Honeymoon

Below are a few key links for the honeymoon to London and Paris

March 20-28, 2007







Hotel in London
Crowne Plaza Hotel at St. James Place

Train: London to Paris costs $320 to $360 total for roundtrip for Sat-Sun, March 24-25, 2007

Frommer's Paris Shopping Overview

Hotel Le Clos De Medicis - Double room 195-215 euros

Frommer's London Shopping Overview

Cinque Terre (6/28/2006)

I went to Cinque Terre the day after my final exam in bridges to relax and go swimming. The water was perfect, but I walked too much to say that I effectively relaxed. I joined Dave and some of his friends on this trip to Cinque Terre and specifically Riomaggiore, where we spent most of our time during the day..

Looking back along Lover's Trail towards Riomaggiore, the futherest town south out of the 5 towns comprising Cinque Terre.

Dave and Ben exploring some rocks. I didn't feel comfortable climbing down the slope in my berks, so I went straight for the beach for water, sun, and apparently sharp rocks.

On the lover's trail between Riomaggiore and the next city over, which of course I forgot the name of now. For city slickers, this is the perfect hiking trail - concrete paved and relatively flat!

Part of the coast from Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore (one of the towns in Cinque Terre).

Dave and his friend, Ben, sitting on the beach at Riomaggiore. I've never seen grains of sand that big before in my life. They were almost like rocks, they were so big!

Aosta, Italy (5/6-8/2006)

I am actually standing in front of a Roman bridge in the city of Aosta which got it's start under Roman occupation up in a huge valley within the Alps. The town it's self is very pretty, but dead in the off seaon, we couldn't even get to the top of the mountain because the cableway was closed. I'm happy that I got to see this city before I left Italy.

There I am in front of a Roman arch. I believe that this arch was actually reconstructed in thw 30's.

The main piazza in Aosta. They were having some kind of competition and were flying remote controlled airplanes thorugh the piazza. It's a shame that all my pictures of the planes look like crap, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was fun to watch.

This is a picture of the street that links the main piazza to the train station. I liked the green I saw down the road, so I took the picture.

This is one of the many towers that mark a corner of the Roman wall which surrounds the city. I like this one the most because it's round.

This is a picture from the western edge of town towards the higher mountains off in a distance.

Before I forget, this is my friend, Heather, another Fulbrighter who is currently up in Norway and decided to stop in Italy on her way to Spain for a conference. I'm glad she did because it forced me to get out and see another part of the county I hadn't seen before. Thanks.

Now the main even, the Roman ruins in Aosta ... How exciting ... I guess our timing was bad for this trip because not only did we not get to go to Pila, the top of the mountain, we managed to see Aosta while they were doing restoration work on the theater wall, which doesn't leave much room for a good picture. Oh well, maybe next time.

A picture of the Roman ruins in Aosta. One of these days I'll get a hang of this photostich thing and then I won't get any more of these black bars. It the scaffolding was gone, this picture would be a lot cooler.

The Runner in Me (4/2/06 and 4/9/06)

Who would have thunk it? Me a runner? After two races for two consecutive weekends, I think I may be tunring over a new leaf so to speak. The first race was the Stramilano (15 km through Milan) and the second was the Straticino (11 km through Pavia). This was taken after the second race, but I decided to put on all my gear again for the sake of the picture.

Proposal Trip (March 17-26, 2006)

Meg's most recent journey to Italy, and also her last while I am studying here, begen with a trip to Milan on the day that she arrived to see Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper' and an opera at La Scala. The opera was a Russian opera called Kát’a Kabanová and was a modern opera, which was interesting. The following day, we flew to Vienna, found our hotel (which was an adventure) and then grab a bite to eat for dinner. The following day, we woke up late, found lunch at an out door cafe, and wondered the city. That night, we ate dinner at the restaurant at Hotel Sacher and I proposed to Meg! I am very happy that I chose to propose where I did because it was absolutely perfect.

