Day 17

Leaving at dawn we headed out via Eurail to Amsterdam. We arrived around 11AM and were able to drop our bags off at our Hostel and make it back to the Visitors Center to meet a group that was doing free walking tours of the city.
Here is the Anne Frank house, Ashley went here last time she visited Amsterdam, but with a line that stretched down the street and around the corner. So, we decided that the Van Gogh museum was more our style.

Here is an underground Catholic Church that seats 300 people and is home to one of the worlds largest organs. When Catholicism was banned in Amsterdam, more than 300 people would attend this church and shortly after hymns would be blaring into the streets.
The police, not being idiots and good Christians, would not work on the Sabbath. So complaints were filed on many Sundays, but not looked into until Monday came around. Which as we all know, there were no Catholics at mass still so the church remained "hidden."
Another beautiful and surprisingly not smelly canal.
Tulips! We did find some but the fields had not yet bloomed so we did not get to experience the fields of rainbow colors.

Day 15 and 16

The last two days that we spent in Troyes was spent shopping for souvenirs, taking pictures of the town, and having one last amazing meal! Here we are walking down the street with some of the beautiful decorations of the town. Here is Ashley's favorite sign, maybe in the world, a cat with glasses that light up at night. It is for an optometrist's office.

Here is a picture at Gerard our favorite boulangerie in town and all of the amazing pastries that they make fresh everyday (this is where I successfully procured breakfast yesterday)!
On our last night in Troyes we went to this restaurant called Crieux du Vin. It had some amazing food bought locally and they specialize in pairing food with wine.

Here are some of the fountains at night, the first is where the French men were fishing earlier in the week. The second was my favorite and was on our walk to the centre ville, or town center each day.

Day 13 Easter Sunday

Wanting to go to Easter Mass at Notre Dame de Paris was on our list of things to do for our trip. So we chose to stay with Mary and Brent even though a floor spot was all that was open at their place. We woke up and readied for mass getting to the Cathedral 45 minutes early to stand in line our odds looked good. With 15 minutes left till the start of mass we were close but then for some reason it looked like 4 or 5 other lines had started and were prepared to enter for mass in front of us. So sadly, since we did not embrace the French way of not waiting in lines and just cutting to the front we were denied entry. After much consideration we chose to walk back home and see a few sites on the way.
Hotel De Ville, Paris' city hall and the center of all things political in Paris.
Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum with a very unique exterior. The building was created to be inside-out. Meaning that all the duct work, electricity, and utilities are on the exterior of the building instead of the inside hidden within the walls.

Near where Mary and Brent live in Paris there is a square and Metro station stop called Place de la République, this is where the Statue of Marianne is located.

Marianne is to the French as the Statue of Liberty is to the United States, but theirs is not surrounded by water. "Why is this an important fact to point out?", you ask. because this is where many of the protests begin in Paris and once they have gained mass and strength they typically march to Place de la Nation. Everyone remembers this past year when the french went on multiple strikes, and large protests were occurring.

Day 12

Travel day included an early morning wake-up with a train leaving at 7:05AM.


Once making it from Interlaken our train took us to Bern, where we switched to the TGV, the fast trains in Europe. From Bern we took off to Paris to stay with Ashley's friends Mary Clare and Brent, that are also from the great state of Nebraska.
That evening we went to check out the Eiffel tower. It was lit up for the evening and each hour it sparkles. We stayed the evening and planned on going to Notre Dame in the morning for Easter Mass.

Day 11

Last day in Interlaken, so we decided to rent bikes and see the town and both lakes. We have always wanted to try out a tandem together and they had one last one to rent. So we did it! Here I am checking out the first lake of Interlaken with our Tandem.
As you stroll through the middle of town there is a large open park and green space where most of the tourists flock to watch the extreme sport enthusiasts land. Not sure how many we watched but you could tell that they had a ton of jumps under their belt as I can not imagine a softer landing.

Here we are on one of our breaks, Ashley has been without her bike for too long and at this point our rear ends are starting to feel the time off our bikes.

Have to get a picture of the two of us riding!

