Wild and wonderful...... Albania!

Well, we survived 10 days in Albania with a traditional Albanian wedding and a 2,000 foot mountain climb in the remote valley of Thethi.(Small mountain town in North Albania)

Albania is a small(maryland size), yet incredible country that offers so much diversity with the Albanian Alps, Adriatic Sea, rich farmland, and layers of history. I know we sound like a travel agent, but we had the best time!

The cost to travel Albania is merely 1/3 the cost of the United States. All the food is organic and tastes amazing. We ate farm fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, all which reminded us of the farmers market in Charlottesville. The homemade feta, bread, brick oven pizza, and various meats in Albania are wonderful too.

We also enjoyed traditional Raki, the grape liquor that is traditionally drunk morning, afternoon, and evening! Fresh mountain trout from the glacial streams in the North was also a special treat.

It was tough leaving such an amazing country, but Italy next week shouldn't dissapoint. Here are a few pictures from our travels!

Friday the 13th (we're not superstitious, thank goodness!))

Ok Ok, this is probably the blog that you've all been waiting for.....

We started the day by going to Musee de L'Armee and walking around downtown Paris. We breezed by the Eiffel Tower to pre-book and I was in awe....it was truly amazing! We had plans to go back there that evening to see it illuminated so we headed on to Versailles. Talk about a wonderful site to see with all the ornate detailing, paintings, and gardens! That Louis the 14th really lived large!

After exploring Versailles, we went back to the apartment to get ready for our "date night" which was going to be dinner at a cafe right down the street from the Eiffel Tower and a night climb of the tower. I was secretly hoping that Graham would propose at some point on our trip to Paris, maybe even at the Eiffel Tower so my radar was definitely up! We found a great place to eat and I had to go to the restroom as soon as we got there (had to wash the germs off my hands from the subway ride) and when I came back to the table, I went to put my napkin on my lap and there was the ring! I was in total shock!!!!! Graham got down on his knee (as fellow diners snapped photos of the whole thing) and asked me to marry him. I can't remember much of what he said, I just knew I was beaming with happiness and that he said some pretty sweet things! I have always dreamed of the day when someone would ask me to marry them and I just couldn't believe it was actually happening to me, right there, in Paris! It was romantic and loving and it now feels as if my life is complete. We celebrated with champagne and then climbed the tower (and then had more champagne) and had an absolute blast. I can't remember the last time I had that much fun! We are truly blessed and lucky to have found each other and to be able to be on this adventure together. Thank you everyone for your love and support!

here are a few pics!

Paris Day Two!

This morning we woke up around noon after recovering from somewhat severe jetlag. Once we motivated we set out for Sacre-Coeur, the Basilica of Sacred Heart which is located on top of Montmartre Hill. We toured the wonderfully detailed Church and admired the beautiful panorama of Paris from the grand front steps. Afterwards we explored the neighborhood of Montmarte and stopped for lunch outside a small cafe where we shared a champagnion pizza.
We then set out to see Jim Morrison's gravesite at Cimetiere du Pere LaChaise. After walking through a maze of moss covered gravestones we finally found the famous singers gravestone which is guarded full time. Also burried at Pere LaChaise is French singer Edith Piaf and french painter Pissarro. After paying our respects we hopped back on the Metro and headed northeast to find futuristic park, Parc de la Villette.
This park has 10 themed gardens, including a Mirror Garden, Bamboo Garden and garden of islands. Here we walked a couple miles, snapped a few choice photographs, then returned home to rest our feet and have dinner with our hosts Aune-Laure and Frederic.

A fun filled day in Paris!

It took a redeye over the Atlantic and a layover in Zurich to finally get to Paris, but boy was it worth it. This morning we set out for the two islands located in the city center of Paris, Ile St-Louis and Ile de la Cite.

We enjoyed a stroll across Pont Neuf where we visited the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris and learned all distances in France are measured from kilometre zero; marked by a bronze star outside Notre Dame. Afterwards we walked to Berthillon Ice Cream Shop, and enjoyed a cone of what made them famous.

Liz requested that we buy some local cheese, a baguette, and a bottle of French wine to drink in the park by the river- guess what, I gave in... The Rochefort was my favorite, hers was the aged Chevre. We then sauntered to the Musee du Louve and enjoyed viewing the Mona Lisa among other thousands of sculptures and paintings. Did you know the Louve stretches 700 M along the Seine and if one were to glance at each piece of art it would take them 9 months? We'll save that challenge for another lifetime:)

Two other highlights of our afternoon were watching the sailboats in Tuileries Garden and walking the Promenade Plantee, a romantic elevated park similar to the High Line in NYC.

Next on our agenda is Sacre-Coeur and the Eiffel Tower!!

It's been a busy month!

