When you get to Cairo, whatever you do…DO NOT, we repeat, DO NOT rent a car from Budget and drive to your hotel as planned. Not only will the Budget guy be the shadiest character you have ever encountered, but your “2008 car” will actually be a 2003 Daewoo with stained seats, broken windows, a large crack in the windshield, a non-functioning radio and nothing but zip-ties in the glove compartment that were probably used for previous kidnappings. Also, since the Budget “office” is actually a 3 ft-by-3 ft glass box filled to the brim with cigarette ashes and broken dreams and absolutely no maps of the city of Cairo, you will be forced to drive 15 miles with two forty-year-old Egyptian men ( in your one remaining back seat not occupied by your luggage) instructing you which roads to take to your hotel. After you drop these random men off in the middle of the “highway” and watch them run across 8 lanes of traffic, you will then have to drive an additional 35 miles to your Le Meridien Hotel Motel 6 while surviving and/or avoiding camels, horses, everyone driving in-between marked lanes, long stretches of road without marked lanes and men hoisting 10-foot tables over “highway” medians.
Long story short…DO NOT rent the car. Take a cab. Take a bus. Heck, take a camel for all we care. The car is a BAD IDEA. Trust us.
And so we made it to India! Being that this was my second time, I knew what to expect. Katie, however, despite my attempts to warn her that we were not going to be staying in the St. Regis and strolling among Valentino, Chanel and Versace, was not quite prepared for the culture shock that any first trip to India brings. I suppose it all started off with our trek from the Delhi airport to our hotel in Sohna-Gurgaon. We arrived into Delhi airport around midnight after an 8-hour flight from Seoul (our connection from Beijing) then had approximately a 2-hour drive to Sonha-Gurgaon. After a broken conversation with the “Tourism Police” (the only people in India who don’t speak English – go figure), our car finally arrived and we began driving toward the boondocks of Northern-Central India. As evident by the “road” we are driving on (below), I will use that term loosely to describe the state of pavement upon which much of our driving took place.
We passed buses packed to the brim such that numerous passengers were sitting on the roof,
people living in straw and cow-dung huts along the side of the road,
and of course, the obligatory street scammers who rushed our vehicle and tried to open every door, break the windows and do anything to get to us when our driver got out to pay a toll
(they look friendly here, but this actually gave Katie several nights of nightmares as they really did try to open every single door on our vehicle and tried to break the windows). Needless to say, Katie basically had the shakes anytime we ventured out of our hotel compound. But of course, there is a lot to see in India and we weren’t going to let a little fear get in the way of our next world wonder. After a day of R&R to sleep off some jet lag, eat some food and try to decompress from our shaky arrival, Katie and I hired a car and a guide to take us to Agra for the day. The trip to Agra was only about 170 km (~105 miles) but it took us around 3-4 hours due to the poor state of the roads en route. After traversing “highways” with speed bumps, cows and wild dogs, we found ourselves in the former capital of India with plenty of culture to soak in.
The first and most obvious stop in Agra is the Taj Mahal. A 75 meter tall architectural work of art built by Shah Jahan for his “favorite wife” (I sure wonder which one my favorite will be… just kidding!!!). Upon hearing of the story of the Taj, Katie promptly asked me when I would build her a similar monument. The answer was easy, “have 14 kids, die, and then I’ll think about it” (Mumtaz Mahal died while having her 14th child and this was her tomb).
There’s no way to drive directly to the Taj due to pollution restrictions, so once you get within a mile or so, you need to drive a horse the last little bit. Though I may have an equestrian or two in my family (Gen – page 13 – top center), I seem not to know the first thing about horses. Katie however, clearly showing her inner “Western Pennsylvanian” seemed to fare quite well.
After a few wild and crazy maneuvers with Katie behind the reigns (just kidding, she was extremely safe), we pulled up to the Taj Mahal. After paying our “Foreigner Admission Price” of 750 Rs (the Indian price is 20 Rs) we crossed into the courtyard and were astonished by what lie ahead.
Though pictures truly don’t do it justice, the Indian white marble glistens beautifully in the light making the entire monument look like a surreal Hollywood backdrop. Apparently when it was built (before the pollution, wear and tear) the Indian marble reflected 100% of the light shone upon it. Unlike Italian marble (which is softer and porous) Indian marble is crystalline and much harder. …I know, I’m a nerd for enjoying the geology but I thought it was interesting). Evidently the best time to visit the Taj is on a full moon (the only time it is open at night) because the glow of the moon illuminates the marble in the darkness of its surroundings.
