Wedded Bliss

Married for over three weeks now and we can't believe it. Just eight months ago we were newly engaged, just having returned from a wonderful trip to Thailand. And now the party is over, the dress is cleaned, and we are settling in to married life.

The week before the wedding was crazier than we could have imagined. We arrived at JFK the Saturday afternoon before the big day - a bit delayed because of the horrible weather, and still a bit tired and hungover from our respective hens and bucks nights the night before (though having business class seats certainly did help ease the discomfort!). Saturday night was the last night of peace before things started getting hectic. Everyday there was something to do - someone to meet, somewhere to go, something to buy. We were hoping to have at least one day to just relax - that turned into just a few hours, while I was getting scrubbed and polished at the spa on the Thursday before the wedding. At that point I was ready for the day, just so that I wouldn't have to worry about the details anymore - I wanted it to be too late for things to be done, if you can imagine it.

On Friday morning, the nerves finally started getting to me. I picked up Matt's mom from the house where they were staying on Dune Road, which was just a few miles down the road from where Matt and I were staying, to go to the spa, where my mom would meet us and where we would get our manicures and pedicures. I was so sick to my stomach with nerves and tension that I nearly had to pull over. Luckily a bagel saved the day and I got through the appointment without incident! After the appointments, we had very little time to get to the rehearsal lunch - though there was really no rehearsal as there was no bridal party, just a way to get the close fam together for a meal to relax and laugh. The venue was perfect - Dockers on Dune Road - but the wind was nuts - in fact, the wind had woken me up that morning, it was so loud. I, of course, worried a bit about what it would mean for our beach pics if it was this windy the next day...After lunch, we returned to the house, where all of our friends started to trickle in, and we recruited all of them to help us tie the tags onto our favors (bags of the famous Tate's chocolate chip cookies). That night we all gathered at another house being rented by our friends where we had a massive BBQ for 30 people - insane and so much fun. I stuck to glasses of water since no one likes a hungover bride.
Matt and I decided to forgo tradition and spend the last night together. I couldn't imagine being left alone in that house with all of my nerves, and it was so comforting being together before such a momentous day. I wouldn't want it any other way.
The next morning, there was no wind and we woke up to the most beautiful day. We drove together to get breakfast specials and the deli platter for lunch and champagne and flowers for the house, and ran into some of our friends at the supermarket - who were rather surprised to see us together, haha! Afterwards, Matt went for a run and I headed to my 11:30 hair and makeup appointment. My mom and Matt's mom met me there. I must say that the end product was exactly what I'd hoped - I looked like a more glammed up version of myself, and the flower in my hair was so stunning and so original. After receiving the star treatment, my mom and I were running late getting back to the house, where my friends were going to meet us starting at 1:30 and the photographers would arrive at 2pm. We hung out there, drinking champagne, eating sandwiches and chatting while the photographers took their photos, until I finally put my dress on at 3. My bouquet also arrived as I was getting dressed, and when I saw it I was spellbound - exactly what I pictured. We took some more photos of me in my dress at the house before the photographers left to take photos of Matt at the beach. About 20 minutes later, my mom drove me to the venue, and our maitre d' led me to the spot on the beach where the guys were taking photos. The photographer wouldn't let Matt look at me until I was right behind him, which I'm sure made a pretty cool photo. He hadn't seen my dress and his reaction was very satisfactory :-)
After some photos on the beach, we headed to the bridal suite at around 5:30 to relax a bit before the ceremony. Our families met us in there and helped calm our nerves. The arrangements were on the table, and again I was mystified - they were the most gorgeous flowers I had ever seen and the place looked majestic. Before we knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle. The moment my dad and I entered the tent, to the tune of Bittersweet Symphony, I was so captivated by it all - it's a moment I will never forget.
The ceremony was a fairy tale. The sun was setting, the waves were crashing on the beach and there were deer walking along the dunes. The tent was glowing with candles and the weather was perfect. I could not imagine a more perfect ceremony. I remember my mouth was very dry, and at times I thought I would get emotional, but I looked at Matt and he made me calm. Stacy gave a beautiful reading - her lovely voice really brought the words we chose to life - and it seemed like our guests really enjoyed our nonconventional choice, which was an excerpt from Love in the Time of Cholera.
After the recessional, we sat in the bridal suite for a few minutes to take some time to ourselves. The maitre d' brought us hors d'euvres and samples from our pad thai and pasta stations and glasses of champage. Lyla, our flower girl, sat with us for a bit - we were so impressed with the fantastic job she did! She was not nervous at all, which is so much more than could be said for the bride and groom! We finally made our way out to join the cocktail party, which was positively bumping to the sounds of our Brazilian bossa nova band. We had a long cocktail hour - 1.5 hours - and it was so nice having got the photos out of the way so we could enjoy time with our guests. Out of our 140 guests, I think we got the chance to chat with 95% them over the course of the night, and most of that is due to the cocktail hour.
The rest of the night was incredible. From the very first song after our first dance (to Something Stupid by Frank and Nancy Sinatra) our guests were on the dance floor boogeying down. I have never seen a wedding like that. Our guests were truly amazing. At 12:15, when the open bar closed up and the DJ wrapped it up, we invited our able guests to join us for an after party in another room. All our friends came, and this is when we really let our hair down. Matt and I were busy saying goodbye to the guests that had to leave, and by the time I entered the after party room it was already packed with our friends, drinks in hand, music playing, and everyone clapped when I strolled in - totally unexpected, and not something I think will happen again in my lifetime! At 2:15, we packed everyone into vans, and Matt and I were the last ones there.
The next morning we had post duty at the brunch. It was great to see everyone and thank them for coming before they headed off on their way home. When the lunch ended at noon, Matt and I headed back to Atlantica to pick up some things we had left behind the night before (including my bouquet!), then we joined our friends for an afternoon at the beach. The boys went in the freezing water while the girls sat with towels around our shoulders and chatted. Then we headed inside to watch the Giants game and eat leftover wedding cake (there was so much left).
On Tuesday was my "dress-thrashing" session with the photographer. TJ also did our wedding photos so by this point I was very comfortable with him. We met him at Robert Moses beach to take shots of me rolling around in my dress. My mom also came with 10 of our Wisconsin family that was still in town. So as TJ and his assistant took shots of me, so was my family snapping away behind them - a bit awkward, especially since these shots are supposed to be a bit sexy.

