Paris is nice, Barcelona is ...

A little like Mexico in parts. Like where our hotel is located. There´s no wild dogs though. This is a quick update bc we need to find food. Paris was totally awesome. I bought camembert cheese au lait cru at a nice fromagerie and I was able to get by with knowing practically no French. The food was great, the cheese great, the Louvre overwhelming in a super way, and Les Tour de France was super fun and fast and a bit uncomfortable after standing for more than 7 hours. But totally worth it in my opinion.

We took an overnight train to Barcelona and now we´re trying to find food. It´s hot and humid here and I think we´re stuck here for a week before going to Madrid and then off to London. Later!

Paris

I definitely could have stayed the whole month in Switzerland, but I would probably have run out of money. Canyoning was very cool. And scary. I jumped off a tall waterfall. I'm now in Paris and it's beautiful. I practiced some french pronounciation and a lovely lady on the train from Geneva helped with other useful phrases and pronounciation. Bill and I walked around till very late tonight and had a super good time viewing the city night life. I'm so glad I decided to do this trip. I can't wait to come back here after learning more language.

Schokolade

Hey everyone! I love getting comments! Thanks Michael and Bryan. Yesterday I went Chocolate tasting and today I'm going canyoning. Can't wait to see you!

Interlaken, Switzerland

Hey Grandma,

You're the only one I know for sure reading this so this one is for you! I love you! It's very difficult typing on a Swiss keyboard bc they have many different characters like ö䨣 all over the place. I'm in Interlaken, Switzerland which is by far the most beautiful place I've ever been to. Tomorrow, we go to Paris. Sorry I can't send you more pictures but I will share them with you if I come home... The Alps are indescribable. You should look up Jungfraujoch up on the internet - that's where we went yesterday. I might not go see Dierk in Dresden this trip bc I might go to Spain and Portugal instead. We should visit Dierk together in October.

Love,
Bryn

Strasbourg, France

Bonjour! I have a little time to blog today. First, I'd like to write more about Köln (aka Cologne), Germany. Thank goodness I took that German class! We would have been totally screwed if we had not taken that class. The whole day we didn't meet anyone who spoke English and luckily I remembered enough German to ask for directions and understand the replies. I thought the concierge was joking when he said (in German) that he didn't understand English. He wasn't joking. We had some problems with the booking of the hotel, but you should ask me about that in person. I spoke German to everyone and everyone spoke back to me in German and I felt very happy about it. Everyone was super nice and I felt like I pulled it off. I also like the German styles much better than Holland. In Holland, everyone dresses similarly. In Köln, there was much more diversity. Köln is also home to Germany's largest Cathedral which was super awesome amazing. Like totally.

OK, maybe I'm also a little biased about Köln because I finally got some heavenly chocolate there. Anyone remember the seven years I didn't eat chocolate? I'm so glad those days are over. I went to the Chocolate Museum (endorsed by Lindt) and I was happy camper to say the least.

So now I'm in France and we don't speak French and no one hear will admit to speaking English. Some parts of this adventure are a little disastrous, but I think these little disasters will stop once Bill leaves Europe!

So now the plan is that Bill, Dennis, Chris, and I go to Freiburg, Germany to hike around in the Black Forest. Bill wants to spend 2 days in Bern, Switzerland so I think Dennis, Chris and I will split with him for a day and spend another day in the forest before meeting back up with Bildo, continuing through Switzerland on to Paris for the end of the Tour de France. Sweet! Also, I can't wait to visit Dierk and Stephan in Dresden. I'll be there in the beginning of August. I have no idea when I'll be able to update again, but I probably won't post photos until well after my trip and I have a chance to edit them. :)

Ciao!

Köln, Germany

I love it here. This post is short bc I've gtg! I will probably post later at some point.