After making complete fools of ourselves in our wedding garb, Katie and I wanted to scream TOURISTS even louder: we decided to get the famed “holding the tip of the Taj” picture. We took our turn (apparently everyone takes this picture), and once we were thoroughly pleased being ridiculous tourists, we decided to take a walk inside to see more of the incredible craftsmanship. Since the Taj Mahal is a sacred Islamic building, we were required to either remove our shoes or wear these little shoe-covers (incredibly stylish, don’t you think?) out of respect.
We happened to notice the inlaid gems in the many reliefs along the walls. We’ll talk more about them in a minute.
After an awesome 80’s jump-high-five celebrating yet another world wonder conquered by the Wedding of Wonders, Katie and I left the Taj to see the rest that Agra has to offer. We stopped by a Mughal rug manufacturer and learned all you would ever want to know about Mughal rugs. They’re really quite amazing and very affordable! Katie and I will without a doubt be placing a special order for one once we know where we’ll be living a year from now and what our apartment will look like (or at least the very small percentage of our apartment that isn’t covered with designer shoes and handbags).
I briefly mentioned it earlier, but we were really amazed by the of gem inlay utilized in the marble reliefs scattered throughout the Taj. It turns out that this work was contracted by Shah Jahan out of a small village in Persia and has since been kept within a single family of craftsmen.
We had the opportunity to visit the training facility (and of course, storefront) of this family (now somewhat large at 400 people) and saw firsthand the incredible dexterity required to produce such Lapidary art. We also learned that allegedly, the largest ever Taj Mahal-style building in the world is about to be constructed somewhere in (you’d never guess) New Jersey, and that 150 of the 400 people in the world skilled at this art will be in the US for 7 months performing all of the stone inlay work.
After a long, exhausting day in 100+ degree heat, Katie and I were fried and ready for our air-conditioned ride back to Sohna-Gurgaon. Again, peering out the window we reflected on just how different India is from anywhere we’ve ever been. We had just witnessed the Taj Mahal, one of the cleanest, most opulent monuments in the world, then directly outside its gates, people struggling to eat each day. The drive to our hotel passed through some very rural areas in India far poorer than anything I had seen in Delhi. Though the pictures don’t capture anything near what we had seen, India really is a conundrum. We wondered how a place so chaotic and without order, can have such content, happy people. It seems that the intense spiritual nature of Indian culture creates a sense of calm confidence that supersedes anything material. …Maybe that’s a little too Eckhart Toll, but almost everyone in India is incredibly happy and very proud.
In any event, India was a great stop along our journey and we look forward to our next one. See you at the Pyramids!!!
Like most of our trip thus far, our stop in China came and went at the blink of an eye. As you can probably tell from our delayed posting, we ran around Beijing for three days attempting to see as much as possible before moving onto India. Our first stop in China was the unbelievably enormous Forbidden City which is located right in the heart of Beijing. Since the recent Olympic Games greatly increased the number of English-language signs throughout the city, we opted for public transportation instead of hopping in a cab. The transit system, albeit incredibly crowded, was perhaps the cleanest system we have ever encountered and much easier to navigate than the train lines in New York or Philadelphia. For only 2 Yuan (approximately $.30 USD) a passenger can travel the entire distance of the line and get to pretty much any location throughout Beijing. Only a few short stops from our beautiful hotel (more on that later) and we were right in the heart of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
We made our way through the throngs of (mostly Chinese) tourists and past the main gate (aka The Meridian Gate) to the sprawling courtyard. Once inside this first gate, you are almost guaranteed to be swarmed by handfuls of locals attempting to sell you anything and everything from popsicles and traditional breads to paper fans and trinkets. One young lady attempted to sell Mike her services and we’re still not exactly sure what those services were, but the proposal did end with a wink. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Once we made it past the tourist trap area (i.e. into the area that required an admission fee), we entered the interior portion of the Forbidden City and into the heart of the Emperor’s Palace.
It is simply impossible to put into words just how absolutely enormous this entire compound looks when you are standing in the center of everything. As you pass through each gate, you think that you’ve reached the end, but it continues even farther to another section even larger than the previous one. Once we reached the opposite end of the Forbidden City, we indulged in a couple of red bean popsicles (quite interesting) inside of the Emperor’s garden and enjoyed watching the crazy characters that passed us as we people watched.
