Croatian Pics

Here are the photos from our trip down the Adriatic coastline of Croatia. We found it to be quite beautiful, but the obvious wealth of the area was a little hard for me to stomach. I like my vacations a little more laid-back, which this definitely was not. This was more Italian Riviera than Balkan forests. Regardless, though, the water was beautiful and warm, and the cities are historically incredible.


Diocletian's Palace, in Split, Croatia.

The four of us having coffee while checking out Diocletian's Palace in Split. The ex-Roman emperor's retirement home is now home to hundreds of families as well as multiple businesses. Interesting how times change things.

Outdoor market in the town of Split, Croatia.

On the car ferry from the Croatian mainland to the island of Hvar.

Photo of Hvar Town on the island of Hvar. There are apparently 1185 islands of the coast of Croatia, and this is one of the larger ones. Hvar Town is a beautiful city, which is a weekend destination for Italian tourists and yacht enthusiasts from all over. We ate lots of gellato.

Our little boat moored at the island where we spent most of one of the days. We rented the boat, (due to Katie's insistence), and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and memorable days on the trip.

Avery and I enjoying our typical lunch of bread, sausage and cheese, (along with some veggies), at the unnamed cove.

Looking down on the city of Hvar Town, on the island of Hvar. This photo is taken looking down along the old city walls.

Small town on the island of Hvar. It's a little hard to see in this photo, but the entire island has been terraced by rock walls built over hundreds of years. It is quite an accomplishment.

The Dubrovnik city walls. Despite my initial turn-off due to massive tourism, the city was able to win me over with it's beauty and incredible history. Also, it's resilience impressed me, having rebuilt itself in less than 15 years after being largely destroyed in the early 90's during the conflicts in the Balkans.

The main Dubrovnik thoroughfare at night.

Slovenian Pics

Slovenia pretty much instantly won us over with it's natural beauty, kind people, and generous helpings of delicious foods. Upon returning from our brief European travels, Camille and I both agree this is the country we would most like to go back to. Hopefully I will post more pictures of Slovenia later, as these photos barely do it justice.

Avery and the girls trying to figure out where to jump in. Being a glacier fed river, the Soca is an unbelievable color, but is also incredibly cold. We finally jumped in, spooking the trout I had been drooling over since we arrived. Apparently the Soca trout live only in this river, and are a highly prized within fly-fishing circles. Unfortunately, I didn't have my gear, and also fishing in Slovenia is an upper-class endeavor. A fishing license runs about $50/day, so you have to go with a purpose. Still makes me want to go back though...

Another picture of the stunningly beautiful Soca River.

Castle on the hill above Lake Bled.

Slovenian castle, built directly into the side of a cliff.

The entrance to the Stockja caves.

Austria Pics

I've decided we will load up our pictures of Europe with each post being a different country. I will likely not get up all the countries today, (and there are many more pictures I am not going to include), but here is a smattering...



Beautiful Austrian Alps

Katie and Camille at the Austrian post office in Innsbruck.

Katie and Avery in the Austrian Alps

We've concluded that not only will the Austrians apparently hunt anything, they will also stuff it in the most threatening pose possible. Hence, even the baby dear has that crazed look in it's eye and the birds are permanently in a Alfred Hitchcock style pose. Here's Avery at our guesthouse with an unlucky family of marmots.

Back in SLO

I know it has been a while since I posted a blog, so my apologies. It should have been really easy, being at Katie and Avery's house in Canterburry, but we got so busy seeing the town, it just never happened. Anyway, we had a great time in England, and managed to get out to the seaside twice. We visited the white cliffs of Dover, and were able to see all the underground caverns that were built originally during the Napoleonic wars and then later expanded during World War II. Katie and Avery were of course extremely hospitable, and they even let me win the last round of hearts.
After a full day of travel on the 26th, we made it back into San Luis Obispo. The couple subletting our apartment have been kind enough to allow us to stay here for a couple of nights while we repack for the second leg of our trip, driving our truck through the western United States. We are unsure exactly what we will have time to do, but our tentative plans are to being driving tomorrow, (May 29th), in order to be in Seattle for a wedding on the 6th and 7th. After that we will drive through Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, joining up with our friends Tim and Deborah on the way. Our plan is to be back in Portland on the 29th of June to see my dad compete at the U.S. Master Triathlon Championships.
As for pictures, they take such a large amount of time to load, I will wait until I have a faster connection. Hopefully that will be soon.

Ryan and Camille

Budapest

Hello Everyone!! Well, we had 8 of the most amazing pictures in the world picked out to post but we were shut down due to a slow computer. Ill have to leave you with that kind of anticipation. Hopefully in a few days when we get to London. So we have found our little niche in Budapest, on the Pest side here in the Home Made Hostel. We took a 3.5 hour walking tour yesterday and were briefed on Hungarian political and architectural history. Budapest is a large, sprawling city, just as you would picture a normal city with roads everywhere and graffitti. However there are amazing buildings scattered throughout and the public baths are picturesque. Pools of varying temperatures in buildings, ornately decorated and with a history of over 100 years have provided us with a great place to explore and relax Hungarian-style. We have tried more authentic food, which consists of meat and more meat and then some meat on the side, along with some delicious potatoe dumplings. We have been forced to forage for salads, vegetables, and fruits for ourselves. The Danube river runs through the city, and much to my dissapointment, it is not at all Blue, as the song would suggest...perhaps in Germany -closer to the source- our Hungarian tourguide offered.
Anyways, if you read this you should post a comment, so we know we are not alone on this blog, writing to ourselves-Hugs for RJ for talking to us via comment section.
Ryan and Camille

Budapest

Short note to update everyone, with hopes that I will have the opportunity to write and post pictures again soon. On Friday, we drove into Dubrovnik and spent the afternoon and all evening there. I must admit that I had conflicting and constantly changed emotions about the city. Initially, I had heard so much about it's beauty that when we arrived the tourist crush spoiled it a bit for me. Having been without crowds, (or even other tourists), for most of the trip, suddenly having to jostle for position through a city was a bit disconcerting. However, I soon realized that there was a reason for the madness, as the city is beautiful and so full of history. We really enjoyed our time there, and were even fortunate enough to see the Pope's choir sing in the main church for the first time in history.
Yesterday we decided to drive through Bosnia in order to make our way up to Budapest. We spent several hours in Mostar, where the "Old Bridge" is located. It was wonderful city with very obvious scars of the recent war, as the rapid rebuilding has not reached all the buildings and many remain riddled with bullet holes. Overall the country shocked us with it's natural beauty and charm. Early in the evening last night we crossed into Croatia for the night, and then spent most of today making our way up to Budapest, where we will spend the next three nights. We are all excited to see this city we have all heard so much about.

Ryan and Camille

Croatian Islands

Whew, it's been a crazy few days, but we finally have a bit of time, and it seemed appropriate to throw out a blog.
After leaving the Julian Alps in Slovenia, we drove down to a incredible cave system in southern Slovenia, then crossed over the border two days ago into Croatia. At the end of our marathon driving day we pulled into a town I already can't remember the name of, and found a nice little place with rooms and a nearby pizza parlor. Pizza is big here due to the proximity of the Croatian coast to the Italian coast. Early yesterday morning, (Wednesday), we drove to Split, and after a four hour wait and a walk around the Palace of Diocletian, we took the car ferry to the island of Hvar. We found a great hostel last night, had some excellent seafood, (albeit overpriced as we failed to take the advice of another place from our hostel manager), then got a good night's sleep. The town of Hvar where we are staying is truly beautiful, with Mediterranian homes built down to a small harbor. Although it is a bit ritzy for my style, hitting it in the off-season is nice, and there is no denying why people love to visit here. The weather is incredible, the water is crystal clear, and the towns have amazing charm. I look forward to being able to post pictures for you all to see.
Today upon the behest of Camille and Katie, we rented a small boat, (with a 5 hp motor), and spent the entire day cruising around a few nearby islands, (there are apparently almost 1200 Croatian islands so they aren't hard to find), searching for unihabited coves. It was incredible. Having not wanted to spend the money to rent the boat at first, I have to admit that I was definitely wrong, and it was money well spent for the experience. Everything about the day was amazing, and one we will remember for a long time.
Tomorrow we leave for Dubrovik, which has received rave reviews from my parents as well as others. After that we will drive back up to Budapest and spend three days there before going with Katie and Avery for a couple of days at their temporary home in Canterburry, England.
Overall I have to say that travelling with the two of them has been incredibly enjoyable. Everyone has really worked together to make sure that we try to accomodate each other, and being able to travel with the two of them, who can encourage and help us on in our relationships with Christ, has been great. We really do feel incredibly blessed to be able to see what we have and will continue to see of God's creation.

