Budapest

Steve and I joined our American friends from Paris for a weekend in Budapest. The pictures are here.

Norway

Steve and I spent last week in Norway. We flew into Bergen on the west coast. We spent two nights there. Bergen is, in my opinion, very similar to Boulder in its size and feel. From Bergen we went north, by train, to Flam. When we mentioned to any Norwegian that we were going to Flam after Bergen they all replied with, "Why, there is nothing to do there". This was exactly the reponse we were looking for. We wanted to relax and do nothing. Flam was small and quiet, but it was still really nice. The only downside is that it is frequented by cruise ships. And cruise ships bring annoying tourists with them. But we enjoyed ourselves exploring the area and took a major bike ride up approximately 800 meters (in elevation) among beautiful water falls and surrounded by incredible mountains. Flam was quiet and calm once the cruise ships floated away and we enjoyed that very much. From Flam we spent 24 hours in Oslo. While in Oslo we visited the Nobel Peace Center which is the most interactive and technical museum we have ever been to. We learned a little about some of the laureates including a Albert Lutuli in 1960 (instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa), Aun San Suu Kyi in 1991 (who fought non-violently against the military junta in Myanmar), Schweitzer in 1952 (for founding Lamberene Hospital in Gabon), and Kissinger. It was also interesting learning about Alfred Nobel, who created the Nobel prizes. He was quite an inventor with over 300 patents. Of course, his most famous being TNT. He lived most of his life in Paris but travelled throughout the world. He was a lonely man having never married.

From there we saw Munch's The Scream at the National Gallery. How it has been stollen twice is beyond me. We also went to the Viegland sculpture park which had over 100 sculptures throughout the park by various artists.

Being gone only a week, we are already longing for another holiday. One week is way too short.

The pictures are here.

France

Steve, my mom and dad, and I spent 8 great days in France. We started in Paris with the French Open, then went to the Loire Valley, Mt St Michel, and last to Normandy for a major WW2 history lesson.
Pictures are here (there are too many, yet again).

Berlin

"Guest" commentary from Steve continues:

Berlin is definitely one of my favorite cities. History, art, architecture, modern, neo-classical, socialist, communist, baroque, GDR, TV tower, Tiergarten, Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, Hitler´s bunker, Topograph of Terror, Karl Marx boulevard, clubs, dinners, Reichstag, Brandenburg gate, Berliner Dom, ALtes Museum, Hamburger Bahnof, Palast de Publik, Ben Unter Linden, Berlin Wall and much more.

Being the walking tour aficionado that I am, the first thing we did was go on the Third Reich Walking tour. Mort, 73 year old retired American dentist, was our guide. We started at Mohrenstrasse, which was the center of the Third Reich government. Toured the Ministry of Finance and retraced the steps of all the Nazi buildings that were destroyed in the war including the SS and Gestapo headquarters, Hitler's offices and the Hotel Albrecht. The only building still standing was the former Aviation ministry which is now the Ministry of Finance. The interesting fact pointed out by Mort is that most of the buildings were damaged not just by the bombings, but by the fires after the bombings. The Nazi's did a pretty good job of fighting the fires in the buildings they cared about, so the result was that a lot of the buildings' exterior walls survived until they were demolished by the Russians in the late 40's.

The Topography of Terror was unbelievable. This had pictures and narratives on the Third Reich. It was laid out on the edge of the foundation of the old SS headquarters.

From there, we walked to Potsdamer platz, which was a wasteland during the cold war. The Berlin wall went right through this area causing no one to spend time there. Now, this is a bustling urban center. We then proceeded to the Holocaust museum and then Hitler's bunker.

There were several attempts on Hitler's life, but they all failed. One attempt was by Van Stauffenberg. He built a a bomb in a briefcase and put in by the leg of a table during a meeting with Hitler. He excused himself during the meeting when the bomb detonated. Unfortunately, the briefcase was moved and Hitler only had minor wounds. Three of his henchmen died in the blast.

Saturday evening we went to dinner in near Hachesher Market and then went to a great club called Weekend. The club was on the 15th floor of an office building over looking Alexanderplatz. The music was unbelievable.

