The Dynamic Downing Duo

Snoopy Come Home, But After You Finish Your Trip

2009-05-28T21:04:00.028-05:00

So I haven't blogged in a month, but the things we saw and did 2 months ago haven't changed, so you are getting the same thing you would have before, just late. But now I have had time to embellish the trip in my mind, meaning the post will be that much more spectacular.

So when we left off, we had just finished visiting the Eiffel Tower at night and were heading for a slumber. The following morning we woke up a little late, due to our lack off sleep the night before. We decided to tour the Louvre and brush up on our classical art. The Louvre is enormous, ornate, and a bit overwhelming. Instead of giving you our thoughts, I will post some of the art work we really liked, and allow you to interpret, or gag at, as you like.

The above paintings we like, but a trip to the Louvre, and the subsequent post about it, wouldn't be complete without the MONA LISA. Which is not that impressive to me, but very famous, and all humans have a weakness for the popular.

The part of the Louvre we both really liked was Napoleon's Apartment. It was a showy display of arrogance, especially when you consider the conditions his subjects lived in, but no point in wasting all that beauty. I hope the pictures below can do justice to what we saw.

The museum was tiring, so we went back to our room and took a nap, and some pictures. The room was rather small with hideous wall paper, but really close to where we wanted to be.

After a quick rest, we set out for another nice walk. We strolled down the Champs-Elysees, which is a beautiful area. The shopping caused Allison's eyes to grow wider and wider, and potentially my wallet to grow smaller and smaller. She ultimately decided window shopping was enough, and that we don't have a house to take out a second mortgage on anyways. Following this route, you run right into the Arc de Triomphe, which I was excited to see for the history behind it. It was nice, but looked better from afar. Our next destination was Mont Marte. It is a huge white cathedral overlooking all of Paris. It was a long walk, I felt like we had been hiking in the mountains when we arrived, but it was worth it. We then walked back to the hotel, had a nice dinner and lamented leaving such a beautiful city. Below are pictures of the Arc and Mont Marte.

The following morning we caught the train from Paris to Brussels. It was an easy trip as they are both in the European Union, making security nil and the currency the same.
The weather in Brussels was rainy, and it felt like Eastern Europe. We were there for a total of 7 hours, and that was all we needed. We were happy to go, the architecture was brilliant, and it was nice to hit Belgium. We spent the day shopping around the Grand Palace, window shopping all the chocolates, and hopping from cafe to cafe trying to stay warm and dry. Below are a few pictures from there, including a statue called Mannekin Pis (I know how to spell mannequin, but this is how they spelled it), which is very famous, but not that cool to see.

That night, we arrived in London and hung out with our host. The following day we slept in, had a disgusting English breakfast, visited Hyde Park, Harrod's and revisited what we had seen before. The English breakfast consisted of fatty ham topped with baked beans, french fries, runny eggs, and nasty sausage. It was fun to try, and did remove our hunger, but more from nausea than nutrition.

Our last day in England was spent at Brighton. A short train ride took us to this nice city on the English Channel. James was able to go with us, which was really nice as we hadn't hung out with him since our first day. We walked the beach and enjoyed the weather, it was a nice relaxing day capping off a very hectic week. Below are a few pictures highlighting the day.

After a quiet train ride back to London, we readied ourselves for the long travel day that lay ahead. The following morning we left London. We departed grateful to our wonderful host, full of wonderful memories to last a lifetime, and with a bug that left us yearning for more. Traveling is more than just an escape from every day life, its a yearlong course in culture accomplished in a week. It is a chance to think about your way of life, and things you are happy to have in your home. It is a way to gain a knowledge of people, a knowledge only gained when you leave your preconceived notions at the door, and realize the myriad of ways people choose to lead their existence. Life is an adventure, and must be treated as such, you cannot wait for experiences to find you, you must aggressively tackle the dreams in the back of your head. Alli and I will always fondly think upon this week, while at the same time forging ahead into what lies before us. What other wonders we can see, what other cultures we can learn from, while always remembering our culture, and the wonders in our backyard.

It was a Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown! Part One

2009-04-05T19:17:00.014-05:00

-It is not often that when you go somewhere for vacation, you end up more tired and needing another vacation when you return. That either means you had a great time, or it was an awfully chaotic trip. Ours was a great trip. The flight to London was very smooth, arriving exactly on time. The trip through customs was quick, and James was waiting to meet us. After quickly dropping off our luggage at James' rather small flat, we ventured out to see London.

This is the Tower of London, a mammoth castle in the heart of London where many royals held their court.