Our car service came to pick us up right from Robert Moses to take us into NYC. We both passed out during the drive, and at 6pm we were unloading our bags at the Hudson Hotel. We went to the hotel "library" for some spirits, then out for Mexican and off to the (evidently) new NYC hotspot Socialista. We went with Danny's girlfriend Caitlin who, due to her part-time work as an internet scenester, was able to get us table service with bottles of vodka and carafes of tonic and cranberry juice. The next day we scored tickets to Wicked at the Gershwin, and it was really cute. We rode the subway down to Little Italy (which appears to be being overtaken by Chinatown) and had a nice quiet dinner at Positano. On Thursday we met my mom and her friend Reisa at the South Street pier to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We were so lucky with the weather - after some early am showers, it cleared up to be a gorgeous day. We stopped off at a Brazilian restaurant for drinks and a bite, then Matt and I bid them farewell to continue with some more shopping and touring around. That night we got sushi for dinner, complete with lychee martinis for me, and I continued the martini binge at Whiskey Park. On our last day - a very sad day - we took some Dunkin Donuts coffee to Central Park and walked around for a few hours until we had to go back to catch our cab to the airport.


Everytime I think back to those two wonderful weeks, I can't help but smile. New York is a magical place, and our wedding was nothing short of magical itself. Thanks everyone that came out to celebrate with us - it wouldn't have been as wonderful without our amazing guests. No professional pics yet, but I will share them with you in a few weeks when they come in - can't wait for them!

Hens Night

On September 26, the night before Matt and I boarded our plane to NY for our wedding, my wonderful Amsterdam pals threw me a bash to celebrate the last days of singledom. Though I knew they were going to throw me a party and when it would be (since I had to approve the date), I knew nothing about what this would entail. I was only told to wear a cocktail dress. I was however assured that there would be no trashiness - read: stupid T-shirts, sashes, penis-shaped straws and/or giant dildos. I was thankful for that!

The evening started at 7pm at Nicole's where most of the crew gathered. There I was handed down the 10 commandments by Jane and given my candy necklace by Jen. I had to complete all 10 tasks by the end of the night - for each one I did not complete I would have to drink a shot.


