, and it feels like stepping back in time.

A view over the Praça do Comércio (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up toward the Alfama neighborhood (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The residents of Alfama still use by-hand communal laundry (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A resident of Alfama looks out over the street (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our walking tour, we went to the Time Out Market, which is a very cool (and quite crowded) indoor market with a bunch of shops and places to eat.

Tasting an egg tart in Time Out Market (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A Santa driving a streetcar (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After lunch, we went to a wine tasting shop, where we could use a pre-loaded card to purchase small pours of different Portugese wines. Green wines, or wines created with young grapes, were one of our focuses — we think they might become trendy after rose.

After sampling a considerable amount of wine, we got a ride down to LX Factory, which Emilie aptly described as “Hipster Disneyland, in the best possible way.” It’s a collection of shops and restaurants in old factories and containers, and there are different kinds of visual art everywhere. We walked through some shops and had a craft beer at some tiny old school tables, which were cute but problematically small for Jason and I.

An adorable plant shop (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A combination bookshop and artist workshop (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For dinner we went to A Valenciana, which was written up in an Eater guide we found. It was a really nice example of a traditional Portuguese restaurant — the other people in the restaurant were mostly locals, and the dishes were simple and delicious. We ordered a lot of Piri Piri chicken, which we learned was from Portugal, which came with rice and French fries. They actually forgot Emilie’s vegetarian dish (we never actually figured out what it was), but she was a very good sport and ate carbs instead. It felt like a very Portuguese way to end the trip.

That evening, we walked back to our hotel, wandering the streets nearby for a while. Everything was all lit up for the holidays, and we even found a Feliz 2020 sign. We’ve all decided that we’ll try to come back to Portugal soon.

New Year’s lights around the Praça do Marquês de Pombal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Color-changing lights above a busy street filled with smoke from street food (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A Few Days in Paris

September 17, 2019 by Nicole Harrison in France

We were in Paris a little over two years ago for our honeymoon, so we weren’t planning to come back this soon. Jason had a conference, though, and when one gets a chance to tack on a trip to Paris, one should do so.

We landed at 8:00 am local, which is never fun, but we dropped off our bags and headed out to drink a lot of coffee and get some food. We also walked over to Notre Dame, which we were curious to see since the fire. It was…a bit heart breaking. There’s a metal and razor wire fence around the cathedral and surrounding grounds, right in front of the rows of cafes that previously had prime real estate. Notre Dame is such an amazing center point of the city, and it’s hard to see it barricaded. They are working hard to restore it, though, and it’s clear that it will be back.

Notre Dame under construction (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to Shakespeare and Company to say hi to the books and the cat, and headed to the Louvre to do some people watching. We didn’t go in - we’re still pretty intimidated by the crowds and the pure size of the building, and we were exhausted - but it’s a fun area to wander.

Philosophical decisions at Shakespeare and Company (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Wedding pictures at the pyramid (Photo/Jason Rafal)

People watching near the Louvre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

While Jason was napping, I found one of my new favorite parks in the city - Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. There’s a pavillion on top of an island in the lake, and it’s quite beautiful. There’s also a lot of sloping lawn where I got to sit and read with the Parisians.

A multi-layered park view (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Sunday we took a bike tour of Versailles. I’d highly recommend doing a bike tour, since you’re able to see so much more of the grounds that way. It’s also far less crowded than the palace and garden area.

After we took the train out to Versailles in the morning, our guide took us to an indoor/outdoor market to buy picnic food. It’s probably one of my favorite markets that I’ve been to - it’s very picturesque and has a variety of food and wine to purchase (that being said, Jason didn’t get any pictures of it that he liked, so you’ll just have to go yourselves). We picked up the five essentials of a French picnic: bread, cheese, salami, fruit, and wine (we found a Marsannay, one of my favorite white wines, that I was very excited about). From there, we headed into the grounds.

Starting our bike ride in the town of Versailles (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very classy classic car (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The grounds of Versailles are used for several things right now - Gordon Ramsey has a restaurant that looks out over the grounds, and there’s a farm to grow the food, as well as sheep and goats. It’s also classically pastoral and quite beautiful. We had a picnic lunch on the west side of the Grand Canal, and it was lovely and peaceful, with only a few other groups nearby.

The Palace of Versailles across the Grand Canal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Biking through the grounds (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A few hedgehogs climbed out of the hedges at Versailles, juch to everyone’s delight (and the confusion of the Australians in our group, who wanted to know how big they get) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide told us a lot of French history as we made our way through the grounds. Most of what we learned was about Louis XIV, since he was the one who did most of the work on Versailles during his impressive 76 years of life, but we also heard about Louis XIII, XV, and XVI, making it a little difficult to keep everything straight. We learned about Marie Antionette, who was both very harshly judged and misunderstood (the quote about cake was not from her at all). But, she also made some rather lavish choices, like creating a sort of Bavarian working farm theme park where she and her children could pretend they were in Austria. It was both adorable and very weird.

Several generations of construction on a Bavarian village building (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another quite out of place village building (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After touring the grounds we went into Versailles, which is a place of excessive opulence. It’s very impressive, but the experience was hindered somewhat by the crazy crowds of people trying to see the most famous rooms. My favorite part (I’m not super into gilding, though it’s cool) was the painted ceilings - the attention to detail from the artists was truly incredible. It was also pretty crazy to imagine living in a place like that. We were only allowed in certain corridors, and we still felt lost a couple of times.

