2013: (nearly) a year in Europe

Heather and I had great 2013...so great we never found time to update the blog! Our last posts left off after our 2 week trip across Spain which took place in March, right when we first arrived in Europe. Since then we have done a bit more travelling, so here are some updates on where we've been. We'll try to limit it to a few photos per location, but anyone interested in viewing the full collection should add me on Google+ (plus.google.com/+MattMayer) where we share the albums.

It didn't take long before we had visitors. The Carlson ladies came to Switzerland and checked out beautiful Montreux on the East end of the lake, and also enjoyed a wine tasting festival in nearby Lutry.

They then flew to beautiful Paris (without me!):

We found super cheap tickets to Budapest, Hungary, so we took a nice 4-day trip to the interesting city, where we explored along the Danube, celebrated Kindra's b-day at a buffet restaurant, and saw a Strauss opera in German with Hungarian subtitles!

The summer in Switzerland was amazing, with great hiking, via ferrata mountain climbing, and swimming in the lake.

In June it was back to Spain for a conference, and we got to see Granada, Malaga, and the Mediterranean coast:

In July we checked out Belgium (Brussels and Bruges) and Amsterdam:

Heather's parents visited in September and they took a huge trip across N. Italy, into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and back up through central Italy. I'll let Heather post more on that in a separate post, but I joined for the first few days of the trip, through Lake Como, Verona, and Venice:

In October, Heather ran the Lausanne 1/2 Marathon and I did the 10 km run. Heather got 10th!

We took a cold November trip to see Berlin, where we saw the wall and learned about the history of the place:

And a less-cold December trip to London full of exploring and museums:

It was a great year.

Valencia (2/4 Spain)

On the way to Valencia, train views were nice, and we were a little sad when we had to get off so soon after getting on, but at least it was 17 (62) degrees, versus 12 (53) degrees in Barcelona. We arrived during Las Fallas, a festival which celebrates the patron saint of Valencia, I think. I'm sure it's much more complicated than that. All I know is that this means there are all sorts and sizes (sometimes completely massive) of paper-mache strucutres/models/scenes all over the city for a week or so. Although they take months to build, at the end of the festival, they are all burned. The prize for the winner is that it is burned last. Silly! Because of the materials with which the structures are built, the flames are huge and hot, and of course, (we're in Spain after all) fireworks are added on top of that. It's quite a spectacle!

So, the few days we were there, the streets were filled with massive crowds, children throwing firecrackers at passersby, and the random ear-shattering boom, except for the last day, after everything had burned. The streets were empty and silent, except for the kindly custodial crews doing their work. At some point, we rented bikes and got out of the main city for a little while, which was lovely. We biked on the beach, under the orange trees, found a high school American football team playing... You know, we just explored. We also came upon a protest, a cactus garden, and a disappointing restaurant claiming they served American food. It was. an. experience.

Las Fallas 

biking along the beach

the craziest park/slide ever! 

how they spell my name is Spain

paella!!

During the burning/fireworks. Somehow I never got a photo of the things burning. Just video

Matt, the cactus

These are spheres, so they look funny. But you get the point. And it's kinda funny.

Toledo and Cuenca (4/4 Spain)

We took a couple day trips from Madrid. One was to Toledo, the old capitol of Spain. It's about a half-hour train ride south of Madrid. Nestled in a valley, between a river that splits around it, it's gorgeous. As usual, we immediately try to find the highest point possible for a better view, so we hiked the (possibly hundreds) steps of a castle to overlook the valley. It was worth it! The town is pretty small, but nicely calm and quaint. We just wandered and happened to be in the cathedral as people were pouring in for the start of a free Easter Semana concert. We got to hear a half-hour until we had to leave, to run to the train station in the rain to go back to Madrid.

The next day trip was to Cuenca. It's an hour train ride to the south-east of Madrid. All that I thought of Toledo- the beauty, the serenity- was blown away by Cuenca. Our host kindly picked us up at the airport and drove us to her house, near the river and under the "hanging houses" the town is famous for. What I learned later is that Cuenca is a tiered city. The old town is about 1000 steps up from the newer part, and you have to climb every time you want to do anything. I have been writing for quite a while, so maybe I'll add more to this later. But all I'll say right now is that Cuenca is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to. The place is just so full of contrasts and pure natural beauty. And I say this even though it was 10 (40) degrees and raining our entire time there. We hiked around the valley and found long, dark caves (that I was too afraid to enter actually), huge rock cliffs that end in the river, bridges that span the entire valley, and forests that just go on and on. And in the old town, there are ancient churches and buildings all around you. And we actually had good food there! Mushroom cream croquettes, conumme, sausage, warm "salsa", lamb, and fries. Cuenca was also having a festival while we were there, and we attended a concert of a piano/cello duet. In my notes I wrote, "The cello was actually the primary instrument (I was surprised); he was GREAT. What talent. He breather very heavily during pauses and during the intense parts. The piano played beautifully with the cello. The harmonies and balance... Delicious. They showed real heart and passion, and the music was fabulous."

Later on, monks chanted/sang and gave us a tour of an old church (where I swear it was 40 below zero), we bought two huges pizzas at the store and baked them in our airbnb kitchen, and we got to see the river rise by like 2 feet while we were there because the rain was so strong and consistent. It was an incredible place with incredibly nice people, and finally some good food, and I will definitely go back to Cuenca again!!

Toledo

Cuenca

(the pics don't do it justice)