After a few hours in the summer sun and scorching heat, we were beginning to get a little too red (no pun about communism intended) and decided that it was time for some shade. We found our way out of the Forbidden City (after another run-in with the girl that tried to proposition Mike earlier in the day), made it to the nearest subway station and headed back to our hotel. Now, I must say…after staying in some fabulous hotels along the way, this one definitely takes the cake thus far. The JW Marriott Beijing is an amazing hotel just steps from a high-end mall, a subway station, and a few great restaurants. Our room (we were kindly upgraded to a suite) had 2 bathrooms, high-end L’Occitane bath products and an enormous cushy king bed. But what really blew us away was the kindness of the staff. Each time we entered or exited the hotel, we were greeted with a warm smile and enthusiastic ‘hello’ or ‘enjoy your day’. Security was on high alert since numerous United States officials were visiting for a meeting about energy consumption and the impact of the US and China on global warming, but the staff did whatever they could to limit the hassle of having to go through the metal detector before entering the building as well as the excessive amount of security on site throughout our stay. Once we made it back to our room, we decided to go online and book our visit to the Great Wall. There were a number of options through the government-owned tour agency, but we decided to avoid the most popular section of the wall (the Badaling section) and book a visit to the less-crowded section known as the Mutianyu section. We scheduled our tour for the next morning and went to bed completely fried after our day out in the heat.
The next morning we went down to the lobby to wait for our tour guide Alice and we stopped to chat with the Concierge about where to find some good Peking duck once we returned. He made us a reservation at a place called China Lounge where the chef used to work at one of the most famous Peking Duck restaurants in China. Before we left for our tour, he asked us if we had seen the Acrobatic show in Beijing before. When we told him ‘no’, he insisted that we squeeze in a show before leaving the next morning. We agreed and added it to our long list of things to see and do that day. Shortly thereafter, Alice finally arrived with the rest of the tour group and we made our way out of the city and into the more rural area on our way to the Great Wall. Almost two hours later, we pulled into a small parking lot and next to a small building (also owned by the government) where workers produce Cloisonné pieces pretty much around the clock.
We were given a quick tour of the facility where they showed us the numerous (and extremely labor intensive) steps necessary to produce items ranging from vases and bowls to bracelets and chopsticks.
We were then escorted into the “gallery” where we were welcome to purchase (of course) some of the items that we had just seen throughout the production process. We grabbed a few souvenirs and then hopped back on the bus for the remaining drive to the Great Wall.
Once we arrived at the wall, we made our way through a throng of kiosks where people once again tried to sell us more souvenirs and past one sad looking camel until we finally arrived at the cable car that takes you to the top of the wall (and thus avoiding 1400 steps which my still swollen toe certainly could not handle). The ride to the top was slightly scary (I’m a huge baby when it comes to heights), but it was certainly worth it.
The view from the top of the Great Wall was absolutely breathtaking. Unlike other wonders we had visited, the actual wall is free from tourist traps and sales pitches and you are able to appreciate the beauty of everything around you. Although we stumbled upon other tourists from time to time, there were large chunks of time when we had a piece of the wall all to ourselves. It is difficult to describe, but the entire experience was amazing. We took advantage of the privacy and found a good place to take our wedding photos. Mike had to completely change into his tux (I thought it would be pretty funny if he got arrested for stripping down on the Great Wall), but I decided to put my dress on over my clothes. Aside from a small group of Chinese tourists who passed us at one point (and giggled at Mike getting changed), it was a rather successful photo shoot. Since the timer on the camera is only 10 seconds, it is pretty hilarious watching us attempt to get our necessary photos. I typically stand in place (since my dress is long and difficult to run in) while Mike hits the button on the camera and quickly runs (sometimes a decent distance away) into the frame. As we were taking our photos, a large crowd started to form on the steps leading up to the guard tower closest to where we were looking absolutely ridiculous. At one point, a guy from Holland finally came over and said “I’ve laughed at you guys enough. Would you like me to snap some photos for you?” So, yeah… we caused quite the scene. Long story short, we got some absolutely amazing shots on the wall.
Once we were finished taking our photos, we changed back into our street clothes and walked back to the cable car so that we could meet the tour group back at the bus. We were somewhat accosted by a handful of women attempting to sell us T-Shirts that said “I Climbed The Great Wall” on our way back down, but we made it through the market without buying anything, which was pretty impressive considering the overly aggressive selling tactics.
The bus snaked its way back through the small farming and fishing villages until we finally arrived back in the city. Since we were cutting in close on time, we were dropped off directly in front of the theater so that we could catch the Acrobatic Show before dinner. As we entered the theater, we were quickly ushered up to the front of the auditorium and into the “VIP” section at the front. (VIP = Western tourists who bought their tickets through the hotels that pretty much keep the acrobatic show in business.)
After listening to quite a few tracks from a traditional Chinese music CD (okay, maybe it was actually more than half of the Hilary Duff album), the lights finally dimmed and the show began. We expected to see something very similar to the acrobatic show in Epcot, but boy were we wrong. The gymnasts, contortionists and acrobats who performed were unbelievable and pulled off some pretty incredible stunts for a somewhat small stage.