The courtyard of Versailles through the golden fence (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A really incredible map built into a table (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Hall of Mirrors (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The gardens outside the palace are also amazing and ridiculous. There are double hedges everywhere so that servants could get around without the nobility seeing them. There are also a ton of fountains - I was blown away by the number of fountains that we happened upon while wandering. The fountains were originally gravity fed (which was one reason so many servants had to run around in the second layer of hedges), and they were still having some issues keeping them all running.

Looking out over the gardens and the Grand Canal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Paris is amazing. It’s always been amazing, and it always will be amazing. We moved over one arrondissement and stayed in the 10th this time, right next to the metro, which was lovely after we walked 31 miles in the first 3 days and were in considerable discomfort. We revisited some of our favorite places and also explored some more of the inner neighborhoods.

An incredibly colorful fountain area in the city (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Layers of murals (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A scene of Paris (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Late afternoon light (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A blue heron in a city park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Arc de Triomphe at night (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Monday we went to the Eiffel Tower (twice, actually - once in the morning and once at night, when it was lit up) and did some general wandering and relaxing. Our feet were in a considerable amount of pain by this point, so we were trying to take it easy (though I still ended up walking over 14 miles, according to my watch). Night walking in Paris is wonderful, and the Eiffel Tower at night is amazing. I have no idea how they light it up so completely, but it’s breathtaking, even when you’re been staring at it for a while.

The Eiffel Tower, all lit up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Since we had already been to Paris and Jason had a conference and some work to do, we did less touristy things and had some more downtime planned in. I spent hours reading - mostly in parks, but on one occasion in a wine bar while locals chatted enthusiastically around me and kids played soccer outside of the school nearby. Being an introvert in a country where I don’t speak the language is a combination that can be somewhat isolating, but it’s always nice to see the similarities in human interaction around the world. We’re very consistent creatures, and it’s comforting to see such familiar joy and frustration.

On Wednesday we went to the Musée d’Orsay, which is a wonderful art museum in an old train station. They have a pretty amazing collection, including a bunch from Monet, Manet, Picasso, and Rodin, which are some of our favorites. There’s also a light-filled indoor courtyard of sculptures, which I’m always a huge fan of.

Looking down the Musée d’Orsay (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view of the city through one of the giant clocks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Pompon’s Polar Bear (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had a variety of food while in the city - French food, of course, but also some fusions and imports, including Italian, Lebanese, and BBQ that was a mix between North and South American. We also had a ridiculous amount of wine, because how can you not.

Overall, Paris was amazing, as expected. The food, the parks, the views, the absurdly convenient metro system - it’s just a very good city. We’ll be back again.

Also, museums are closed on Mondays. Keep that in mind.

Views from drinks on the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Views of Paris at night (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An incredibly decorated bench area off of the Promenade Plantée (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Painted City

July 16, 2017 by Nicole Harrison in France

Story by Nicole

We both liked Lyon immediately. It’s a decent sized city that is walkable, hilly, colorful, and has a few big, lovely parks. We arrived late morning and went to our Airbnb, where a very nice older French gentlemen showed us around his apartment and offered us refreshments before leaving for his country house. After we went to a pedestrian street full of restaurants for lunch, we headed off to explore.

It was hot, so we first went to the Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon. It’s a really wonderful museum with a large room of sculptures and a very impressive Egypt collection.

The sculpture room (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A great dog statue (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Painting the paintings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very, very, very old wall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We then went to Le Quartier Saint-Jean, which is in the old city. It’s full of beautiful old buildings in varying shades of yellow, orange, and pink, and it was bustling with restaurants, gift shops, and random museums (we walked past the puppet museum and the museum of movies and miniatures). We stopped at a gelato shop with too many flavors to resist and then began the formidable climb up to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, which is a beautiful white cathedral on top of a very steep hill. Fortunately much of the hillside is shaded by a park of gardens and mature trees, which is beautiful enough to distract from the calf burn. From the top of the hill you get a great view of the city, and the day was clear enough that we could even see mountains behind the city’s few skyscrapers. The cathedral was under construction, like many of the monuments we’ve seen.

Le Quartier Saint-Jean (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up the hill at the Basilique (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the trails up through the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Skywriting next to the Basilique (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from the top of the hill (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the cathedral we walked down the hill slightly to find the old Roman amphitheater ruins. The amphitheater was being set up for a concert, which somewhat disrupted the view but was very interesting, especially since there was a musical accompaniment to the experience.

A lovely concert view (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Friday we took another all-day wine and medieval village tour, this time in a van. Our group consisted of five Americans and three women from Spain, so our very impressive guide, Olivier, spent all day explaining everything in both English and Spanish without even a pause to reset in between.

We were touring the Beaujolais region this time, which is said to be France’s Tuscany. I expected to be somewhat less impressed by the scenery because we had already spent a fair amount of time in French wine country, but it really was gorgeous. The grapes are Chardonnay and Gamay. Beaujolais produces a lot more regional and village appellation wine than borgeone, but they only have one cru level.

Us in front of a pigeon house (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beaujolais (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beaujolais vineyards (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After we drove around and talked about wine, we went to a local producer in the town of Oingt. The vineyard owner, Dominique, did not speak English, so Olivier translated from French to English and Spanish as Dominique told us about the processes of growing, harvesting, and making wine from the grapes. He also made a half-joking request for us to come back in the fall and help harvest, because every year he needs about 30 people to harvest grapes for a few weeks. He feeds and lodges people and pays them 60 euro a day to pick grapes, and Olivier noted that he had harvested for one season in his youth. He recommended against it.

A view of the vineyards (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dominique showing us how to smell the vines (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A well-behaved vineyard dog who was told to lay down (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In the afternoon we went to the tiny medieval commune of Pérouges. The town was dressed up for a medieval fair that weekend, and it was fun to see everything set up to look like the olden days.

Preparations for the medieval fair (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A street in Pérouges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Heart shutters (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful well (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Old buildings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Flowers and a butterfly in Pérouges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

When we got back from our tour, we spent the evening walking around the city. When we walked through the Place des Jacobins, there appeared to be some sort of protest going on. We had noticed lots of police and security in all the cities in France, but the square was surrounded by local police and what looked like the French National Guard. They all seemed fairly relaxed, so after looking around for a minute and trying to figure out what was going on, we decided to avoid the area where some officers with shields were facing some citizens and move on.

The Place des Jacobins (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Officers in the square (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Saturday we walked to the neighborhood of la Croix-Rousse, where we found the most massive farmers’ market that either of us had ever seen. It stretched on for at least 10 blocks of stands selling fruits and vegetables, cheese, meats, and various cooked foods. On the other side of the street there were dozens of people who had set up mini garage sales to sell clothes, toys, and household appliances. Around a corner we found a jazz band playing.

Typical farmer’s market fare (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Rotisserie chicken and fat-cooked vegetables (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We found this stand amusing (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A surprise jazz band (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We headed next to the Parc de la Tête d'Or, which is one of the largest parks in France. As expected, the park is awesome. It features a large lake with rentable paddle boats. The lake also has an island, and Google Maps indicated that there was a way to reach the island without a boat. I was expecting a bridge, but as we drew closer a bridge did not appear. Once we got to the crossing area, though, we noticed an impressive tunnel under the lake to reach the island. On the island is the monument aux morts de l'île du Souvenir, a massive statue honoring the French individuals who died during World War I.

Geese in the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The tunnel under the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch we went to YAAFA, a very good local fast food place that serves falafel sandwiches and salads. After lunch we did some more wandering around Lyon. One wonderful aspect of the city is the fact that everything is painted - there are full-wall murals on the sides of many buildings, and graffiti everywhere as well. In many areas the stairs are even painted.

Big cat mural (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The amazing book mural (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The mural of famous people from Lyon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A fancy fish (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another great thing is the passageways and stairways throughout the hilly city.

A stairway between buildings (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An archway in the city (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After a lovely last meal at a French restaurant, we went home and packed up. In the morning, we took the train back to Paris and flew through Iceland to Denver. For those trying to spend some time in France outside of the top tourist destinations, I highly recommend Lyon.

A bridge over the Saône (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Always Take the Bike Tour

July 09, 2017 by Nicole Harrison in France

Story by Nicole

On Wednesday, we hired a French conspiracy theorist to guide us on bikes around the Côte de Beaune.

The above is true, but it happened because we booked a day trip around the region on bicycles to explore and taste wine, and because there was a last-minute cancellation, we ended up by ourselves on the tour, This meant that we had the day to ourselves with Eric, an electronics salesman turned self-taught botanist who now works for the bike tour company. We had a delightful day biking around the vineyards and forests with a local who told us about vineyards, wine, and French culture, and sometimes spontaneously sang or whistled American songs that he played with his band.

Just the awe-inspiring French countryside (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Green and cliffs (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down over Saint Romain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We started biking around Saint Romain, where we stopped periodically to talk about vines, grapes, and wines. Eric reiterated some of what we already knew and taught us some new facts as well. Three wine facts for the day: apparently Bourgogne is also an exporter of oak wine barrels. Rosé is made like red wine, but the skins are not kept in long enough to develop the deeper red color. White wine can also use red grapes, as red grapes have white juice, they don’t add the skins back in during the winemaking process. We paused at a giant stone table at the top of a hill to eat some cheese with a glass of white wine.

Biking through Saint Romain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Saint Romain (I think) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An old clothes-washing area (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Biking along country roads (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Snack break (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The fortress of Château de la Rochepot (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first tasting was at Chateau de Chassange-Montrachet, where we tasted three white wines and one red. These were newer wines that had not fully matured in flavor yet, but the somaliers taught us what to taste for. The red needed a little time to develop its taste, but the smell was amazing, and it definitely didn’t taste bad, it was just lacking some layers of complexity. We also explored the very impressive cellars full of wine barrels (white wine is aged in metal and red is aged in wooden barrels). The barrels were color-coded to denote the year, and thurs the characteristics, of those barrels.

This cellar is very old (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Color-coded wine barrels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric walks through the wine barrels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The original vehicle for selling Chateau de Chassange-Montrachet wine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had lunch in the village of Puligny Montrachet, where we were welcomed to the Olivier Leflaive restaurant by the owner himself. We paired our three-course lunch with a delicious 2011 Marsannay Premier Cru. There was much time spent discussing wine, politics, and the world at large over the meal.

After lunch, we headed out for the last leg of our biking tour. We rode for a few minutes with a woman from the Netherlands who was biking to Spain, and Eric gave her some general directions before we parted ways. I considered for a moment how both incredible and lonely her trip would be.

Eric pointed out the soon-to-be-defunct national postal service (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful biking scenery (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our fearless leader (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eric and our temporary travel companion (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We finished in Pomard, where Eric left us at a local winery and biked up the hill to get the van and bike trailer. There we tasted nine wines, 3 white and 6 red, that ranged from regional appalation to Premier Cru. Obnoxiously, Jason has learned to taste the difference between a regional appellation wine and a Premier Cru wine, which means that his wine tastes have become more expensive. Prompting a moment of small-world revelation, a couple who was from Denver randomly happened to walk into the winery when we were about to taste the wines and asked to join us.

