Nate and Shelly’s Travel Blog

After two days of fun in Venice with Tim and Sondra, we sadly had to say goodbye and catch a train to Florence. The last two days have been incredibly fun and Venice was amazing. The weather couldn’t have been better with clear, sunny skies and moderate temperatures made for an exciting weekend.

As mentioned earlier, this weekend was the start of Carnival in Venice so all the characters were out in full force. Much of the crowd was dressed in their costumes, parading around in anonymity. Shelly was a little timid around anyone with a mask and for good reason. She said “you never know if it’s a guy pretending to be a girl behind that mask and gown”… good point.

We spent most of our time in Venice browsing through shops, finding cheap places to eat, touring the local sites, and getting lost in the Venetian alleyways. The roads were so confusing that we were lost most of the time but it’s hard to get truly lost when you’re on an island. After winding through the backalleys we’d eventually find our way back to familiar territory.

Tim, Sondra, Shelly and I (taking the picture) lost in a Venetian alleyway

Another one of our missions was to find cheap places to eat because the prices were incredibly inflated because of Carnival. Yesterday afternoon we strolled into a local establishment and had an “off the menu” meal at the recommendation of the server… big mistake. At the end of our lunch, which was very good I might add, we were handed a bill for 90 Euros, which is about $140 US. After that expensive lesson we started eating $1.50 pizza slices at Crazy Pizza. The food situation in Venice was summed up best by a girl we overheard while strolling through the alleys. She said of a $2.00 slice of pizza… “I’m not even hungry, but at that price I’ll force myself to eat”… so true.

Our evenings were spent hopping from wine bars to pubs and then back to wine bars. Our favorite place was a wine bar named Enoitica Mascareta Mauro Lorenzon. Mauro Lorenzon not only named the place after himself, but he also joined in the nightly celebration with his patrons. Mauro had a wild head of brown curly hair, wore red pants, and two different shoes. He was the life of the party and we had a great time drinking his favorite wines and sampling his cheese and meat platters. If you’re ever in Venice, his place is not to be missed.

Shelly’s goal is to take a picture in front of a pig in every country we visit

As for Florence, there’s not too much to write about because we just got into town. It’s nice to get back to a normal town and out of the crazy tourist trap known as Venice. We don’t have much planned over the next 4 days as we rest up before traveling to Egypt. We may try to take an Italian cooking class tomorrow morning and see a few sites, but that’s about it. Bye for now!

For the first time in a week, I finally have a keyboard that I’m accustomed to using. Those French are always trying to be different… Anyway, to get everyone caught up, Shelly and I have spent the past few days traveling from Nice, France through Milan and now we’re in Venice waiting for our friends Tim and Sondra to arrive.

Milan was definitely Shelly’s favorite city thus far on the trip. Milan doesn’t have many sites, but what it lacks in attractions, it makes up for in shopping. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening walking around the “golden square” (or something like that) which is the area of town home to the top Italian fashion designers. The “square” is made up of unassuming alleyways and it’s hard to recognize from the main city streets. However, once we found the right area, Shelly was in heaven. Her WPM (words per minute) doubled and speech pattern became erratic, but she made it out in one piece. Shelly is now the proud parent of black leather Prada boots. She also needed a pair of black leather, cashmere lined gloves to “complete the look”. Anyway, I now get to carry said boots around Europe for a week. I guess it’s a small price to pay in the name of fashion. After our evening of shopping, we ate dinner at a local Indian restaurant to change the taste palate a little. We’ve had a steady diet of carbohydrates, ham, and cheese for the past week and needed something that tasted different.

This morning, we caught the train to Venice and arrived about 3:30 p.m. The place we reserved is perfect and it’s a welcome change to our lodgings the past few days. It’s an amazing Venetian styled room with wood beams running along the ceiling. Below is a picture of Shelly modeling our new digs…

After settling in, we went to the Rialto Bridge for a sunset photo and then ate a snack at a nearby restaurant.

The weather is a little chilly but the town is gearing up for the start of Carnival, which begins tonight. It’s the biggest festival of the year in Venice so I’m sure there will be many stories to tell… Ciao!