At one point, there was a guy standing on a rolling board with a table on his shoulders that held another guy on top of it who was also standing on a rolling board who managed to fling multiple bowls onto his head without falling 20 feet to his death.
After the Acrobatic Show, we made our way to dinner at China Lounge. The restaurant was somewhat buried off of the main road and not exactly in the heart of the city, but when you walk inside, you feel as if you are right in the heart of everything. The decor was über modern and the vibe incredibly upbeat, which was a good sign of what was to come. The hotel called ahead and ordered our Peking Duck in advance (since it takes an hour to prepare), so we ate almost immediately. All I can say is: Oh. My. Gosh. The duck was perhaps one of the best dishes we have ever eaten. It was certainly a fabulous (and yummy) way to cap of an exciting and fast-paced visit to China.
The next morning we packed our bags and headed to the airport. It was an extremely quick stop on our trip, but we will definitely be heading back to China again in the near future. India here we come!
In response to the thousands of concerned emails (okay, maybe just one from Mike’s mom), we just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and well. We have been running around like crazy people in China and India (we are waiting to board our flight to Egypt now) and will upload our trip stories from Beijing and Delhi shortly.
We are having a fantastic time so far and appreciate all of the comments and supportive emails from all of you, so keep ‘em coming! We look forward to filling you in our recent adventures once we arrive in Cairo.
In true Katie and Mike fashion, our trip to China started off with quite a bit of excitement. Since we knew that there was a problem with my entire around the world ticket, we made sure to arrive at the airport as early as possible just in case there were any major issues at check-in. We arrived at the Air China counter at 6:51AM (3 hours and 4 minutes before our 9:55AM flight) and waited for a check-in attendant to acknowledge us. After a few minutes, a rather obnoxious woman told us that check-in did not begin until 3 hours prior to boarding. Mike glanced at his watch, noted the time of 6:53AM and replied “so, in 2 minutes, then?” and smiled at the woman behind the desk. She responded with “yes, 2 minutes” and proceeded to flirt with the male attendant behind the desk for the full 2 minutes until she was officially on the clock. After a (thankfully) uneventful check-in process, we made our way to the airport lounge so that we could grab some breakfast (the automatic pancake making machine was pretty awesome) and take advantage of the free wireless for the next 2.5 hours until our plane was scheduled to board.
While boarding our 10-hour flight to Shanghai (en route to Beijing) from Sydney, we watched as the people in front of us were stopped by crew members and scanned with infrared “guns” on their foreheads. It was incredibly confusing at first, but apparently this is standard practice in China so that they are able to monitor each passenger’s temperature and check for sickness (H1N1/Swine Flu in particular) before allowing each person on the plane. We too were subjected to the scanning process as we approached the airplane door and tried our best not to laugh at how ridiculous the entire process appeared since the infrared gun looked almost like bar-code scanners at the grocery store checkout. After it was determined that we were not in fact attempting to smuggle the next big pandemic on-board, we were permitted to make our way to our seats and prepare for the extremely long flight ahead of us. I must say, even with the language barrier between us and the Air China crew (some announcements were made in both English and Chinese while others were made in only the latter), the service was absolutely fantastic and the flight crew made us feel at home for the entire flight (the warm towels scented with cucumber were a nice touch before and after meals).
Upon landing in Shanghai, we were told that the H1N1 Hazmat Crew (not actually what they were called, but the name seemed rather appropriate to us) would come on board and take every passenger’s temperature once again before allowing us to leave the plane. We parked at the gate and watched as 3 men wearing full biohazard suits entered the plane with the same infrared guns we had seen when we boarded the plane in Sydney. They proceeded to test the pilots and flight crew before moving onto the passengers. After scanning the passengers sitting in the rows before us, they finally moved on to Mike. He got the all clear. Then it was my turn. After scanning my head with the infrared gun, the Hazmat Crew looked at each other and called out to their partner who had the regular thermometer. Crap. This hadn’t happened to anyone else before us. The entire Business Class section of the plane was now staring at me as if I was diseased. The Hazmat worker with the thermometer made his way over to me and told me that I had not passed the infrared test and that he would have to perform the second test just to make sure I was okay. (Aside from the fact that the plane was 100 degrees, I felt totally fine.) After a minute or two of panic, they decided that I was not an incubator of plague and moved onto the next potential pandemic-carrying passenger. After about 30 minutes of waiting, the Hazmat Crew found a potential problem in the back of the plane. Everyone in our section was pointing, staring and gossiping about what was happening in the back, but we could not see what was going on or understand what everyone was saying. After another 15 or so minutes, they decided to let the Business Class section exit the plane, but kept the entire Coach section for further testing.
