house pics old and new

This weekend we took some last time family pics at our old 515 home. We'll miss our 17 years there. My family's to love!

the newlyweds:)

And here are some shots from "our" area of the upstairs inside the new house...


living area and bedroom


below our lookout


desk area/laundry and guest/nursery (eventually)



On Sunday we spent some time splatter painting, per Becka's inspiration, to raise money for a nonprofit. I did a couple extra for the baby nursery:) Slowly but surely it will come along!

Home Sweet Home

Visiting Tacoma was super fun, and we finally made it back to CO. We actually live somewhere now! Our travel whirlwind has (basically) come to an end. We have a great setup in the upstairs of my parents' new house in Highlands Ranch, about 15 minutes from our friends the Broweleits and also my midwife and hospital. When I've mustered enough energy, I hope to explore the long, winding walking trails through the neighborhoods/suburbs and swim and bike at the rec center. And crash as many garage sales as possible for baby stuff. We still have a gigantic pile of boxes to sort through, but things are coming together. We're not committed to a certain amount of time to live here, but we sure won't complain if it's longer than shorter! We'll post more indoor pics soon.

My brother got married a few weeks ago to the loveliest Jaya, and we couldn't be happier for them. We can't wait to hang out with them more!

On the baby front, only 10 more weeks until the due date. Karate Kid/Watchamacallit/Big Bird (names it has adapted) is jabbing and growing a lot, and I've recently been getting to know Braxton Hicks contractions. Sleeping is less solid, and there still remain a few pregnancy issues to be resolved, but overall very good. Altitude adjustment so far seems slightly improved, and we're hoping it keeps getting better!
Tim starts at a new Starbucks on Monday, and new milestones will just keep coming. Having a home again is feeling good.

O'Isaacsons in Dublin

The last Europe post! On our way out of Paris we had an overnight layover in Dublin, so we were able to enjoy a few central sights around Merrion Square where we stayed. We perused St. Stephen's Green, a famous shopping street, an old castle, Trinity College, and some great side streets lined with tons o'pubs.



We finally settled on the Vat House for dinner, which was a good, quiet choice. We watched the world dart matchplay championships while eating our Bangers and Mash and Irish stew (can't way Irish food is our favorite, especially coming from Paris!), waiting for the live music to start. Traditional Irish music rocks! The musicians even played a timely bye-bye Boston ballad. It was perfect! See a few more Dublin pics here.

In the meantime, we've landed in Tacoma and are about halfway through our 10-day stay, vising Tim's family, being showered with baby gifts, and seeing as many friends as we can fit in! It's a lot easier for me to breathe here than it was in CO. Baby has entered week 29 and is still jabbing up a storm. Hiccups are a new addition the past couple of weeks as well. Third trimester, here we come!

Mont Saint Michel, Normandy

We took one overnight trip outside of Paris to an old Abbey on an island on the northern coast: Mont Saint Michel. We stayed on the island, which used to be isolated by daily tides but now has a permanent road connecting it to land 24/7. It was still cool to watch the tides run way out into the distance and race in (some French say it's like a herd of horses), with sirens sounding on the island to move your cars from the lower parking lots. In the late evening and early morning after all the tourists left, it felt pretty cool.

We had one of our best meals (crepe menu and famous fluff omelet with Normandy cheeses for Tim) overlooking the coast and enjoyed friendly conversation with a French family at the table next to us. We also took a night tour of the abbey, where live music of various sorts awaited us around every corner and echoed off the walls (could have done without some of the weird neon light effects, though).

For more pics, click here.

Paris

We made it back from our whirlwind tour of Europe with lots of good memories and no mishaps or complaints. The best part was 16 straight vacation days with Tim! The worst thing was a delayed final flight from Boston to Denver, but that didn't really have anything to do with Europe. We made it home after traveling 24 ferocious hours for my brother's wedding with smiling faces and a touch of jet lag. We have lots to blog about in the coming week, but for now we will discuss where we spent most of our time, in Paris.

One of the reasons we went was to visit some of our coolest friends from Boston who now live there, Nico and Alexis. They graciously opened their home to us and provided superb meals, advice and company throughout our stay.

They were able to share in some of our highlights, including a night river cruise along the Seine, a rainy Bastille day morning watching the parade online, a Japanese ballet at the Opera Bastille, the modern art museum Dreamlands exhibit, a sunset picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower, quaint walking tours visiting exquisite Parisian cafes and restaurants, and daily breakfasts at their home.

Other favorites for us included the Orengerie museum where Monet's Water Lillies are on display in breathtaking panoramic force, descending the sparkling Eiffel Tower at midnight, the D'Orsay, walking through the old Marais and Montmarte neighborhoods, crossing paths with Boston friends Soren and John (also on vacation), nutella banana crepes, and Badoit sparkling mineral water. We loved Badoit - as much as we could get! We even tried escargot, and Tim ate all of his Steak TarTar...WowWow.

