Munchen: Pretty Stinkin' Awesome If You Ask Me!

So Germany was AMAZING!!! We loved it. I want to move there, right now! Our first city was Munchen, also known as Munich. It was really fun! We mainly went to Germany to go to the Christmas markets, which we went to a lot!! We also visited the Residence and the Science Museum. They were both wonderful and worth a visit!

In the Residence-what has been used as a dining hall!

They have a large collection of Asian art since that was a popular thing to collect-this makes me think of Lord of the Rings though-"my preciousssssssss"-you hear it too!

They also have some great porcelain figures. I thought it was funny that a fox was playing the piano for her.

So needless to say, Matt LOVED the science museum! It was pretty cool but I'll admit I got bored after 3 hours of Matt hitting every button known to man to make things light up and move. I know understand how he feels while we're in an art museum. At least he has a place to sit down!

He's getting ready to go to work in the coal mines!!

He's such a happy man! Flight simulation!

I think it's pretty obvious we were in Matts paradise!

Although it was freezing cold we did walk around a bit.

Who could resist such a nice view?

And obviously no trip to Germany is complete without beer.....

...and gluewhine at the Christmas market. Who doesn't love a mug in the shape of a boot???

Sadly we didn't make it to the BMW museum. It's kind of on the outskirts of town and rather pricey to get in to. We did make it to 2 art museums for a euro entrance at each-that was pretty awesome. And we got to see the largest collection of Rubens so that was cool too! We were silly and didn't take any pics of the markets in Munich-way to screw the pooch on that one right?? We did like this market a lot; there was a lot of variety and there was one that was like a renaissance festival-people and booths in traditional costume. It was really cool. Next stop was Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

I Realize You All Have Missed Me....

So I fully realize it's been a while since I last updated you on the craziness that is our life. Welp, we've been kinda busy. I went to Portugal with mom to ride some really fancy horses and learn tons! It was amazing! I'm going back for sure, just don't tell Matt ;) It truly was a great experience and I learned so much about riding, horses, and what I want in a horse. I really think I improved a great deal which is good news for the horses here! I can't describe what 9 rides in 5 days will do to you! Thank you so much to the Valenca's for being willing to teach and share their knowledge!! I am a better rider because of it!

Last ride-those are the 2 horses we rode the most-mine is Lotus and mom is on Jaguar. And yes, we did go really fast!

After our week of horseyness we decided to stay in Lisboa (Lisbon to the laymen) for a few days and tour around. WOWIE!! Who knew Portugal was so stinkin awesome?!?! Seriously, I think Portugal is like the neglected cousin of Europe. Honestly, do you really include it in your places to go while touring around Europe? NO! It's always a "if we can squeeze it in" kind of place. Well let me tell you, don't just squeeze it in, make it a stop!! The people are so amazing and friendly. The food is pretty tasty. They have some amazing sites and history. Just go there people. You won't regret it!

Hey mom! Looking pretty good by the arch there!

I made a new friend at the Ocenarium. Which by the way is REALLY COOL!

As usual, we did a bike tour. It was pretty good!

Eating the local treats, pastel de belem. It's a custard pastry. Yum yum!

After Portugal, mom came home with me for a week for a nice visit. It was good to have her here. We went riding, saw some sites, cooked, and spent a lot of money in Lefkara. After mom left the Moritz's came for a visit! Matt was so happy to have his parents here for the week, and to take time off from work! They also got to go all over the place and spend some big bucks in Lefkara.I'm pretty sure Marina loves me and wants to adopt me now! The weekend that they left I had a horse show to compete in! Now I haven't competed in YEARS! So I didn't have high expectations for myself, or the old man I was riding! Monnie is one of the club's school horses so he's a good, quiet boy but doesn't work all that great. But we did pretty well! We got a third and a fifth place in dressage tests and a clear round for jumping. That's better than I could've imagined! I had a great time and can't wait for the next competition!

Look at us go!! WEEEEEE!!!

He's so happy!! I'm glad I could take him!

And today is Thanksgiving. In America we would probably be with one of our families, getting ready to gorge ourselves on tastiness. But this year we're hosting a bunch of Brits. Crazy I know. But they are all so excited to get to do a traditional American holiday! And they are bringing food from the motherland! This will take place Saturday so I've still got 2 days to prepare. Speaking of which, I'm off to the grocery store to get goodies to make! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we love and miss you all so much!

Sex, Chips, and Ouzo-a Wild Night Out

So yeah....we went to see this play called "Sex, Chips, and Ouzo." It's about post Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1978-four years after the invasion. Basically these two British chicks come to Cyprus on holiday and meet two Cypriot men and the rest is chaos. If you want to read up on it more, check out their website: http://rubberear.wordpress.com/about/ The cool thing about this show was it was at Kourion Amphitheater (check out the Kourion post to see the amphitheater in daylight.) We had heard that it was a "thing" in Cyprus to see a show here so we figured we'd go since we missed their production of Romeo and Juliet.

A walk on the beach, how romantic ;)

Matt strolling along...

Don't we look nice?

So we found a dead fish on the beach, which I didn't think was real, and I wanted to take some pics to examine later to see if it was real (later we found 2 more fish just like the first so I decided it was real.) But some of the photos came out pretty.

I like the lighting on this one. And the fish is smiling!

Yup, we live here.

Since the show was from 1978 you have to throw out a peace sign while posing!