We made our way to customs at the Shanghai airport and up to the customs official. After thumbing through Mike’s passport for a few moments, the official noticed the Mexico stamp towards the back. He looked up at us, looked back at the passport and asked Mike “When go to Mexico?” Thankfully we had scrapped our Mexico plans for this trip and were able to diminish the fears of the official by letting him know that it had been more than 3 years since Mike had last been to Mexico City and thus was not subjected to the recent H1N1 outbreak. We made it past customs and back to our gate (and back to our same plane) to wait for our 2-hour flight to Beijing. The back of the plane (which had been left behind for further testing and possible quarantine) was still waiting for the results of the H1N1 testing and had been given masks to wear while remaining in the jet-way so that the crew could prepare the plane for the second leg of the journey. After more than an hour of waiting, they were finally cleared and were permitted to make their way to customs as well. Phew. We weren’t all going to die of the Swine Flu after all.
Our second flight was somewhat uneventful. Mike and I slept most of the way and woke up just before landing in Beijing. No more infrared scanning this time around, so we quickly made it off the plane and into the Beijing International Airport to retrieve our bags. After a quick baggage scare (we didn’t know that we had to get our baggage from the opposite side of the terminal), we finally made our way into a cab. We had the information desk at the airport translate the hotel address into Chinese, but our cab driver still did not understand where we needed to go. A quick call to the hotel (so that the hotel staff could give the driver directions in Chinese) and we were finally on our way after an exceptionally long day.
Once the weather finally broke, Katie and I were ready to go take on Sydney. It really is a beautiful city – very clean, very organized, very walkable – overall, an extremely livable place. People here seem very nice and the diverse makeup of the population results in a great array of different restaurants. Having such great food options at our fingertips, Katie and I just can’t resist. We had been on the wait list for Tetsuya’s for quite some time (we had just missed their 2 calendar month reservation date) but we were able to secure a reservation at Quay, a beautiful restaurant literally on Circular Quay. We were seated in a circular glass room on the top floor of the building overlooking the Sydney Harbour, and were dazzled by the chef’s signature degustation menu. He had gracefully incorporated everything from ‘pearls of the ocean’ (various seafood in spherical shape) to an incredible mud crab soup to seared pork belly that would just about make anyone’s mouth water. It was an excellent dinner to start our experience in Sydney.
The next morning, we were ready to get our signature Sydney wedding pictures in front of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We scouted out a few great locations but found eventually that Mrs. Macquarie’s Point (named after Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair) was the perfect destination. At each location we take a few different shots, some conventional, some kissing and some just being silly. At this location, we were going for a jumping photo. Being that Katie has a broken toe (and has been limping like a poor crippled old lady), she would not be doing much jumping so it was left to me to do enough jumping for both of us. Now I know what you’re thinking, why would they chose a jumping picture if Katie has a broken toe? Great question, I was wondering the same myself but it was Katie’s idea, and I’ll never turn down an opportunity to be ridiculous, so I was in. Again, after some ill-timed jumps on our own (and again causing a complete scene), a friendly Aussie offered to take a photo of us and things turned out perfectly.
We then took a drive to nearby Sydney Harbour National Park and checked out the view from Bluefin Lookout Point. It’s a great spot to look back at all of Sydney from afar and see the entire harbor. There were sailing classes in the foreground, cruise ships in the background, and a beautiful scene for a picnic (of course, the eco-friendly Aussies even had a special trash can entitled ‘Picnic Rubbish’ to accompany the usual glass, plastic, cans, paper and trash receptacles). There were also about a million signs informing us that going any faster than 10 kmph would result in the unsightly and untimely death of bandicoots. As a point of reference, only 1 bandicoot has succumed to the perils of the road in 2009. Yosemite, on the other hand, puts up a sign in the park for each bear killed by a car – in 2008 there were 24.
As the evening drew nearer, we thought it would be grand to cruise through the Harbour around sunset and have a look at the sights all lit up. Accompanied by a group of about 25 Japanese tourists, we set out on a ‘cocktail cruise’. It was a very pleasant route through the harbor and truly a great way to see Sydney at night (since it’s winter, the sun set sometime around 5:00 PM).
So it is after a great overall experience that we say goodbye to Sydney. We’ll certainly be back to Australia soon, but staying much longer and exploring the entire country (hopefully when Katie doesn’t have a broken toe). We’re off to China on a flight much longer than I had thought (12 hours of flying from Sydney to Beijing). Talk to you all then!