The garden at Chateau de Pommard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The cellar at the winery in Pommard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After Eric drove us back into Beaune, we walked around the medieval town for a while before dinner. If you’re in Beaune for a bit, do yourself a favor and visit the Parc de la Bouzaise, which is a short walk outside of the old town. Flanked by vineyards and featuring instructional signs about the plants in French and English, it’s a beautiful break from the usual medieval architecture. It also has resident animals including chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, a pig, and a gorgeous coop filled with some of the less usual types of pigeons.

The Collégiale Basilique Notre-Dame (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking back at old town Beaune (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A fantastically fluffy tree (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Vineyards next to the park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The pigeon coop (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Amusing pigeons (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down into the pond (Photo/Jason Rafal)

So Much Knowledge About 3% of Wine

June 29, 2017 by Nicole Harrison in France

Dijon was a challenge after the never-ending activity of Paris, especially because we arrived on the Sunday of a holiday weekend. Dijon has about 150,000 inhabitants, but at the old city center where we were staying, at least two-thirds of the restaurants and shops were closed on Sunday and Monday. This turned out fine because we spent most of our time walking around anyway, but the transition to forced relaxation was a little difficult.

The fountain at Jardin Darcy, near our apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Selling art at Jardin Darcy (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The white bear, one of the representative animals of Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dijon is the capital of Bourgogne (Burgundy = Bourgogne in English) and was home to a line of four powerful dukes, rich in wine, who led Bourgogne to rival central France in power. The region lived as a separate state for many years. Dijon also has many animals woven into its history, and the city has adopted the owl as its spirit animal. The tourism board put little owl markers across old town, and for three euro you can buy a booklet that will guide you to see the different historical points of interest across the old city, which dates back to the 1000s. Unfortunately, I have learned to associate the old timber and stone construction with the new, fake facades at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, so it was a little difficult to fully appreciate the age of the medieval buildings.

Symbols of the Owl’s Trail (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Cathedrale Saint-Bénigne (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Medieval architecture (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Monday, we climbed the Tour Philippe Le Bon, followed the owls around the city, and visited the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, which was partially closed (everything is going to be opening up again in 2019) but led us through the history and culture of the Dukes of Burgundy.

The view from Tour Philippe Le Bon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A gargoyle on top of Tour Philippe Le Bon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A dog jumps into a fountain while accompanying its person on a run through the center of Dijon (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also walked to the edge of the old city and found fountains, the lovely Jardin de l'Arquebuse, and the natural history museum, where we browsed halls of informational (but in French, so we didn’t learn much) placards and taxidermied animals.

A fountain on the edge of the old town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Many cabinets of birds (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Tuesday we went to the market in the morning and then walked around and went into some of the shops that had been previously closed. Bourgogne is known for its spiced bread, which we tried a few forms of. It ranged from a weird, spongey, air pocked-filled cookie to loaves of what was essentially soft, sweet fruitcake. Not surprisingly, some of the bread was shaped like owls.

Owl bread (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Tuesday afternoon we had a half-day tour through the Cote de Nuits with another Coloradan who was working from Paris for the summer, a couple from Japan, a woman from Taiwan, and our guide, Stevie. We drove a small VW van through the vineyards, stopping to talk about wine and vines as we went. Bourgogne produces about three percent of France’s wine, and the grapes used are overwhelmingly chardonnay and pinot noir. Unlike American wine, French wine is named for the region, not the grape variety, which makes it rather difficult to know what you’re buying unless you’re familiar with the regions of France. In addition, French wine has four classifications, called appellations, which describe the potential of the land to make a great wine (this is challenging to describe without a map, so bare with me). The first two are regional appellation, a designation which includes about 50% of Bourgogne wines and is usually grown lower on the hillsides, and village appellation, which is usually slightly upslope from the regional appellation area and represents about 30% of Bourgogne wine. Sometimes a certain village appellation is surrounded by a wall, or clos, which protects the grapes and allows the seller to list the designation of walled vineyard on the bottle, Premier Cru is the higher-quality wine produced in the areas that have more challenging conditions higher up on the slope. The most valued appellation is Grand Cru, which comes from the ideal point of the hillside and accounts for about 1% of the 3% of wine that comes from Bourgogne.

A walled vineyard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Bourgogne has fields and fields of agriculture, but most of them are wheat and canola. Only some areas are used for the vineyards. The vineyards are also dotted with rosebushes, which provide a sort of canary in the coal mine to warn of impending molds and diseases (the rose plants will be affected before the vines). Bourgogne gets about 30 inches of rain a year, and it’s actually illegal to irrigate.

We went to a wine tasting in a cellar in a small town, where we drank six white and red wines of various appellation designations and compared them. We were guided in our tasting by Stevie, who had a great understanding of American mannerisms and made a lot of jokes. We paired the wine with some delicious cheeses and crackers.

The amazing wine cellar we visited first (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The older bottles of wine in the cellar (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Learning about labels (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there, Stevie took us to the Château du Clos de Vougeot, which had traditionally been run by Cistercian monks. There were some incredibly large old wine presses that the monks used, one of which is still in use. The machine exerts about 20 tons of pressure on the grapes to sufficiently squish them. The room where they put the giant vats of grape juice to ferment has to be large and airy to prevent the offgassing CO2 from killing the people making the wine, so the ceilings were vaulted. The whole thing was rather impressive.

The exceptional vineyards of the Clos de Vougeot (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Very old winemaking equipment (still in use today) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Decorations made from baskets formerly used to carry grapes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the French revolution, the vineyards were taken from the church and sold to private owners. The chateau is now run by a brotherhood, who produce some wine the way the monks had been doing it for centuries and rent out the beautiful medieval building for private parties and events.

Below are a few more random photos from our visit to Dijon.

