...Paris, Luxembourg, Koln

 Paris! We met a Brice and Maelle (we stayed with them) and they were wonderful. We spent Valentine's Day there, how cliche, but it was beautiful! Then we spent a few days in Luxembourg relaxing, and we went to a small town, Vianden, with a castle. And finally to Koln, where Carneval was happening.

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Towe

Eiffel Tower from the Seine River boat cruise

Eiffel Tower night light show

Moulin Rouge

Cathedral Notre Dame

Grand Marnier Souffle at La Relegade

Casemate Ruins in Luxembourg

Vianden Castle

Bratwurst in Koln

Koln Dom

European Vacation

 Amsterdam was wonderful! Here are the clogs I purchased:

Brussels:

The Atomium

Grand Place

Center

Grand Place

St Michael and Gudule

Mannekin Pis and me eating a waffle

Me eating a real waffle

Brockel and Weimar

In Weimar, too late for lunch, as usual. So I have to steal a klosse from an Oma.

The pond in Brockel froze, and we got to go sledding!

And make snow angels

Oh yea, I still do wildlife work, too.

Last September I completed a 3rd season with NOAA's Monk Seal Population Assessment Study in the NWHI, as a camp leader on Laysan Island. (Check out older posts) On our way down the island chain, we stopped at a few hotspots that do not get surveyed often for seals and weaned pups.

Necker or Mokumanamana is a rocky island in between the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) and the NW Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). It is very small and composed of basalt rock ledges. It is still a relatively high island. There are no beaches for the monk seals, so they end up hauling out on the rocks, much different from the NWHI. Mokumanamana is known for its plentiful religious heiau and artifacts - meaning that it is a very sacred place to Native Hawaiians, and likely used for many ceremonies. A very interesting fact is that the island lies directly on the Tropic of Cancer and during summer solstice, the sun is at its peak for the longest over this island. A few field campers were lucky enough to go onto the island and do a survey and tag the weaned pups - my 2nd time to go, yay!

 Ray and Darren on the small boat, cruisin' around the island.

Rocky cliffs:

Nihoa Island is about 240km NW of Kauai, another jagged, rocky island where seals haul out. There is only 1 beach and that is of course the popular spot to find seals, especially the moms and pups. This year I got to go on the ledge to check out the few seals there:

Limpets, or in Hawaiian Opihi:

A really neat cave that the boat drivers usually take us in:

And, a blast from the past - the 2009 Laysan Monk Seal Team! Can't wait to see who the 2012 team will be!

Berlin and Bavaria!

In Berlin - really cool city. We stayed for a few days and packed it with museums and other sites like Checkpoint Charlie, The Wall, Memorials, etc. And a Doner a day!

New Judes Memorial - very interesting because it is a bunch of concrete blocks of differing heights, and on a wavy pathway. Great to play hide and seek in. No I didn't write that...


Pergamon Museum - super large Greek and Babylonian structures, really impressive:


Winged Victory (goddess Nike) in the Tiergarten:


Branden Burger Tor:


A berliner in Berlin (also eating currywurst). Ich bin ein Berliner -JKF


Next stop was Bavaria! We stayed in Ansbach, Rothenburg ob der Taub, Munich, and Luzern (Switzerland). And visited other cute villages and Austria.

Giant Breztel from Munich:


Doner in Berlin. They are cheap and delicious:


Anne Frank's grave in Bergen Belsen concentration camp (not in Bavaria, oops):


Rothenburg - the cutest Medieval village you will ever see if your life. Seriously. They still have a pretty intact wall around the whole center, and you can walk it and look through the archer windows. And, a year-round Xmas store that sells German ornaments, etc.


Neueschwanstein in Fussen - Sleeping Beauty's Castle is modelled after this one that Ludwig II built for himself, cuz his childhood castle wasn't enough:


Munich!


My Bday in Munich:


Salzburg, Austria - world's largest Mozart Kugeln (chocolate ball)


Salzburg - in front of the birthplace of Mozart:


Luzern, Switzerland - Lowendenkmal. One of the coolest sculptures I have ever seen. You can really see emotion in the lion.


Luzern - Chapel Bridge:


Fussen:

I'm BAAAAACK! Pictures from European Vacation!

I'm lucky to spend a few months on holiday in Germany! Home base is Brockel (umlauf not available on my American keyboard). The Xmas time festivities are the best - Weihnacht Markts are so cute. I just wanted to hang out at them all day, looking at xmas goodies and eating the food!

Here is a Neues Jahr Gluckschwein - the piggy is a goodluck symbol. So I ate him:



In Hamburg:


In Celle:


In Hanover:


Quedlinburg: