Le Road Trip (Updated with Video)

We chomped off a large chunk of Western Europe this summer, hitting several touristy and not-so-touristy sites along the way: from Heidelberg to Paris, to Normandy, to Bruges, to Trier, through the Moselle Valley and back home. Here's the route; the video recap is now in there..


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San Fran for a Day

A small mix of business and pleasure. First visit to San Fran in nearly 20 years. Before meeting with the folks at Business Objects in San Jose, got to see a bit of the bay area and Silicon valley. Was amazed at how quickly you get into nature. A quick look at the city...

Kayaking? ...Nahe.

We've got nothin' on nature. After a strong performance on the Altmuhl last year, we were utterly humbled by the shallow and rocky waters of the River Nahe, about 60 km West Southwest of Mainz. We tallied a total of three instances of capsizing - the water wasn't exactly thermal-spring fed either.

Met a Samaritan after the second close encounter with the water. We all disembarked, and he drove us (and our kayaks) a ways to a better campground (I don't know where we would have staid that night if we hadn't met him out on the water). He even brought us blankets, a dry sleeping bag, a hot plate of steaming noodles and tomato sauce, and a bottle of wine later on that evening. We sat with him late into the night, watching him smoke cigars and talk about dirt bikes and wasted tax euros.

We are already scheduling our rematch with the River Nahe for next year...we'll make sure to call our Samaritan in advance.





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Visit to Auggen Revisited

Brenner was in town two weeks after our previous visit to Laurie and Ernie's place in Auggen. Didn't do much, but that was the best part.

Aunt and Uncle in Auggen

Got to sprint down Schwarzwald-way to visit Laurie and Ernie at the old winery in Auggen. They had some marvelous stories that day. A more recent one we caught on video:

Crete a la Karte

Music, video, and cartography: a little over-documentation. But you can cover more of the senses this way...all we need now is an odoriferous USB-stick. Anyway, for those who haven't been to Crete, let this lure you. So much to do that you can't plan for, and it wouldn't be as fun if you did.

The best way to navigate through the map is to click on "View Larger Map," below the lower left corner of the map. The photos embedded in the map are a nice touch - just click on the icons. The photos were taken more or less where the icons are on the map.


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Füüüüüüüßen: Part II

Yes, we are getting into video production...it gets the message across so much more vividly. The following is a video recap of the Sams' maiden trip across the pond - they are scheduled to arrive this summer for their next adventure. Look forward to seeing you Connie and Van!!

Matt and Dad in D-Land Video Recap

Just a quick revisiting of Dad and Matt's visit to Germany in the fall of last year - this time with the land-lover activities as well.




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London in a Day
One of the world's largest cities in one day...not easy. But we packed in quite a few sights, including a musical (joy). The video sums up our 24-hour tour of England's capital.

Donegal on horseback

It was back in 2005, but wanted to highlight Kris's first trip to Ireland nonetheless. She learned to ride quickly, and even galloped down the wooded trail avoiding every low-hanging branch and returning with only a slightly strained back.

We hope to see her in Europe again soon.

Flat Stanley Visits Heidelberg

Kate and I got a little carried away with a project for her second-grade second cousin. Flat Stanley, who had suffered a horrendous bulletin-board accident, was sent to us from the States. It was our duty to show him around and integrate him with the locals. The following is a short documentary of his excursions.

Introducing Pan the Jungle Kitty

She's wild....oh yes she is wild. Pan (short for schizophrenic pandemonium the jungle kitty) joined our enclave on January 4. We drove 100km to the town of Mosbach in the Neckar valley to browse for a feline Fritz. We stumbled across Pan, who was very reserved - except when it came to biting our fingers when we weren’t paying attention. We basically took her home, because we figured she didn't have a chance with anyone else.

Pan the Jungle Kitty

After spending the first two nights petrified under our couch, Pan emerged to lay claim to our domicile - with proud gesturing and stinky poo. She now attacks our feet, toes, rugs, upholstery, plasma television (yikes!). She has terrorized our plants, and her scratching post is little more than a splintered toothpick.

But at night she nestles between us, purring, squinting, and then sleeping soundly...until about 3:00 a.m., when playtime once again ensues.

But we love her anyway, just as any parent would have to love a problem child.

