Hiking, Geocaching, and Amsterdam

Jeremy had a three day weekend, so we decided to take advantage of it and go explore the great city of Amsterdam! Aw, the joys of staying with someone who is living in Europe...

Our first flight together...first of many!

Our first flight together wasn't without its difficulties. Got to experience some of the joys of flying in Naples, Italy with an itialian company. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:50, so it was an early morning. They had us sitting on the plane for an hour when they come on the intercom and state they are having computer issues and unfortunately the flight was being cancelled and we needed to get off. That's pretty much all they told us. We had to get off the plane, take the bus back to the airport building, then figure out ourselves where to go to get on another flight. Well, this proved to be difficult and annoying with these Italians. It was as if this sort of thing never happens because it took FOREVER to get on a new flight, which ended up being not until three hours later than we were supposed to leave. So annoying. What we got for compensation? A coupon for breakfast, and in Italy, that means a pastry and coffee, so about three euros worth, woohoo. Once we finally got out on that flight, we made it to Amsterdam just fine.

Enjoying my Italian cappucino! One of my favorite things about Italy...

Once arrived in Amsterdam, we then had to battle and figure out the public transportation. This proved to be a little confusing sometimes as well. We discovered that you don't just take the train to where you need to go, but you take the train, then metro, then possibly tram and bus. And its not just one ticket that works for all these, no, you have to have a different ticket for the train, metro and tram, and then the bus. So we had a train ticket from the airport, then because we didn't get the metro ticket we were stuck in the metro station and couldn't get out. We got in with the train ticket, but couldn't get out unless we had the metro ticket. It was a very interesting process. By the time we feel like we understood the process we were leaving!

We made it to our hotel finally and then set out to explore some of Amsterdam. There was a geocache really close to the hotel that we found first. Jeremy found it without even using the gps! I think he's hooked...! Then we went into the museum district in Amsterdam. We were going to go the Heineken Brewery, but decided it was a little too expensive, and not worth it. So we just looked at it from the outside! We did go to the Van Gogh museum. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. They didn't even have the classic Van Gogh painting there. Even if they want the original painting to be in Paris, you would think they would at least have a copy in the Van Gogh museum. It was five levels of painting, and only one level was Van Gogh's painting. The rest were artists' that he was inspired by or whom he inspired.

It was really nice walking through this area though. Saw a few cool buildings and ate at a nice dinner. I got tomato soup! It was delicious. And Jeremy got to taste their burgers and fries.

In front of Amsterdam Central Station

Indoor ski resorts are quite popular in Europe. I don't know how many there are, but I know they are throughout Europe. Jeremy had discovered that there was one near Amsterdam, so we went there so I could teach him how to snowboard. It was very interesting. They charge by the hour so you have to swipe in to start your time and pay more if you go over your time. There wasn't even a chairlift, just the poles that you grab onto and pull you up, which are difficult to do for someone that has never snowboarded before. It had two runs, but one run didn't really count cause it was just a really tiny little bunny slope for kids. The other run was longer, but still not too long and not too steep. Definately not the type of place you want to go to if your more advanced, can get boring really quick. Surprisingly there were quite a few people there that were pretty good. It was a good place to go to introduce Jeremy to snowboarding. Can't wait to take him in Colorado! Or if we got to go in Austria or Switzerland that would be awesome! But he did pretty good, giving he only got four hours to try. It will be good when we get to go on a bigger run and all day.

Geocaching in Amsterdam!


Heading to teach Jeremy to snowboard!

Walking the streets of Amsterdam. They had some pretty Christmas lights up. Not sure if it was for the season or if they are up year round. Notice the chess pieces in the background?

That night after snowboarding, there were some geocaches in the more central part of Amsterdam I wanted to find. This was awesome and so much fun because it led us to walk along streets that we probably would not have on our own. It was a great way to explore some of the streets of Amsterdam! And I really enjoyed it. I like Amsterdam. I you stay away from the red light district it is a really cool city. Bikes everywhere, lots of people out walking and biking. It was curious because we walked along many residential streets and we were able to look into many people's living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, etc. They just had their windows wide open to where people could see in. It was cute to see families sitting down for dinner, people cleaning dishes in the kitchen, men reading their books. We felt like we were invading people's privacy, but they were the ones that had their curtains open. It was strange, but very cool to see inside people's homes. One we saw was an old lady on her death bed at home with her caretaker standing over her. Very weird, it was right on the corner of a somewhat busy intersection.

I was getting very hungry and we wanted to try some local food so we finally found a little pub that looked to have some good Dutch food. It turned out to be an excellent meal with some local flavor and entertainment! Jeremy got this really good french onion soup and chicken with the best local sauce on top. I got split pea soup and goat cheese salad. So good! I have never seen such a big chunk of goat cheese! Seems like in the states they usually skimp you on the goat cheese cause its expensive, not here! I couldn't even finish all the goat cheese I was so stuffed! And for our entertainment we got to listen in on a "sing-a-long." They told us it was crowded because they were going to be having a sing-a-long. We thought they meant just some sort of karaokee or something, but no, it really was a sing-a-long. Many different ages of people got together in a circle with their songbooks and were singing with each other. It was very interesting!