Ryan and Camille

From Bled, Slovenia

Hello everyone. Camille and are I are writing from the town of Bled, located in the Julian alps in the northwest corner of Slovenia. So far we have been amazed with this country, and in particular it´s amazing natural beauty and incredible amounts of food.
Having come from Switzerland, (where the food consisted entirely of cheese and was extremely expensive), through Austria, (with the best overall food we have had so far), we are now onto Slovenia, (where breakfast, lunch and dinner seem to be mostly meat).
However, what we have really enjoyed so far has been the rivers. The all come out of the mountains and are brilliant shades of various colors. Hopefully we will get a chance to load some of the pictures later, but for now it will have to suffice to say that they are all shades of blue, aqua and teal. Also, it has been a bit painful for me, as they are also filled with large native brown and rainbow trout, and one river we drove down, (and swam in), had a special species of trout native only there. While boulder hopping, I spooked three large 22-26" trout holding in a small eddy. For the most part Camille has been very patient with my repeated sorrowful groans at not having my fly-fishing gear with me. Maybe on a return trip... RJ?
Anyway, we have found the people in Slovenia and Austria to be extremely hospitible, and extremely warm and inviting. Not that Switzerland was unkind, it´s just that ˝my˝ people are extremely efficient, and there ability to put a train in the station exactly on time apparently also manifests itself in being a little less endearing.
That´s all for now. We are heading to some natural hot springs for the night, so we shouldn´t keep Avery waiting. For all who know him, you know this may be the highlight of his trip.

Ryan

Hello everyone, my appologies for not blogging sooner, but we haven´t really had a good chance. Since the last time I wrote, we spent two days in Gimmelwald, staying at two different hostels, another night down in Interlaken, then met up with Katie and Avery. We met up on the 10th, took the Glacier Express through the Swiss Alps from Brig to Chur, spent the night in Chur, then yesterday picked up a car in Innsbruck, Austria and drove to Mittersville. We spent the night at a great place last night, and are planning on driving into Slovenia this afternoon. I will hopefully write more when we get a chance. But as it stands we are doing very well and enjoying our time with Katie and Avery.

Ryan and Camille

Caption for the pictures:

Camille and I travelled up to Gimmelwald today, got here about 1:30, and got to hiking up in the hills. We got up to snowline, and I wanted to continue on and see if we could make a loop out of it, but Camille talked some sense and into me. It was getting pretty late, so we went back down the way we came up. Cooked ourselves a nice dinner and are now headed over the hostel for a late night beer and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.

Some pictures from the first week:

One of the huts near where the cattle roam during the summer months. Those watching the cattle stay here during the summer as well. During the winter it is leased out to Heidi.

During our hike there were probably 40-50 avalanches on the wall across the valley. Each sounded like thunder and was pretty fun to watch.

Camille in the middle of our hike up out of Gimmelwald this afternoon. In case you were wondering, those are indeed the Swiss Alps in the background.

On the wall of a challet here in Gimmelwald. Dave, what the heck are the little heads? We thought there were fake at first, like those little jackalopes.

Interlaken, with a view up the valley where we are now staying. Also, this is the lawn where all the paragliders land after having taken off 30 minutes and 5000 vertical feet higher.

Camille on our rainy ride around the lake at Interlaken. We were feeling a bit cooped up and needed to get outside.

Looking back toward Hallau, with Oberhallau in the background

Outside Oberhallau ("Halla!"), where my great-grandfather was from.

The river in Zurich, flowing into the lake.