A fantastic Rapunzel tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A baguette vending machine in a small town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Yes, the style of mustard is from this town (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from our IKEA-showroom apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An Overindulgence in Parisian Food and Drink

June 19, 2017 by Nicole Harrison in France

Story by Nicole

On Thursday we slept in (it’s challenging not to sleep in when the earliest you can end dinner is about 9:30). We had some pizza for brunch and went to Sainte-Chapelle, which came highly recommended by several people. We walked past a ridiculously long line at Notre Dame and straight into Sainte-Chapelle, which was a nice feeling of victory. The cathedral is behind the guarded gates to the courthouse area, which made for an odd mix of suited professionals and confused tourists.

Sainte-Chapelle is just as gorgeous as everyone tells you. It has amazing nearly floor-to-ceiling stained glass panels on three sides, and an incredibly intricate rose window on the fourth. They are just finishing a painstaking stained glass restoration project (doing glass restoration on something so old and well renowned sounds terrifying), and almost everything was back in place.

Sainte-Chapelle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From Sainte-Chapelle we headed to the Panthéon - which we did not go inside of, you may be noticing a trend - and sat on its steps for a while contemplating the day. From there we headed to Shakespeare and Company, one of the oldest English bookstores in Paris. And it is a fantastic bookstore. It’s loosely organized on two floors, and the upstairs experience included a sleeping cat, a man playing the piano, and a donated library and reading room. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in Paris and love books.

Shakespeare and Company (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another great thing about Paris is the water fountains everywhere. Frequently while wandering the city you’ll see a beautifully carved water fountain, and you can hold your hands or water bottle directly up to the lips of an engraved god to receive your drinking water.

One of the city’s many water fountains (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We then got on the metro and went to Montmartre, where we got off the train partway up the hill and climbed up several flights of stairs on residential streets to reach the Basilica. It was flooded with tourists, as expected, but the view is lovely. It’s fun to people watch and hear all the different languages as well.

Climbing the steps to Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A garden in a ball in the park below Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had our best meal in Paris that night at a little restaurant called L’ange 20. When we first arrived, the waiter told us that we were out of luck without a reservation, but then offered that if we came back in half an hour, he would seat us if one of his 7:30 pairs didn’t show. When we came back, he gave us seats near the bar, where Jason enjoyed his view into the kitchen. The food was French with a creative spin (my entree had guacamole in it, along with angel hair pasta-wrapped shrimp and a delicious spicy sauce), and everything we had was amazing. We would highly recommend it.

On Friday we did a cooking class, which was great. We went to a market, walked to the ruins of a crumbling Roman amphitheater, and then spent several hours preparing a three-course lunch under expert and teasing guidance. We learned useful facts, including how you can dye pears brown to cover any unsightly brown spots by putting a tea bag into the water while they are poaching. We also learned a cheater way to sous vide chicken. At the end, we enjoyed our lunch of cauliflower soup; chicken with mashed potatoes, deglazed vegetables, and red wine sauce; and poached pear with chocolate sauce and homemade ice cream.

Chef Jason (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Our fancy kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Meal in progress (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our cooking class we went to the Jardin des Plantes, which is Paris’s botanic garden. It’s beautiful and an excellent example of why Paris is so good at parks. I would highly recommend it, and it’s free so you can just stroll in and out on your way somewhere else.

At the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A talented bug (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Skeletons of varying sizes in a building at the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I’m really not quite sure whether to recommend the night cruise to people. I will say that if it’s your dream to get really drunk and enjoy a good view of the Eiffel Tower when it’s lit up at night, the cruise is probably worth it. If those things don’t interest you, you can probably skip it and save the money.

The cruise gave us aperitifs when we got there, and then we had an entire bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine. Because champagne is too sweet for Jason and we didn’t want to waste the alcohol, I ended up drinking an entire bottle of champagne by myself over the course of two hours. We were planning to take the metro back, but when we got off the boat we were drunk enough that it seemed like too big of a risk to attempt to navigate the metro correctly, so we set off walking. I became progressively more drunk as we walked, and because I’m the automatic navigator when around Rafals, this resulted in us walking at least an extra mile trying to get home. We did find some delicious ice cream on the way, though.

Walking to the boat in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Eiffel Tower all lit up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A lot of drinks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Boat selfie (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole getting tipsy on the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Wandering home after the boat ride (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Amazing midnight ice cream (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Saturday, we nursed our hangovers at breakfast (crêpes are delicious) and lunch (Italian food for variety). Then we boarded a bus to see Monet’s garden at Giverny.

If you only have a couple of days in Paris, I wouldn’t use five of those hours to explore Giverny. It’s a lot of travel time. But because it was rainy, we had already been in Paris for a few days, and we were too hungover for museums, it was a good side trip.

Monet’s gardens are really wonderful. There are a variety of colorful flowers scattered everywhere - I was amused to see columbines, colorado’s state flower - and there are many trellises that make the garden feel cozy and secluded, even when it’s filled with tourists. The water lily pond is also incredibly beautiful, and in a much softer way than the impressive historical monuments in the area. The light rain just made everything even more soft and welcoming.

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Soft water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet lived in Giverny with his second wife, and children starting in 1883. It’s a lovely house. The kitchen was especially great, with beautiful tiling and copper pots everywhere. There was also a pot filler, which Jason argued was grounds for getting one ourselves.

Monet’s kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The rain was lightening as we got back, and we enjoyed a last night in Paris.

