September 12, 2006

Greetings once again everyone! So, I have just returned from a lovely little trip to Europe. The trip started off as a fabulous conference on stable isotopes where I met some very interesting scientists and discussed my research. the conference took place at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I was actually quite surprised by how nice Belfast is (I think it's changed drastically in the last 10 years). We even had a beautiful day for a field trip up to the northern coast of the island. I must admit, I had been very excited about this field and it did not disappoint me in the least. The Irish countryside really is stunning and we could even see Scotland in the distance! Our first stop on the tour was a rope bridge known as Carrick-a-Rede. This little bridge stretches to a small rock "island" offshore and was initially used by fisherman to catch salmon. It sports views of stunning white cliffs, clear green-blue water and green rolling hills. My, it really was lovely. We even saw a big sunfish in the water!

Next stop was the absolutely breathtaking Giant's Causeway. I really didn't know what to expect and I was quite amazed to find that this oddly-named attraction is actually an old columnar basalt field (~40 million years old) and one can walk along the little octagonal and hexagonal stones and feel like an ant in a giant's world. As an added bonus, it's right on the sea so you can feel the sea spray on your face and enjoy the geology simultaneously. After lunch, we went to the Bushmill's distillery. Now, I am not a fan of whiskey but it was certainly fun going to the oldest whiskey distillery! i liked the smell of the place more than the taste of the whiskey.

So, enough about the conference. After it was all over, I met up with Matt and we traveled over to the west coast of Ireland. We spent a couple of days in Galway, enjoying the sites, listening to local music and drinking lots of Guinness. Then we went north for a night to a little hostel out in the wilds of Connemara on the edge of Ireland's only fjord, Killary Fjord. We spent an afternoon hiking amongst sheep and sheep poo to the nearby town, Killary. It was a very nice hike and i have to say, sheep are really, really amusing. Especially when they try to run. They're like little bouncing carpets. We laughed all afternoon.

Then it was time to return to civilization. We took a train back to Dublin and spent two days roaming the streets of a larger city. We made it to the Guinness brewery (well the museum at any rate) and took a but tour to Malahide castle- a castle that was owned by the Talbot family for 700 years. Now it's a museum owned by the city and it's really neat. It looks like someone still lives there... maybe they do? There's even a little door in the dining hall for the castle ghost. VERY interesting.

 After Dublin, it was time to big Ireland adieu (at least for now) and head off to the European mainland. We started in Brussels, where we spent two nights.  I visited Brussels five years ago but it's a lot nicer than I remembered. We wandered around the old city center and delighted in some of the numerous (and strange) belgian beers. It rained on us our first day so, after checking out the Grand Place (main square) and the manneken pis statue (the original statue of the little boy peeing-charming -  we headed for the museum of musical instruments. This place was fabulous and for ~$3 we spent several hours wondering around, looking at ancient and bizarre instruments and listening to what sort of music they made on headsets.

From Brussels we headed to Brugges -a medieval town that still has most of it's original buildings. I found this little city charming several years ago and I wanted Matt to see it. We wandered around the streets and enjoyed walking along the canals and standing on the numerous bridges, which are the city's namesake. We got some pommes frites (Belgians will tell you quite proudly that THEY are the inventors of what we call "french fries" in America) and walked the city perimeter, stopping at some of the old city entrance points and gazing at windmills. We happened to be in Brugges on a Saturday night which could not have been more fortuitous.  Matt had read about a strange night club called the Luciferum or the Retsin house that he was very curious about and it just so happens that it is only open on Saturdays. So, we scouted out the location and, after some hesitation, we knocked on the door. A lady looked through a little door slot and thankfully, another couple who was outside at the same time mentioned something about knowing somebody and we all slipped inside. The house is huge (and we only saw a small portion of it) and full of very bizarre artwork. The only drinks served contained rum - hot or cold- and there was a cuban duet playing music. Outside, two giant black rotweilers barked and spat at anyone who stepped outside on the way to the restroom and inside, the owner of the house, Willie, wandered around looking very much like the phantom of the opera. I am glad that we made it to the Luciferum, it certainly lived up to its name.  Check it out if you're in Brugges on a Saturday night.

Ok, after Brugges, we went to Antwerp. I had never been to Antwerp before and I was surprised by how nice a city it is. However, if you go there, you have to not mind looking at endless windows of clothing stores. We happened to be in Antwerp during a cultural festival. Disappointingly, this meant a festival of fliers from endless booths. However, sprinkled in-between the fliers was some good live music, some tasty food samples, and a very crazy looking man on stilts with a bubble gun and a flame coming out of his hat (I am sorry I don't have a photo for you to see). Matt and I found a bar with a large self-playing band setup, complete with an accordion. We walked along the very large river and visited the maritime museum, which is housed in a small castle (Antwerp has been a maritime community since it was built). We watched some very exuberant street performers and then headed for bed.

