30. Parco Nazionale Delle Cinque Terre

These five towns and the trails that connect them make up one of my top three places in Europe. There are no specificly great stories here, but the walks in between the towns were breathtaking. Seriously, there were some steep climbs.
One of my favorite things about the trip was the balance between uber-touristy cities and laid back country towns. For every Paris there was a Blois, for every Berlin a Wurzburg. The Cinque Terre were the best of the latter.

31. Some Girls

We had given up on London's West End theater district since The Lion King wasn't playing that day, Guys and Dolls was too Guys and Dolls and everything else looked worse. Piccadilly Circus was nearby so we walked over to check it out (above) and spotted the theater showing Some Girls starring David Schwimmer. We scored half-price student tickets and got our London theater culture on American style!





Afterwards, we hopped a double decker bus for the fun of it and I found I wasn't really prepared for just how high that second deck actually is.

32. Barcelona Aquarium

Everywhere I see an aquarium I want to go. Paris' was rather pedestrian and we skipped the one in Biarritz, but in Barcelona I convinced Bryce to hit up the largest aquarium in Europe. One highlight was a 4-million gallon tank where sharks, rays, and an assortment of otros pescados swam over and around the glass tunnel a moving walkway escorted you through. There were also the scores of little niños screaming "Nemo Nemo" at every orange fish they saw. However the coolest part was the penguin lair where there was a constant stream of birds diving into the water, swirling around and then popping back out onto the rocks. They were so entertaining I could have sat and watched them all day.

33. Airplane seats

How can I impress upon you the importance of a good start to a trip? I could try with the story of the time my family tried to spend a nice weekend camping in North Carolina. We got two hours out of town when our car broke down so we had it towed back to Richmond, waited until the next day, packed up our other car, got two hours out of town, had it break down on us, got it towed back to Richmond, waited until the next day, and caught a ride with our friends where I was cramped in the back sideways seat of a pick-up's cab. Needless to say, that sucked and the trip wasn't nearly as fun as it could have been. So how lucky were we to end up with these seats on the ride over? Lucky enough to be so fresh that we plowed through our first day on NO sleep walking all over London and were sentient enough to celeb-spot Marcia Cross at Harrods that night. Rock!

34. Merchant Taylor's School

Located in Moor Park, Hertfordshire, this is where Kate (of Mike and Kate) teaches. Kate walks about half a mile from their house along this completely splendid path that winds through the woods, past a pond and through a field before reaching the school grounds. I enjoyed this walk so much, which incidentally Mike gets to take as well since his school is situated just past Merchant Taylor's, that I immediately considered applying to work there. I could have tended to the expertly manicured lawns of the cricket/quidditch pitch and kept the broomshed clean.

35. Ishtar Gate

From Isar to Ishtar, two non-German sounding German things. The Ishtar Gate was part of the processional way through ancient Babylon and was excavated and moved brick by brick to Berlin's Pergamon Museum. Even Bryce with his infantile appreciation of history was impressed. Now remember this amazing archaeological and architectual treasure has no relation or connection to this.

36. River Surfing

I'd have never thought this was possible if I hadn't seen it myself. I mean surfing, in the middle of a city! We encountered this spectacle on our Mike's Bikes Tour of Munich. The fast running Isar river is channeled underneath the city and then shoots out into the English Gardens here. Apparently some strange current is created (we think with a few strategically placed logs) and the result is a rockin opportunity to hang zehn. If Bryce's masterful photographs aren't good enough for you, check out the Google Video and Youtube versions.

37. Ice Cave

Eat your heart out RASS. This is a very cool cave on top of Aiguille du Midi in the Alps. Now I didn't get a chance to explore it past the barriers they had, but it was definitely a chill experience.

38. Lions

Lions and lions and lions, oh my! It seemed everywhere you looked there were the magnificent beasts. Below we have a giant guardian of Trafalgar Square, several inhabitants of the Hall of Animals in the Vatican Museum, and finally two fine specimens from the British Museum.

39. Male capri pants

Hate on it all you want, but I've been calling this trend for years. So how happy was I to see that it's actually the norm in Europe? How happy was I to actually score a pair in San Fermin-white for the festival? The answer is quite. So if anyone wants to hook a brother up, just fall into the ____


Though you can't quite tell, here I am rockin the capris Pamplona style

40. Gummy Shop

We were walking through the medieval German town of Wurzburg on our way to the Fortress Marienburg and the Residenz when we stumbled upon one of the finest sights these eyes have seen. It was a candy shop entirely devoted to Gummies. As you can see above, it was virtually impossible to decide what to get, but I finally settled on a 500g bag of gummy-stars that carried us through the day until our official Bavarian mound of meat dinner that night.



