Four Years in Europe

For the past two months I have been mourning the loss of the best time in my life, the four years our family spent in Europe. I don't know if the rest of my life will be able to compare! I walk past the LEGO display of mini-Venice in the stairwell and my heart sinks. I go through our old stuff and moan as I throw out our Italian rental contract, the car registration, the kids' old school notebooks, and the like. And the worst is reviewing our family travel log here. I can't tell if I am happy that we had those experiences or depressed that those experiences are gone now. Well, join me for a little schadenfraude as I trip down memory lane and review my favorite posts here.

The Food Tours
The food tours of a balsamic vinegar place in Modena and a Parmigiano-Reggiano caseficio in Parma were some of my all-time favorite gastronomic experiences in Europe.

Thanksgiving in Tuscany with the Famici
We went to Tuscany with our friends (amici in italiano) who rapidly became our adopted family (famiglia), and therefore were branded with the neologism of "famici". The highlight of that trip was the sulfur hot spring (until we saw the little black squiggly worms).

Six Country Christmas Vienna  Budapest
European Christmas Vacation with the Griswolds...uh, I mean Petteys. Schloss Schoenbrunn was an amazing tour and the Christmas markets in Vienna were to die for. Budapest was likewise outstanding with great Christmas market food. Ashley and I closed out the Buda museum we were so fascinated with the history of the place.

Paris
Spring break 2013 in freezing cold Paris, meeting up with our friends from Altus the Keunes (stationed in the UK at the time), climbing the Tour Eiffel, losing Ashley's purse on the train and having it returned to us by an incredibly honest and kind French woman, not being impressed with Versailles, and eating some serious pastries.

Baska
Our June 2013 trip to the beach town Baska on the island of Krk in Croatia. Still our all-time favorite beach vacation.

The Italian Chicken Massacre
All six of our chickens were eaten by a cinghiale (wild boar).

Merbacks in Europe 2013
Venice, Salzburg, Zell am See, and Rome with my extended family, minus Ashlee and the littlest nephews. There were only two major fights in the space of about two weeks, which is pretty good for us!

Switzerland Sans Children
Hiking in the Jungfrau region of the Swiss Alps with my love while Megan and Greg watched the kids. Heaven.

Udinese vs. Roma Game
One of the early Udinese soccer games that we attended (over 30 in all). We learned some hardcore chants by the end of our 3rd season tickets. "Forza vinci solo per la curva nord!"

Plitvice Waterfall Park in Croatia
An amazing waterfall national park in Croatia in autumn 2013.

The French Riviera Part 1 & Part 2
Four-day Labor Day weekend trip with the famici to Cannes and Monaco. Ashley didn't even want to go! "What's so great about the French Riviera?" she said!

The Best Multi-lingual Halloween Party Ever
An amazing Italian-American Halloween trunk-or-treat and bonfire in our backyard. One of the highlights of our Italian integration.

Tutti i Santi with the Joneses and Keunes in Venice
The Keunes, good friends from Altus, drove from Mildenhall, England, all the way to Sarone, Italy and we spent 1 November in Venice.

Lucca, Cinque Terre, Vinci, and Pisa with the Joneses
Tann and Angela Jones are our good friends we met in Altus who followed us to Aviano. This was one of the first of many great joint-family adventures with them. We sorely miss them!

The Best Dang Tuscan Thanksgiving Ever Part 1 & Part 2 (scroll down)
The second Thanksgiving in Tuscany with the famici was probably the best one, also known as "Tuscan Do It!"

Date Weekend in London with the Trifilos
The first of three date weekends with our good friends Greg & Megan. We saw two West End shows and ate incredible food.

Assisi, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, and Napoli
One of my all time favorite trips in Italy. Pompeii blew us away, the Amalfi Coast was uncrowded and gorgeous, Sorrento had the best gelato ever, and Napoli had the best pizza ever. Great long weekend trip.

