Travel.

Matt gets married

What a wedding. Here's the setting.

In addition to a commitment to each other, the couple made a commitment to the world.

Matt and Sara are truly unique individuals. Their wedding was the direct opposite of what this NYTimes article. Check out their itinerary and you'll get an idea of how truly unconventional this couple is.

Here's a small sampling of the wedding pictures:

Want more proof? Check out their first dance.

In Colorado

Colorado is incredible. Admittedly, I was a little perplexed when I touched down in Denver. It could have been the combination of an open bar event the previous night, a sleep addled brain caused by a 6:30 am flight, the altitude, or the time difference, but when the plane started descending, all I saw was ... farmland.

Where the heck were the mountains?

I had taken Friday off so I could come in a day earlier and hang out with Matt, an old friend from college. Matt and I were part of a lunch crew that had 3-hour lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays our freshman year of college. When I went abroad to Maastricht, Matt was a crutch when I went through a rough spot while abroad. He was more interested in dressing up in CareBear suits, throwing a Frisbee around, jumping off cliffs into quarries and coming up with crazy ideas.

He's getting married this weekend. Who would have thought??

This was how come Friday afternoon, I was in a rental car, headed towards Estes National Park.

The wedding was on Saturday afternoon, and since I had an entire morning to kill, I linked up with three other friends of Matt’s - all of whom I have never met - and we went for a hike.

We took the convertible. We did this several times throughout the drive with the top down.

We drove around some, finally stopping at a trailhead.

Ran into two llama-like creatures (my term).
Ten minutes later, deeper into the trail, we ran into an entire herd of elk.

Did I mention the stunning scenery?

Next post: Matt gets hitched!

Tourist at 7, cyclist at 8, at work by 9

The title pretty much sums up my morning.

Today was the last peak blooming dates for Washington D.C.'s famous cherry blossoms (known more commonly as "sakura" back home).

I'd never understand the big deal over flowers ...

Given that I'd been in Washington for three seasons now, I still have yet to make the trek down to the Tidal Basin. Decided to make the trip early in the morning today.

This is why I love living in D.C.

I was on my bike at 6:45, arriving at the Tidal Basin just as the sun came up, 20 minutes later.

Even though I am not much of a morning person, I enjoy riding through the city before rush hour. There's really not much traffic save for the occasional bleary-eyed, coffee-drinking and sometimes distracted* driver on the road.

The light this morning was incredible

Washington Monument

I could not resiste a bike shot. Yes, this bike resides in my bedroom with me.

Aside from a few stray freakishly nice days the past week where the temperature broke 70degF, it was pretty chilly this morning. A quick glance at my watch indicated that it was merely 8am, and since I don't usually step into the office until well after 9:30, I decided to do a few sprint laps around Hains Point to warm up.

Having thoroughly warmed up, I turned around and rode past the White House to work, resisting the urge to give the President the one-fingered salute as I rolled by.

Time check as I walked in the office: 8:45am.

My route this morning.

*To the Chevy driver that I chased down on 14th and Q ... I had to teach you a lesson. You just can't turn right without any warning or looking.

Vienna and the AFS connection

The following conversation took place at the train station, when we were about to purchase tickets to Lake Bled for the day:

"Pretty foggy out here. You reckon it'd clear up?"
"Don't think so. Should we skip Bled? It's not like we haven't lived in New Zealand, or seen castles. I bet the sods who rave about Bled have never seen the waters of Perhentian."
"Let's just skip the lake. We can go back to the hostel and drink coffee instead."

This was how we ended up taking an earlier train out of Ljubljana to Vienna.

Except that the fog had followed us five hours north into Vienna as well.
Fine. Pull my leg. It was not like I had a pressing urge to see Vienna anyway.

Yes there were statues, but I've seen enough statues in my life. Neat boulevards and cobblestone roads have also lost their charm. In other words, I was very much disenchanted by all that Vienna had to offer.

Even its window displays of Barbie in haute couture failed to arouse my curiosity.

Instead, we spent the entire (only) day that we had allocated for Vienna, in a cafe.

I had met Petra almost eight years ago, on a bus in New Zealand. We were both AFS students, both young and impressionable, the first time that any of us had been away from our family for an extended period of time.

I remember sitting on the bus at Picton. Petra looked over from across the aisle, smiled, and that was how we became friends. We were inseparable for the duration of the trip, remained in contact throughout the years; I paid her family a visit in Piestany over Easter when I visited Slovakia during my study abroad program in 2004. Before I departed Bratislava, we made a pact that we would see each other again within five years.

As you can tell, we did good on that promise.

It really is reassuring to realize that people don't change all that much. Petra was the same Petra that I remembered from bus trip in April of 2000.

Linger

Like Colin had quoted in a previous email - 'if you do make the coast, you have to, must, I will die if you don't see Dubrovnik. It has to be one of the most brilliant places in the world.' - the Adriatic coast has been absolutely brilliant.

A typical day involved nursing a coffee by the sea for five hours, wandering through old city walls, getting lost in nooks and hidden alleys, and cursing the blasted Lonely Planet maps for its lack of information.

Random alley in Split

The pace of life on the coast is slower - a lot slower than what I am used to, and even now, I have to reassure myself that it is absolutely OK to waste away an entire day. Wander, linger over a meal, watch the world go by, read a book, observe traffic, smile at locals.

The sun was bright when we sat down for coffee, and it was starting to set when we finally departed a few hours later.

Happens all the time. Away from one's routine, one sheds the urge to have to constantly be doing something, to run around like an idiot, and always thinking of the next Big Step.
More on Split here

xxxx

Currently typing this from Ljubljana. The past few days have been heroic travel days.
I can't believe that just five days ago, I was in Sarajevo.
Having been in wee towns the past week and being back in the city has been a bit of a shock to the system.
I can't really put a finger to it, but returning to the city brings about a feeling of dread. Maybe it was because I know that civilization brings me one step closer to returning to the States ...

Ljubljana

I thought of Sim when I saw this flyer ...

Brilliant Dubrovnik

Showing up unannounced at the hostel, the owner, Dobrysch did not seem the least bit surprised to find a couple of bedraggled, soaked backpackers at his doorstep.

His wife welcomed us in with slijovivica, a shot of plum brandy, and huge plates of cookies. The hostel was unlike any that I have visited - and it allowed me a glimpse into the daily routine of a Croat family.

Dubrovnik receives 300 days of sunshine a year, and it so happened that January and February are the two months that are the worst. Worst being 12 degC.

As I was waiting at the bus station to get to Old Town, an old lady bundled up in a woolly coat tugged at my blouse and asked if I were cold.
Responding that I had just came from Sarajevo where it was below nine, she replied: But you are not from Sarajevo.

Old Town is stunning. It is designed with a pathway in the middle (called Placa), with little alleys branching from Placa.

It absolutely poured with rain the first two days we were there. Waiting out the rain by the palace, I made friends with a cat who seemed to have a keen interest in my guidebook ... or maybe it just wanted my lap.

We woke up to bright blue skies and sunshine the third day.
Charging out of the house, we went up to the City Walls. As it was the off-season, we had the entire place to ourselves.
I could not imagine being in Dubrovnik any other way.

Like Florence, Dubrovnik's orange and red roofs are immediately recognizable to those who have visited.