HoliDAZE 2012

Our mantra for the last months of 2012 has been, "We'll get sober and skinny next year." We ran like rockstars on tour and I'm exhausted now. Below are the highlights.

Thanksgiving 2012 - Halekulani

Thanksgiving 2012 - RumFire

Christmas Eve - dive bar*

Random Celebration - 39 Hotel

*Complete with Homeless person fight, animals on the bar, and industrial sized pest.

Ironman 2012

Don't get excited! I didn't participate, C didn't particpate. We were only volunteers and boy was it tiring! Ha! Actually it was very motivating for about 1 day or at least until we hit the bar and buffet at the Marriott!

Chicago on Fire

Unfortunately 'Chicago on fire' means gunfire these days. Six people were shot in the 36 hours we where there! So sad! Otherwise, Chicago is a great city, which is why I wanted to take C there. Actually we were total Facebook tourist in the Windy City. We were worn out and sick from our previous travels. We did get some Deep Dish (Lou Malnati's), but that's as adventurous as we were with food. :( ahh boring! Oh well, we were probably safer in the hotel! JK Chi-town, but seriously get it together!

Guess this tourist spot?

In Bruges

or Brugge. I personally prefer the Dutch spelling. Any who, I love this city. Of course, it is beautiful. We stayed at the perfect little bed and breakfast ran by a nice couple. The gentleman of the house cooked us a simple breakfast in the mornings and the couple chatted with us before we departed. I wish I would have taken a pic of their lovely courtyard. The couple takes pictures of all their guests in front of their beautiful red door and puts in a scrapbook - cool idea. I can totally picture C and me living our golden years out like this. When we can no longer travel, we'll let the world come to us.

Our room at the B&B

We also hit the annual snow and ice sculpture exhibition. A must see! They also have a Sand sculpture exhibition in the summer. Gotta hit that too!

That's all ice!

Ice bar

Rome Sweet Rome

When I revisit our trip to Rome, my first memory is the Colosseum romancing me as I step out from the metro station; it was dramatic, unexpected, and truly breath-taking. Secondly, I think of crazy crazy drivers. We did checked off all tourist spots; including Vatican city. 

We walked, ate delicious pizza, drank strong coffee, walked, relaxed at cafe's, and walked. We stayed at this interesting hotel recommended in the Rick Steves guide, surprisingly it wasn't packed full of Americans. We try to travel outside of our comfort zone, while still being comfortable. Speaking of, I think I've mentioned before that major world events seem to always happen while we are traveling. Over the long weekend, terrorists attacked the city of Mumbai, ultimately killing 164 people. The terrorist were barricaded in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel for three days (another reason for us to stay clear of mainstream hotels.)

Rhine river again

A day trip with our friends Chris and Diana to the view the castles of the Rhine River. This time by car and the bonus of it being fall. Fall is my favorite season! A couple of the castles are open for internal viewing. My Chris can explain all the cool history of the castles and how they were used for fortification. We had dinner at a restaurant in one of the castles. Dinner was great unfortunately I can't remember the castle or the name of the restaurant.

red fortress above Tauber

Day trip to Rothenburg! We "walked atop Rothenburg’s city walls and climbed to the top of the town hall for great views and visited the Medieval Crime Museum (Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum)" just as Tripadvisor advised. I really enjoy being surrounded by vast history. I feel a deep connection with Europe. I wonder if this feeling is psychological - based on my education or if genealogical - am I some how connected to this place through the past (don't be close-minded it's possible). It could just be what I'm interested in, but I believe in cause and effect, even if you aren't aware of the cause. Anyway, we didn't take many pictures. We ate at a local restaurant we stumbled upon, Burgerkeller, which turned out to be delicious-I'm not a huge fan of German food, so it was a pleasant surprise.