A man dressed as orange juice for no explicable reason (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Outside a typical Paris cafe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset light (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Goodbye to Notre Dame (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Let’s Go to Paris

June 17, 2017 by Nicole Harrison in France

Story by Nicole

Let’s be honest: I’m not going to be able to tell you anything that is new or particularly insightful about Paris. Incredibly talented writers have been coming here for centuries and attempting to explain the city’s charm to others. What I can do is reiterate some of the elements of the city that I found so wonderful (because all those writers have been absolutely right; Paris is a gem).

Part of it is the dichotomy. You’ll be walking down a normal city street and happen across an absurdly old church, or a Roman amphitheater (we saw the Arènes de Lutèce). Even the normal buildings here are interesting, with their old world charm and hidden courtyards.

The Temple du Marais, about a block from our apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Stumbling across pretty things (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An adorable old Fiat 500 (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Varying levels of antiquity on a street corner (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The fastest pizza (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One great thing about Paris is that groups of friends take bottles of wine, sit in a park or by the Seine, and talk for hours. When we were sitting in a park near the Eiffel Tower, someone carrying an ice bucket of champagne bottles offered to sell us one. The parks themselves are amazing.

Hanging out at the Place des Vosges (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A walkway on the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiny corner park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sitting and drinking along the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The wine bottle recycling bin was too full (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the beautiful canopies in the parks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our apartment in Paris was perfect. Located in the 4th Arrondissement near the Place de la Bastille, it was a great central location for exploring and also provided a charming place to nap and regroup. To get there from the street, we went through a large, old external door on the street, then opened a gate into an interior courtyard. Then we walked through the courtyard, climbed four flights of stairs, and found ourselves in a 400-square-foot flat with lovely windows.

Our apartment courtyard (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In a shocking twist, Nicole made friends with our courtyard cat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Since our apartment was fairly close by, we visited Notre Dame on our first day. You already know it’s incredible. Here are some pictures to further solidify that thought.

The rose window (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The courtyard area (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A giant cathedral, a lot of sky, and a bird (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the things we decided before coming on the trip was not to spend hours waiting in lines to see the famous monuments. It’s more important to us to wander around the city and get a feel for the culture than to see the inside of a specific cathedral or museum.

Wednesday was our big walk around the central city (17 miles of walking instead of our usual 8-10). We began by walking to the Louvre to see the impressive exterior. Even from the outside, the Louvre is insanely large and imposing. From there we backtracked slightly after realizing that we had missed Le Palais Royal and explored that area as well. From the Palais we headed to the Jardin des Tuileries, which is a wonderful park in the center of the city. It’s lined by shops and restaurants, like most of the big parks, and includes the ever-present green Paris park chair that we grew to love.

The Louvre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A banner promoting the 2024 Olympics in Paris at the Hôtel de Ville (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Art in Le Palais Royal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Water fountain selfie (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Along the north side of the Jardin des Tuileries you can find Angelina, home to some of the world’s best hot chocolate. It’s more of what you’d call a drinking chocolate in the United States – very thick and intense. It was delicious, but I had to put some milk in mine to tone it down a little. From Angelina we headed toward the Champs-Élysées, but quickly got distracted by the aptly named Grand Palais.

Pouring the hot chocolate (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I convinced Jason to go into the Grand Palais because I wanted to go under the large, greenhouse-style roof, but when we couldn’t read French we guessed that the exhibit that we wanted to buy tickets to was the garden exhibit, which was actually not in the main exhibit area. However, the gardens exhibit turned out to be really cool. Surrounded by older French people, we wandered halls displaying various sorts of art relating to gardens. This included a couple of paintings by Monet and a Picasso, as well as sculptures and plant samples. To our amusement, they were also playing garden-related clips from a few American movies, including The Godfather Part II and Edward Scissorhands. Overall, it was a very pleasant surprise.

An art exhibit of French soil samples (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there, we began the walk down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s a broad street, lined with expensive shops, that ends at the huge stone arch, which is in the middle of a roundabout. We couldn’t see any way to get to the Arc, but there were people there, so we decided to run across traffic. Two notes: 1) if you’re going to run across a Paris roundabout, go fast; 2) if there’s a touristy monument in the middle of a busy roundabout, there’s an underground way to get there. We found the tunnel under the road in order to go back to the street and continue our walk.

The Arc de Triomphe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Someone had told Jason that the best view of the Eiffel Tower was from the Jardins du Trocadéro, so we walked there next. It is a great view. From across the Seine, you can see the whole tower in all of its glory, as well as the cars bringing people up and down. We sat in the park for a while to rest in the shade before heading across the river to walk through the Champ de Mars.

First real view of the Eiffel Tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another view of the tower (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last stop on our city stroll was the Luxembourg Gardens. On the way there we stumbled upon an adorable small park full of Parisians and their kids. The tiny parks scattered throughout the city are wonderful to wander into. Once we finally got to the Luxembourg Gardens, we sat in the ever-present green park chairs to contemplate dinner.

The Luxembourg Gardens (and the green Paris park chairs) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Days 8, 9, and 10: Hello Venice, Goodbye Venice

November 16, 2014 by Nicole Harrison in Italy

Venice is wonderful, gorgeous, and utterly confusing. There are canals. There are streets. There are alleys that dead end at residences. There are streets that look like alleys. There are alleys that look like streets. There are streets that dead end into canals. It’s a glorious mess.

Another reason that Venice is challenging to navigate (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our hotel, perhaps in an attempt to seem even more Venetian, made no sense either. After being told that our room was on the first floor, we went up three flights of stairs and around five corners to find it. The room itself had padded green fabric walls, and brown hinged shutters on the windows. Very cute and very old looking.