My sincere apologies for being such a horrible blogger! The last time I wrote we were taking care of Graham's grandfather in the hospital in Cascais. I am happy to say that the four of us made it back to America and that Harry is recovering well! Graham and I accompanied his grandparents on their flight to Vermont from Portugal about a week earlier then our planned visit to America. We have been busy skiing in Vermont at Killington, fishing and relaxing in Key Largo, turkey hunting and fishing in Canton NY, exploring Ottawa Canada and spending time with my family in Alexandria. Tomorrow is Graham's 30th birthday and we are going to Sperryville to celebrate with some close friends and enjoy homemade bbq! Phew, it's been a busy time!

We leave on Monday for our next European adventure. We will be in France (Paris and Nice) for 2 weeks and then on to Albania and Italy! We are so excited to see what the next 3 months abroad will bring.

Our families are all doing well. My dad turned 66 yesterday and may need a hip replacement in the next few months (yikes). My nieces and nephews are star softball/baseball players and we have been fortunate enough to be able to go to some of their games. My sister-in-law is pregnant with the 9th grandchild due in November. Graham and I have been working with a jeweler on our engagement ring and wedding rings. Stay tuned for more on that front =)

I think that's about it for now! I'll try to do better on the updates....I really have no excuse....considering I don't have a job! haha!

Love to you all!

Here are a few pics to enjoy!

Tanzania and a Hospital Admission

Hello! We have lots of news to share! We had a wonderful trip to Tanzania this past month with Graham's grandparents, Harry and Theo. I really can't even describe how amazing it was!!! We learned so much about the Tanzanian people, the local tribes, the animals, and the government. We dined on authentic Tanzanian food and learned a new game, Bao, which provided hours of entertainment. I think our most favorite part of the trip was the animals!

Everyday we went on game drives and everyday we saw something completely different! My favorite part was watching a mommy warthog and her 2 babies take a mud bath and then scratch themselves on a rock. It was hilarious! I think Graham's favorite part was watching a pride of lions lunching on a zebra (yuck!).

Another thing that we were really lucky to see was the great migration of wildebeest and zebra right outside of our tent. The zebra and wildebeest always travel together because the zebra have really good sense of smell (they can smell where the water is) and the wildebeests have better eyesight which keeps them both safe at night.

One night in the Serengeti, Graham woke me up at around midnight to see an elephant- oh about 20 feet from our tent! I'm pretty sure I've never been so scared in my whole life!!!!! We watched the elephant by moonlight eating from a tree and a few minutes later he made a loud bellowing noise. At this point, I was trying to decide if hiding under our beds (yes we had real beds in our tent) would save my life if the elephant trampled our tent. It turns out the bellowing noise was to call all his buddies for a meeting, which they also had right outside of our tent. It was unreal! We didn't get trampled on and eventually went back to bed, but boy it was scary!

In total, we saw hippos, rhinos, cheetahs, leopards, lions, elephants, zebra, giraffes, jackals, warthogs, hyenas, monkeys, baboons, impalas, dik diks, water buffalo, wildebeests, alligator, ostriches, various reptiles, insects and dozens of birds.

All four of us had such a great time and were looking forward to getting back to Portugal and do some more exploring before Harry and Theo departed for Vermont. We got one day of sightseeing in before Harry fell ill. He woke up at 2 in the morning with horrible abdominal pain and ended up in the ER later that morning. He had surgery on his small intestine later that evening and has been in the hospital recovering ever since, almost 2 weeks. Poor guy is desperate to get out of the Portuguese hospital and get back to US soil. I'm happy to say that they started feeding him real food last night and he is tolerating it well and will be discharged tomorrow! Graham and I will accompany him and Theo back to Vermont in the next few days, about a week earlier than our original plan. Yay! We hope for an uneventful flight home and a speedy recovery for Harry! Sidenote: ER bill including ambulance ride was 32 euros! CT scan was 9.60, ambulance ride 4.30....if only it were this way in America!

Our plans for the rest of the summer are to hang out in America for about 3 weeks and then we are heading back over the big pond to France! We'll be in France for about 2 weeks, back to Portugal for a few days and then on to Albania for about 10 days for a friend's wedding. After our trip to Albania, we will meet my parents in Italy for about a week and then all four of us will come back to Portugal. We hope to take them to Spain for a few days. This has definitely been a great experience so far, but we are soooooo excited to get back home for a bit. Hope to see you soon!

Here are a few pics!

End of the World and Tunnels Galore

We are dying to share with you two wonderful "must sees" in Portugal! Our friends, Laura and Paul were just visiting and together we found some great spots to explore. The first one is Cabo da Roca, "where the land ends and the sea begins". This is the westernmost point in all of Europe and was once thought to be literally the end of the world. It was absolutely breathtaking! The pictures do not do it justice!

The other place that we LOVED was Quinta de Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal. OMG! It was so fun! It is a magical palace with beautiful gardens, fountains and hidden tunnels galore. We had such a great time exploring there, we felt like we were in the Goonies. We went through dark tunnels with water dripping on us and the only light was from my keychain. We never knew where we would end up but with every turn there was always a surprise. We definitely plan to go back many more times =)