Cappadocia Turkey

Unfortunately it has been impossible to get an internet signal in Turkey, granted we've been in the middle of nowhere but it really has thrown a wrench in my blogging plans.

I still have SO much to describe and post about Berlin, but Turkey has just been so fascinating I can't help but update you on that first.

We spent almost two weeks exploring this ancient town.

I learned towards the end of the trip that Cappadocia is listed in several books as a "must see before you die" city.

In prehistoric periods the first humans constructed tunnels of underground cities in the volcanic rock formations.  All throughout the land you can see these tunnels/caves that have been carved out and visit the underground cities.  Apparently the first Christians escaped Roman prosecution in these caves so there are over 300 churches throughout making it a scared Bible land for many Christian tourists.

We've had terrible luck with all our electronic devices on this trip so either we've lost chargers or broken cameras so we've missed out on some incredible photos, but other people in our group had cameras so hopefully I can still share most of it.

Jason's first weekend off, a bunch of us rented a bus and they took us on a tour to view some of the most famous attractions.  During the week while he worked there wasn't much for us to do since pushing a stroller up these monster hills was giving me a serious backache.  And it wasn't like I was going to explore the dark caves with Harlow by myself, I've seen way to many horror films to do anything like that.

Harlow on the bus

Me checking out the rock forms

 The call this one
The Camel

The Penguins, can you see it?

Behind Jason and Harlow to the left is Napoleon's hat.

Jason embracing the culture

Harlow and Hunter

By the little shop up top we climbed up into another little church

The Church

 View from the tiny church

Me and Maria, Hunter's mama and my saving grace :)

We visited Avanos a city known for it's handmade pottery.  They showed us how they make everything and we were able to take a tour and watch the ladies paint these crazy patterns by hand without a stencil.

Check out this guy sort the clay with his bare hands.

This guy used a foot wheel to make a sugar pot, the legend is you spin the top first then the pot if the top fits you will be married, if not you won't.

We went to one of the many underground cities that was 5 stories under the ground, my camera died but I was able to use someone elses, I just haven't put them on my computer yet, so next post.

For lunch we enjoyed the well known pottery kebobs.  They cook the meat in pottery and use a ball of dough to close off the top, when it's ready to eat they break it open with the blunt side of a big knife.  Delicious!!!!

Watch Jason break it open.

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin!!

Berlin you stole my heart!! When we arrived there was so much snow falling from the sky it felt like we just stepped into a snow globe.  Seriously beautiful white fluffy blankets of snow everywhere.
We checked in to our awesome hotel and headed straight for nearest Christmas market across the street.

This market blew away the ones we saw in Vienna, sadly it was the only market still open after Christmas so who knows how amazing all the other ones were.

Every booth felt more like a real store then just a wooden hut. Some you could actually walk into.

Check out the snow!

This market was also in front of city hall.

We found a little bar inside one of the huts with champagne for $4!!
They had sparkly chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, I was in heaven sipping away while watching the snow fall.  Speaking of heaven there were two ladies dressed as angels with big wings walking around on stilts.  They sprinkled glitter on little Harlow's head and gave us all German fortunes for the new year.  Mine was the word "Life" which was fitting since I've been having a bit of trouble in that department, maybe this year we'll finally have another healthy baby?

It was the perfect way to start off the second half of our vacation and pretend like we didn't experience one of Harlow's massive tantrums on the bus ride in earlier ;)  seriously this one topped them all!

You can't really see how much its snowing in the pictures so take a look at this clip, but you might get a little dizzy, sorry.

No Internet

We've been in Turkey for a week and everything here is just so crazy. We've moved hotels but are still struggling to get an internet connection. Our last hotel was literally right in front of the speaker of the prayer tower and they call for prayer at least five times a day here. One at the crack of dawn, Harlow says "the prayer prayer" so cute.

So I haven't been able to blog all the amazing photos I've taken. You wouldn't believe what we've seen. Yesterday we climbed through an underground city of caves that had five floors.

I downloaded an app on my iPad to blog but when I uploaded the photos everything was blurry. I'll have to do a bit more research to figure out another way to post but I promise I'll give you all the details.

Xoxox

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Auf Wiedersehen Austria

Our last day in Austria we visited the Albertina Museum which had a fabulous Michael Angelo and Picasso exhibit.  We ended up rushing through most of it because Harlow just wasn't in the mood, and who can blame her toddlers and stuffy museums don't often mix.

The rest of the day we spent just trying to soak all of Vienna before we had to jump on a plane to Berlin.  I really enjoyed this city!  I'm a huge Classical music fan so the fact that Mozart was born and raised in Austria was really cool to me.

Here a couple of photos I just snapped of whatever caught my eye.

 The St. Stephan's Cathedral, such an amazing site to turn the corner and see, I could take a million pictures and never capture what it feels like to stand in front of it.

"Awww Jay look at the building with the big red bow on it come on let me take a picture with you in front!"  Check out his face.

 Every single morning we'd wake up and talk about all the sights we hoped to visit that day and Jason would always and I mean always say "Oh yeah and I want to check out that one place called um Star...Star... Books?" He'd try to pronounce it so it sounded like an Austrian landmark.
Starbucks, oh Jason you're an addict.  Harlow now knows how to say Starbuck and can point out the logo.  Nice, nice thing to teach our child.

Harlow was super grouchy all day so things on the trolley eventually ended like this :(

But I forgot to mention the day started out with this!  The absolute best Stracciatella gelato I have ever tasted; like butter, oh so so good!

So I guess it all evens out right?

Schonbrunn Palace

There was so much to see at the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna including one of the oldest zoos in the world.  We spent the entire day there and didn't even get through half.  It's a remarkable building with the most beautiful grounds, although snow covered much of it but I bet during the summer its extraordinary.  

The entrance courtyard had a Christmas market set up where we were able to enjoy homemade rum and hot chocolate, it tasted a bit like gasoline but it was cold outside so the burn in your throat when you swallowed was kind of nice.

We took one of the tours that walked you through 30 of the 1441 rooms in the palace.  They were all furnished and we had portable audio guides that provided the history of each section.  It was exquisite but unfortunately they didn't allow any cameras inside so I can't share it with you but if you're interested in royal history the stories are fascinating!  

Here's a brief history http://www.frommers.com/destinations/vienna/A7781.html

After the tour we walked the garden where a lot of the sculptures were covered to protect them from the elements.

Here are several photos

The way the sun was breaking through the fog and clouds made everything look very surreal, it was lovely.  I wish we would have taken more photos but we both get so caught up and well I'm a terrible photographer.

Hope you enjoyed.

xoxoxo