We then all cycled to a bar/restaurant about 15 minutes away that was just voted Amsterdam's best cocktail bar. Upon arrival, we ordered 13 kir royales, my drink of choice. We then were seated to enjoy the Chef's selection of 3 courses.


We all looked pretty hot in our cocktail dresses, and after an evening of classiness we decided to bogan it up a bit by going to a Dutch student bar off of Leidsplein. Mainly we wanted to go there b/c we can easily control the DJ, but also b/c I needed to complete my tasks and needed lots of stupid young men to help me.


The night continued in drunken merriment - lots of laughs and lots of dancing. Much to my surprise, I closed the evening at around 4 am (at Burger King no less), having completed all of my tasks. That I am very glad for, since by that point I could not handle any more shots!



Thanks to all my A'dam buds for an awesome bash!

Ah, Portugal...

This year Matt won an achievement award at his company - the prize was an all-expenses paid trip to anywhere in Europe, plus an additional 2 days of vacation for Matt. We had already been planning to do a weekend getaway to a beach destination in September to relax before the wedding, so this was perfect because now we could go longer and virtually for free! After toying with the ideas of Sardinia and Greece but deciding that they were too much trouble to get to for a weekend trip, we decided on lovely Portugal.

Matt and I have both been to Lagos - he while studying abroad in Italy his junior year, and I two and a half years ago, after just arriving in Amsterdam and while Matt was studying for the last part of the CFA. Lagos is the most popular destination in the Algarve (the southwest region of Portugal known for its beatiful beaches). We decided to go somewhere new, and with less British tourists. I found a "pousada" that was a converted convent in a town called Tavira, less than 30 minutes east of the main Algarvian city of Faro, where the airport is. We flew out on the morning of the second Friday in September (the 12th)at 6:30am. We slept through our alarm since the night before we went to a dinner for Matt's company where we ate 5 courses and several glasses of varied wine until past 11 o'clock. Thankfully, Matt woke up 15 minutes before we were planning on calling our taxi, so we made it, although sans showers.

After a short layover in Lisbon, we arrived in Faro looking for our car service. We had booked Faro Airport Transfers and they are the worst! The guy could only be described as a sublime a-hole. Thankfully the ride was short and in less than 30 minutes we were at our pousada. It was really windy when we arrived, so we decided to skip the beach and instead head into the town for some bacalhau (a Portuguese codfish dish). After stuffing ourselves with yummy fish, we strolled back to the pousada and relaxed by the pool. We later had drinks at the hotel, and since we were exhausted from the previous night and our early morning trip and still stuffed from a massive lunch, we skipped dinner and went right to sleep.

The next morning we woke up with the sun and after breakfast made our way to the port to catch the ferry to the island. The ferry moves very slowly, and takes 20 minutes to get to the beach. On the island is a campgrounds and several restaurants and a few miles of beach. Some parts of the beach had a weird lime-green algae that was washed up, but it made for some cool pics.

For the rest of the weekend, we parked ourselves on the beach and did some hard-core relaxing. It has been said that Portugal has the best fish, and we would have to agree. Every meal we ate fresh fish that had just been caught that day. Mixed with some cold beers, they certainly hit the spot each time. Two days we lunched at the same restaurant on the beach that had a crazy Italian manager who told us stories about how cheap Dutch people are. That, of course, cracked us up.

Portugal can also be dubbed the place where Matt has dug thelargest hole of his life to date. It was so big you could look across the sand and not see his head popping out. He stayed in there to avoid the sun, and even fell asleep at one point in there, which I found incredible...

For dinner we hit up a spot on the boardwalk in Tavira leading up to the place where the ferry takes off from - we liked it so much we also returned to it the next night. The servers here were also hilarious, and super friendly. On our last day, we spent the morning on the beach before taking a water taxi back to town at around 2 so we wouldn't miss our ride to the airport. Walking back to the pousada we stopped by the restaurant and had a very interesting drink with one of our new friends - white port with tonic, ice and a lemon slice. Really good!

Montenegro

After 5 days of reading on the beach and island-hopping in southern Croatia, we picked up our car at the Avis in Dubrovnik to begin our trip to Montenegro. As I mentioned in the last blog, we had no map or GPS. We somehow were able to get on the right road out of Dubrovnik, and follow the signs against our tourist map and find our way to the border of Croatia/Montenegro. It was a short drive, and the line of cars going into Montenegro was not very long – at least not as long as the line going into Croatia. We did our best to appear innocent (it’s always so nerve-wracking dealing with customs officials), sweating it out in the car and jamming out to Croatian pop. When our turn came, we handed over our passports, our green card for the car and our best smiles. In return we got stamps and a grumpy face. We thought we were in Montenegro, but that apparently was only our first stop – the duty-free shops on the side of the road were our tell-tale sign. The next border patrol was just as short and just as easy, and we managed to score a real road map on Montenegro from a girl walking past the cars and selling them. One look at this thing and we laughed – there are no road names in Montenegro, they don’t deal with that sort of triviality, I guess. Instead there is a “main road” and “other main road”. We took the main road for this leg, and made our way over to the Bay of Kotor.

Somehow, the plant life in Montenegro was more lush and green – as soon as we crossed the border we noticed this. It’s a really raw country-side, and so beautiful and still rather untouched. The drive was pretty long to our destination in Dobrota, about 2 hours including our wait at the border, mainly because we had to drive around the whole bay. The Bay of Kotor is spectacularly beautiful, with mountains jutting out every each way right up from the bay. The towns along the bay are small, and only one road across, because the mountainside is so steep that they really can only build along the coast.


In Dobrota, we stayed at the Palazzo Radomiri, mainly because it had a pool and deck chairs on a slab of pavement just off the bay. This is how people go in the water here – there are no beaches because of the mountains. If you are really loaded, you can also dock your yacht at the Palazzo when you stay there. Our first day we relaxed on the chairs by the bay – we jumped in a few times, but the water was a bit dirty here, mainly because of all the oil from the docked boats. It was a great temperature, though, and such an amazing view. We went on a hunt for lunch, and found a cute little konuba (Montenegrin for restaurant) where we had cold beers, salad and fried calamari – heaven. The place was so charming; there were actually kiwis and grapes growing on the vines above our head. That night after some drinks at the palazzo we dined at the Stari Mlini, the restaurant with all the signs up on the road. This place was like Disneyland – absolutely massive, with little bridges and wells dotting the outside. I had giant mussels – bigger than any I’ve ever seen – but not as good as the ones in Belgium.

The next morning after a good breakfast at the palazzo, we asked the concierge to call us a taxi to go to the Old Town of Kotor. While we were at the desk, another couple came up to ask about the buses going to the Old Town. The concierge said there were no buses, so we offered them a ride with us. Susan and Scott came along for the ride, and we ended up spending the entire day with them. She is Scottish and he is Australian, currently living in Edinburgh, and they were on their honeymoon. In the Old Town, we did a hike to the top of the mountain. Note: if you are traveling to Montenegro, do not bother buying the only travel guide there currently is – we both had the same book, different editions, and we agreed it is the book of lies. We decided to do this hike despite the 38 C weather, so by the end we looked like drowned rats. Afterwards we cooled off with a few beers, then found a little Italian place where we shared a few pizzas. While we were there, the power went off, so we mostly ate in the dark – thankfully, the ovens were not electric.

After we ate, we were sufficiently exhausted from the heat, the hike, and the pizza and beers, and Matt and I decided to head back to the Palazzo for a swim. We lounged by the pool for a bit, then Matt headed up for a nap while I stayed, and then Scott and Susan returned – turns out the town was not all that interesting. We agreed to meet up for a drink later that evening. Matt and I ate at the palazzo that night – which is included in the price of our room – and the dinner was pretty good. We had a laugh though, b/c there were two options of an entrée – grilled calamari and Gordon Blue. We had had our fill of calamari the day before so decided to try out the Gordon Blue, assuming they meant cordon bleu (they did). After dinner we met up with Scott and Susan for drinks al fresco at the palazzo, chatting about weddings until 2am. They also gave us some great recommendations for things to do in Montenegro, since they were at the end of their trip.

The next morning we headed out of Dobrota to our next destination in Lake Skadar. We took the “other main road” there, as Scott had recommended, which goes up the mountains, through the national park and back down. We saw some incredible views, and Matt had fun navigating those turns around the mountain – switch-back after switch-back, so tight that we prayed every time that there was no cars coming the other way. Sometimes the road was so narrow and strange-looking that we thought we had lost our way. We couldn’t believe that this road, which looked more like a hiking path, was the other main road of a country – an EU member, at that. At one point, we came across a guy walking a fleet of horses down the road. We saw some strange piles of hay shaped like huts that looked like wigwams. Sometimes the countryside looked like a different planet. We passed through the village where the king used to holiday and saw the buildings riddled with bullets.