So now for an overall tally between Paris and Vienna, Tim's final verdict:

Food: Paris - 1 point (Not even close)
Friends: Paris - 1 point

Coffee: Vienna - 1 point

Palaces: Vienna - 1 point (Sorry Versailles. Schonnbrunn forever.)
Romance: Paris - 1 point (Did you see that silhouette picture above?)
Music: Vienna - 1 point (Edelweiss, edelweiss and the unshaven Puchberg marching band.)
Language: Paris - 1 point (No ichs, achs, puchs, or bachs.)
Art: Paris - 1 point
Nature: Vienna - 1 point (The hills are alive!)
Ice Cream: Vienna - 1 point (If only Berthillion hadn't been closed.)

Total Vienna 5, Paris 5. Tim says this, "Although I initially fell in love with Vienna, Paris will stay with me longer. Paris truly is 'a moveable feast'."

For a more complete compilation of Paris pics, click here.

On the Colorado home front, it's good to be home. I've been feeling the altitude, but getting plenty of chances to rest. My parents have sold their house in Monument and are going to be moving into a rental in Highlands Ranch until they can find the house they really want. This means, at least for awhile, we'll be living close to Denver, right by my prenatal care and hospital, much closer to Tim's potential store (still unknown), and just a few minutes from our long-time Tacoma friends, the Broweleits! The adventure continues!

Next up: Our trip to Mont Saint Michel in Normandy.

Wien

Gruss Gott! I think it's time for a Vienna update. (We finally took a night off and have a few free minutes to relax. We may make it to bed before 11pm!) Once I get my Paris photos organized there will be a super-blog, but Vienna was only a few days so I think I can get started. Here are a few highlights from my old undergrad study-abroad stomping grounds.

First, Tim loved it way more than I thought he would. So much so that I'm not sure he's giving Paris a fair running. You'll get to see a competition breakdown list at some point from his perspective between the 2 cities, but for the moment, Vienna had way more points. Paris is catching up quickly though.

We stayed at a Pension in the 8th Bizerk where I lived in 2001 with Steph. The first day we started off by going the wrong way on a Strassenbahn street car (oops!), until we found the correct tour of the Ringstrasse. That's the road that formerly was the old city wall around the city center. We got off walking by the Rathaus (city hall), where that discovered that we could enjoy a free giant outdoor screening of a modern Don Giovanni that night. We came back at 10 and ate a formidable pancakey desert called Kaiserschmarren while watching the Italian opera. Mmmmm! After a quick stop for ein melange (Viennese coffee) and topfenstrudel (cheesy dessert), we climbed the 343 steps up Stephansdom church for a great view of the city.

Over-caffeinated from the melange, Tim tried to wrestle this oar away from a statue.

Next, we continued to the Hofburg palace where the Hapsburg family ruled much of Europe way back, oh I don't know, when. There were lots of Herculean statues around the palace grounds, and this ferocious fountain.

We also toured the family treasury, wow. Talk about bling.

And couldn't forgo a world reknowned geback (pastry) cafe, Demel, with blueberry violet ice cream. Yes please!!

Day 2 was palace day, starting at the Belvedere palace and Austrian artist museum (Klimpt's Kiss - stunning - is there), breaking at the Naschmarkt for kebabs. After lunch we stumbled upon my old favorite cafe Sperl for a Groser Brauner (double espresso) and my soda Himbeer (raspberry), and finished at Schonnbrunn palace. We also found this cute street where Tim looked at antique books.

Our pension was by Tim's favorite church, Votivskirche (see below). Votivskirche was built supposedly in thanks of teenage Emperor Franz Joseph's survival of an assassination attempt. Tim says if someone tried to stab him as a teenager he could have only afforded to build God a "thank you" diorama.Day 3 was on to Puchberg (read: pook-berg) am Schneeberg, a 2 hour train ride west toward the Alps. We took the Salamander Schneebergbahn up the mountain for an incredible "hills are alive" mountaintop experience. Once we escaped the massive crowds for some lesser traveled cliff trails, we were pleasantly refreshed. Puchberg itself, at the base of Mt. Schneeberg, was a little sleepy but we are really glad we went.
On the eve of the world cup final, we were engaging in our own fussbol tournament at an outdoor restaurant. Tim won the dramatic tie-breaking second game!

(25 weeks)

Our last afternoon back in Vienna, Day 4, we had enough time to stop for the best ice cream in the world, if I do say so myself, Zanoni and Zanoni. Ausgeseich-Yum!
After the 4 day Austrian adventure we're a little tired. We're not slowing down much in France either. But you only Baby-moon once.
More to come!!! We miss everyone and are excited to make it back home!