Venice has no cars—your options within the city center are walking or boating. Since we didn’t feel inclined to pay for boating, we did a lot of walking. We spent both sunrise and sunset of our full day in Venice at Piazza San Marco, a huge open space at the edge of the city. We also spent a bit of time looking through the surrounding shops. Venice is known for glasswork, and there was beautiful glass art everywhere. There were also a surprising number of candy shops (Lindt was apparently a local favorite).

(Photo/Jason Rafal)

In Piazza San Marco we also visited the Florian, which is the oldest continuously-run coffee shop in Italy (it opened in 1720). The place was frequented by the likes of Lord Byron and Charles Dickens, and Jason was very excited to visit. We had very expensive coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies, which were all delicious and beautifully presented.

Our tray at the Florian (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Espresso doppio from the Florian (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also wandered through the daily vegetable and fish markets, which were crowded with locals making purchases for their homes and restaurants. While not huge, the fish market had an impressive variety of fresh seafood, from swordfish to various types of shrimp. Everything that needs to be either put onto or taken off of the island arrives in boats, and then is taken to its destination by handcarts. Walking around in the early morning, we were able to get a sense of how many handcarts are required to transport trash, recycling, food, and restaurant products. For lunch, we headed to the Jewish ghetto, where we learned over matzoh ball soup and latkes that Venice’s ghetto is actually older than Rome’s.

The vegetable market (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Delicious latkes and apple sauce (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For our last night in Italy, we had a wonderful dinner and went to a Vivaldi concert. Venice is very proud of him. While my favorite part of the concert was Pachelbel’s Cannon, it was all very enjoyable. The women were all dressed in period costumes and ornately done-up blonde wigs.

To begin our 19-hour journey home, we left our hotel at 4:45 a.m. and headed to the dock to meet our water taxi, which took us on the 20-minute boat ride to the airport through the quiet darkness. After a stop in Frankfurt, during which I told a very confused German woman who had been selling me a nut roll grazie, even though we had been conversing in English, we headed back to Denver.

Our early morning boat ride (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had a great trip, and thank you for reading along!

Italy, Day 7: Tuscany

November 13, 2014 by Nicole Harrison in Italy

Today we decided to take a touristy trip into the Tuscan countryside. In general, I hate being one of the sheeple in a tour group, but I always forget how much I like a good tour guide. Ours was Agatha, a Polish postdoctoral student who studied Renaissance art in England in the winter and lived in Florence in the summer. She spoke English well, and was also rather funny.

Overall, I liked our tour, but I’m going to try to refrain from making this sound like an ad, so I won’t mention the company. If you’re going to Florence and want to look them up, let us know.

We started our day in Siena, where we learned about a crazy horse race that happens twice a year in the village square in the name of the Virgin Mary. Siena has 17 districts (in a town of 55,000, they are not huge districts) and each district is randomly assigned a horse. They party for three days and then the jockeys get on bareback and do three laps around a hilly semicircle with sharp corners. The jockeys often fall off, but the horse who crosses the finish line first wins regardless of its rider’s status, which seems fair to me. Then, there is more celebration. Otherwise, it is a very cute town with very narrow streets. It was founded about 1000 years ago by bankers, who built a lot of religious stuff to redeem themselves for being bankers, and then town construction essentially halted 300 years later. Today, it’s all protected as a UNESCO world heritage site, so no touching.

Siena (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Inside the dome of the Siena Cathedral (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After Siena, we drove out to an organic farm in the Chianti region for lunch. Let me say this about the Tuscan wine country: if Florence is absurdly beautiful, Tuscany is basically inconceivable. I have no words. It’s somewhere between the original definitions of sublime and beautiful; it has the awe-inspiring quality of the sublime, but none of the terror, and much of the softness of the beautiful. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can look up Edmund Burke. I don’t recommend reading the entire book, but the ideas are interesting.

Tuscany, with San Gimignano on the hill in the background (Photo/Jason Rafal)

(Photo/Jason Rafal)

With lunch, we had four types of wine: a white, a young Chianti, a merlot, and a dessert wine. I wouldn’t say that I can pair food and wine now, but I’m starting to get it. Also wine is delicious.

After lunch, we went up the hill to San Gimignano. As Agatha put it, this is a perfectly preserved medieval town because nothing of interest has happened here in 600 years. In San Gimignano, we had the best gelato in the world (according to a panel of experts) and took more pictures of Tuscany being gorgeous. And then we all got back on the bus and took a nice wine-induced nap.

The best gelato (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Lastly, we went to the leaning tower of Pisa, where we refused to take pictures of ourselves holding the tower up. I did make us take a selfie, which hurt Jason’s artistic pride a great deal. The tower has been stabilized, so some people climbed it. We wandered around instead.

The leaning tower of Pisa (Photo/Jason Rafal)

If you come to Florence and have more than a day to explore, get out into the countryside. And then call me so that we can discuss Burke.

Italy, Days 5 and 6: Firenze

November 13, 2014 by Nicole Harrison in Italy

We departed Rome and took the train to Florence. It was a high-speed train, which was pretty great, and it only took us about an hour and a half to get there. The Italian countryside between them was, of course, lovely. As we went north, the clouds came down and the rain started again. The train internet was the fastest I’ve seen in Italy, so I took the opportunity to post a few blogs.

A rainy train ride (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Let me just effuse about Florence for a minute. I’m already in love with Florence. It’s almost absurdly beautiful, with its little streets of shops and picturesque river. Just wandering around, I came across several beautiful old buildings and piazzas. It’s also a bit less hectic than Rome, which is a nice change. Really, just lovely. Come to Florence.

We spent much of our first day in Florence trying to decide what we wanted to do in Florence. We figured that out, had two incredible meals, and did some shopping. Overall, a very pleasant day.