Utrecht

I really like Utrecht. Everyone here rides bicycles and it's pretty flat so it resembles what Davis might be as a larger city except with less parks and less frisbee. There is some frisbee golf. The population of Utrecht is 340,000 so there are even more bikes and bike lanes and bike streets than Davis. Also, if you hear a bicycle bell, and if you look around super quickly, you might have time to see the bicycle that is about to run you over before you die. Little scary. Almost all of the bicycles are kick-back breaks which was a little hard for me to get used to when I rented a bike. We walked around the city a lot and ate breakfast at the Best Western which was delicious. Then we walked around some more and met up with Jesse. :)
The tower behind us is RonDom - the tallest tower in Utrecht. We tried to get on a tour to go up it, but the timing didn't work out.

Now let me tell you about this morning a little bit. I was not jetlagged one bit, but I was rudely awakened at 6:30am by someone in my party who did have jetlag and wanted to walk around. So we walked around and discovered that nothing opens until 8AM. So this was a cute sign on a store door this morning at 7:30.
Most of the signs are in English and everyone here speaks English. It's pretty easy. However, it is really nice having Jesse here as a Dutch language guide so we don't feel as stupid ordering Broodjes (pronounced bro - chus). And it's always nice seeing Jesse! My final picture of this blog is me somewhere in the downtown area posing with a statue.
It's kind of difficult to blog and upload pictures so I might not update till the end of this trip. Uploading photos is especially difficult. So far, our future plans are to go to Rotterdam tomorrow and Amsterdam with Jesse on Friday. Then on Saturday, Bill, Dennis, Chris and I go to Cologne, Germany, then we'll go to Strasbourg, France, then to the Black Forrest and eventually probably Bern, Switzerland, Paris, Dresden... OK, so the plans get fuzzy after the Black Forrest, but eventually, maybe in 6 months, I'll upload some pics.

ARRIVED

I'm in Utrecht with Bill, Dennis, and Chris. Everything is super awesome. I'll update with pictures maybe tomorrow.

Alex and Emmy Wedding

Last Friday, July 13th, Bryan and I left for Livermore to hang out with family a little before going off to Alex and Emmy's wedding. YAY! I love my Livermore family! Thanks Anne and Dan for once again, feeding and sheltering me! The Loyola's adopted me when I worked and lived with them in Livermore. This is a photo of their front yard which they've been working diligently on. It's very beautiful as you can see.Saturday morning, Bryan and I got all dressed up for the wedding. Then we drove down to Santa Clara.
Michael Dan introduced us to his wife Mary. Now Michael and I talk via aim a bit. I knew when they got engaged and I believe I even asked if they had a date set and Bryan also tried to get the details from him, but they didn't tell us they eloped till now. I don't think it's supposed to be a secret after you elope, but these things are probably more fun to explain in person. Congrats guys!
And here's the newest newlywed couple!
The reception was lovely! Good food, old friends and Bulgarian folk dances. This photo is all the UC Davis people. Michael, Bryan, Alex and I are the physics graduates all grown up.
Congrats to all the newlyweds!

I'm leaving in 60 minutes for LAX and then I'll be meeting up with Billy in Amsterdam! I should get dressed now!

Les Cousins Dangereux

Les Cousins Dangereux indeed, but not quite with the same complexity involved in AD. Travis and Jamie Williamson came up to Davis on July 6th. Lucky for them, the weather had cooled to only around 100 degrees F. I decided that the best way to get them acclimated was to walk them around Davis and the Arboretum. So that's what we did. Then I remembered that I needed them to have energy for our Friday Night-Ultimate game so we went back to my apt and chilled in the A/C.

Now Travy was totally awesome at Night-Frisbee. Actually, both Travis and Keith came out and played Ultimate for their first time ever and it was at night! We had 14 players out on a pretty mild night and we had cheerleaders. Jamie and her friends came out to cheer us. Apparently to Jamie, flip flops count as "athletic wear" since those were the only shoes she brought for frisbee. Oh how wonderful it would be to spend all my time in either San Diego, Hawaii, or the Australian Coast so that flip flops would be my athletic wear too... Jamie is a lucky duck.