We’ve made it to Sydney! Normally the biggest challenge crossing the Pacific Ocean and the Equator simultaneously is simply the flight time, but in true Katie and Mike fashion, we decided to make it a little more difficult on ourselves. For those of you wanting to travel to Australia from the US, you do, in fact, need a visa. In all of the planning and preparation, I had thought I had everything under control and we were completely prepared to enter every country on the list — but apparently I hadn’t been completely thorough. I had entirely forgotten to get Katie and I Australian visas and there we were, standing at the United check-in line without permission to enter the country we had tickets to fly to… yep, really smart of me…
Fortunately for us, we had the most helpful airline attendant EVER, Colette Wallace (if you’re reading this, thank you so much!), who quickly managed to get us visas as we were standing there about to check in. We then realized that US Airways (again, the worst airline ever) booked Katie’s entire ticket (all 16 flights) under the wrong name. Needless to say, without Colette’s help, we probably would not have made it.
But we’re here, and extremely excited for our first international destination of this trip! The flight (albeit long) was actually quite pleasant and relaxing, and everyone we have met here have been tremendously kind. My only complaint thus far has been the weather — it is pretty rainy — but we have a fabulous room that overlooks the Opera House and every once and again a break in the weather gives way to a beautiful rainbow.
Regrettably, we have suffered our second injury on this trip: Katie’s left foot. After traversing the treacherous Yosemite trails completely unscathed, the perils of a suitcase holder in our hotel room got the best of Katie. She accidentally kicked the luggage holder when walking and as a result, has a broken and bruised pinkie-toe. Fortunately we still have the ace bandages from my arm wrap so we’re prepared, and we’ll use this rainy weather as an excuse to rest, recover and for me to take my finals for this term at Duke.
As you could probably guess from Katie’s French Laundry post, the following morning we woke up with one of the worst food-hangovers we’ve ever had. You know that feeling that you don’t want to eat ever again? That was basically us (though I must admit, sometime around 2 PM I broke down and started eating the shortbread cookies and chocolates that TFL had packed up for us — what can I say? Fat kid). After we packed up (which included our extremely disgusting clothes from Yosemite), we headed out to see the sights of The Bay Area and grab a few beautiful pictures along the way.
While still in the Napa Valley, we wanted to duck into a nearby vineyard and grab that classic Northern California wedding shot in front of rows and rows of grapevines. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the sight of vineyards, rolling hills and beautiful mansions – wine country is really an amazing place to be. The rustic feel of farming but with the class of fine wine and cheese – a great balance for us city kids.
As we headed south, I thought it would be really nice to stop by Muir Woods, a beautiful forest reserve named after the first president of the Sierra Club, John Muir. With trees over 250 feet tall, 14 feet wide and 1000 years old, it’s a pretty humbling place.
And last but not least, what would the San Francisco area be without its most famous landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge? Certainly an icon we wanted to capture, Katie and I parked near one of the vista points, grabbed our tripod and set off to get the perfect photo. Now, one important thing to note about these photos is that we are limited in the distance and obstacles that I am able to cover between the time I push the button on the camera and when I am standing next to Katie (I have a 10 second fuse). So far there have been a few long runs (Mono Lake and even Muir Woods), but never one with an obstacle. You can’t see it here, but Katie and I are actually standing on a bench that is behind a railing – which meant that I needed to sprint, jump the railing, land on the bench, turn and pose all in 10 seconds. Now, since I’m much more like Jason Wade than Angelo Taylor, this isn’t exactly the easiest feat. Being that we were in a fairly touristy location, we had an audience of people, watching and laughing as I was tripping, falling and looking like a complete idiot trying to get into position in time. After a few minutes, a very nice couple of German tourists offered to help us out and take the photos for us. Vielen Dank, Fritz! You saved me from what would have been yet another Wedding of Wonders injury!
We drove from the bridge to the airport as the sun was setting, reminiscing on our wonderful 4 days spent in California. We saw everything from the desert to the mountains, ocean to forests, 100-degree heat to snow, and small towns with only 150 people to the diverse city of San Francisco. California is a huge state with something for just about everyone. We’ll miss you California, but we’re off to see the world! Talk to you from Sydney!
Our long-awaited meal at The French Laundry in Yountville, California has come and gone and we (barely) lived to tell about it. That may sound ridiculous since it’s only food, but considering the fact that we decided to go with their extended tasting menu, it was more like a marathon than a meal. We spent the morning sleeping in and recovering from our Yosemite torture trek and woke up in time to blog for a bit and head up to Yountville for our 5:30PM dinner reservation.
Now, I’ll say up front that we had extremely high expectations for our meal at TFL, but I do not think that they were unrealistic expectations at all. While we have had the opportunity to dine at some of the best restaurants all over the world, we are pretty easy to please when it comes to food (from diners to Denny’s to Daniel, we can enjoy meals across the restaurant spectrum). Long story short, it pains me to say this, but we were somewhat disappointed by our experience at The French Laundry.