Ponte Vecchio (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Palazzo Vecchio (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Tuesday promised to be less rainy, so after sleeping in a bit, we wandered. We walked down across the river again and headed toward the Giardino di Boboli. We bought tickets and walked through the garden, which was massive, hilly, and had dozens of paths that seemingly arbitrarily happened across statues and other works of art that were scattered throughout. There was also a fountain gate guarded by statues of the wind and goats, which I appreciated. It was lovely and green and damp-smelling, and all in the middle of a city.

The Florence Cathedral (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A statue in the Giardino di Boboli (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch, we stopped by the Piazza San Spirito and had far too much food and a bottle of wine. I wanted to try the vegetable soup, so I ordered a small soup as well as a regular-sized pasta dish. The soup was huge (I have no idea how big a large would be) and there was a lot of pasta as well, so we spent a long time just eating, drinking, and waiting for the want and ability to eat more. It was very Italian of us, especially since we didn’t start lunch until around 2.

Far too much delicious food (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Post-lunch espresso (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After lunch we decided to go to the Piazalle Michelangelo, which apparently had the best view of the city of Florence. Of course, this meant that it was uphill, which meant that we dragged our overly-full selves up a steep hill and then a lot of stairs. The view was beautiful, though. Definitely worth the climb.

At the Piazalle Michelangelo (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After some more exploring and a nap, we went off in search of dinner (again, we were on Italian time—around 8:30. Only took us six days to figure it out…). We found the Trattoria San Lorenzo, which had good reviews on Yelp, and sat down. If you’re ever in Florence, this place is great. There is currency from all over the world taped to the bar, which is interesting to look at, and the food is amazing. They also have awesome middle-aged male waiters—when Rock Your Body started playing in the restaurant toward the end of our meal, one of them started humming along.

Just a small note about gelato—it’s for before dinner. Don’t go expecting the good gelato places to still have any gelato out at 9:30.

Italy, Day 4: In Which We are Serenaded for Someone Else’s Birthday

November 10, 2014 by Nicole Harrison in Italy

Today was almost completely unplanned. We had considered doing a couple of museums, but it would take a lot of time and effort, and we’re not very patient people. I wanted to go to the App ian Way, which was the old road to Rome, so we walked in that direction after breakfast. When we got near the , there was actual nature, which was lovely. There was finally no threat of rain, so the walkers and bikers were out in force. After wandering around the paths near the Catacombs of St.Callixtus for a bit, we decided to move on to my next desired destination, the Giardino degli Aranai.

A building along the Appian Way (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The giardino was a bit of a hike from where we were, and Jason was getting hungry and tired, so we decided to try to find food first. We quickly realized that it was Sunday, which meant that most of the good restaurants were closed. We decided that our best bet would be to head back toward the Colosseum, which would have food areas pandering to tourists.

After being ambushed by a bike race and finding a way through the giant wall (the most difficult part about trying to navigate Rome by foot), we got back to the Circo Massimo. We found a restaurant that was both open and crowded (with both tourists and Italians) and were ushered to a seat. I have noticed that Rome has very proactive and primarily male restaurant hosts. They stand in the sidewalk and usher you to a table if you seem at all interested (or try to start up a conversation if you’re just passing by, which was difficult for me as a shy tourist).

An alarming sign on a railway bridge (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A bike race in Rome (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The wall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Some Romans marching around (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Lunch was accompanied by Chianti, which was dangerously smooth. We also shared some delicious tiramisu. Jason thinks that tiramisu is the first step toward making me like coffee, which seems unlikely, but I’m happy to eat tasty creamy desserts.

Dog parking (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After lunch, we headed to the giardino, which was up the hill from the Roman Forum. It was a beautiful area—lots of cobblestones and trees, both of which I like. We finally arrived at the giardino, which is actually a tiny, lovely park. It has benches, a small grove of orange trees, rose bushes, and a gorgeous view of the city. We had joined the group who was sitting on the rock banister and looking out at the city when the people started singing.

A fountain at the giardino (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole and the view (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Over the next few minutes, we pieced together that someone had hired two opera singers, a brother and sister pair, to serenade a middle-aged woman for her birthday. Using an iPad and a speaker to play the music, the brother sang My Way in an extremely heavy Italian accent, slowly gaining the attention of the entire giardino. His sister, who was wearing a floor-length burgundy dress, then sang a song from an Italian opera (we both recognized it, but couldn’t tell which one it was). After more rounds of applause, the pair sang happy birthday to the woman together. With the performance over, we headed out.

The brother sings My Way (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The sister sings an Italian opera (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We were kind of at a loss for what else to do, so we headed for the Jewish ghetto, which was close, on the assumption that it would have more open stores than the rest of the city on a Sunday. Indeed, unlike when we had walked through on a Friday, the place was hopping. The restaurants were full at 2:30 p.m., and there were groups of children playing in the streets. We stopped at a gelato shop so that I could try a frulatti (seems to be a fruit smoothie) and took a look at the section of original wall, which is near the Teatro Marello. The Roman ghetto is apparently the oldest ghetto in the world. The informational sign made it seem like the Jews just chose to live next to the wall, which was an amusing/sad way of putting it.

Fontana delle Tartarughe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Late afternoon sun over the Roman Forum (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Walking back to the Colosseum metro stop, the street was a zoo of people. We couldn’t figure out why, but a large area of the street was blocked off, and crowds of people were just walking in both directions. Between that and the men trying to sell “selfie sticks” (little extender arms that hold your cell phone and allow you to take pictures from a couple feet away with a remote), it was fairly overwhelming. It’s definitely a bustling city. It’s been great, but I think I’m ready to move on.