And now I think Ashley is pedaling less and less, she has discovered I have pretty good balance of the bike and she does not need to keep her hands on the handlebars. So she needed to document our trip while in action.The picture that gave her lackadaisical pedaling away!

Day 10

Today was our hike day, we headed out to get tickets up to Alpiglen but the train was not running there yet due to the snow still being around that area. They are still skiing at the higher altitudes so that limited what we could do for hikes. We decided to head back to Lauterbrunnen, which was at 800 meters, for our starting point for the day. From there we decided to try and hike up to Suls which has a beautiful mountain lake that would be a perfect endpoint for our hike. We planned on taking the bus to Isenfluh, which is at 1081 meters, but just missing the bus we decided to just hike to Isenfluh.
An hour later we took our first break in Isenfluh where we decided to take some pictures. We saw this Nordic Walker which was one of the hundreds that we saw throughout our time in Switzerland.
Here is a picture of the climb that we had to endure most of the hike. The picture truly does very little justice to the quad ripping incline.

As we neared the top of the hike we found our first alpine meadow where we could see all three of the major peaks Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. This picture was taken about the same time the fastest accent of Eiger occurred in a mere 2 hours and 28 minutes!

As you can see the snow was still in full force when we reached the 1901 meter mark. We were only 20 minutes away from our alpine lake and I made the difficult decision that we should head back down since we did not get an early start due to new plans being made the day of the hike.

So at this altitude we decided it was time for lunch of bread, apples, and Rugen Brau, the locally brewed beer.

As you can see the sun was starting to set on the top of the peaks putting us in the shade for most of our decent. Here Ashley got a great picture of me descending into one of the small meadows near the town of Isenfluh.

Day 9

Berner Oberland is one of the most beautiful regions in all of the world, at least in my eyes. Today Ashley and I took what we like to call a stroll through the Lauterbrunnen Valley seeing many of the Waterfalls that it had to offer. The first we came upon was Staubbach Falls. In a book, I recieved for christmas from my parents, it is one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders
so Ashley and I had to get a picture in front of it. We now have one checked, off only 500 left!

Here is a full picture of Staubbach Falls including the Staubbach Creek.

As you can see the valley is extremely amazing, unlike anything in the States. There are perfect little meadows filled with cattle with bells hanging from their necks. So as you walk down this amazing valley you hear bells ringing from the cows grazing nearby. Then you look to the side and hear the roar of a water falling upwards of 300 meters from the top of the cliff faces that surround this picturesque setting.

Trummelbache Falls, also one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders of the world, was very amazing. It is a waterfall that is made up of 10 smaller falls inside the valley wall. Here is just one of the pictures that I took during our visit. More to come when I can make a few crops and rotations on my desktop computer.

Here is Ashley as we escape the very cold cavern of Trummelbache Falls. I imagine when it is at full force you cannot emerge dry from the caves that expose each of the smaller falls.

As we normally do, we had cheese and bread for lunch on the trail.

Driving Lessons

In Europe cars are typically manual and automatics are reserved for old ladies. Ashley not liking that stereotype, wanted to learn to drive a manual car. To start with, she had to learn where the gears were. So as I drove, she was doing the shifting. Having mastered that pretty well and almost back to the bed and breakfast I finally decided it was time, the stars had aligned, Ashley was as ready as she could be and taking out full insurance on the car, no worries of what might happen to the transmission, we got her behind the wheel.

Me, being the great teacher I am, set the car facing downhill to make it as easy as possible for the first shift. After reviewing many many times how to stop the car, the middle pedal not the far left. I took the emergency break off and allowed Ashley her first chance with the clutch and shifting.
First Gear went as expected but didn't kill the engine. Getting up to speed Ashley readied for second and passed with flying colors. The next true test came as we pulled onto the road of our B&B, a long, windy, and uphill road. Ashley was still doing amazing! She was cruising along in second gear as we slowly come to a little turn and meet another car. A french couple sees us and instantly realizes whats happening. Ashley being put on the spot freezes and slams on the break killing the engine.

Facing up hill near another car and very close to a huge stone wall, Ashley needs to smoothly shift into first gear. With the odds stacked against her the car hops, jumps, and finally dies. As Ashley starts to feel the pressure, heavy on her shoulders, I tell her to relax and give it one more try.