Considering all of the things that we had read and heard about TFL paired with the extremely difficult reservation process, we expected one of the best meals of our lives. The overall meal fell short, not because of the quality or preparation of the food, but the quality of the experience. Once you get a reservation at TFL (that is, IF you can get a reservation), you have a choice of picking from the 2 daily menus (Chef’s Tasting and Tasting of Vegetables) or living large and going for the extended tasting. Since we are definitely doing our best to make this the trip of a lifetime, we went for the extended tasting. After making this decision, the staff asks if there are any types of ingredients that you really love so that they can tailor the meal to YOU. We told them about our trip around the world and asked if they could try and incorporate international flavors into our dining experience. I’m not sure if they simply failed to deliver the message, but nothing about our meal seemed tailored to us AT ALL. Don’t get me wrong, the food was well-prepared and beautifully presented; however, the overall menu seemed to be cut and pasted from menus past in an almost haphazard fashion. It was wonderful to have the chance to taste some TFL staples that we had always heard about (salmon cornets, “oysters and pearls,” salt tasting, bread and butter, “coffee and donuts,” etc.), but the rest of the dishes (especially the heavier meat courses) lacked the very creativity and passion that we flew across the country to experience. One of the biggest problems of the meal was the portion sizes (too large, too many starches) and rushed service. About half-way through the meal, I had to start eating only half of my courses in order to make it through and even then I started to feel sick to my stomach from the amount of food being placed in front of me in such a short period of time.
I must say that had it not been for the amazing waitstaff, the general manager (Nicholas Fanucci is funny, approachable and awesome) and the executive chef (Timothy Hollingsworth was super friendly, welcoming and, not to mention, pretty easy on the eyes) at TFL, we would have left feeling almost used and abused. While some guests around us chose to follow a more formal approach to their dinner, we always enjoy talking to the staff and getting a glimpse of each person’s personality instead of giving him or her the cold shoulder. The warm and welcoming demeanor of the staff was certainly the highlight of our entire night.
One of the biggest let-downs of our entire TFL experience was our interaction (or lack thereof) with its owner, Thomas Keller. One of the other tables in the dining room asked if Keller was on-site so that they could get him to sign their menus. The head waiter told them “unfortunately, Mr. Keller is not in the house this evening.” This was understandable considering Chef Keller has another successful restaurant in New York City (Per Se); however, we later learned that this was not the case. We were ushered to the back of the restaurant after our meal for a kitchen tour and there was Thomas Keller himself, standing in a little glass booth overlooking the kitchen. The executive chef was kind enough to pause between plating to take a picture with us, but Keller barely gave us a glance or a nod. This seemed slightly rude to us considering 1) we had just spent way too much money at his establishment 2) I had asked the restaurant months earlier for a picture with Keller if he was in town and 3) they were aware that we had gone out of our way to make TFL a stop on our trip (the executive chef said “Hey! I recognize you guys from your website!”) and were huge Keller fans. I totally understand if chef Keller was in no mood to greet an entire dining room of guests; however, to give us the cold shoulder when we are standing no more than 3 feet away left us with a bad aftertaste. When you have guests coming from across the country to eat at your restaurant, I do not think that a “hello” is too much to ask for, do you?
The next morning we drove back to The French Laundry with our wedding ensembles to pose for our official Wedding Of Wonders photo in front of the restaurant (although, to be honest, we talked about skipping this altogether). Once again we saw Thomas Keller there (he was sitting in the garden less than 15 feet away from where we were posing for our pictures) and he looked just as friendly as he had the night before. We considered asking him to take a photo with us, but decided against it.
Overall, our experience at The French Laundry was not the meal of a lifetime that we had hoped for. The staff did a fantastic job of making us feel as if we were being welcomed into their home, but the lack of personalized attention to detail (it would have been nice to leave with a copy of a menu listing the food we had just eaten) and seemingly generic menus selections made for a disappointing night.
I’ll simply start off by saying that yesterday was probably the craziest day of our lives. As you probably read in Katie’s previous post, we woke up yesterday morning at 4:00AM, drove for 5 hours to Yosemite, took a bus up to the top of Glacier Point, hiked approximately 10 miles (6 hours) to the Yosemite Valley, then got back in our car and drove another 4 hours to Sonoma. …needless to say, it was a long day.