I look a LITTLE tan, right?

There was one scene where the one guy was in a dress and it was HILARIOUS! Especially when he sat down, as displayed below. The audience was pretty rambunctious so there was lots of wolf whistling during this scene.

All in all it was a pretty fun(ny) show. We didn't get a couple of the jokes (not being British and all) but we enjoyed ourselves. Hopefully there will be another show there soon (or at another amphitheater near by) so we can have another fun experience!

Finally, the End....

So here we are, the end. The finale. The last installment. We made it back to Paris Friday night and decided to go up to Sacre Couer since we didn't get to make it during the week. It was one of the things I REALLY REALLY wanted to do. And oh man am I glad we did!! We didn't really think about the fact that this is a catholic church that we were visiting on Friday afternoon, yup, right in time for mass! We went inside and walked around a little, during mass, then decided to go into the bell tower since it's supposed to have the best view of the city. Those who told me how amazing it is up there were right-it was fantastic!

What a beautiful basilica!

Up the stairs to the tower!

The walkways at the top-kinda mystical and creepy huh?

Gargoyle almost eating the Eiffle Tower.

Look! I'm squishing the Eiffle Tower!


At the top overlooking the city on a glorious summer day!

After finishing at Sacre Couer we went back to our hotel for the night, ready to see a few more things in the morning before heading off the the airport and home.
From the beginning Matt said he really wanted to see the Arc du Triomphe. So that was where we headed first thing Saturday morning. As it would take more time and money, we didn't go on the top which I was ok with since I had been before.

Take that Napoleon AND Hitler!

Our next stop was to go back to Notre Dame but to go into the bell tower! On the way we walked down the Champs Elysee and by the Louvre. It was such a lovely day and we had a wonderful walk!

We realized we had never gotten a pic in front of the Louvre, so here we are ;)

So after waiting a few hours, yes hours, to go up the bell tower we made it! Matt was having a great time up there. Me? Not so much!

Gargoyles and Notre Dame go hand in hand right?

Great View of the city.

You can see Sacre Couer just off the wing of the gargoyle. And in case you didn't know, this one is photographed A LOT!

In front of the cathedral after descending from the very top. If you look really close you can see people on the top right part of the tower-we were there. Insert me freaking out a little bit.

So there you have it loyal follower(s). An entire 2 weeks of food, culture, art, rain, bikes, and fun with my amazing hubby. We had so much fun! I hope you had fun seeing it and are inspired to go on your own crazy adventures! I can't wait for our next big adventure/trip! But before we go anywhere again, we have a college friend of Matt's coming for a long weekend, I'm off to Portugal with mom to ride fancy horses, mom comes home with me for a week, and then Matt's parents come for a week. Phew! It's about to get really crazy here!

Belquie-The FINAL Day

So what would you do on your final full day in Belgium. Us, we did what one would normally do on the first day, same as we did in Paris. We did a bike tour of course! Dad was on this "Let's do bike tours every where we go" kick so we found one to do in Brugges. It was GREAT! The guide was this kid getting his masters in art history so he knew ALL sorts of good stuff (naturally ;) ). It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time!

You ever go to Brugges, go on this tour. It's worth it, I promise!

Here he is, explaining things in a court yard.

And we're off! I'm getting good at "bike-by" shots

"Lover's Lake"-who wouldn't want to be in love here??


Yup-we saw a windmill. It was awesome. And it still works!

The first shot looked like the windmill was coming out of my head-this one is better.


So dad lost his phone on the tour so we had to rewalk parts of the route we biked. It gave me the chance to take some more "artsy" photos.

Seriously, who doesn't love this?

Man has to earn a living somehow right? Why not stick a horn on a violin and try that out?

Now you all know how much I love churches. We went into this church that had a piece that Michael Angelo sculpted that actually got to leave Italy in his life time. It's Mary and Jesus, in case you couldn't tell. It's actually fairly small but it's pretty amazing.


Original fresco from the early part of the church. That angel looks a little mad, don't you think?

As seems the norm around this part of the world, the church was dedicated to Mary. And so she's in a lot of the art work.

These were all plaques thanking/dedicating Mary for something in all different languages. There were about 3 walls of these things. And they were pretty full to!


So have I told you about the swans around here? Like in the UK, swans are protected in Belgium. So they pretty much do what they want. And in case you didn't know, swans are kinda mean. Ok, they're really mean. There were these swans that hung out in the canal by our hotel window so we would watch them swim around all peaceful like, until a boat went by. Then they went into attack swan mode and chased the boats down the canal. It was really amusing to watch. I took a few shots of the swans doing this but this one is the funniest. It's like the swan is saying "yeah you better keep going! stay away from my turf!" Go to http://thecypruslife.shutterfly.com/ to see all the photos of the swans around Brugges.


Our last meal was at this restaurant that we found that used to be some kind of guild. It was right on the canal (of course) and was in this really cool old building. Mom and dad both ordered the ham hock, thinking it wouldn't be as big as their face. Well, it was. Dad took it like a champ and was ready to chow down.

Mom freaked out a bit. You can't really blame her can you?

The food was OH SO tasty so it was worth gorging ourselves. After eating we went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before going back to Paris the next day. Mom and dad were going straight to the airport hotel since they had an early morning flight while Matt and I spent our final day exploring the sights in Paris we didn't get to see but wanted to. That will be on the next (and final, you lucky, lucky people!) post!