Spring Break in England, Scotland, and Wales
We started in London and did a huge anti-clockwise loop through Cambridge, York, Edinburgh, the Lake District, Anglesey Island, Bath, Stonehenge, and back to London.

Espana: The Return
15 years after leaving as a missionary, I returned to Spain with my family and went to several of my old haunts as well as a few new places, complete with pictures in the same places separated by 15 years in time. Jake's favorite post.

Switzerland and Venice with Mimi (Rosie) and Aunt Pam
Mom returned without Dad but with Aunt Pam and we took them back to Venice and the Jungfrau region of the Swiss Alps. One of those repeat trips that I didn't mind at all, as I felt that I couldn't get enough of it.

Cinque Torri in the Dolomites 
One of our first trips to the Dolomites that really cemented our love for that area, definitely our favorite place in Italia.

A Visit from Rocky
Rocky was able to swing over during a business trip to Zurich. So fun to catch up as our kids get older and our careers advance.

Oetzi the Iceman & Val di Gardena
We saw the 5,000 year-old wet mummy found on the Austrian-Italian border and went back to a different part of the Dolomites.

The Return to Baska
Back to Baska with the famici Crandalls and the Napoli game with Ben afterward.

The Best Italian Meal Ever
An 11-course meal with a multi-generational local family and the Trifilos. Can't beat that!

Innsbruck with the Joneses
Eating some serious food at Christmas markets and loving Austria.

Skiing the Matterhorn with the Joneses
Juliet conquered skiing at the foot of the Matterhorn. Not a bad memory!

Mancation with Greg & Ben
The 3rd annual Guys' Ski Weekend at Tarvisio and Nassfeld, my all time favorite ski resort.

Sevilla Date Weekend
I convinced Megan, Greg, and Ashely to spend our 2nd annual date weekend in Sevilla, and they were not disappointed. Mas pringa de Bar Santa Cruz, por favor!

Sicily!
Amazing food, views, and ancient Greek ruins. What's not to love?

May Day in Tuscany
Just a quick three day weekend in Tuscany, you know, no big deal.

Hiking Civetta in the Dolomites
We pushed way too far with the kids and probably ruined hiking for Juliet for good. But it was worth it!

Greece: Athens and Naxos with the Crandalls
Kill me NOW! Or take me back to Greece, specifically the island of Naxos. Prior to Norway, the Dolomites and Greece were definitely our favorite places in Europe.

Normandy and Paris with Papa, Gaga, and Reese
Our niece Reese came to visit! Normandy was a very powerful experience and we were able to complete our Parisian experience with this 2nd trip.

The Return of the Merbacks
Rob, Sara, Mom, Dad, Tanner, and Aunt Pam made it back again. We went back to Venice but also explored the Dolomites, Pompeii, Herculaneum (where we met up with Dave Quinn!), Positano on the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Napoli, Lucca, Pisa, Cinque Torri, Lake Bled, and Ljubljana. Was that a good enough free tour guide European experience for you?!

The Invasion of the Monsons
Kelly, Aly, Liam, Arie, and Ryder came to visit while Bryant was staying with us and we had some serious fun in the Dolomites, Venice, Florence, and our local area. Our kids are a near-perfect match and the conversations and laughs the five adults had can hardly be rivaled. Can't wait to see more of them in Park City!

The Final Thanksgiving in Tuscany
Our final Famici Thanksgiving in Tuscany featured the most epic petanque games ever as well as the ultimate winery tour and dinner.

Christmas Markets with Bryant
Bryant stayed with us for a few months and used our house as a home base for several trips in Europe. It was great to spend so much time with him. He became part of our normal routine, having him at dinner every night, doing our dishes for us, fattening us up with various Oreo varieties, and providing some great conversation.

Lisbon Date Weekend
The 3rd and final date weekend with the Trifilos to Lisbon and Sintra. Mmmmmm, egg tarts!