Our early morning drive from Mammoth Lake to Yosemite was absolutely incredible as we weaved our way through the Sierras on Sonora Pass. The diversity of desert, mountain, valley and forest truly speaks to the beauty of California’s Eastern landscape and definitely helps you stay awake when driving on only a few hours of sleep. Miraculously, our time budgeting was accurate and we arrived in Yosemite just a few minutes before our shuttle bus to Glacier Point. The bus ride up gave me a new-found respect for bus drivers as we snaked along narrow cliffs hundreds or thousands of feet above the canyon below (fortunately Katie was sleeping a good portion of the ride because as you may know, she gets a little nervous in ‘dangerous’ situations).
Once at the top, we disembarked from the shuttle and the true adventure began. Early on, hiking was easy, downhill and dry. Katie and I laughed at what terrible shape we are both in for 23-year-olds and we snacked every so often on some trail mix we brought along. All in all, it was a nice walk through the woods, enjoying the landscape and wildlife (including this rattlesnake that crossed the trail in front of us).
The hike continued for about 3 hours as we descended about 8,000 feet, ascended 2,000 feet, crossed a powerful rushing river and made our way Westward toward the Yosemite Valley. Demanding, certainly, but breathtaking and an amazing way to see the beauty and grandeur of the park.
Just as we arrived at Nevada Falls, roughly the half-way point of our hike (and our target destination for our wedding pictures), we noticed some high winds and a large gray cloud above us — not the best thing to see when you’re 5-miles from camp. At first, we thought it was refreshing (as we were both hot and sweaty from hiking) and sat on the rocks enjoying the view of the falls, the valley below and some much-needed wind and drizzle.
Perhaps we were a little naive, or just too tired to make the connection, but gray clouds, high winds and drizzle usually do not come alone and before we knew it, Katie and I found ourselves being pelted by hail. Then the hail accelerated, grew, and the downpour began. Amazed and in awe by the lighting and the echo of thunder throughout the canyon, we ducked between a tree and a rock to take cover and wait it out.
After about 10-15 minutes of very poor cover from the sideways-blowing ice and rain, we realized that waiting was not an option (especially since we had just passed a bobcat taking cover in a cave less than 10 yards away). We sucked it up, grabbed our gear, and started making our way down the steps (this time of year, and during a storm like this, the steps are some steep, slick granite rocks under about 3-4 inches of fast-moving water).
As we were rushing down the treacherous landscape, I fell and landed on my arm. I thought it may have been broken last night and the very nice girl at the pizzeria where we stopped for dinner had her dad take a look since he was a retired EMT who used to work in Yosemite. Fortunately for me, he said that the only potential break was small and if I wake up tomorrow morning and my arm isn’t black and blue, I should be OK (I woke up this morning, and I think all is good).
We kept on pushing and working our way toward the valley. After another 2 hours of hiking (in the rain and hail with somewhat low morale) we found the most impressive sight of our entire journey — Vernal Falls. Vernal Falls is so powerful this time of year that the water gushes over the falls with the force to spray mist everywhere. This makes for an amazing view, but a pretty dangerous climb down mossy, wet rocks.
Eventually, exhausted, battered and relieved, we made it down to the Yosemite Valley and I can honestly say it was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done (running 10 miles is tough, but hiking 10 miles up and down that kind of terrain is an entirely different experience). We got to the car, changed into some dry clothes, and set off for our 4-hour-drive to wine country.
When we finally arrived around midnight we grabbed some medical supplies (including the world’s natural painkiller – alcohol) and went to sleep, completely exhausted. I apologize for the lack of blog last night, but we were a tad bit tired. I must say, that as much as I make fun of Katie for always being a spoiled little princess, she was a real trooper and did not complain at all. Every time we found ourselves in a terrible position, she just laughed, said “Really?! Really Mother Nature?!” I’ve really got to hand it to her — I was extremely impressed.
After some much needed sleep, we woke up this morning (at 11:45! Yeah!), had a very healthy breakfast of chardonnay and brie, and just let our bodies tell us never to do that ever again. Naturally the best side effect of this kind of physical activity is hunger — a lot of hunger. Which conveniently will be fulfilled by our dinner tonight at one of the best restaurants in the world, French Laundry! Katie and I are pretty tired, hungry and overall in the mood to drink 4 bottles of wine, eat 25 courses and be complete gluttons for the rest of the evening. Tonight should be incredible.
So to recap, I offer the following equation:
10 miles + 9,000 ft altitude + 1 bobcat + 1 rattlesnake + 1 bear + 3 deer + relentlessness wrath of mother nature = 1 unbelievable day
So it is with that behind us that Katie and I prepare our appetites for an unparalleled culinary experience (French Laundry has tailored their extended menu to our trip around the world and will be incorporating global flavors into our dinners this evening). Check back for our experience at the restaurant and several wedding pictures tomorrow. Thanks for reading and we’ll talk to you then!
