Jeff, Franco and I in Normandy

After spending the day in Normandy, we began our trek to Paris, with a brief stop in Caen for dinner.  I must say, Jeff did an excellent job of speaking French all weekend and was absolutely critical during our meals.  Spending the day in Paris was filled with a visit to the Cathedral Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre.  Perhaps the highlight of the day came upon our exit of Paris with a drive through the round-about of the Arc de Triomphe, I would describe this experience by twelve avenues of aggressive traffic pouring into a lane-less circle of cars moving in every direction.

We are now finished with our second week of work and things have been going great.  The office atmoshpere has been very enjoyable and both projects have been quite challenging.  Both teams have been putting their best effort forward and with our internship already at the half-way point, there is still plenty of work ahead.  As part of our project, Franco and I went on a visit to a local greenhouse to see power generation in action.

Power generation visit to a greenhouse

This past weekend weekend was very eventful, Jeff, Matt and I went on a day-trip to Dusseldorf, Germany.  We enjoyed the local beer, Shlussel Alt, and a great dinner of sausage, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.  There was lot of rain during our visit, so we spent most of the afternoon at a restaraunt along the Rhine river.  While we were busy touring Dusseldorf, Franco was back in Rotterdam competing in a one day soccer tournament with a team from the Congo.  Stay posted for a blog from Franco about his awesome futbol experience.

Matt, Jeff, and I on the Rhine RIver in Dusseldorf

Best part of the Guinness tour

The next morning we packed up our bags and took possession of our rental car, with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. I was very happy to get out of the city as quickly as possible so I could get comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road. Surprisingly it didn’t take long and we began our trip around the Irish countryside with a drive through the picturesque Wicklow Mountains. We stopped at the Gardens of Powerscourt, drove through Sally’s Gap, quickly toured Glendalough, and made our way down to see the sights of Kilkenny. The trip really got fun for Katie when we decided to get out of the town and find a B&B in the countryside. We succeeded and found a very nice B&B on a farm somewhere between the towns of Kilkenny and Waterford. I think Katie found her new dream job and a way to use all the china we got as wedding presents. She was really impressed that our breakfast and tea were served on china in the morning.

Gardens of Powerscourt

The next day began with an abbreviated trip to the town of Waterford. We found out the day before that they no longer make crystal in Waterford because a U.S. based firm bought the company and plans to shift production to a country with cheaper labor. We still managed to spend some money before we drove west to perform the obligatory kissing of the Blarney stone. The evening ended with us experiencing the sights and sounds of one of the coolest Irish towns we ran across, Dingle.

Due to a limited timeframe, we skipped the much ballyhooed Ring of Kerry and opted for the shorter Ring of Dingle. It was only a short 30 km drive but we spent the entire morning taking in the beautiful landscapes that the peninsula had to offer. We saw cliffs, beaches, farmland, mountains, and lots of sheep. The day involved quite a bit of driving as we made our way north to take in the Cliffs of Moher before completing the circle back to Dublin, where we stayed in another great B&B in the town of Swords before heading back to the airport and off to Rotterdam.

The Ring of Dingle

Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

Dave, Jos, and Jeff in Belgium

We also picked up our luggage at Jos’s house, which gave us an opportunity to take a picture to illustrate how crazy it was that we fit all of our luggage and the three of us into Jos’s little car!

Lots of luggage, very small car.

We’re now almost done with our first week of work at our internship.  Work has been great so far and everyone has been extremely welcoming.  But, we have a big task ahead of us, and we’ve all been challenged with difficult projects which will require our best efforts.  I haven’t mentioned yet that we are all working for Valvoline, the US-based motor oil and specialty chemical company.  Each of us is helping the company to develop strategies for new business developments out of their European HQ, here in Rotterdam.