After about 3 or 4 hours of driving, that included some arguing over which way to go, we arrived at our destination – the fishing village of Virpazar. As soon as we pulled into the town, past the railroad tracks, a man we recognized from the pictures on tripadvisor of our hotel, wearing a sorry old hat, stood in the middle of the road until we stopped for him, then asked us “boat?” We told him we were staying at the Hotel Pelikan and he seemed pleased. Before we had gotten to the hotel lobby after parking and walking over with our bags, we had a few similar offers for a boat trip. We checked into our miniscule room, and relaxed for a bit before heading out into this village. As we walked around, we were asked repeatedly if we wanted a boat trip, from people telling us how nice it was and how they are the best in the town. Once we realized how teeny tiny this village was – we had walked to the edge of it in 10 minutes – we stopped at an outdoor café for lunch. I ordered a steak that was certifiably disgusting, and Matt got two whole fish that were decent. While we were sitting there, the radio that the restaurant was blasting started playing the theme song from The Exorcist, then the Door’s “People are Strange”. It was like a bad omen. We realized there was nothing to do here except this boat ride everyone was trying to sell us, so we went back to the hotel to request that they arrange one for us.

We now believe that every person that asked us if we wanted a boat was tied to the Hotel Pelikan in some way. The guy that scored us one was super shady, telling us and another couple that the boat would be there in 10 minutes. Nearly an hour later, we were finally walking towards it. Aside from the sketchiness of this town, Lake Skadar really is a sight to see. We only saw a small part of it. The boat reached a bit out to a wide area and stopped so we could go swimming. The water was perfect. Two hours later, we were back in our tiny room at Hotel Pelikan discussing our course of action. We had booked two nights, but I could not imagine staying there another day. We decided that we would have dinner at the hotel, which is supposed to be great for its authentic Montenegran dishes (I still don’t know what that means) then get out first thing in the morning. Another concern was cash – we didn’t have much left. We asked the hotel if they took credit cards, and they said no. When we asked where there was a cash machine, the man working there with a glass eye (!) said there was no cash machine in the town, but there was one 15km away (!!). So we got in the car and drove to another shanty town with a bank, seriously doubting that we would (a) find this ATM and (b) be able to take cash out in the middle of nowhere in Montenegro. Somehow it happened though, and we have never been so excited to have cash in our hands! All was set for a rapid escape in the morning. We had dinner at Pelikan, and it was horrific. I still hadn’t regained my appetite from the nasty steak I had at lunch, so eating the icky tomato salad that did not taste right and the rotting fish balls I ordered was not something I was willing to do. Instead of just taking my full plate away with a nice smile, the waiter pointed at my uneated food and kind of yelled at me for not eating it. When I said, “Sorry, I wasn’t very hungry” he grumbled something then walked away. We went back to the room, shut the shutters tight, and winced the night away. I really expected these freaks in Virpazar to turn into vampires and eat us. So I was surprised to wake up in the morning. Still a bit weirded out, since the room was pitch-black, I asked Matt what time it was. He said “9 o’clock”and I said “let’s get the hell out of here!”

Back in the car, we considered going straight into Dubrovnik, but decided instead to visit the town of Perast that Scott and Susan had recommended. Since the drive they told us about went to well, we decided we agreed with their travel suggestions. Perast, like Dobrota, is on the Bay of Kotor. This time we took the main road and were there in less than 2 hours. I was so happy to see people with real eyes! We stopped by the first hotel we saw, which is one that the book of lies listed, and got a room. While in Perast, we swam, had a few beers and some tasty food, then took a little boat to one of the islands on the bay that has a little church and museum. The waiter at the restaurant where we had lunch was Serbian, and was asking where we were from and where we had been. We told him about our experience in Virpazar, and he said that anything south of Kotor is “uncivilized”. That night we had a nice dinner al fresco with tasty wine at our hotel restaurant. Very civilized!


