Up North Weekend

I've fallen behind in the writing and have many post ideas and pictures saved up and am not sure where to start! So, I'm starting with some material from a fabulous wedding up north a few weeks ago!

The D.D.S. and Catalina have been planning their wedding in Grand Rapids, MN for a long time and we've been gearing up for the weekend. Calhoun and I were especially excited because Calhoun loves Grand Rapids and the wedding was the weekend after the bar exam and was a little bit of a weekend away for us - not to mention we were really excited about celebration the marriage of the D.D.S. and Catalina!

The wedding was wonderful, it was on the lake and the weather was beautiful and everything was perfect. But the real story here (sorry D.D.S. and Catalina) was the decorations in the resort.

Because Calhoun and I have the fuel-efficient hatchback that supposedly had working air conditioning we were elected to drive up. So we packed the car with luggage, bikes and two friends, Hale and Menogyn. They were great sports about the hot car and, as always, were full of the necessary enthusiasm to keep the weekend going!

There's something very unique about going up to the north woods and the decorations that become standard decor out there. The moose and evergreen light and the canoe coat rack were fixtures of the cabin that reminded us exactly were we were!

But, just in case I really was to forget where I was for the weekend, about every five minutes Menogyn yelled out "Up North Weekend!!"

A Minnesotan In Istanbul

The second leg of our honeymoon took us to Istanbul! Apparently, Paris is a natural choice for a honeymoon and Istanbul is not, as many people asked us why we chose Istanbul?

I have been interested in Istanbul since I was a freshman in college. I traveled on an amazing semester long travel program that has some annual stops and has a few global stops that can change year to year, depending on cost, safety and the professors leading the trip. When I first heard about the program it was scheduled to stop in Istanbul, but by the time I went on the trip Istanbul had been replaced by Athens and Rome. Now, I'm certainly not complaining about Athens and Rome, but Istanbul is just so darn INTERESTING! It was the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire for a long time and then was conquered by the Ottoman and there were sultans! When I was young, I thought writers and storytellers were really creative and didn't know that places like Siam and Constantinople were real, and you could visit them.

When we decided that we were going to go on a honeymoon, and we could decide to go wherever we wanted, we enthusiastically decided to go to Istanbul.

We had a great time and were able to meet up with a friend from college. Again, we had a great time eating and drinking but really enjoyed just walking around and basking in the clear 45 degree weather.

And again, we saw some awesome stuff...

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

The Harbor and Some Boats and Some Fish

And Asia!

We also spent some time at the Grand Bazaar, enjoyed street food, explored public transportation and did some good old people watching. But, because I don't post people pictures and because we spent a lot of time with the camera in the bag so we didn't stick out more than necessary, I don't have pictures of those to post. But come over for dinner and you'll see more than you probably want!

A Minnesotan In Paris

We spent three nights and two full days in Paris. We ate, drank, jumped over the metro turn-style and tried to stay dry and fashionable under our umbrellas.

We did a little exploring of the city and happened upon some pretty awesome places.

Notre Dame

The Louvre

L'Hôtel National des Invalides

The Eiffel Tower

Arc of Triumph

Avenue des Champs-Élysées

Generally I think travel stories are best in person, so I'll save those for when I see you.

But, I will write that I thought Parisians were very friendly, much more than I had heard they would be to an American traveler who doesn't speak a sentence of French. We thought that people were really nice and helpful, understanding when we were lost or confused and not at all rude when we were reduced to pointing to the menu. I think they were nice because we were traveling in January. January is the rainy, cold season in Paris and pretty much the down time for tourists. And I don't know if people were nice to us the way you don't kill the first mosquito you see in the spring, or if they were nice to us because they respected our winter traveling. Either way, Paris in January doesn't make for the best photo opportunities, but made for sites that were not nearly as crowded as they would be in the summer, open cafes and good prices. We loved it!