And then it was time for our last few days. First we hit up Leiden in the Netherlands. This college town is peaceful and quiet yet boasts a nice city center and an absolutely dynamite botanic garden. Unfortunately, we arrived at the botanic garden about a half hour before they closed but we still saw some interesting plants.  To begin with, the gardens have some immense greenhouses. The first one we stepped into was at least 4 stories tall and it was full of palm trees. There was a spiral staircase in the middle of the room and I could see a little catwalk up near the ceiling. I figured, if I wasn't supposed to go up the staircase, then they would have a rope letting me know. I was right! We went up the stairs and discovered the carnivorous canopy walk- two rows of magnificent carnivorous plants, all in bloom and all truly bizarre. They had the biggest pitcher plant I have ever seen.  We spent the last 10 minutes before they closed more or less running through the other greenhouses. We discovered a colony of quails, which they keep for insect control, and some absolutely gigantic lilly pads!

I would have loved to spend more time there....oh well, next time?

Our last European stop was Amsterdam. I had been to there before and I was really looking forward to going back. We were wise and booked a hostel ahead of time, which happened to be on a nice, quiet, back street. We were, however, placed directly above the entrance, and next to the stairs and office area. Since it's a 24-hour hostel, that meant we were blessed with hearing people coming and going all night. Could have been worse. We could have been sharing a room with those people.  The first disappointment in Amsterdam was the weather. Ever since we had arrived in Brussels, the weather maintained rainy and overcast. However, we were not going to let that dampen our spirits. We set off to see the Heineken museum, which I fondly remembered from 5 years ago. Well, we got there and everything I had liked about the museum in the past had changed (namely, the price had doubled and they're nifty souvenir had become a piece of crap). So, we opted out on that museum and headed over to the Rijksmuseum instead.  After waiting in line, outside, in the rain for half an hour, we entered, paid our 10 Euros and readied ourselves for an afternoon of art. The museum was featuring Rembrandt so there were lots of Rembrandt masterpieces to gaze upon. We made it through the Rembrandt portion and were psyched about what the rest of the museum was going to show us when we learned that the rest of the museum is actually closed for 10 years and all they have right now is the Rembrandt gallery. Great.

So, back outside we went. What does one do in the rain in Amsterdam? One finds a nice coffeeshop where he or she can sit for as many hours as he or she likes and gaze out the window. And so, that's exactly what we did. We found a nice place with a window on the third story and we could look down at the plaza below, watching people go by. Eventually, the sun came out and we headed back outside. That evening, we checked out the red light district- a little tour if you will.  That place is everything they say it is and Matt pointed out that there was no way he would ever eat at one of the numerous restaurants in the area seeing as it felt dirty to breathe.  

Anyway, on to day 2 in Amsterdam. We hooked up with a free tour of the city and learned all about the history of the city (most of which I have forgotten since the tour was over three hours long). However, what I do remember is the story of the miracle of Amsterdam. So, the story is about a miraculous wafer- a wafer that levitates, is fire-retardant, and can teleport. It also heals sick people when they are in it's presence. That's it. It was mysterious and it made catholics consider Amsterdam a city worth traveling to (sorry, I can't remember the dates but it was awhile ago- maybe 1700's?).  Anyway, somebody stole the wafer and that's the last anyone has seen or heard of it. Bummer.

After the tour, we wandered around, had a nice dinner of bread and cheese (our specialty in Europe) and went to bed so we could get up for our flight back to the US.

On the way home (to the US) we got caught in Ernesto in Atlanta and our plane couldn't land - it almost did, it came within 50 feet of the runway before winging back up into the sky for an hour). The clouds were incredibly thick and I was ready to get off the plane after our 10 hour flight. Other than that, we made it to Pennsylvania safely, where we spent 2 days visiting Matt's family and friends. I got a mini tour of Pittsburgh and we watched the opening Penn State game. Of course, it rained for us in Pennsylvania (why not?) but we were very lucky and actually had covered seats at the game.  Our stop in Pennsylvania was a short one and we headed back to Santa Cruz after 2 days.

Back at home, we were not quite ready to rest our weary feet. My brother, Scott, had been staying at our house while we were gone and before he left, we wanted to do something nice together. So, we went on an all-day hike for labor day. It was beautiful. We went to Arroyo Seco (which some of you might be familiar with). The weather could have been a bit hotter but other than that, I couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The hike involves walking three miles into a river gorge on a hot and dusty road. Then, you descend to the river and spend the rest of the day hiking and swimming upriver. The views are stunning and it's really fun. I brought my camera this year so you can actually see some photographic evidence of this place - complete with crayfish!

Scott headed out of town on the 5th and ever since, Matt and I have been trying to get our lives back in order. I actually head off again in a week and a half and I can't even think about it. I'm bummed I'll be missing a nice fall in Santa Cruz. Well, so it goes- the life of adventure still beckons!

So, that was a long email but now you are up to date again on what we've been up to. Keep a lookout for the photos that I'll be sending along soon and expect to hear from me again in November, after I return from my next expedition.

Take care everybody and happy fall!

Brooke