Enjoying some classic Dutch fries

After dinner we walked around Amsterdam some more. I was kind of wanting to get some coffee and we had seen a few coffee shops so decided to stop in one. As soon as we walked in we experienced some classic "Amsterdam." Yeah, word of advice, "coffee shops" in Amsterdam are probably not selling coffee, but drugs. It was interesting. We knew right when we walked in due to the smell but couldn't believe we didn't realize it earlier. After that, we realized that there aren't too many actual coffee shops in Amsterdam. I guess people there don't really drink too much coffee.

Before calling it a night we decided to walk through the red light district. Outside of this district, Amsterdam is a wonderful city for anyone to visit and enjoy. It has a lot to offer, a lot of culture. But inside the red light district you finally see where Amsterdam's reputation comes from. A very different experience walking this area. I was glad I was Jeremy. It wasn't too terrible, just not somewhere I would want to spend too much time probably. I coudn't believe how many hostels and hotels were here. I stayed in a hostel in the red light district in Frankfurt one night by myself, I would never stay a night in the red light district here!

The next day we were flying out but decided to get up early and go into the Anne Frank House before we left. We had just enough time. I am really glad we did this. I didn't realize it was in Amsterdam, I thought it was in Germany. It was very interesting to walk through this house and realize we were standing where those 8 people hid out for so long. It was a humbling experience.

All in all I really like Amsterdam and definately suggest it for a place to visit. It was a nice weekend!

Now, some more Geocaching pics:

Geocaching- found a nice hike close to Jeremy's apartment

Discovered a nice trail on Ischia while geocaching

This past weekend one of Jeremy's co-workers and his wife hosted Thanksgiving dinner. She used to be a chef so she had a very nice menu planned. It was delicious!! Some different ways to cook the classic Thanksgiving dishes. There were lots of Jeremy's co-workers there as well so it was nice to be able to talk to them some. The morning before the dinner the Navy base was having a 5k race so we decided to do that before stuffing our bellies that night! It was a wonderful morning for a run and Jeremy's and my first race together. It was fun.

On Sunday we went with three of Jeremy's co-workers on this awesome all day hike up a peak that looks across at Mt. Vesuvius. It was a wonderful hike! A good workout and a beautiful day! It was coold to be able to look over at Vesuvius and we could see the trail that you hike up on Vesuvius to the top.

Jeremy at the top of our hike

The whole group doing a curious pose

Abruzzo and Pompei

I apologize in advance, having trouble over here posting pics on my blog. These few in the beginning are the most I was able to put on. You can check out facebook pics as I will try to get more on there. Sorry!

Hiking in Abruzzo National Park

Last weekend was Halloween weekend. Jeremy ended up getting a three day weekend, and it was supposed to be a very nice weekend, so last minute we decided to go camping in Abruzzo National Park. It was a very good decision! It was gorgeous there and had tons of fun. I was sad I didn't get to really enjoy the fall colors in Colorado the few days I was there before leaving for Italy since I wasn't feeling very well, but this camping trip in Abruzzo definately made up for it. The colors were amazing! The trees and mountains were awesome, we didn't feel like we were in Italy. It's only about a two and a half hour drive from Naples, so not far at all. There is a ski resort there as well. Not sure if I will still be here when they have enough snow though.

Gorgeous day for hiking!

Jeremy snagged a pic of me taking a pic

We realized we were going camping on Halloween weekend, thought it could be spooky, it was just fun! Was definately a little chilly there since we were in the mountains, overlooked the fact that we were going from the coast to the mountains, but we were fine. It was good for hiking weather, not too hot. Just the drive up there was awesome. On the way we saw a hangglider in the air, then as we were driving up the mountain there was a guy about to launch off the side of the mountain on his hangglider, so we stopped and watch. It was cool, looks like fun, not sure if it is something I would do, I would be afraid of the landing part. We saw lots of cows just chillin everywhere on the side of the mountain. When I first saw the white spots I thought they were mountain goats to find out on closer look they were cows, just enjoying their day eating grass.
One of the towns in Abruzzo National Park is built right on top of the mountain when there's lots of perfectly good valley town building land down below. I thought it was very interesting it was built on the top of the mountain, very cool looking. Strategic purposes back in the day, guess it worked for them! Our first task was to figure out where we were going to go camping. This turned out to be a difficult task finding a decent looking place and not having to be in a tent right up next to a bunch of people in a cabin or RV. We finally found a place. I guess for Italian standards it was a nice place. It ended up being a good place because since it wasn't a busy weekend we were able to be in a spot with nobody else nearby, the owner was cool to talk to, and it was within walking distance of some hikes.