After two fun filled days in Paris, we sadly had to say goodbye. We ate tons of great French food (I especially liked the duck), visited the Orsay Museum which houses many of the great impressionist works, toured the Montmarte area (known as the artist quarter), and walked until our feet hurt. Paris is definitely one city Shelly and I plan on retuning to.

Van Gogh self portrait

This morning we took the TGV train about 600 miles south of Paris to the town of Nice and are slowly making our way to Venice to see our friends Tim and Sondra. After being here for a few hours we can immediately see that this is a town for the rich and famous… in the Summer. Designer shops, large Casinos, and grand hotels line the streets, but everybody’s gone until the weather warms up. It’s also a short taxi ride to Monaco so maybe we’ll get a wild hair tonight and cruise over to the Monte Carlo. I need to find a way to finance the Europe portion of our trip given the very weak dollar 🙂

Tomorow we’re off again and our next stop is Milan. One last thing, we got some great news today. Our friends Josh and Shelly Freeman are joining us in Japan! We can’t wait to see them and tour Tokyo together.

Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know that we are in Paris and are LOVING it! It is a lot colder (from 100° to 45°) and a lot more expensive (at least double the prices) than Argentina, but it is truly the magical city that everyone says it is.

We went to the Eiffel Tower today along with Notre Dame and many other places—including Brynne’s favorite creperie–Creperie Beaubourg, near the Centre Pompideau. All were spectacular…especially the creperie. It is heaven.

We just booked the TGV high-speed train to Nice for Wednesday and then for Milan the following day. On Friday, we’ll go from Milan (hopefully with a new Prada bag in hand) to Venice.

It is very difficult to type on the French keyboards because all of the letters and symbols are rearranged, so please know that this post was done with AMOUR!!!

We successfully made it to Madrid, Spain after a 12 hour flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Shelly and I are just relaxing in the Iberia lounge, drinking some coffee, and checking email. Our short flight to Paris departs in about 2 hours and then the European portion of our trip begins. We plan to spend 6 days in France before making our way to Venice, Italy where we´re meeting our friends Tim and Sondra. Next weekend also marks the beginning of Carnaval in Venice, so it should make for a very interesting time.

After Venice, we have about 5 days to make our way south to Rome where we´re catching a flight to Egypt for a cruise down the Nile River.

We hope everyone is doing well and take care.

As our last post from Buenos Aires, I think it is important to document one of the most prevalant things about our stay: tails. While in Buenos Aires, we saw:

Hundreds of dog tails
Dozens of human tails
and
One little pig tail

The dog tails are self-explanatory, as Nate already enlightened you about the many dogs of Argentina (both street strays and pampered pets). But, the human tails and pig tail need a little explaining.

The fashion and modern art astethic in Buenos Aires is very much an homage to the 80´s. Girls wear flourescent clothing paired with shoes of various colors (no basic black in this country!) and the boys well….they have tails! Remember the 1980´s when it was fashionable to leave a piece of hair growing in the back of your hair that is longer than the rest? Well, that is what is popular here, from young children to adult males, to punk rock waitresses. I really couldn´t believe my eyes. This is one trend that I really hope stays in the Southern hemisphere.

The last tale of the tails is of one little curly Q tail that belonged to our dinner one night. We went to a barbeque at the apartment owner´s place so we could see a new area of town, meet some locals, and learn about Buenos Aires. When we arrived, we discovered that our dinner was an entire roasted pig that had been slow-cooking on the BBQ for half a day, curly Q tail and all. The pig was brought back as a present from one of the workers, along with an armadillo. Luckily, they saved the armadillo for another meal. No one is really sure how these meat products were transported during the 15 hour bus ride, but as guest, I just tried to keep my gaze away from the pig tail and enjoy the moment.

There have been many great moments during our long stay in Argentina and we look forward to sharing more pictures and stories when we get back.

But, alas, it´s time to move on. Time to put away the flip-flops and shorts and venture back into jeans and coats as we head east to Paris. Our 24-hour travel journey begins in just a couple hours.

