Day 5 - Driving the mountain loop

Tuesday we got a rental car. Yes, we decided to tool around the island, driving off the coast of Africa with our limited Spanish. It took a while on Monday to get a reservation with a company that had an automatic (I haven't driven a manual in a decade and Alan never has) and we figured it would be challenging enough driving hills with signs we didn't understand without having to worry about a clutch.

The car was delivered right to our hotel so all we had to do was get out of town and head south. The city is a bit scary but we did manage to find the freeway. I might point out that when I started the day I was thinking of recent drives to Portland (about two hours). Well, the island is only 602 square miles total. The first stop on our drive, Telde, was about 13.5 km away. So close! There was not a whole lot in Telde so we continued on our journey.

Ingenio, about 12 km south of Telde, is a very small town. It is known for its ceramics but we didn't find any. Next stop, Agüimes, 3 km south of Ingenio. Agüimesa is a neat network of small alleys, a church, and a park in front of the church. There were bronze statues of a camel, dancers, a mule, and a cellist. We walked around enjoying the cool breeze and then stopped to have a glass of fresh squeezed OJ at the local bar.

We decided to have lunch in a cave restaurant in Barranco de Guayadeque. Another short ride (6 km) and we have breezed through the canyon with a brief glimpse at the Interpretive Center. Here they have examples of the cave systems and methods of grinding grains. The surroundings are dry with a lot of cactus. The palm trees look a bit droopy too. The restaurant had a resident cat who begs for food from the visitors outside. They have grapes growing around the entrance. The view is of the caves in the mountains. It was quite amazing.

From there, we head 17 km to Santa Lucia. We stop at the Museo del Castillo de Fortaleza, a small castle built about 50 years ago to house an interesting collection of items. The 'museum' does not store the items in the best of conditions. The outside gardens were the only part I would recommend seeing. They have an almond tree, a fruit which looks like pomegranate, an olive tree, a lime tree, and an avocado tree. It was impressive to see these things just there on a tree.

We continued our drive and about 40 km later we reached the Cruz de Tejeda. It is a cross, carved from stone, that marks the center of the island. While not the highest point, it is up at 5184 feet. We could feel our ears pop on the drive down from the pass. We checked out a couple of the stalls and the goodies that they have for sale before we continue on. It is only 25 km to the next town, Teror. We drove through, admired the views, and then got back on the road to Las Palmas. We didn't do bad for our first time driving in Spain. The roads are in pretty good shape. Wednesday, we plan on finding the camels in the southern part of the island...

Paris - Day 3

First stop today was the catacombs... very interesting from an historical standpoint and also very sad/morbid. There are bones from millions (!) of Parisians down there, transferred from cemeteries all over.

Next, we headed to Rue Mouffetard, supposedly the oldest street in Paris. There, we found a lively street market. We picked up baguettes from the famous Les Panetons bakery, some cheese from a Fromagerie, and a smoothie from a smoothie stand and headed to the nearby park for a picnic.

From there, we headed to the Musee de Rodin, which is apparently the residence where Rodin lived later in life. It was a state owned apartment that he was able to live in rent free because he agreed to leave his art to the state. It houses many of his most famous pieces such as The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and The Kiss.

Nearby is the Dome Church, and our Paris Museum Pass gets us in for free so we dropped in to check it out. The Dome Church houses Napoleon's remains. Yes, that's a huge coffin, but the little guy is encased in six coffins, though we're not sure why (maybe to make him look big?).

We headed to the Arc de Triomphe next, which is a very impressive monument at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. From the top, we survey Paris, from the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, to the skyscrapers in La Defense. There was some kind of ceremony going on with the Tomb of the Unknown soldier there, and the police folks didn't like us trying to move around the arc to take pictures of the massive statues.

We took a nighttime climb up the towers of the cathedral of Notre Dame. We saw the sparkly lights from the Eiffel tower (hourly) from afar. After climbing down the steps, we found some quick dinner and near the end of our meal the Euro2008 final game finished with Spain beating Germany 1-0. Even though we were in France, there were tons of fans celebrating immediately. The same honking, yelling, and other behavior that has followed us from Dresden, to Venice, to Juelich/Cologne, has followed us here to Paris.

We took a stroll through the Latin Quarter, got some crepes, and wandered about. There's quite a bit going on there on a Sunday night. Still, the fans of Spain were all over, and when we returned to the Metro stop, we saw that the fans were all over in the fountain of Saint Michel (Fontaine Saint-Michel). Three police officers were right behind us as we watched, but they didn't seem to care.

Dresden - Day 3

Less rainy on Tuesday. We were up early, as usual (not quite adjusted), grabbed breakfast, and then took a walk to Neustadt. The museums at the Zwinger don't open until 10am, so we just wandered until then, but we found quite a few treats over in Neustadt. Lots of statues (shiny gold, and otherwise), fountains, plazas and fabulous architecture.

Once open, we headed to the Zwinger to the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery). With the purchase of a 5 euro "photo/video" pass, Misty was able to give a go at taking photos of paintings... no flash of course. We found it strange how much natural light they were letting in, can't be good for the paintings. The next stop was the Rüstkammer (Armory), which cost us no additional entry fee, where they house medieval weaponry and armor.

The Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, a top item on our list to see, is closed until 2009 or 2010 (depending on the sign you believe). Instead, we headed to find lunch and found it when we came across a teeny tiny street market where we found a Berlin favorite, currywurst.

The ascent to the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) cupola was open (often closed for wind and other minor weather events), so we took to the lift (as elevators are called in.... well, Britain) and then the ramps, stairs, ladders, steep spiral staircases, and other climbing devices to reach the top where we were greeted with breathtaking views of Dresden.

The ISC'08 conference started tonight, so I headed over for the opening gala while Misty recuperated from the day's march (and sun). Word on the street is that ISC'09 will take place in Hamburg.

Dresden - Day 2

Word from the other side of the globe is that our buddy JL has a second interview! W00T! Here is a picture of a statue we saw today that made us think of you. Good luck!

Day 2 of Dresden started with a breakfast buffet at the wee hours of 7 am. Wide awake and roaring to go, we headed down to the lobby. The restaurant was QUIET. Creepy quiet. The food... um. Some cold cuts of smelly, meats that I did try. Cheese? Cheese for breakfast? Not just any cheese... brie? The yogurt was good although very rich. There were about 8 different kinds of rolls and bread. The scrambled eggs looked interesting but we both stuck with the cereal. Looks like corn flakes but tastes better. I mixed in the chocolate granola mix and was good to go. Also, very lovely tea options with fancy chunks, yes chunks, of raw or regular sugar.

After breakfast, we headed out to see what we could find before 8 am. Turns out, you get the Zwinger grounds to yourself! The museum wasn't open (Monday) but the early hour and rain kept others away as we walked and took photos. No one blocking your shot or walking through your shot. Truly lovely!

After a an hour or so we walked out of the Zwinger headed to the Frauenkirche. Before we got there we noticed a short line of people AND the sign for the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault). We decided to wait in line for a half hour, just until it opened and walk around as it was open on Monday but closed on Tuesday. They have a certain number of tickets for the Historical Grünes Gewölbe that they give out in 15 minute chunks (entry time) with a half hour between the times (ex 30 tickets for 10:15-10:30 and then 30 tickets from 11:00-11:15). Because of people cutting and basically messing with the concept of a line, we just missed the early one but did get a couple tickets for the 11:00 window.

While we waited for our time to enter the Historic section, we went to the 'New' section. Sad but understandable, no cameras were allowed in any part of the museum so no photos for you. This place was amazing. Intricate, tiny items with gems. Carved ivory (poor elephants), gold, silver, and wood pieces. Seriously amazing. The most beautiful item, and the reason for the vaults name, is the Dresden Green Diamond. I am not generally a jewelry person but dang, this thing was gorgeous. It is 41 carats and a lovely shade of green (contact with natural radioactivity). The link to the picture is not one we took.

At 11:00 we headed to the Historic part of the vault. So far, the 'vault' was just rooms with lovely trinkets. Now we were into some serious stuff. You have to go through (in sets of 2) a set of sealed, compressed, and filtered doors. The vault consists of 9 rooms with the single entrance and an exit (same sealed, compressed, and filtered doors). This place had some crazy, valuable stuff. The amount of ivory made me ill but the detail and skill is incredible. Sorry, I wish I had pictures. I did get some post cards of items in the vault but it just isn't the same on paper. I am so glad we were able to get in line early and get tickets to see this place.

After this mind boggling collection of goodies, we needed a more relaxed atmosphere. So we head to the Frauenkirche to see if we could get inside. There is no line and we breeze by but take note of the 'prohibited' sign and are reminded that we are entering a house of God so behave appropriately. The prohibited sign includes cameras... Hm. No photos = behave? Sorry, I needed to take a couple shots. So guilty! Oh, for those of you reading this you can now visit our picture page, yeah! We will upload pics that we don't post on the blog so be warned, there will be a lot.

Hee, hee. After all this looking, we needed to do some eating. Ok, I know we are in Germany but sometimes you just need to go where you can read the menu. My extremely limited German from many years ago is not helping. We ended up at a lovely Italian restaurant and had spaghetti (very tasty) and fresh Gnocchi (also very tasty). We have so far enjoyed the food but we are confused about the water. We cannot get a glass of ice water from the tap. It is either sparkling or mineral water, even when we ask for tap water... Mineral water has a flavor and who needs carbonation in water? Some of you know how much water I drink so this has made me a little dehydrated. I will figure this one out before we leave Germany.

Day 2 part 2 - We did go back for a 3 hour nap and the back out to see Dresden at night. The light here with all the buildings is great for photos. With all the rain the ground was shiny. And really, the cobblestone here holds up so well!

Dinner is the first order of business and we found another little place with a menu in German and English. They bring us a small salad of white asparagus to start. We decide on potato sausage soup, cucumber dill salad, and ham with mashed potatoes. Mmmm... Add to that a lovely hot chocolate and apple strudel with vanilla sauce, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream and you have yourself two happy campers. In the photo you will see a little orange fruit. It was very tasty but neither of us could figure it out. The nice waiter wrote down the name physalis. We of course google it and turns out it is a golden gooseberry!