After frisbee, several folk came over to my apt and partied till the crack of dawn. Good times were had, and somehow Travy slept through it.

The next day, Travy and I went to the Farmer's Market and got breakfast. Then we took Chris and Keith to go skydiving near Lodi. Chris's blog talks more about that. Afterwards, we met up with Jamie and some more friends at Pyramid Brewery in Sac.

On Sunday, Travis, Jamie and I went San Francisco. It was their first time there, but we only had a few hours before we were due to see Mindy and her family in Napa. So we went to Pier 39...

And Ghiradelli Square where we ate the Ghiradelli monster called "The Earthquake." The Earthquake is 8 scoops of ice cream, bananas, whip cream, a cherry, and as many toppings as you want. It was a little much for Jamie and I, but Travy seemed to handle it without a problem.
Then we made some friends. Jamie and I met this nice man.

And here's where I shared a moment with perhaps the most obstinate man I've ever met. He was, however, well grounded in his foundations. Maybe that's why I was attracted to him. Or maybe it's the hat.
Then we saw this pair of officers dancing in the street. If you can't tell, it's one guy with his head down using his legs and arms for the legs of the officers.

And then Jamie met her love that lasted beyond death.

And Travy made a friend too!
Yes, SF was a brief trip, but we had to make our way to Napa to see Mindy Wyman and her family! Here's our crazy photo.
Back row (left to right): Travis, John, Dustin (the cowboy), Mindy, Jamie, me.\
Front row: Simba, Grayson

We had an amazing time! John cooked up the perfect dinner and I wish I had taken photos of it. There was heirloom tomato caprese and fruit salad and bread and meat and there was no better company to be found anywhere. The Wymans are a hoot and a half. It had been over 10 years since I had seen Mindy, who used to live with Travis and Jamie's family. Mindy also gave me my first snake, Lucy the Ball Python.

Dustin and Grayson are adorable, super well behaved kids, with awesome personalities.


Grayson ended up wearing Jamie out, but we tired this little cowboy all the way out!
On Monday, I felt wretched for driving so much so I made Travy and Jamie rent bicycles. I think they liked it. We rode around Davis and went to the Summer Music Concert on the Quad and listened to Carolyn Wonderland and had a picnic. After the concert we walked downtown and got some gelato.

Tuesday, we returned the bikes and went bowling at the MU.
Later that evening, Bryan made us dinner! Chicken stuffed with ricotta - it was DELICIOUS. Here's Bryan with his masterpiece: The rest of Travy and Jamie's trip was filled with movies, Arrested Development, video games, and top secret plans to start a band. Travy would play all the instruments while Jamie and I danced around. I think it's a good plan.

And Wednesday, they finally went home. :)

Web Albums

I've posted some photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/brynann

The River

Greetings from the Colorado River! I spent the last week on the river near Parker, AZ with an awesome group of 30+ friends and family friends. Here I am showing off my muscles while waterskiing:
Now this semiannual river trip is some serious business. Did I say, 'business'? I meant party. I think this year might have been the biggest party yet. The 120+ degree heat didn't slow us down too much. The days were filled with boat rides, Sea-doos, inner tubes, singing, ping pong, frisbee, too much food, drink and sun. Here's Chloe and me about to go out on Uncle Todd's Sea-doo.
And here I am about to get some serious air.
I think the highlight of the trip for me was the impromptu jam session put on by Keith and Terry. Keith was playing a 12 string guitar for the first time and Terry plays the fiddle in John Spear's band.
You can see part of the crowd that gathered around in the background. The crowd just grew and grew! It became quite a concert.
If I can figure out how to add video, then I'll put up a short clip of the music they played. They did an amazing cover of The Pixies 'Where is my mind,' but I didn't video that unfortunately.

It was a superb trip. Thanks Pat for putting it all together!