So for the third year in a row, we've headed over the pond to Europe to visit our friends in Switzerland. This is their last year there, and probably our last too for a while. CM is low on vacation so she'll be working for some of our time here, but we should get to some new places, and maybe even get a new country stamp on the old passport. We're so appreciative of Chizzy and Bryan for giving us a jump off point to the rest of Europe. We couldn't have financed these trips without them. Some more pictures of [View Full Entry]

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CM had a conference in Orlando, so we decided to both make it a vacation opportunity. Of course that vacation was not in Orlando! As Jessica put it, "so you guys figured you were on the East coast, so you might as well hop over to Europe..." Basically, yes. We still have some really cool photos of South America to post, but the trips are coming so fast and furious, that we can't keep up on the travelblog. Expect some SA catch up posts soon! But first, we do a quick post on the wasteland that is Orlando... While CM was [View Full Entry]

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This morning we had a great breakfast at the Hotel BoBo. Buenos Aires is a city of over 12 million people - it sprawls with large office buildings and apartment towers mile after mile. The architecture and feel of the city reminded us a lot of Madrid. Because nearly every building needs a fresh coat of paint, J likens it more to an Eastern European version of Madrid. Today we took the subway down to Plaza de Mayo (say Masho - y is pronounced as sh here!). The Casa Rosada at one end of the square houses the Parliament (but you [View Full Entry]

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Thanks for bearing with us while we posted the remainder of our New Zealand and Australia posts. We actually have Hawaii, San Diego and Caribbean to post since then, but we wanted to catch everyone up to where we are now! CM's new job since we've returned has been great. There is less travel, but perhaps more interesting travel. Next week she has a conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We decided to fly down a week early, and visit Argentina and Chile. We flew from Seattle to Dallas on a sub-optimal 4:30 AM flight. After sitting in Dallas till about 9PM, [View Full Entry]

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After yesterday's trip to Bondi, we had to go back to the beach again. Today it was back to the ferries and Manly Beach. Manly is not only a cool name, but also a cool beach. Not quite as nice as Bondi, but just as packed and great for people watching. Think Venice Beach, CA. There are a ton of shops and restaurants around as well. After today it's back to the USA (although not home quite yet!) We've had a great time in Sydney and definitely plan to return. [View Full Entry]

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Today is a beach day! We went to the famous Bondi Beach and our jaws dropped the minute we got there (albeit for different reasons). It is a gorgeous white sand beach with trademarked* blue water. It is also populated with many topless women and strapping surfer dudes. Despite the extremely high UV ratings in this part of the world, less than 10% of the people on the beach were using umbrellas or sun shades of any kind. CM is always in search of shade, so we rented an umbrella. The government takes skin cancer seriously - there is a public [View Full Entry]

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We arrived last night in Sydney from New Zealand and were really impressed. Large buildings, beautiful beaches and nice people - it could be the perfect city! Today we walked around Sydney and took the ferry to Watson's Bay. We walked around for a bit and hiked up to the "The Gap" - cliffs where they filmed the end of Mission Impossible II. It was hot and we stopped for gelato - not as cheap as in Italy, but pretty tasty nonetheless. The ferries in Sydney are excellent, fast and cheap. They're a great way to see different surrounding areas. In [View Full Entry]

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Christchurch is one of the main jumping off points for the Antarctic. Invercargill is closer (and actually the closest is Tierra Del Fuego in South America), but this is a bigger city with more research stations. There is a great museum about the Antarctic there with tons of information and reading. The cool thing is how they managed to make it interactive and hold your attention. There is a live penguin exhibit and feeding. There is a large room that you go in for 3 minutes that simulates a storm in the Antarctic. It actually is filled with ice and snow, [View Full Entry]

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Christchurch is a nice town - kind of like Victoria, BC, but smaller and not quite as fancy. We stayed at Greatstay, a cozy, modern B&B. The owners were really nice (when haven't they been?) I mentioned that I wanted to try the NZ breakfast of Pikelets, and the hostess made them for me the next morning! Her husband was an old car collector, and had several cars brought in from the States and refurbished them himself. He took us for a drive around the city in the car and we took lots of pictures. In the city there are really [View Full Entry]

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There is a gondola* in Queenstown that takes you up to a mountain behind the city. The view is incredible, and we picked a great day for this activity. Queenstown sits at the top of a lake, with the Remarkables mountain range along the left hand side. A picture is worth a thousand words in this case. J's little friend from the Lord of the Rings Jetboat trip told us that we had to ride the luge (gravity powered go-karts) at the top of the lift. So we each did a couple of runs. J caught air, skidded the tires on [View Full Entry]

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