Christmas in the Balkans

With little warning, I was off to the Balkans to spend a solitary Christmas. Hit one of the nicest Christmas markets I'd ever seen in Ljubljana and visited the owner of a youth hostel in Zagreb - the one I help build seven years ago. It has since expanded by about 150%, with more and more visitors coming each year. 

Was a bummer not to see the fam, but at least I got a lot of reading done. Bog!

Christmas in the Balkans

That Wii Feeling

Kate had her students over for a night of great cooking and serious Wii competition. Kate whooped them all at boxing, including me. Had some great laughes with a great group of people - although I wouldn't recommend introducing Germans to American cuisine by simultaneously offering them chilli, egg nog, and pumpkin rolls.

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φιλοξενία...

...Hospitality in Greek - and that's just what we came across every single day. The people are what made our trip to Greece, such as the Cretan wiseman Jhannis of Axos, who played the Lyra and sang to us, served us Greek wine, "Raki," and peanuts, while giving us a short history lesson about the country and his family.


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The creatures of Crete kept us on our toes as well: Donkeys, cats, camels, horses, dogs, lamas, chickens, and annoying geese. The kitties were the hightlight, who slept in our stone bungalow and ate us out of house and home.

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The beaches in Crete were almost as accomodating. Each one was different, with its own charm: pebbly shores, sandy strands, craggy coves, lucid waters - we had to hike a few kilomoters or brave narrow gravel roads just to get to a few of them.

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Road trips with the Jeep

My German 101 professor, Dr. Jeep, staid with us for a month while he taught the students on the exchange program I took part in 10 years ago. We headed to Dinkelsbühl in Bavaria and hiked through the Odenwald.

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Kayaking down the Altmuhl

Deac and Matt braved a long flight to brave an even longer Kayak tour down the Altmuhltal - an ancient valley spotted with medieval towns and old mills. We paddled a total of 30 miles in three days, camping on the riverside sites when the sun fell, going out for some traditional cuisine and tasty beer after a long day on the water. Deac got to show off his iPhone to the locals (see pic).
Here's a video of us coming in to our final destination: Eichstätt - followed by a selection of pics from the voyage.

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Waat iz dat?

Yes, the first installment of the Sams' Family Vacation in Europe took place here in Germany from July 19 - August 12. Three weeks of road-tripping, beer-sipping, and autobahn-ripping. Bavaria, the Rhine valley, the Neckar valley, Austria, castles, farms, mountains, funiculars, violin museums, suaerkruat, spaghetti icecream, sausage, knödel, betty blaring, back seats, dairy farms, trains, towers, rivers, bridges, walking, whiplash, fast turns, dictator get-aways, memorials, musicians' cribs, strong coffee, B&Bs, pipe organs, wood cuts, gardens, street performers, rude French, rain, shine, rolling hills, hopps, schnitzel, and - of course - Füüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüssen!

It was simply a grand time with true road warriors. The following pics are just a selection from the Sams Family photo archive. Kate and I can't wait til they come back next year.

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All Over the Tuscan Sun

Our VW, since christened "Betty," got a work out: gravel roads, hairpin turns, and Italian drivers - even through downtown Florence. Whether fending off the reckless moped drivers in the cities, stopping at as many vineyards in the Chianti region as we could, or scrambling at dusk for the nearest "agriturismo," Kate and I put a lot of Tuscany behind us - looking forward to going again when the sunflowers are in bloom.

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Easter near Eiger

Faced with free gas and two holidays to kill, Kate and I headed to Germany's southern neighbor for a bit of R&R Swiss style. We put the GTI to the test for the first time on the German Autobahn, flirting with its top speed (no comment for the sake of parental sanity) until the speed limit signs at the border (and the rumors of five-figure fines for speeding) brought us out of sixth gear to a leisurely 90 miles per hour.

The Alps greeted us from behind a blanket of haze, which had materialized from the unseasonably hot sun sizzling the snow-capped summits. We put our sport suspension to the test, braving the narrow switchbacks and loose stones on the ridge above to make it to our home base for the next three days: Beatenberg.

Interlaken, Bern, Basel, Kandersteg, Brienz, and all the roads in between - thanks to our new GPS (who we named Betty on account of the annoying female British voice telling us to watch our speed), we were able to pack in a hefty number of destinations in those three days. The pictures tell the rest.

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