Monday morning and the weather has finally begun to clear up here in Interlaken. We decided to stay another night before heading up to Gimmelwald, as Camille had been unable to sleep the night before and we thought a relaxing day and a good night's sleep might be nice before heading off to some place we didn't know. So yesterday, (Sunday), we got up, had some breakfast at our hostel, (Backpacker's Villa - which we would highly recommend), and then rented some bikes and rode in the rain about half way around one of the two lakes here. Upon returning in the afternoon we took advantage of the free pass to the spa in town, and spent some time in the jacuzzi, steam room and pool area. Of interesting note is that the use of clothing is dependent upon the room you are in. Bathing suits are pretty much mandatory in the spa, optional in the steam room, and forbidden in the sauna. I feel that it was a little backward, however, as the jacuzzi is the most natural to be, well, natural. After that we cooked ourselves up a nice meal of fondue here at the hostel, then got a great night's sleep, had breakfast again, and are now on our way up the mountainside. Talk with you all again soon. Ryan and Camille

From Interlaken: Camille and I just finished a nice day of travel from Hallau to Interlaken. We were planning on heading up to Gimmelwald today, but the promise of a little more time to relax and the rain coming down outside has conspired to keep us here for the night. Tomorrow morning we will head up the hill in order to find out what RJ, Anna and my parents rave so much about. So yesterday morning we boarded a train from Zurich to Schauffhausen, then got on a bus to Oberhallau. That is the town my great-grandfather Graf was born in, and where he lived before emmigrating to America. It was interesting to read his autobiography while there, and to find that the town is actually about half the size now as it was 130 years ago. It is definitely a sleepy dairy town, in the middle of a wine and general agricultural region. We wound up walking another half mile along the road to Hallau for the night, (as there was no place to stay in Oberhallau), and got a nice room upstairs in an older lady's home. We hiked a bit out of town, but overall just spent the afternoon lazily until dinner. It was definitely more difficult, though, as we both have realized that most of our travelling recently has been in central america, where we both can converse quite easily. Here we speak virtually no German, and although we find that we can get everything we need, there tends to be a lot of pantomiming and looking at the dictionary. Overall a bit frustrating to spend most of the day in silence except to talk with each other. Otherwise the country has been very charming. The people are helpful, the transit system is incredible, (and has the well-deserved reputation of being exactly on time), and the food apparently primarily cheese. The fruit may actually also be made of cheese, we're not really sure. Well, the front desk is about to open at the hostel, and our hope is that there is room available on a Saturday afternoon. We shall see... Ryan and Camille

Arrival in Switzerland

After quite a day or two of travel, Camille and I have arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. We flew out of San Luis on what felt like yesterday, (Tuesday, May 1st), and landed at LAX a short time later. We had about a six hour layover at the airport and then boarded our plane bound for Europe at about 9:40 at night. I managed maybe two hours of sleep during the ten hour flight, but they were showing great movies onboard, so it went by quickly. After another three hour layover at London Heathrow, we got on our final flight to Zurich, and arrived here about 9:30 last night. (Wednesday, May 2nd) After a train ride into town, a short walk to our hostel, and about 30 minutes spent trying to wake the owners of the hostel, (who a bit erroneously claim to be a 24 hour hostel), we got our room, where we promptly slept the next 10 hours. Having not slept much on the plane, I think it will actually work out well, as it meant I slipped right into sleeping at an unusual time last night.
Today, we did a walk around the downtown area of Zurich. We have found it to be a beautiful city, and have discovered that we like it quite a bit. Although we speak virtually no German, the people have proven to be extremely generous and helpful. We have also decided it is probably the most relaxing "big" city either of us has ever been to. The main streets for shopping and eating have only electric trolleys and no cars, so the streets are narrow and easy to walk along. The city is extraordinarily clean and quiet, and trees and flowers adorn all the walkways and along the banks of Lake Lucern.
Tomorrow we will take the train to Schaffhausen, then hopefully find a way to get to OberHallau, the birthplace of my great-grandfather. We definitely are looking forward to seeinga bit of the countryside, as it was dark last night as we flew in, so all we have seen so far is the city of Zurich and the surrounding hillsides.

Ryan (and Camille - who is a bit tired and resting back at the hostel)