Here is a view of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.

We spent the entire first day wandering around London with James as our tour guide. We saw many sights, including Big Ben, The London Eye, Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and (of course) Buckingham Palace, which was the least impressive famous building we saw all week. At night, we went to Leicester (pronounced Lester) Square and Picadilly Circus. This is the uptown of London. Here we ate Chinese, which was tasty, and not English food, which is very bland. Earlier in the day we had eaten fish and chips, which we loved while on our honeymoon, but loathed in this culinary hell.

The next morning, with James sick in bed, Alli and I set out to tour the Tower of London. This was the most interesting part of our trip. We were able to see where kings slept, beheadings occurred, and all sorts of English history happened. Best of all we were able to learn about Medieval weaponry, where Alli and I were able to help launch a catapult loaded with water balloons, see below.

During this tour, we were able to see many of the crown jewels, which is ok to look, but makes you angry if you envision poor people paying taxes so royalty, born of the right parents, can have extremely expensive "helmets" to wear very sparingly, but never for an actual purpose. Upon leaving the tower, Alli and I wandered around the city looking for a certain building, the Gerkin. It looks like a big pickle, and Alli did not see the cultural worth in viewing this building up close.

After dinner, we headed back to our lodgings early so we could ready our selves for Paris and Brussels.

Monday night I did not sleep at all, for fear of missing our train, and chance, to go to Paris. We rode the Eurostar, through the Chunnel, and under the English Channel, to get to Paris. It took a little less than 2 hours, so the excitement was able to build the entire time. After leaving the Gard du Nord (North Gate train station), we decided we could use our senses in a huge, strange city, to find the Seinne, and eventually our hotel. After two hours, we decided to look at our map, and realized we were walking parallel to the river, but at that moment, luckily for Alli, we ran into a huge shopping center. But luckily for Nate, this shopping center had an overlook of the entire city of Paris. Here we gather our bearings, and our first view of the Eiffel tower!

We then found a way to the Louvre, which was closed, as it was a Tuesday, then went to check in. After finding out they did not have our room ready, we decided to head over to the Notre Dame. This was an amazing building, especially when considering it is around 900 years old. We toured the inside and then went up to the top, where we were able to see the famous bell from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The inside was extremely ornate, but I will not post the pictures on here, as it is necessary to see the pictures on a TV for accurate depth and color. But here are a few pictures of the outside.

It was very cold and windy outside, so after the Notre Dame, we went to check in to our hotel. The hotel was small, but in a very nice location. The elevator was so tiny, Alli and I barely fit side by side. In need of some sleep, we decided a nice nap would make the night a little more memorable.

Refreshed, we left the hotel and headed off to see the Eiffel Tower. We took a lovely walk along the Seinne, which after an hour brought us to the tower. Upon learning we could go up at night, we had a nice dinner right by the tower. French food, much better than English food, it has flavor and ingredients you don't mind eating. In fact, our favorite food was getting baguette sandwiches from vendors around the city. After dinner, we waited in line for an hour to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and it was easily worth it. Just look at the pictures below.

After the tour, we walked home along the other side of the river, it was a lovely day in a beautiful city full of light.

Note: Part two of our trip to be blogged later, this takes way too much time.

Update

2009-03-27T14:36:00.003-05:00

Hi All,
Alli and I are tired, so back at James' we thought we might update once again. For Lara's sake I will not speak British. This morning we had a English Breakfast...ICK. Beans and french fries, and mushrooms, all nasties. We then set out with James to do a little shopping for his school. Next, James had to go to class, and we set off for Hyde Park. It is a beautiful, enormous park, right by Buckingham Palace. After freezing for a while, we went to the most ridiculous store I have ever seen! HARROD'S. It is a luxurious department store in the rich part of town. They had an antique pool table selling for 1 million pounds. A butcher shop with a 176 pound (cost) cut of meat, a 100,000 pound TV, etc. Way expensive. We then did more walking, which I think we have walked 100 miles since coming to Europe. Having a nice time, tomorrow we get to see Bath and Stonehenge.

Safely in London

2009-03-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

We had a nice time, safely here, call on Sunday.

Europe

2009-03-23T15:40:00.003-05:00

Hey All, just an update. Alli and I are here in London at James' house. It is beautiful, and even more interesting. The flight went smoothly and James was waiting right after customs. We went back to his place, dropped off our stuff, and saw the sights. I will blog in more detail of what we saw when we return. Today Alli and I took a wonderful tour of the Tower of London, and wandered around the city, souvenir shopping (for Alli), along the way. Tomorrow we head for Paris for 2 days and nights, then hop on a train to Brussels for one day. Then London for another day, travel the countryside Saturday, and fly home Sunday, will call those relevant when we return.