The fortress sits atop a hill overlooking the town


This is where they stick the people who don't like gummies


The Residenz gardens

41. Badeshiff

How about a floating swimming pool on a river in one of the world's major metropolitan areas? Leave it to Berlin to come up with an idea like that. Badeshiff allows you to take a dip in the Spree (sort of) or just lounge on a deck in the sun. Lounging was the name of the game the day I went as there was a special concert series Yellow Lounge happening. There were DJs mixing classical music, a percussion ensemble that rocked the beat, and the famous German oboist Albrecht Mayer, not to mention hotties in bikinis.

42. Woodworking

We stayed with Bryce's old grad-school roommate Mike and his wife Kate during our second two days in London. Both are teachers, but Mike also hand-crafts chairs and sells them over the internet. So one evening he got us out in the back yard and taught us how to lathe the smack down.

Mike shows me how to shave the wood

Bryce still doesn't get it

A fully-functional-foot-pump-pully-powered lathe

Mike and Kate's house

43. Danao Fruit Drinks

A delightful combination of milk and juice that I'm astonished hasn't hit the states yet. I first discovered it during a laundry/supermarket break just outside Mont Saint Michel in northern France and then looked for it every other place we went. The Straw/Orange/Banana flavor was like drinking heaven. So good in fact, it's hard to say what was more amazing: Mont Saint Michel itself (below) or Danao.

From the US Dairy Export Council

Milk has been losing share to the juice business for years, so it’s about time the dairy industry took some of its market back. Danone Group is doing that with Danao, a juice drink that contains 20% milk. The product is available throughout Europe, and last fall it was introduced in China to a resounding success. These juice/milk drinks have less acidity and are more nutritious than regular juices. In addition, the product can be kept unrefrigerated for up to six hours, providing the portability that on-the-go consumers desire.

44. Primavera

While Botticelli's Birth of Venus may be the more famous painting, my favorite of his is La Primavera. Both works are housed in the Uffizi Gallery and represent basically all I want to remember about Florence, but that's all been blogged before. I'm going to leave it to the art historians to discuss why these are masterpieces, but if anyone wants my opinion on the greatest work of art of all time, just ask.

45. Clouds

I don't know if it was the latitude or maybe the fact that the city actually rests 18 feet below sea level but when I deposited myself on a bench in Amsterdam's Vondelpark during a particularly pleasant Summer morning there was something magical in the air. When I glanced up I was unable to look away because the clouds seemed to radiate heat waves from their edges and the music I was listening to enveloped me like a warm blanket of contentment. Immerse yourself in the sound and pictures below and see if you can achieve the same floating sensation.

46. Fun European Signs

Now some of you might say that there are funny signs everywhere, but I say that Europe takes the cake, and here is my proof. Firstly, we have a sign from French trains warning you not to get your hand stuck in the door. I love this rabbit and how he actually seems to be enjoying the situation. Next there is a sign from atop the alps. Now it definitely inspires caution, which I'm sure is its aim, but to me it also inspires hilarity. Finally we have an even more hilarious billboard from Rome for a 10-10-220 type long distance number. I must admit I was transfixed by this one.

47. Escargot

I thought our "fancy dinner out" in Paris was the opportune time to try something new. So while Bryce ordered the (French) onion soup as his appetizer, I went with snails. After I finally figured out how to use the clamps and fork-spear to pry them out of their shells, I was unexpectedly delighted by the garlic butter drenched goodness. Once again I have to apologize for us not having a picture of what I'm talking about so here is a close, less-appetizing relative that we found on our bike excursion.

48. Nettles

Bryce's friends Mike and Kate were wonderful enough to take us on a lovely walk through the English countryside. When I asked if they had poison ivy, because we were seemingly swimming through it, they replied "No, but we have nettles." After Bryce heard that they were little thorny weeds that caused an itchy and burning rash he immediately darted off through the overgrowth in search of a bed of nettles to throw himself in. Thirty seconds later he came back whining "Dag-Gone these things hurt." Here are some pics from our walk including a hill full of nettles that includes our path (somewhere). Also check out the sweet hedge sculpture and the immaculate lawn that necessitated a grass angel.

49. The view from the Reichstag

At the end of our first full day in Berlin we met to ascend the Reichstag, which not only houses the German Parliament but also has an amazing glass domed observation deck. From the top of the dome and also outside on the roof we were able to look out on the entire city which was lit up at sunset by an array of neon lights and (just our luck) a rainbow.