Skiing and Bonfires
I have discovered that my true passion in life is working outdoors. Cutting up trees, splitting logs, making compost, harvesting nuts & fruit, and building bonfires. My bonfires became legendary, and every one was bigger than the last. I think I made about 10-12 in the four years we lived there. And the skiing trips we took made the winter my favorite time of year in Europe.

Blair, Sue, Bob and Laurie visit
Bob was just starting to feel the effects of his lymphoma worsening on this trip, which makes me feel guilty that his treatment was delayed because of this visit. But then again, I was so GLAD to get this time with him, Laurie, Blair, and Sue all to ourselves. We took them to Venice and the Dolomites, trying to pay them back for all of the times that they have spoiled me, taken me skiing, hosted us at their home or at Tahoe, and all the things that amazing aunts and uncles do for their nephews and nieces over the years. We are Team Bob!

Amsterdam (scroll down)
Spring break 2016, sleeping on a boat, riding bikes in the most bike-friendly city in the world, and eating. Always eating.

Norway
The final trip. Expensive as all get-out, but one of our favorite places in Europe along with Greece and the Dolomites.

And that's it. Before we left, Ashley emphasized that she wanted us to be "affected" by this time in Europe. I think we can safely say "Mission Accomplished". We are so glad that we were able to share at least some of it with so many of you. Thank you for reading and commenting. It was so great to see so many of you when we returned this summer. Can't wait for all of the trips to Park City, Tahoe, Vegas, Texas, SoCal, NorCal, New York, Salt Lake, and so many other places yet to come.

Norway!

For our last trip in Europe, Ashley and I flew to Norway sans children for a kayaking and hiking smorgasbord. Craig had flown out at the end of the school year and flew the kids back to Houston with him (THANK YOU!!!). We packed up the house over three days, spent a couple of nights at the Hellingers' house, then flew from Venice to Amsterdam, where had a six hour layover. Having been there in March, we knew exactly which train to take into the center of town.

The Prinsengracht, the canal on which is located the Anne Frank house. So glad we were not waiting in line again! We did an anti-clockwise loop, seeing the sites again and getting our favorite apple pie, an amazing cookie, the best broedje pam in the city, and some good local cider. We spent the time discussing how we would be managing the homeschooling and living situation on base in Ohio, which was actually not as depressing as it sounds.

We then caught a flight to Bergen on the western coast of Norway and immediately got on a train to Voss, the inland city that is an extreme sports mecca. The next morning we got some good local pastries and found our kayaking tour company, manned by a bunch of summer-chasing Kiwis.

This was our driver, Nick. We were talking to him while gawking out the window at the scenery when we discovered that he was the reason we were there in the first place. He had organized a custom 5-day tour for a group of pilots and spouses from Aviano about four years prior. The normal tours are 1, 2, 3, or 10 days, going at a leisurely pace. An F-16 pilot and extreme athlete from Aviano, Luc Gruenther, had asked for a custom 5-day tour that would cover the same ground as the 10-day (hard to get that much leave all at once). Nick had arranged it and became good friends with Luc on the trip. Luc had told us and the Trifilos about the trip, and they had come on the 3-day trip two years ago. In January 2013, just six months after his kayaking trip, Luc had ejected from his crashing F-16 and been killed in the process. We took this picture to send to Cassie, his wife, to show her how his legacy still lived on.

This was the starting point of our kayaking adventure on the Nærøyfjorden. Ashley is talking to one of our group, Sarah. We had a great group and many interesting conversations.

Waterfalls were a dime a dozen. Just everywhere. We selected single kayaks and were glad that we did. The couples in the double kayaks had their marriages put to the test.

 Love the clouds in this shot.

It was so peaceful being on the water. You would talk with someone for several minutes, then move next to someone else and have another conversation, or sometimes just drift along by yourself taking it all in. Heaven is kayaking the fjords.

We stopped for lunch and I was pretty sweaty from being in a wetsuit and rain jacket, so I decided to take a dip in the freezing cold fjord. Totally worth it!

This is killing me remembering how mind-blowing this trip was.