The first night we didn't really go do anything, so we just went to the bar with the owner and talked to him some, got some cappucinos and played cards. It was fun. Taught Jeremy some new card games! We attempted to build a fire, Jeremy doubted my fire building capabilities. And unfortunately I didn't prove to him I could make a fire because all the wood we found was pretty wet so it wasn't catching. We weren't able to make a good fire either night, very disappointing. Oh well, we still had fun!

Where is the stinkin geocache?

The first day we did a hike that was supposed to go to some cave I guess. Turned out to be a very small cave, at least the one we found. But it was a nice day, and gorgeous views and trees with the changing leaves. We enjoyed just being with each other. There were lots of other Italians out hiking. It was funny because were just in our tennis shoes taking a little hike and all these other people were some serious hikers. They had their trekking poles and everything! It wasn't that hard of a hike! It was like that on all the hikes we went on! These Italians are serious!That afternoon we drove to do a different hike to a waterfall. It was interesting. Most the hike was on a paved path and they had carriages that would take people back and forth. We thought about renting a bike but didn't have enough time before they had to be returned. Then at the top of the path was a short actual hike to two waterfalls. It was pretty. I learned that Italians don't really get to the side for you if you are behind them and wanting to pass you. You just have to seize your opportunity to sneak past them.

That evening we went to the big town in the park to walk around and get some very tasty Nutella crepes. I would totally buy some Nutella while I'm here but I know I would eat in a day or two so I am trying to resist! But it is so good! And the crepes were delicious. Another thing learned about the Italians: they don't really understand the concept of lines. The town was really cute. Its a little Italian ski town. Everybody was out enjoying the evening too, and it was their off season. I would love to go to this place in the summer and/or winter. I think it is a good place to visit all times of the year!

The next morning we packed up camp, and with no success in finding any geocaches yet we decided to spend the morning trying to find one before we headed back to Napoli. One we were able to park within two miles of the cache. It was next to a lake and we couldn't really find a trail that went to the lake, so we just took off and got about less than a mile in and decided we weren't going to get to it, there were too many mountains in the way and it would take forever. One of the problems with not having a European map downloaded on the GPS is it doesn't have roads or trails on it, making geocaching much more difficult. We decided to attempt to find one more geocache before heading out. We made it to where it was hidden, we know we were within 5 feet of it, but just couldn't find it. Looking at the hint more later it was apparently in a tree somewhere, but we didn't see it, so dissappointing. Luckily, the weekend with no success in geocaching didn't turn Jeremy off from it. He still seems excited about it, that's good! We look forward to going caching with Luke and Jackie.

My handsome man!

Then we had to head back to Naples, on the way we stopped to get something to eat and drink at this little joint where this Italian man brought us in and was very excited for us to be in there, handing us stuff to eat and drink. Telling us we wanted to buy this and that, pushing stuff in our hands saying yes, we wanted to get it. It was hilarious. We were so taken off guard we didn't know what was happening! We figured he must be desperate for some more sales or something.

When we got back, it was time to do laundry, play some volleyball, and the next day...celebrete Halloween...!

Now he is a little scary! At a Halloween party with one of the Navy bands performing. Fun night.

Cow on the side of the rode in Abruzzo National Park

Week before Halloween we carved a pumpkin. I was excited Jeremy wanted to carve one! It was fun.

The final look, it's two ghosts holding hands, Jeremy's idea


One of my jobs was scraping the inside, my favorite part. Unfortunately we didn't get to bake the pumpkin seeds, he has no oven :(

Our first Italian meal prepared together

The next day Jeremy left for his week long trip in Africa with his band :( Seemed like I just got here and he goes and leaves! Not cool. But he gets back tomorrow, that's good! I was lucky because my friend, Kristin, has been in Moscow the past few years and this past week she just happened to have her fall break so she and one of her friends came to Italy to visit!

So I showed her around Naples a bit, they came to base with me one night to my volleyball game. I took them to get some yummy Italian pizza. And one day we went to explore the historic town of Pompei, which ended up being nothing like what I expected. I always imagined the to really be a buried city from lava, but it has been dug out so much it doesn't even look like it was covered by lava. It just looks like a really old, abandoned city. And I always imagined there to be preserved bodies you could see. Not so much, we saw a couple, but nothing like I imagined. It was still cool though, much bigger than I expected it to be. Took forever and we still didn't walk through the whole city. It was fun to spend some time with Kristin and catch up. She's a good friend, I miss not getting to see her more often. Got to enjoy some good cappucino and gelato with her in Italy! Who knows where it will be next time we meet up!

Other than Kristin visiting I have just been exploring more of the area around Jeremy's place, getting cappucino. I discovered a really nice lake not far from here and found my first geocache in Europe! Very exciting, now it's Jeremy's turn to find it! He gets back tomorrow and I am very excited. He has a couple days off since he has been working the past week so hopefully we will do some more hiking and find some more geocaches!

Hope all my friends and family are doing great! Miss you all!