The next morning we skipped breakfast at the hotel so we could get on the road at 8am, since we were foreseeing delays at the border. Luckily, we managed through with no problems, and by 9:15 we were returning our car to the Avis and hailing a cab to our 5-star resort, the Dubrovnik Palace. However, when we arrived at the hotel, the clerk told us that they had sent us an email 3 days ago to tell us there was a problem and they had no room for us. We freaked out! Our panic was needless though, since they had booked us a room at their sister hotel, Hotel Bellevue, also a five star resort, and closer to the Old Town of Dubrovnik so we could walk to it instead of having to take a taxi.

That day we hung out on the beach, then in the evening we walked over to the Old Town for drinks and dinner. The place that was recommended to us literally had a cue, so we went in search of a replacement. We ended up at another restaurant where I had a very delicious shrimp scampi. Matt, as usual, had huge mouthfuls of my dish. However, later that night, we realized that that shrimp scampi was not that great after all, b/c it gave us both food poisoning. Not to get too graphic here, but I was up all night as my body rejected this dish. The next morning I woke up, feeling much better, only to find that Matt was cold and clammy and pale. He hadn’t gotten rid of the evilness as quickly as I had, so he was even more poisoned that I was. We had scheduled appointments at the spa that morning, and Matt had to cancel his massage, and I had to take my pedicure lying down! It was funny and a little awkward, but I couldn’t sit up or I would pass out. We obviously missed the hotel’s luxurious breakfast, but I ordered cereal by room service and was able to eat a little then go down to the beach and read in the shade while poor Matt sweated it out in our room. His fever was so high at one point that we asked the hotel if they had any medicine, and they did and gave us plenty. We spent the evening in fluffy bathrobes watching the Olympics. Thank god this didn’t happen at the Hotel Pelikan!

By the next morning, we felt heaps better, and went down to spend our last day at the beach. That day we did get to enjoy the breakfast. We were only about 20 minutes from the airport, and caught our afternoon flight with no problems.

Overall, a really great trip – Though our experience in the south of Montenegro was strange, it was such a cool adventure and we got to see things that most people will never see in their lives. Now that Montenegro is in the EU, it is inevitable that its dynamic will change, and the Montenegro we saw in 2008 will be a far cry from the Montenegro 10 years from now. But it was also nice ending the trip at a 5-star resort in Dubrovnik!

Croatia: Koloçep and the Elaphite Islands

So begins our 10-day trip to Croatia and Montenegro. We had planned to go somewhere for a week in August - initially we thought the south of France, but apparently August is a horrifically busy (and expensive) time to go there. The idea for the revised trip stemmed from my desire to visit Croatia and from a friend's suggestion of a trip he's been wanting to do (we totally stole it). Because we saw so much, and the trip had different phases, I will separate it into 2 blogs.

The idea was to fly into Dubrovnik in the southern part of Croatia, spend 4 days here island-touring, then on the fifth day rent a car and drive to Montenegro, where we would stay by the Bay of Kotor for 2 nights then by Lake Skadar for 2 nights, then back to Dubrovnik for our last 2 nights to relax and get some more beach time before flying back to Amsterdam on Tuesday afternoon. As of yet there are no direct flights from Amsterdam to Dubrovnik, so we had to connect in Vienna. Our connection was tight (35 minutes) and annoyingly, we had to go through security for the second time once we landed in Vienna. We were smart this time and carried on - I spent the Friday before our trip scouring Amsterdam for toiletries in 100 mL or less containers. This was surprisingly a difficult endeavor, which made me consider it as a profitable business idea.

We landed in Dubrovnik on Saturday in the early afternoon and got a cab to take us to Port Gruž, where we got tickets to take the ferry to the island of Koloçep. While waiting for the ferry we met a really nice Croatian family who gave us some tips on what to eat and where to go. We thought we were getting great insider info, but turns out the places they told us about were very evidently the more popular places to go...We were thankful anyway.

In Koloçep we stayed at the Villas Hotel Koloçep - easy to find as it is the only hotel on the island, and a 10 minute walk from the Koloçep port. The hotel had a nice sandy beach, which unfortunately attracted a lot of families with kids. The room was small, and we had a small balcony that we shared with our neighbors. But the beds were really comfortable and the shower was decent and, best part, we had a computer with free internet in our room.