We made camp here and Nate, our 21 year old guide, made us dinner. He was a great kid who seemed experienced beyond his years, except for when he would start showing off for the younger single ladies or making racist jokes about Maoris!

The next day was the hike day and we had the worst weather of the trip. I brought two complete sets of clothing and both were completely soaked by the end of the 15-mile adventure. This was early in the day at a little mountain village. Hiking was the same as kayaking, with different conversations with interesting, accomplished people all day. There were the two couples from Ft Collins, one of whom, Betsy, was the head of HR for Otterbox. There was the German internal medicine resident (her name escapes me), the French-Canadian voice actor, Adrian (How does a French-Canadian order two eggs sunny-side up? "Two heggs, side by hedge, facing the sun!"), the two MBA-environmental impact grads, Sarah and Liz, and us. We were the annoying couple who lived in Italy and couldn't stop raving about it.

Wonder where all those waterfalls come from? This is what it looks like on top of the fjords in the summer time. Cold, wet, and windy as hell! This was where I discovered that Betsy was born in Pordenone, Italy, and that 40 years ago her father was the head of Pediatrics at the 31st Medical Group in Aviano. Small world!

 This was the payoff at the top, seeing the fjord that we had kayaked the day before.

Hanging my legs over the edge of a 1000-foot cliff.

Ashley was not to be outdone. You can see the water way down below.

Another shot over the cliff.

We want to believe that we are that kind of couple. And then sometimes, we are! Outdoorsy, adventurous, tough, close, happy, and totally in love.

We got back that night and hung up all of our clothes to sort of dry. We piled all of our soaking-wet boots around the fire, which made them smell like "smoked salmon", according to Greg, Betsy's husband. We had 8 bottles of vino amongst the 11 of us and played a rousing round of mafia round the campfire. We also played the accent game, where everyone would have to say the same thing in the same accent and we voted who did it best. That's were the "two heggs" joke came from.

Saying goodbye to camp the next morning. The weather on the last day was perfect!

Here are Greg and Besty along with the internist (her name escapes me). The other kayakers are by the big waterfall filling up canteens. We drank from the snow melt streams the whole time and never got remotely sick.

So epic.

We agreed to take one of the double kayaks for the last day so that Greg and Betsy could enjoy the solo kayaks. And we discovered that the keel alignment was off and making the kayak veer to the side, which is probably why their marriage was suffering. Once I straightened it out our marriage was no longer in peril.

Right at the end of the day we passed a herd of goats who came running down the mountain to meet us, probably hoping for some food.

At the exit point Nate agreed to roll his kayak for us, which Ashley had requested. He forgot to take his bags off first and almost drowned in the attempt! He barely succeeded the second time and realized that the big, heavy, Cadillacs that we novices use are not the same as the light, unstable kayaks that extreme athletes prefer.

Shoot me now. Watching those videos from Ohio is torture!

Our kayaking adventure concluded, we caught the train back to Bergen and enjoyed a day walking around and eating. This is the harbor in Bergen.

There was a market where you could get all kinds of amazing seafood, as well as funky fruit smoothies.

The harbor front buildings.

These older buildings were in the Bruggen area, which is preserved from the middle ages.

We ate at one of the restaurants here and had whale steak, which was ethically horrendous!

Next stop, Bodo above the arctic circle and then on to the Lofoten islands! This was the best part of the trip, despite how amazing the kayaking was.

We caught the ferry and picked up our rental camper. We drove to the very far southwestern edge of the islands to the village A. No joke, that is the name of the town. Well, with the circle on top.

Even after the fjords we were not prepared for Lofoten. Unreal!

It is like someone took the Dolomites, greened them up, and set them in Cinque Terre.

Stunning. And the scenery isn't bad either.

These drying racks were everywhere, but the cod bodies had already been removed and all that was hanging up were the heads. No joke! Must be for cat food or something.

One of the cod heads.

The fishing boats. You can see me walking on the deck to the right.