Another attempt with similar results.

Ashley getting frustrated, flustered, and freaking out is ready to call it quits. I look across and see the French lady who is shaking her hands and giving Ashley two thumbs up for encouragement. Ashley gets it on her third try! Happy the French couple wasn't annoyed and way too busy shifting to stop to say "Merci" she slowly cruises the rest of the way to the bed and breakfast.
She finally finishes her first lesson of driving a stick and is ready to be out of the driver's seat.

Day 6

After waking up to an amazing French breakfast of Croissants, Baguette, Yogurt, Nutella, and Coffee, we headed out to L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue. They had a Provencal Antique Market.
We headed up and down the street filled with vendors from all over the area. After getting some souvenirs for family and friends we headed to Fountain de Vaucluse. Home of one of the largest natural springs in the world.

Naturally, we had to see it and then decided to go further down the stream to find a quiet little spot for a picnic lunch.

The next spot on the list was the hill top village of Gordes.

We spent a good part of our time in this village exploring little alleyways and happened upon a nice little wine shop.

We found the wine that we had the evening before and made sure to grab a couple of bottles for special occasions once we got back to the US.

Last village of the day was Roussillon, the small village we had dinner at the night before. The view from Restaurant David was amazing but we did not have our cameras with us so I grabbed a couple of pictures from the hillside showing the place where the restaurant sat atop the red ochre cliffs (its on the far right).

Ochre is the color of the pigment that dyes the dirt red, not the plant you fry. Seeing some of the children leaving the ochre woods looking like Oompa Loompas caused some hesitation on my part, not knowing if we were fully prepared for what lurked ahead. Sentier de Ocre was a small walk we took through the surrounding ochre woods and cliffs near Roussillon. You can see the dust of the ochre dirt has stained the trees' trunks.

We headed back to enjoy our B&B before dinner. Ashley and I took some pictures and enjoyed an apéritif.

Naturally, with a ping pong table in sight the two of us could not resist a friendly match. I won like always.

For dinner we went to hill top village of St-Martin-de-Castillon, and stopped at the local pizzeria. They only took cash, very typical of the French, so we had to make a quick run to an ATM. The nearest ATM was in Cereste a village 8 km away on winding roads.

Upon our return, we enjoyed amazing pizza and Ashley could not resist the shop owners son asking us if we wanted dessert, in french, so we partook in Ashley's favorite Tiramisu.

Day 5 to Provence

Woke up bright and early for our train which left at 7:00...8 hours and 3 connections later we finally arrived in Provence. Dustin is now an expert at public transportation and no travel day would be complete without a side stop in Lyon for cafe at a nice outdoor sidewalk cafe.

Arriving in Avignon we lost no time picking up our rental car and headed to the Pont du Gard, an ancient aqueduct built by the Romans a very long long time ago.

After seeing this french monument I believe now I'll be a better french teacher. Then we headed to our B&B. Provence is gorgeous there are vineyards and orchards everywhere admist rolling hills. We got to our B&B frenchly late. It was absolutely gorgeous we were both blown away.

After an aperitif, provided by our lovely hosts we headed to the nearby town of Roussillon and had dinner at Restaurant David. The views were gorgeous and dinner was incredible. We had several courses and every single one was an adventure. It was the perfect way to start off our vacation in southern France.

Day 4

Booked our tickets to Avignon, Provence and Amersterdam. Looks like we get/have to take the slower train down to Avignon because we did not reserve our seats and Saturday is also the first day of break for the region.

After we finished up booking our tickets we headed out to Ashley's favorite hiking trail for a nice little walk and picnic with Champagne,of course. The older French women that we encountered did not even act like we were doing anything weird, most would give me a bad look in the States. We saw tons of ducks and spring was in the air all of the mallards were trying to mate with a hen and Ashley was not happy and wanted to Bagettue them but it was across a little creek so they were safe from her.

Ashley is obviously better at making Bagettue sandwiches than I am.

After the great day of walking and eating we headed back to Ashley's apartment to pack for our journey the next day but I took an amazing nap. We then headed to another assistant's farewell gathering for food and good company.