Ciao!

The hot weather has finally subsided and we´re able to enjoy the daylight hours without soaking in sweat. The last few days have been fairly uneventful for a guy vacationing with three women. Lots of walking around and looking in every shoe and clothing store in town. The Argentinians are smart, though, most nice shops have a ¨man bench¨in the front where guys can park it while the women shop. The bench is the first thing I look for when entering a new establishment.

Two nights back, we did something very non-local… ate at a vegitarian restaurant. Nikki is vegitarian and being one in Buenos Aires can make eating very difficult. Argentinians feast on a steady diet of beef, ham, and bread and sip mate´(picture a strong herbal tea) daily to help with regularity issues caused by their fiber-less diet. Anyway, we thought it would be nice to take Nikki somewhere she could be with her people. We ate salad for the first time in 2 weeks, and I have to admit, it was a nice change of pace.

Us at Bio (Note: No animals were harmed making this photo)

The rest of our time has been spent becoming very proficient at navigating the Buenos Aires subway system, it will get you to most places in the city for $.50, and touring the Museum of Modern Art. Other than that, there´s not much new to talk about so I´ll keep this short. We´re going to eat at Las Lilas tonight and chow down on some meat. They´re known for serving the best beef in Buenos Aires so it should be a great meal. We´re also preparing to leave Buenos Aires for our next location… Paris. We hope everyone is doing well back home and thanks for all of your comments, we love reading them.

Yesterday we took a high-speed hydrofoil from Buenos Aires to the sleepy town of Colonia in Uruguay. Originally settled by the Portuguese in the 1600´s this town still retains much of its old world charm. The trip took a little less than an hour and we were able to walk from the boat dock to the old town by foot. It was blistering hot, and coupled with the humidity, made for another sticky day.

After arriving we strolled through the town and had lunch at a nearby restaurant. We then toured the old town weaving our way through the cobble stone streets and stopping frequently for cerveza breaks. We also paid about $.60 to climb to the top of the lone tall structure in town, a lighthouse, to survey our surroundings.

It was great to get out of the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires for a day and just kick back and relax. The only downside of the day was our attempt to get back to Buenos Aires. Apparently, the road from Buenos Aires to Uruguay was closed because of a worker´s strike so everyone who commutes to Uruguay had to take the ferry. We had to wait about 4 hours to catch a return ferry home and didn´t arrive back at our apartment until 11 p.m. Hot, tired, and thirsty we made our way to a local restaurant and had our first sub par meal in Buenos Aires. Overall, though, it was a great day trip and it was nice to visit another place for a day.

Today may be a day to lay low in Buenos Aires. I just dropped off my laundry for cleaning and it´s about 80º with 80% humidity at 10 a.m. They´re predicting temperatures in the mid-90´s and coupled with the humidity could make it a day to stay close to the A/C.

Jason, we´re all doing well and your wife hasn´t met any Javier´s… yet.

Lastly, I´ve received multiple requests for information on the coutries we´ve visited and the locations where we stayed. Today I´ll post and maintain a page with this information so people interested in a similar trip have some good recommendations.

Yesterday, our friend Kajsa arrived in Buenos Aires so the whole crew is finally together. The weather has been pleasant over the past few days, but today it got sticky wet again. A lot has happened since our last post so I´ll do my best to get you caught up.

After Kajsa arrived and rested for a few hours we spent the afternoon touring the neighborhood of La Boca and viewing the mausoleums in Recoleta Cemetery. La Boca is known for two things in this country. First, it´s home to the Boca Juniors, which according to the locals is the greatest soccer club in Argentina and possibly the world. Everywhere you go vendors are selling their jerseys and they are definitely the talk of the town. Being from the States and not knowing anything about international soccer, I just nod my head and take their word for it.

La Boca is also known for it´s colorful architecture and houses built of sheet metal and low cost parts. Poor immigrants originally settled this part of Buenos Aires and they used the available materials to build their homes. As time progressed, artists moved into these structures and painted the buildings with vibrant colors. It was very touristy but also pretty amazing to see all of the art and people together. Below is a picture of La Boca.