Happy Travels,
Nate and Alli

Dedication Takes All Forms

2009-02-09T21:11:00.004-06:00

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally!

Alli, the ever dedicated teacher, became an instant hit with all the school when she sported this garb to teach the math principle order of operations. Please excuse my dear aunt sally is the phrase used to for remembering the order, and Alli really hammered that home. Don't worry she cleans up nice, she has to try hard to look this old.

Downing's Are Heading Across the Pond

2009-01-28T19:01:00.002-06:00

Alli and I are packing our bags and heading to London to visit our friend James. We also have plans to rendezvous in Paris, and bask in Brussels. We will be packing a lot into our trip, including seeing London, the countryside, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the UN in Brussels. Pictures will be posted. The only people who check our blog are the people we call and tell, but we were on here anyways. I also thought, maybe Barack Obama will see this and he might want me to increase our foreign relations, just like Thomas Jefferson did 250 years ago. Except I have a wife, so I can concentrate more on the business side than he did.
Also, We have decided we want a dog, but have to wait a long time so we have a house suitable for a dog, at least the decision is made, so I can dream.

Memories

2008-12-14T19:53:00.004-06:00

Soon it will be our 6 month anniversary and over the last six months, we often reflect on our honeymoon. As we have not written on the honeymoon, we would like to give a brief recap while it is cold and snowy outside. Due to our wedding being up north, we waited an extra day to leave Minnesota. After Matt Kesanen (my best man) woke up extremely early to drive us to the airport, we flew into Boston. We rented a car and drove to York, in southern Maine. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast, and really enjoyed the town. While there, we ate lobster, which I loved, but Alli despised. Our next adventure was Acadia National Park. We stayed in Bar Harbor for 3 nights. During our stay, we hiked, kayaked, went whale watching, enjoyed the scenery, and due to being on a honeymoon, tried to relax. Once again we stayed at a lovely B&B. We then drove down the coast to our final Maine destination. This is a funny story, I thought we were staying in Belfast, so when we got to the town, Alli entered the name of the Inn we were searching for, and it came up as being 100 miles away, which I thought was incorrect, until we realized I had the wrong town. So we ended up driving to Brunswick. It was storming, so we had a true veg-out night, we ordered pizzas, watched movies, and caught up on some sleep. The final night we stayed in Boston. It was pretty, except the weather was 96 degrees and humid. We stayed in a wonderful hotel directly across the Charles River from downtown Boston. The following day we left and returned to Minneapolis, already planning our next visit to Maine. The honeymoon was an amazing experience for us to really adapt to married life, as well as do something we both love, traveling.

A beautiful picture on our way to whale watching

Hunter or Gatherer?

2008-12-14T19:48:00.002-06:00

November is deer season in Minnesota, and I always try to get out at least one weekend. The previous week my father had been skunked, so I set out to my stand having no real expectations. Well, only after 1 and a half hours, this buck walked into view and landed on the dinner table. My dad may have been jealous at first, but he was vindicated after all the deer he shot. Also, my brother-in-law Josh was able to come and see the shack during hunting season and help drag the deer. I am not a violent person, but conservation is important and I am happy to do my part. The real trouble will be getting Alli to eat venison.

Colorado

2008-11-02T17:34:00.004-06:00

Alli and I went to CO for MEA weekend. Melissa, my sister, lives in Frederick, which is relatively close to Boulder. The first day we were there, my sister Kristina and her son Nolan, were on the last day of their trip, so with the few hours of overlap we visited Boulder. The following morning Alli, Connor, and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a little hike. This picture of Alli and Connor was taking during the hike. We then met Melissa, Isabel, and Lucas for lunch in Estes Park. Alli and I stayed the night, and the following morning toured around RMNP. We then spent some more time with my sister and her family, eating dinner at a very nice barbeque restaurant. Waking up early, we cruised home. There was a lot of driving, but the trip was great. We were able go see some beautiful mountains, and also some family that we rarely get to visit. It was the perfect trip to help us settle in for a long Minnesota winter.

The Beginning

2008-11-01T18:35:00.000-05:00

Being a rather private couple, this generally would not be the thing this (blogging) family would do, but, upon hearing about our lack of skill in the phone department, a good way to answer all the "What's going on questions?" would be to provide all the answers you could ever want in a nice easy-to-find website.