Ashley on the deck. This place was amazing.

This was our camper. In Norway you can park and camp anywhere that isn't private property, and there are parking lots for camping all over.

 The kitchen set-up with the beds above. The fridge is in the center and on the right is the sink. Pretty great set up.

This is the village of Reine, which was probably the prettiest town in the whole region. We ate breakfast out of the camper here and then found a map to the local hike, Reinebringen. Cinque Terre in green Dolomites!

Agreed. Let's get hiking!

But not without the life-threatening disclaimer!

It gets even better.

This section was super steep, almost straight up the mountain.

And this was the payoff! Unreal!

After being here we decided that the best two places to go in Europe are the Greek islands and Lofoten. Forget about London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Munich, all that. Nothing got to us like Naxos and Lofoten.

Besides looking gorgeous with breathtaking scenery, Ashley looks pretty ripped in this picture! All that yoga does a body good.

You can kayak out of that marina into the bay, which would be amazing but we skipped in order to get more hiking in.

We walked along this ridge, starting at the peak on far right, with a cliff on one side and a steep grassy slope on the other. Just scary enough to be exciting.

 Ashley on the edge.

 We stopped for lunch here and had a fellow hiker take our picture. Most epic lunch ever!

Look at that! Such a great hike. 

Heading back down we passed literally hundreds of hikers. Good idea to get this done first thing in the morning. Most of them were asking how much farther the top was because they couldn't take much more of the steep, straight up hiking.

 We then drove northeast to explore the islands more and stopped for pictures way too many times.

Can you blame us?

This was a cool farming region we passed on our way to the north side of the islands and the beach at Rambergtic,

Headstands on the beach. Now, technically, this water is the Norwegian Sea, and north of us is the island of Svalbard, with the Greenland Sea to the northwest and the Barents Sea to the northeast. North of Svalbard is the Arctic Ocean. But, as far as I was concerned, this was the closest I would ever get to swimming in the Arctic Ocean. So I went for it. And it was COLD. Tahoe is a hot tub compared to this water.

Celebrating my Arctic swim. Nice love handles. All that Italian cheese!

This shot was taken in honor of Georgie. Just look at those wildflowers!

More wildflowers from the other side of the inlet at Flakstad.

Dinner at a rest stop in Torvdalshalsen, east of the "big" city of Leknes and the Viking museum.

 An easy after dinner hike from the rest area.

We drove all the way to Kvalnes on the northern coast to see the midnight sun. Since we were on daylight savings time, we had to wait until 0100 to see the actual nadir. Here Ashley is having a midnight snack of some granola in a mug. We had sat on those rocks behind her reading for a few hours, just killing time until the midnight hour.

And there it is. That is as low as the sun got before it started rising again. It never got darker than that the entire time we were there. You could go hiking in the middle of the night if the weather was good. The downside was trying to sleep when it was incredibly bright outside.

Forgive the overindulgence in documenting the event. 

So cool.

We woke up later that morning and went to the Viking museum inside a rebuilt Viking lodge. It was interesting, but not as cool as it sounds.

Your Viking paramour is ready for you, your highness. 

 A rebuilt Viking ship.

We headed back toward the southwest and took and evening hike from the village of Nusfjord.

 Some good fishing to be done in Nusfjord. Just ask this chap.

 The houses were either white, red, or mustard yellow. Those seemed to be the only approved colors.

 We took a wrong turn to begin the hike but it worked out in the end.

This was the easiest long hike we did, as it was along the southern coast of the islands, as opposed to straight up a mountain.

I mean look, they even left ladders for us.

I'm lookin' at you lookin' at me lookin' at you!

Spectacular! This trail was the one the villagers took for their commute from the village of Nesland to the larger fishing port of Nusfjord.

At one point the trail devolved into bouldering. Someone had painted trail signs on the boulders so you knew which way to go. Didn't get a good picture of it, dang.

This was the destination, the village of Nesland. Ashley managed to find an art gallery and made friends with the owner, who rents out her home on AirBnB. 