Sunday we went to new Hautbahnof (train station) and Hamburger dom, the modern art museum. We tried to profit from the beautiful day and walked more in the city after the museum. We then went back to the Topography of Terror to spend another hour or so reading about the war. You will see from the pictures, I enjoyed it. It was incredible that Hitler had Speer design these monstrous buildings to show the power and might of Germany.

An interesting fact: the grand hallway leading to Hitler's office was made out of beautiful red marble. This marble was saved and now is the wall in one of the subway stations. Fascinating.

We then walked to down the Ben Unter Linden, main boulevard, past Humboldt University (where Einstein and Hegel studied), to the the Berliner Dom, to Marx - Engels Forum, to the Palast de Publik. to the TV tower. I loved the Palast de Publik because it epitomized communism/socialism to me. When I was in Berlin, I took a photo in front of it for that very reason. It was exactly what I pictured a socialist building to be like from what I learnt in the west. The building was used as a parliament building for the GDR along with other various parties and functions. The building has been partially demolished and was closed due to Asbestos contamination.

To be continued...

Pictures are here.

Tallinn, Estonia

Steve and I spent 24 quick hours in Tallinn over the weekend. Pictures are here. Stay tuned for Steve's comments about the trip.

Update: Steve's comments:
We went to Tallinn, Estonia for a short trip for the weekend. We wanted to personally experience and see the old cold war era. Saturday morning we went to the botanical gardens and enjoyed the sunny day and beautiful landscape. We almost went up the TV tower, but decided to head back the city. Saturday afternoon we strolled through the cobble streets of Tallinn and tried to avoid the numerous stag dos (translation: British bachelor parties). We had a coffee at a very cool coffee shop that had candle wax on the wall from previously burnt candles. Enjoyed a pint on the main square while watching the sunset. One of my favourites was the Occupation Museum. The museum had great documentaries on the cold war and WWII eras. I thought the 1960 cars, vending machines, and radios were the most interesting.

Saturday night we went to a traditional supper in caves and the waitresses dressed up in full gear. Met an English/Swedish couple on holiday from the 3 kids. We then went to a fantastic club with fashion show and all. Fashion show started at 12:30am and lasted about 45 minutes which is when the dancing then ensued. Sarah and I tore it up until 3. Sunday was spent travelling home.

Chez Nous

I shot this video of our apartment. You'll quickly see that I have no future in video production, but hopefully it will give you an idea of where we live.

Lauren visits

Things are moving along here in London. Last Friday and yesterday were bank holidays for the Easter weekend so we enjoyed a nice long weekend. Lauren, a fantastic friend from CU, came to visit, from NYC, for the weekend to help me explore more of London and England. A few pictures are here. (All photo credit goes to Lauren.)

London

We've arrived in London and after three weeks we're starting to get the feel of things. London is terribly different than Paris, which is good at times, and at other times it's just different. We move into our new flat next week and are really looking forward to literally move beyond corporate housing and get settled. We're going to be living in West Hampstead. We've taken a few pictures but the camera software to download the photos is with the movers, so they'll come later.

Happy birthday to me

Steve and I had a fun weekend. Friday night was our office holiday party (picture on the right). Saturday night we had a birthday party at our apartment, and today we went all over Paris, including to St. Denis where most of the French kings are burried.

Fresh Air

Finally!

Happy 2008!

To start the new year off I've dusted off the blog and am posting once again.

Part of the slow down was due to the holidays, part due to thinking of a new name since 'Steve and Sarah Move to Paris' won't work anymore. As of February 1 we are relocating to London. London will be fun and exciting and we are looking forward to a new adventure. Leaving Paris is sad, but we console ourselves by saying at least Paris is a short train ride away.

Steve and I spent the New Year's holiday in Annecy, France.

Annecy is a very quaint little town.

For Christmas Kate and Ken gave us a Flip video recorder. The above video is from Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, where we spent the day. It's short, but for a first try it's okay. The flip is really a cool toy. Thanks Kate and Ken!

Chamonix was literally breath taking. We paid lift ticket prices to take a cable car up to 3842 meters, which I think is about 11.3K feet. It was so cold (and for me, hard to breath) that I didn't take as many pictures or videos as I would have liked to. The views were amazing. If you look at the pictures below you'll see a few with people hiking down with skis on their backs. Once skiers get off the cable car they climb down for a bit, with ropes, before they get to a point where they can start skiing.

Other pictures are posted here.

Cheers to a happy and healthy 2008!