Matt and Jeff touring a Valvoline facility

Apart from work, we’ve been able to see a bit of the city as well.  So far, we’ve found a few parks to throw a football around (yes, we brought one with us), some good restaurants, and – thankfully for Franco – some soccer fields.  Tonight, we tried out the pub next door to our hotel – great food, a pool table, and cheap drinks.  They’ll see us again.  Luckily, our office is a pretty short drive from the hotel, but we’re also lucky that our rental cars have gps navigation – driving over here is an adventure.

Another thing we’ve encountered here is crazy weather.  Since this area is so close to the North Sea, and the land is extremely flat, the weather changes quite drastically.  On Tuesday, we went out to dinner in nice, 70 degree weather (even sat outside), but were struck by a very severe thunderstorm on the way back to the car.  Below is a picture of the storm from my hotel window – it was one of the wildest storms I’ve ever seen.

Crazy storm outside my hotel window

This coming weekend is a holiday weekend here (no one seems to be able to explain why Monday is a holiday), so we might try to take advantage of the extra time by getting out of Rotterdam for a few days.  As of right now, we haven’t decided, but the folks at our office are helping us decide on a destination.  To be continued…

-Seeing all of Poros on quads, with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean around every curve.

-Learning to sail aboard two beautiful 36′ yachts with the help of Roger, Ioannis, Podalise, Costas. Although we didn’t have as much wind this week as we would have liked, we are much better sailors than when we started.

-Mid-afternoon swim breaks in the clear blue water of quiet coves

-Cliff-jumping in Hydra

-Meeting several Aussies in Hydra who were filming an Australian travel TV show, and being interviewed on their boat for the show

-Volleyball and paddleball competitions on the beach. (for those keeping score, Franco and I won, despite an unfortunate run-in with a sea-urchin…)

-Great food. I can’t describe each meal, but believe me when I say we’ve eaten well this week.

-A few stats:

-Gyros eaten: 40+
-Dives into the ocean: 47
-Sea urchin injuries: 3
-Pistachios eaten: 1,284
-Sore thumbs from opening too many pistachio shells: 16
-Tennis balls lost to the Mediterranean: 3
-Mythos beers drunk: we can’t count that high

All in all, one heck of a trip. We are all grateful for all the kind people we’ve met along the way, and we have felt welcome most everywhere we’ve been. This morning, we all parted ways – Michelle and Whitney are heading back to the States, Brittany is staying in Greece for another week with her Mom and Grandmother to visit her family roots, Matt and Katie are in Ireland for a few days, Franco is heading to Austria, and Dave and I are on our way to Rotterdam to settle in.

We’re excited to meet the folks we’ll be working with at our internship and get started, as well as experiencing the Dutch culture first-hand. It should be a great month.

Thanks for following along with us.

A five hour walking tour through ancient Athenian ruins followed by a very personal get-to-know-you dinner caused us to lose track of time last night. After Katie’s heroic efforts, we were finally able to get into the hostel and crawled into our beds (or balconies) for a few hours of precious sleep.

Our 6:00 am wake up call never came thanks to some crossed phone lines (can’t imagine room 404 was happy), but our group of 8 miraculously showered, packed, and checked out in half an hour to catch our ferry to the first island on our sailing trip, Poros.

The two hour ferry ride gave us plenty of time to rest and get a sneak preview of the stereotypical Greece we had already pictured in our minds. With unbelievably blue water,clear skies, and never-ending sunshine, the white houses with their blue shutters seemed even more beautiful up close. The landscape is surprisingly rocky here, making the homes stand out even more against the hillside.

After settling our bags onto a sailboat, we grabbed some lunch. Poros is a noticeably peaceful change to Athens, with no hecklers peddling their goods, no noisy street traffic or riots, and very friendly locals. For the first time, we felt welcomed to Greece and were able to let our guards down a bit.

The thought of walking for hours around the island after hiking through Athens was not appealing, so we found a shop that rented scooters, mountain bikes, and 4-wheelers. Not feeling daring enough to try our luck for the first time on scooters we opted for the 4-wheelers. By far, the smartest choice we could have made on this trip so far.

