Travel - Dusty & Marlina

Archives

June21st

Day Trip to Annecy

Posted in: France

We took a day trip to Annecy on Monday. Annecy is 2 hours by train from Lyon. We’ve actually been trying to schedule a trip there for over a week but Dusty’s been busy with work and the days we’ve had open, the weather wasn’t cooperating. The weatherman said it was going to be 80 degrees and sunny on Monday so we started making plans.

We took a bus to Annecy and arrived late morning. After a stroll in the old town, around the canals, and near the lake we found a great place to sit outside for lunch. After a couple glasses of wine and some traditional French cuisine we took a cruise around the lake and then rented a paddleboat discovering the beautiful landscape and relaxing. It was a great day touring the old part of the city and spending some time together.

The lake has to be one of Europe’s cleanest and clearest lakes. To give you a little more information about Annecy, it’s located in the Rhone-Alpes region southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy. It’s also a candidate to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be decided on in July. What I loved about this lakefront city is that it’s not known for it’s museums but it’s mountain views, beautiful landscapes, romantic canals, a hovering château, and swimming in, boating on, or biking around the translucent lake.
June5th

We’ve Finally Arrived

Posted in: France
I’m not even sure where to even begin but I believe this trip is helping me learn so much about myself and my relationship with my husband. First, we’re having an awesome time and I’m already loving the French culture and atmosphere.

We had a bit of a traveling mishap. Actually, several traveling mishaps but because we’re spending 5 weeks in France we’ve taken all of them in stride. Our original plan was to leave Omaha on Sunday and arrive in Paris on Monday but because of bad weather in Chicago our flight was cancelled.

We left Omaha on Monday afternoon and landed in Chicago. At some point on our flight from Chicago to Paris there was some minor smoke in the plane so we had to make an emergency landing in Toronto. I promise, it was minor and did not last long but they didn’t think it was wise to continue our flight. We sat in a “secure” area in Toronto for a couple of hours because of customs. Eventually went through customs and directed to an attached hotel where we stayed the night. Our flight the next day didn’t leave until 5pm though and we had another long day in the airport. We finally arrived in Paris on Wednesday morning.

After arriving in Paris, we rushed to get our luggage and went to the train station to catch a train to Lyon. After several long days of traveling and my body being so confused on whether it was day or night, we made it to Lyon.

The things I’m learning so far:
- The French eat such large meals but are super skinny. I’m not sure how this calculation works out but hopefully I can figure out the math before the end of our trip.
- I love the open markets! I can’t say enough about how fresh and beautiful all of the wonderful things are at the market.
- Lots of people have been so helpful this past week. So many talk about how the French are rude put I think that might just be because you’re being rude or those individuals are being rude to you. Really, most people are nice!
- I feel guilty for not knowing more French and am trying to learn very quickly. I want people to understand how I’m trying but I’m sure it’s hard when they just trying to work and I’m making it even more work for them.
- Dusty is my hero. I believe there’s at least one person in every relationship that can just figure things out and make it work. It’s my husband in our relationship. Not that I can’t figure things out but he’s about 10 times faster at it then I am. This might be that he spent 6 months traveling across Europe after he graduated from college but really I think it’s because he’s just really good at navigating, predicting situations, and solving problems. All of these things are true in other parts of our relationship as well but they’ve really shown over the past week.
August2nd

Celebrating Our 2nd Anniversary

Posted in: Anniversary

Because Dusty and I are so busy and don’t get much time to relax, we decided to get away for a long weekend this summer. This year we celebrated our second anniversary in San Diego. We stayed in the Gas Lamp District in San Diego and did a lot of great sight seeing. We road a trolley all around San Diego and got off and on at all the different spots around town. We laid on the beach, got a little too much sun and ate at some really great restaurants.
November16th

Trip to Milwaukee

Posted in: Travel

During my fall break we took a trip to Milwaukee with Andy and Kate Damgaard.We had a great time visiting a local brewery, eating at wonderful restaurants and taking in the scenery.
November2nd

Our First Anniversary

Posted in: Anniversary, Travel

In June Dusty and I celebrated our one year anniversary by going to Kansas City.We spent the day shopping in the Plaza, relaxing and just spending time together.With Dusty busy managing the BrightMix summer internship program and me busy with my summer teaching schedule we didn’t get to do much relaxing so leaving town for a day was a great treat.

We weren’t able to save the top of our wedding cake so we went back to our cake guy and ordered a small cake for two and brought it with us to KC.It was better than we had remembered and was a great way to celebrate the day.

A few weeks earlier one of my good friends got married and we took the opportunity to take an anniversary picture.I’m hoping we can get a picture taken each year so that down the road we can look back and remember the wonderful memories.
June30th

Last days in Paris

Posted in: France, Travel

Dusty and I returned from Europe just a few nights ago. It was a long day. We left Paris at 2pm there time and got home at 1am our time. We spent almost 20 hours on planes or in airports, we had two layovers.

Our last days in Paris were wonderful. The first day we went on a historical Paris walk, featuring Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame, Latin Quarter, and Sainte-Chapelle. In the evening we went to dinner at a great french restuarant, Camillee.