Upon our arrival, we got the last rays of sunshine on the beach, then went out to dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants on the boardwalk tracing the hotel to the port. We had some really delicious "dalmatian-style" ham, similar to prosciutto which makes sense given Croatia's proximity to Italy, and it was served in abundance. We also had shared grilled yellowtail and cuttlefish risotto - highly recommended around these parts and absolutely delish. With all our traveling, we got wasted a bit quickly on our first bottle of wine, which prompted me to stupidly ask for another. I do this often. We scrambled back to our hotel, happy and warm!

We spent Sunday on the island again, and in the afternoon tried to do the "mountain biking" excursion that the hotel advertises. If in Koloçep, I would not recommend this. The "trail" was actually just the main walking path (cars are not allowed on the island) - concrete and sometimes with stairs going up or down. After trying out several of the hotel bikes and finding they had flat tires or broken gears or weak breaks, we managed to fix up two so that they were ridable. After about a 20 minute ride that was treacherous (steep, almost vertical downhill paths that wound and were, I repeat, concrete) I gave up. Matt continued on and found the hiking path, which you are not supposed to bike down, and he biked it. So when he returned and found me on the beach sipping sparkling water and reading a book on a chaise lounge (I found this much more enjoyable), he was naturally surprised and relieved to be alive and not lying in an island hospital somewhere with a broken neck. That night we went over to the villa next door, that had just opened the week before, for a mediocre meal (too much rosemary) but a phenomenal bottle of Croatian wine and an even more amazing view of the sunset. This dinner epitomized the "Who do we think we are, vacationing in Croatia?" sentiment. We felt like movie stars.

The next day we took the morning ferry to Lopud, the island that the Croatian family we met at the port had recommended. Lopud is home to Sunj beach, which I believe is the largest sandy beach in the Elaphite Islands. In this part of the world, a sandy beach is hard to find, and thus coveted - most beaches on the Adriatic are rocky. We had to walk across the island from where the port was to get to the beach. This island is much more populated than Koloçep with more restaurants and shops - there are no cars allowed here, either. Sunj beach was great, and in the late afternoon we went up to the busy beach bar for lunch. The place was loud and cheerful with mostly picnic-table style seating. We had to wait about 45 minutes for seats, but we passed the time waiting with cold beers. We finally spotted a seat and made a run for it, sharing a picnic table with a Croatian couple and their cute little daughter.
We waited about an hour for our fried calamari but once they arrived they definetely hit the spot. Again, we passed the time with beers. It also didn't help that after we tipped our waitress generously (she was working very hard) she gave us two shots of a suspicious yellowish drink that was in a huge plastic water container. When we asked her to do a shot with us, she grimaced and said "No, I don't think that stuff". Not comforting, but bottoms up anyway. After that we spotted our friends that had recommended the island on the beach, and walked over to talk to them - me keeping the chatting to a minimum and the sunglasses firmly on because I was quite tipsy at this point...After a nice chat we headed back to port, got some ice cream and jumped in the water again. We got the last boat out of the island at 6:50 (along with the rest of the island but somehow we all fit on the boat). That night we had a late dinner of yummy pizzas at the trattoria close to our hotel - they do Italian pretty well in Croatia.

The next day (Tuesday) we took one of the organized trips that the hotel advertised through Hidden Croatia boat tours. The trip was a speed boat ride to Mljet - the largest of the Elaphite Islands that is also home to a national park. We didn't go to the side of the island that had the park, which if we had one more day we definetely would have. The tour took us to a sweet little family-owned restaurant with an incredible cliff-side view of the Adriatic, and after lunch we could walk over to the small beach on the island. The weather could not have been more perfect during this whole trip, and we had another excellent beach day. We got an hour or two on the beach, then the boat took us back. The speed boat ride was awesome - we were going so fast and the boat was really clean and new. We made friends with an older English couple at lunch, and when we got back to Koloçep they treated us to beers at the bar on the boardwalk. Since we had a 3 course lunch that day, we went to dinner pretty late, again at the boardwalk restaurant. The trattoria was advertising a grilled sardine night, which we were psyched for, but when we got there every seat was filled. We noticed some random groups of teenagers on the island - definetely kids that were there with their parents but trying to ditch them. We felt for them because there was not much for them to do at night - all we did was eat and drink wine, which was perfect for us.