Poros is an absolutely beautiful island with indescribable views that would leave even the most well-traveled breathless. Picures will never do Poros justice, so hopefully our memories will still hold the postcard views we saw on our ride through the winding roads. Surprisingly, there aren’t any animals roaming the islands, with the exception of stray cats and dogs, which seem to be the norm in Greece. The abundance of strays and the fact that we cant flush ANY toilrt paper down the loo (trash cans only–think about it) are probably the only negatives so far in terms of cultural adjustment. We did see several billy goats grazing on the hillside, though. Jeff had his protein intake by eating a few bugs which held his appetite until dinner.

After settling into our respective sailboats, we grabbed another delicious meal and enjoyed a relaxing night on our boats. At this point, Greece has been the most amazing experience and after riding through Poros, we could go home now, content with the memories so far. How lucky for us that we still have another week to go!

We had a great time at the bar and with Kevin, despite one minor (but hilarious) issue: the dress code at the bar. As we arrived, the hostess stopped Dave to tell him that his shorts were in violation of their dress code. Fortunately, they offered him a nice pair of pants to borrow. He was a good sport and wore them. Picture to come soon…

We have now arrived in Poros, the first island on our sailing trip. (we’re a little behind on our blogging and will tell you about our last day in Athens later). It’s really beautiful here and we have perfect weather. More updates to come soon.

We hope you have enjoyed following us through Europe! We are now safe and secure and touring around Athens. We arrived last night to an action packed excursion. Jeff and I collected our luggage and boarded an over crowded bus ride, in which the driver told everyone, “you must get off” well before our destination point. We rallied ourselves and our gear and found the nearest metro. The metro in Greece wax extremly crowded, but we found our way to our stop! As we exited the metro we were immediately thrust into the middle of a protest, which was on the verge of escalating into a riot! A bit startled and not sure in which direction our next step should be, we bumped into a young man who said, “Foreigners! Be careful that your items are secure and find shelter quickly.” He actually turned out to be from Indiana and helped us navigate the tear gas, angry masses, and our startled confusion to safely reach our hostel. We never found out exactly what was the cause of the short, yet intense protest, but things quickly settled down in Athens. Aftertwards, Jeff and I met up with Matt and Katie and went out for dinner. We were told by an employee at the hostel that the protest was long over and it was now safe to go out. In fact, things were so settled and quiet on the streets that if you didn’t witness the protest it would have been hard to believe that it actually happened. Since then, Greece has been awesome. Stay tuned, there are so many great stories to come.

Talk soon,
Dave

We made it to Maastrict at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon when Jos met us at the train station. The trip was relatively easy, thanks to many kind, English-speaking Nederlanders who helped us navigate the train system. Our next big challenge was fitting our luggage – 5 suitcases – and 3 people into Jos’s very small car. Somehow we did it, but Jos put it best – “unbelievable.” I wish we had taken a picture.

We were then treated to a delicious meal – homemade soup, fresh chicken (in this case, fresh means it came from her son’s chicken farm), salad, beans, frites, ice cream, and wine. It was amazing.

Early this morning, we headed back to Amsterdam – now traveling much lighter, with only a backpack each – to catch a flight to Munich and then on to Athens. We’ll meet up with Matt and Katie there.

A few things we’ve learned so far:

-The Dutch are very tall. Almost everyone we meet is at least 6′ tall.

-They are serious about bikes here in The Netherlands. Every town has bike lanes with their own traffic lights and everything. I’ve already decided that the US needs these.

-In the US, we use “The Netherlands” and “Holland” interchangeably, but that’s not correct. According to Jos, only the Northern part of the country is Holland.

-Airline food sucks. Most people already know this, but it bears repeating.

After 18 hous of traveling, we finally arrived in Maastrict, Netherlands to visit with Dave’s great aunt, Jos.  Offering us great food, Dutch language lessons, and warm beds, Jos has been a great host.  Tomorrow we’re off to Athens for some sightseeing and sailing through the Greek Isles.  We’ll check in again soon.

Jeff and Dave