Welcome to Deutschland - Berlin

John's friend, Sisuda, joined us for our whirlwind Germany tour. We started our trip off in Berlin. When we arrived the city was bursting with anticipation for the Deutschland v. England game. Everywhere you turned there were flags waving and people cheering. The partying began at early in the morning and thanks to a victory continued well into the night. Never have we seen such a unified group of people gather to cheer their country on. Thousands of people gathered together in the center of town to watch the big game. It was pretty incredible.

We needed to pick up tickets for a concert that night so we decided to walk to the ticket office. We ended up giving ourselves a walking tour of the city. We walked and walked and walked. Side note, you can't always trust the expected walking time when using google maps. During our walk we saw the following attractions: Holocaust Memorial, Reichstag Dome, Sony Center, and the Brandenburg Gate.

That evening we went to an outdoor concert at the Waldbuhne. We saw the Berliner Philharmonic featuring Renee Fleming. We had a great time listening to amazing classical music while enjoying the beautiful scenery around us. We particularly enjoyed the traditional encore piece. The audience jumps to their feet (many with sparklers in hand) and sings and whistles along with the orchestra. It was fantastic!

The next morning we went to the East Side Gallery. This is an open air art gallery on the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall. The murals are filled with various political statements and are very artistic.

Heaven on Earth - Santorini

It's amazing how your body just knows when you are in paradise. All stress and worries evaporate when you are here in the Greek Isles. Sara truly believes this place is heaven on earth and plans to retire here. It is here, last October to be exact, that Sara resolved to make changes in her life: change careers and travel the world. Come here if you want to get your priorities in order!

We are staying on the lovely island of Santorini and in the village of Oia. The restaurants are amazing and you can't beat the sunset views. We found a building we want to renovate and turn into a premier boutique hotel. We think it's a genius idea...anyone want to invest?

Our lazy days have been spent sleeping in, lounging by the pool, driving around the island to different beaches, and eating yummy food. A few days of pure relaxation is exactly what we needed.

Live at the Acropolis - Athens

Once again Sara was relieved that the history books weren't lying - the Acropolis does exist. The Acropolis is about the only thing Athens has to offer. Oh, i guess the greek salads are news worthy too.

Road trip to Ephesus

When we landed in Izmir we decided we should rent a car to drive to Ephesus. It took us about ten tries to find a place that had an automatic car but in the end we succeeded. Yes, we are lame Americans that can't really drive stick... but seriously, why hasn't the world caught onto how amazing automatic cars are??? Sara took on the role as driver and John as navigator.

We spent the night in a pleasant beach town named Kusadasi. We didn't do much except eat, watch the World Cup, and sleep. We needed to rest up for our big day at Ephesus.

The next morning we got up early and headed to Ephesus. Our early departure paid off because we beat most of the tourist buses up there. We spent a few hours wandering through the ruins. We learned a few things along the way: Supposedly the Apostle John settled here with Mother Mary after Christ's death. We saw the stadium where the Apostle Paul preached against paganism to the people - his message wasn't received so well. Also, Cleopatra visited the city quite a few times because her sister lived there. It's pretty incredible to be walking down the same road these amazing historical figures once walked.

Full of hot air - Cappadocia Day 3

We woke up at 4:45am so Sara could fulfill another life long dream - riding in a hot air balloon. John wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting up so early or riding high above the ground in a balloon, but in the end he had a good time. Cappadocia is famous for their hot air balloon rides since the conditions are almost always perfect in the morning. So famous that there were approximately 55 other balloons in the sky with us.

There were twelve others in our balloon with us (three to a compartment). We sailed at varying heights across the Cappadocian valley for about an hour. The air was crisp and the views were breathtaking. We were shocked at how quiet and smooth the ride was. It was very relaxing and peaceful - including the landing. The pilots have been flying for years and can land the balloons right on the trailer bed. Pretty incredible! Oh, and the ride ended with a champagne toast. That's a bit early to start drinking don't you think?

Turkish Nights - Cappadocia Day 2

Our second day in Cappadocia was spent on the Green Tour. We visited the Goreme Panorama, toured the underground city of Derinkuyu, hiked through the Ihlara Valley, climbed to the Selime monastery, toured an onyx factory, and watched the pigeons fly at Pigeon Valley. It was one jammed packed day.

Goreme Panorama is a place to gaze at the beautiful city of Goreme and take in the beauty of the fairy chimneys.

There are many underground cities in the area and we went to the largest one - Derinkuyu was estimated to house 10,000 Byzantine Christians. The people would hide in these underground cities when enemies were approaching. Sometimes they would be underground for months. Not only would humans be hiding underground but they brought their animals with them too. Imagine how stinky and gross it would have been. They had kitchens, stables, living quarters, cemetaries, meeting rooms, churches, baptismal fonts, etc. It took them hundreds of years to build but when all was said and done these underground cities were amazing and genius creations.

We loved our 3.5km hike through the Ihlara Valley. We hiked down hundreds of steps until we reached the valley floor. We then walked along the river exploring several rock-cut churches along the way. The path was nice and shady so we didn't sweat to death under the hot sun. Our hike ended at a little village alongside the water. We ate a yummy lunch and then boarded the bus to continue our tour.

Our next stop was the Selime Monastery. We hiked up the hill to the monastery and then explored more rock-cut churches. Once again the views were incredible.

No tour is complete without being taken to a "demonstration" and then ushered into a showroom to buy outrageously priced goods. Well, that's what happened at the onyx factory. As soon as they brought out the apple tea we took that as our clue to leave. We are proud to say that nothing was purchased.

Our last stop on the tour was to Pigeon Valley. Here we saw a bunch of pigeons flying to their homes on the outside of the fairy chimneys. Please note, pigeons are not considered "rats with wings" here in Cappadocia. Unlike in NYC, Pigeons have a purpose. They were very important to the people back in the day. They would use them to carry messages, eat them, and use their droppings to create paint for their frescoes.

John really wanted to see the whirling dervishes so we booked tickets to "Turkish Nights". The travel agent promised us that it wasn't touristy and that we would see the whirling dervishes, folk dancers, and belly dancers while eating a yummy dinner. Well, let's just say the dancing part was true but everything else was a lie. It was the most touristy thing we have ever been to. The scene was like going to a Turkish wedding in someone's basement. It was filled with tour buses full of cruise ship tourists (you know the ones I'm talking about). The decor was cheesy and cheap and the food wasn't any better. At one point we were all in a conga line dancing around the floor and ended up outside around a bonfire. The belly dancer descended from the ceiling in a crappy cage and then proceeded to teach a bunch of middle aged men how to belly dance. Sara would like to block the whole night from her memory.