The following morning, we took a train to Salzburg, checked into the hotel, and again wondered the city ending at the Goldener Hirsch for dinner. The next day was our first real day of shopping on the trip because we had been unlucky with the stores being open when we wanted to shop before. A huge breakfast began our day of fun and travel yet again, as we returned to Vienna in the early afternoon. That night we took a lot of pictures of Vienna, scouted fancy stores for the next day, and cooked dinner at our hotel, pasta with a pesto sauce we bought earlier that day in Salzburg. The following day was spent shopping again, especially when we found Julius Meinl, which Meg dubbed the Temple of Food. This was an amazing graocery store in which we bought many goodies for that night, for the rest of the trip, and to take home too. After a fondu dinner, we made our way to the State Opera House in Vienna for the second big surprise of the trip: an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, 'Un Ballo in Maschera,' with a set designed by one of Meg's favorite artists, Emanuele Luzzati! We are officially spoiled forever with operas, this one was absolutely amazing, especially the set and costume design.

We spent the morning of the next day at the Sisi and Imperial Apartment Musuem at the Hofburg, returning to our hotel in time to grab our stuff to head back to Italy. Arriving late in the evening, I cooked a dinner with what I had left in the kitchen back at me dorm and I must say it turned out pretty good, though the panna and goat cheese definitely helped. We spent the next morning in Pavia and afternoon in Milan. This was the only day that we actually had rain on the entire trip, not heavy rain either, just kind of a drissle. After finding delicious gelato in Milan and purchasing Mandarina Duck luggage (spiffy), we returned to Pavia and a cooking lesson on risotto from my buddy, Matt. The last full day of the trip was spent in the center of Pavia, eating a great lunch and bar hopping for aperitivi (free food with drinks that bars in Italy give you, a wonderful thing) through Pavia, and just enjoying our last day together.

Our last adventure was the trip to the airport. Well, aparently Italy lept ahead that Sunday when Meg left, and neither of us knew. So, we missed our bus to the airport and had to take a taxi instead, which wasn't that bad considering we got to ride in a Mercedes to the airport, which was pretty cool. We arrived in time to check in and find that Meg has been bumped to a later flight. So instead of a direct flight leaving at 10.20 in the morning, she now had a connection leaving at 3.00 pm. I guess the big bonus of all of this was that I got a few more hours with her before she left.

Over all, it was a great trip, though we did have a number of close calls and near disasters. The best parts were the proposal and dinner at the Sacher, and then the opera in Vienna.

Milan

Our engagement trip began with a trip to Milan upon Meg's arrival into Italy to see the 'Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci and an opera at La Scala. This was taken just outside of La Scala.

Vienna

The day after we got to Vienna, we woke up late and made our way to the cafe seen above. We did have hotel issues the night we arrived in trying to find the hotel and then finding that the reception was closed and that we had to pick up our key at the bar 2 doors down from the hotel. In the end, our stay at Hotel Levante Laudon was worth it, our swuites there were amazing. At this point in the day, Meg still had no idea that I was going to propose to her later that night.

Newly engaged, Meg and Adam, on March 19, 2006. For the engagement dinner, we went to the Hotel Sacher in Vienna and ate a 6 course meal. During the first course, I asked her to marry me handing to Meg her grandmother's ring. Of everything we did, the only thing that had to be perfect was the proposal, and it was!

As Meg likes to say, "Bling"

Meg looking at a picture she took outside of St. Stephen's.

Meg taking a picture inside the Palais Ferstel in Vienna. I think it's funny that I crouched down right behind her to get this picture of her.

Meg sitting beside the window at Cafe Demel just behing the Hofburg. That was probably our favorite cafe, especially with the cute chocolate store in the entrance with marangue chickens and lots of goodies.

Me in Cafe Central where I had Wiener Schnitzel for the first time. It was good.

The Hofburg, winter palace of the Hapsburgs. This was the last wing to be completed of the expansive complex. Inside it is the Sisi Musuem and emperor apartments, the Spanish riding school, and of course my favorite (not) the strange musuem of old musical instruments and weaponry. I must confess that this picture was taken by Meg because my hands were too shaky.

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. I really liked this night shot and funny thing is, this was the first one I took too, all the other ones weren't as good.