We finished up the hike, had dinner, paid $3 to take showers for first time in several days, and then made camp on the side of the road.

The view from our third camping spot.

The next morning we were supposed to return the camper. But we were oblivious to this fact, thinking that we had until the next day. So we went on another hike!

The most epic rest area toilets. Those angles cannot be a coincidence.

This was the hike to the Mokenbu hut from Sorvagen. Right up there with Reinebringen for best hike of the trip, because it was easier but still out of this world.

Panorama reflection overload!

This lunch spot rivaled the Reinebringen for epic-ness. You can see the Norwegian sea on the right.

Hard to tell from these pictures. Check out the video:

This is the Mokenbu hut, which you can rent out and sleep in. 

 Not bad.

 This was such an epic spot. You can see the two lakes, one higher than the other, in the background.

 We are that couple again.

 Heading back down the trail past one of the numerous lakes.

We finished hiking and drove to Reine to fill up in preparation for turning the camper in the next morning. It was about 7:00 pm at this point. Our camper guy sees us at the gas station and pulls up, gets out, throws up his arms and says, "When were you supposed to return the camper?!" We say, "Tomorrow at 10:00, right?" "NO! Today at 10:00!" He was not happy. We had all kinds of food and drinks in the fridge, clothes unpacked, etc. We threw everything together in about two seconds, drove like mad to the ferry, and literally ran across the gangplank as they were raising it.

We arrived back in Bodo at 11:30 pm. No problem, since it is a big town and it never gets dark in the summer. We find a hotel, no rooms available. We find another, same thing. And another, and another, and then one more. At this point we are desperate. There aren't any more hotels within walking distance, and it is past midnight. The clerk at the fifth hotel asks if we have checked Booking.com, which we hadn't because we didn't have internet access. He checks, there is nothing available in the entire town. As we are contemplating sleeping on the street he asks us how we feel about paying $120 to sleep on cots in the conference room. No shower, but there is a relatively private bathroom and free breakfast. SOLD! Thank you, Thomas! I left him a glowing comment card.

 No joke, this is the conference room we slept in! That's my bed on the right!

I was overjoyed to have it. And the breakfast was amazing.

So, crisis two of two averted for now. We spent the day in Bodo, went to the Air Force museum, had lunch, then caught our flight to Oslo. Crisis #3 occurred when our late night flight to Bergen was cancelled, as we had a 6:00 am flight from Bergen to Amsterdam to Venice the next morning. They put us up in a hotel for the night, but we had to schedule our own return flight ourselves. There was nothing available that day (Monday), so we booked an Air France flight through Paris for Tuesday.

We took the bus into Oslo ($150 round trip! Ouch.) and walked all over the city. Oslo is Tesla central. There were Teslas everywhere. Norway is the richest country in the world on account of the North Sea oil finds in the past 20 years.

You can see that I am not excited about being in Oslo. Not even when I saw my own coffee shop. I just wanted to be home. Except that my home no longer existed. I just wanted to be in the temporary lodging room that I had not checked into yet in the place were I would be living for the next week before moving across the ocean. That home.

This park was the highlight of Oslo. More naked sculptures here than in the Vatican or Greece. They were everywhere. Men, women, children, old people, etc.

 This one was really cool. Very human. Compare this to a stature of Caesar.

Those are some excited, naked kids.

And my favorite. In the center is a huge phallic statue made up of naked bodies. And out on the periphery are two toddlers riding on their mom's back like a mule, with her braids through her mouth like a bridle. You can't make this stuff up!

We slept in another hotel in Oslo that night then flew to Paris. Turns out there was an air traffic controllers' strike in France that day and every single Ryan Air flight was cancelled. But hardly any Air France flights were cancelled or delayed. Crisis #4 averted. We spent way too many hours in Charles de Gaulle, but finally got on a flight into Venice and checked into TLF. Thus ended our final European adventure. My next project is a retrospective post about the past four years.