On day two we toured the Louvre in the morning. We had lunch on the Champs-ELysees. We went on a walk from the Arc de Triomphe downhill along the avenue de Champs-Elysées to the Tuileries Garden. We went to the Eiffel Tower during in the afternoon and enjoyed a cruise down the Seine on a Riverboat in the evening. We had another great dinner on Ile St. Louis, near the Notre-Dame and walked to Notre-Dame to see the lights. The first two days were a little cold but by the third day it was beautiful. I even got to wear a dress. It was nice because I had been wearing the same pair of jeans for a couple of days.
June28th

Exciting News

Posted in: Travel

On day three we toured the Orsay Museum in the morning and went to the Rodin museum in the afternoon. We went to the Latin Quarter, where there a lot of cafes and imbisses (fastfood places) to get lunch. We ate by the Seine and watched the riverboats. In the afternoon we visit Napoleon’s Tomb, and went to Rue Cler for a relaxing drink at one of the cafes. Later in the evening we went back to the shops of Rue Cler to pick up food for our picnic. Follow the link to find out more about Rue Cler.

Rue Cler – traffic-free since 1984 – offers plenty of space for tiny stores and their shops to spill into the street. It’s an ideal environment for this ritual to survive and for you to explore. The street is lined with all the necessary shops (wine, cheese, chocolate, bread) as well as a bank and a post office. If you see anyone in uniform, they’re likely from the Ecole Militaire (military school, Napoleon’s alma mater, two blocks away).

After rushing to get food before all of the small shops closed for the evening we walked to the Eiffel Tower. We found a great place on the lawn looking up at the Eiffel Tower. We had a nice dinner along with some French wine. Eventually the sun went down and the lights of the Eiffel Tower turned on. It was a perfect night. Ending the wonderful evening, Dusty asked me to marry him and I said YES! It was an amazing ending to a perfect day.
June19th

Hamburg, Germany

Posted in: Travel

We arrived in Hamburg, Germany yesterday around 12pm. We are staying in a great area. The Schanzen area is a magnet for the “in” crowd, trendsetters, cafe-goers and Asia food fans. You wouldn’t believe that there are so many shops and places to eat with a first glance but walking a little further and really scoping out the place you can see some wonderful shops.

We couldn’t check in until almost 4pm so we got a couple of doner kebabs, pommes frites (fries) and Fanta then walked to a near by park. After checking in and taking a short nap, we got on the train and went to the FanFest (World Cup area set up for people to go and watch the game on a big screen). I can almost gaurantee that there were over 50,oo people. It was incredible. After watching some of the game we walked down St. Pauli, a red light district where prostitution is legal. There were all kinds of interesting shops.

We got back on the train and went down to the City Hall. There we found a fun little area where they were having a light and water show. Today we went on a boat tour of the habor and canals. It was a historical tour and we were told the history of the canals and major habor surrounding Hamburg. The only problem was that it was all in German. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time seeing the city from the water.

In just a few hours we will be going to a REAL football game. We’ve really been waiting a long time for this. It will be lots of fun. I only have 5 minutes left on the computer so I better get going.

We’ll be home in a week.
June5th

One Week Until We Leave – Copenhagen

Posted in: Travel

The summer is well on it’s way now. I’m trying to find things to occupy my time. It’s great being a teacher but I sure do wish I knew more teachers that also have the summer free. Only six days until we get on a flight for Copenhagen. Last night I started packing and finding out that I have no idea what to bring. I’m just afraid of bringing the wrong clothes and forgetting something very important, whatever that be.

I signed up with a temp agency to see if I could find temp jobs over the summer. I almost had a job for two days last week, they called back and said the “emergency” wasn’t an emergency. I’m suppose to call everyday to check in to see if anything is available. That gets boring fast, believe me.

Hello, can I talk to someone about temp jobs that might be available. Yes, is there anything available? Yes, I’ll wait. 5 minutes later. Oh, no jobs, I’ll check back tomorrow. Thanks.

Today was the first day I didn’t call, I was running errands and had a meeting at school. Of course, I got a call and have a two day job assignment. I’ll be stuffing envelopes but hey, it’s something to do and is a little boost in my income. It will also give me something to do so I don’t think about our trip so much.

Here a picture of Dusty preparing for our trip. We’re almost ready!
April4th

Tickets to the World Cup

Posted in: Fun Times, Travel

As many of you know we are planning a trip to Germany in June. Our original purpose was to go to the World Cup which is in Germany this year (it’s like the Olympics and only happens every 4 years) but our hopes started to dwindle as we found out how difficult it is to get tickets.

As the official website says, “Millions of football fans the world over are dying to get their hands on them. 3,070,000 of them corresponding to the net capacity of the twelve FIFA World Cup stadiums.”

Tickets for the matches were sold in phases. It’s a lottery so you put your name in for certain games and then they let you know if you won the lottery. Well, we didn’t win any of the lotteries so we thought we were in trouble. Recently they started selling Re-sale tickets (tickets that people returned). It’s very difficult to get these because you pretty much just have to go to the website and hit refresh looking for tickets to come up. It’s very random and you never know what games and number of tickets will be available.

Every evening Dusty and I come home, clicking the refresh button on ourlaptopss, waiting for a ticket to come up. We’ve gotten close a few times. Today was like every other. It’s 5pm and we’ve been trying to get tickets since noon. We finally succeeded in getting tickets. Everyone, we WILL be in Germany June 19th. I’ve included a little blurb about the World Cup.

According to FIFA World Cup official website “No other sporting event captures the world’s imagination like the FIFA World Cup. Ever since the first tentative competition in Uruguay in 1930, FIFA’s flagship has constantly grown in popularity and prestige.

Today, the FIFA World Cup holds the entire global public under its spell. An accumulated audience of over 37 billion people watched the France 98 tournament, including approximately 1.3 billion for the final alone, while over 2.7 million people flocked to watch the 64 matches in the French stadia.

After all these years and so many changes, however, the main focus of the FIFA World Cup remains the same – the glistening golden trophy, which is the embodiment of every footballer’s ambition. “