We also spent part of the day at Recoleta Cemetery. This section of town is where most of the Argentinian elite are laid to rest and it´s very interesting to walk through. Normally, touring a cemetery would not be my idea of an enjoyable afternoon. However, after being in the city for the last 5 days, you see where the city gets many of the names for its streets and buildings. Recoleta is also the resting place for Eva Peron. Her mausoleum was located in a quiet section of the cemetery, but it was abolutely packed with people taking pictures.

After 5 days in Argentina, I´m starting to learn the things that make this place unique. Today´s theme is ¨what we throw away¨.

1) Garbage – Some of you may know that my family owns a sanitation company in Montana and I spent most of my summers growing up working the family business. I have an appreciation for this work and am impressed by the Argentinians. Garbage is picked up daily in Buenos Aires, which is amazing given the size of the city. Each day, families and stores place their trash on the street in whatever bag they want and there doesn´t appear to be a limit on the amount of trash. The garbage truck drives down the street at about 5 mph without stopping. Two men run parallel to the truck on the sidewalks, pickup the trash, and throw it in the back of the truck in one motion. They continue this process down the street. Picture a centerfielder in baseball charging a ground ball, fielding it, and throwing it to home. This is how they do trash in Buenos Aires and it can be dangerous for pedrestrians. Two nights back I was almost hit by a flying trashbag and then run over by the running trash collector as he dodged past me to get the next load.

2) Recycling – As Shelly puts it, recycling in Buenos Aires is an ¨organic¨ process and it´s ¨by the people¨. Before the running trashmen pick up your daily garbage some of the locals comb through it for glass, plastic, and paper. We think people have staked out their section of the city and know the trash collector´s time schedule because they´re very efficient and organized. It seemed odd the first time we saw this, but it works very well and everything here is recycled.

3) Dog Poop – You´ve heard the phrase ¨sleep with one eye open¨, here you have to walk with one eye on the ground. Everyone in Buenos Aires has a dog, but nobody picks up the mess. I´m not joking when I say there´s a pile about every 10 feet on the sidewalk. We´re constantly dodging them and I´m the designated point person on poop patrol for our group. I´ll usually just point down at the ground and say ¨watch out¨ before Shelly, Nikki, and Kajsa pass by. Our system seems to work well and we haven´t had a misstep yet.

Our first week in Buenos Aires has been amazing and we honestly can´t think of a better place to visit. The food, people, and activities are amazing and I can´t get over how inexpensive things are. We hope everyone is doing well back home and take care.

Today is a great day. For the first time on our trip we found an Internet Cafe with something faster than a dial-up connection and can now post a real entry.

As Shelly mentioned in the previous post, Nikki arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and we celebrated her birthday in style. We spent the afternoon touring the Plaza de Mayo, which is home to most of the main government buildings. The picture below is Shelly and I in front of the Casa Rosa, which serves as the President´s house and the balcony where Evita stood.

After going back to the room and cooling off a bit, we headed out for a night of Tango. For Nikki´s birthday we spent the evening watching Tango dancing at a local club. The dancing was amazing and it was one of the best parts of our trip so far. Now, though, I have a bigger problem… Shelly wants to take Tango lessons. My two left feet should be able to handle it, but we´ll see. The picture below is from last night´s club and notice the green shoes. Shelly picked up a blue neon pair yesterday and has her eye on some green ones today.

Two days into our stay in Buenos Aires and we´re loving it. Everything here is so inexpensive and in most cases cheaper than Peru. As a comparison, a 1L bottle of beer is about $.80, a ham and cheese sandwich is $2, and a full steak dinner for two with a bottle of premium wine is about $15.

There is also so much to do that it´s going to be hard to pace ourselves. The people and their lifestyle is very laid back and they enjoy life. What´s not to like about a society that eats great steak, drinks fine wine, and Tangos into the early morning? We´ve been eating dinner around 11 p.m or 12 a.m. and the places are packed. It´s quiet the contrast from the U.S.