The next morning we hired a private water taxi to take us back to the port of Koloçep, since the ferry times were very awkward (6 am or noon). The ride was nice, definetely much slower than our speed boat ride, and we think the drivers were pissed because we were the only two on. Once we got to the port, we meandered around with our luggage trying to find the Avis, which was very elusive (it's actually in the main building, in the back, with no signs leading up to it). We picked up the car we reserved, and got a free upgrade since they didn't have the car we ordered - Note: always do this. The problem was when we asked if they had GPS - back in Amsterdam we had tried to print directions to our hotels in Montenegro from google and yahoo, but they didn't recognize them. No GPS here, but they gave us a "road map" which was actually just really a big tourist map of southern Croatia with not really any roads on it - just names of towns. And Montenegro was completely off the map. Thus the Montenegran adventure begins...

Smoking ban in Amsterdam

As of July 1, 2008, there is a smoking ban in place for places of business in the Netherlands. This means we can go out to a restaurant or bar and come home without smelling like an ashtray. The year or so leading up to this rule, we couldn't believe that this would ever happen. Smoking is so ingrained in Dutch culture, no less than in the "bruin cafés" here that are so called because decades of cigarette smoke have stained the walls brown. Every night that we would go out, we would stink. Some places were worse than others, but they all stunk. A few times I went out with some Dutch girls on a Sunday afternoon for coffee or a wine, and they would smoke me out. Chain smoke 5 cigarettes in my face in the space of two hours. I would come home at 4pm and have to take a second shower. People are not supposed to smell like that on Sundays. It was so horrific that I avoided Sundays in bars/restaurants from that point on. Until now.

We had actually just gotten back from picking up our friends Halsey and Natalie from the airport on the night the ban went into effect. The airline had lost their luggage, so we went to our corner bar for them to decompress. We managed some seats on the side terrace, and it was a beautiful night. At midnight, our party was crashed when two guys left the bar to smoke outside. They explained that as of that point on, there was no more smoking allowed in bars, and though the bartender hadn't asked them to leave, they were being corteous by stepping outside. We asked if they could be courteous elsewhere, and they could.

There was some debating from the Dutch smokers. Many claimed that the bars wouldn't enforce it, and some even said they would get around it by making all of their employees part owners. This is because the smoking ban is not made to protect patrons from harmful and disgusting second-hand smoke, but employees, and if all employess were owners and all owners agreed to smoking in the establishment, then it would be allowed. But so far that hasn't been the case. Even Paradiso and Melkweg, the small concert halls in Amsterdam that are on a membership-basis, have disallowed smoking inside. Finally we can come home and not have to wash our pillowcases the very next day.

Matt in particular has decided to use this power shift even more to the nonsmoker's advantage. We won't sit quietly anymore. It's 2008, and it's been over 50 years since the link between smoking and lung cancer was first discussed. Since then, it's been linked to even more health problems. Smokers are no less knowledgeable about these than non-smokers - they just choose to ignore it. It's the equivalent of injecting people with viruses, and it shouldn't be tolerated.

Sleep when you're dead

The weekend of July 18 Matt's cousin Lisa came to visit Amsterdam. Since she had been to Amsterdam before, we decided to show her Belgium. She's always wanted to visit Bruges, which just so happens to be mine and Matt's favorite Belgian town. Since Nicole has only been here for a few months, she was also down for some Bruges action. Also along for the ride was Matt's new American colleague, John. We planned everything on Friday night over drinks with Nicole and Lisa at our place and the next morning we picked up the car from Avis, got our crew and hit the road for what would be mine and Matt's third trip to the Venice of the north.

Though we tried to beat Tom-Tom's estimated travel time of 2 hours and 40 minutes, he won, as always. When we got to our hotel in Bruges at 1 o'clock, we were dismayed to discover that even though we had booked 3 rooms, they had no parking space for us. After a huge ordeal which ended with Matt parking illegally, yelling at the receptionist and then having to move the car again, we finally got parking at the massive underground garage under the main square. The town was packed for some sort of craft fair and then an open-air concert, so there was a line to get into the garage - you could only get in when another car left. Once parked, we were all sufficiently starved. We found the perfect place just in time - as soon as we grabbed a seat on the covered terrace, it started pouring rain and people started dispersing into the cafes. The weather was unpredictable - we kept putting on and taking off sweaters and sunglasses, and the restaurant kept turning on and off the outside heating lamps. We enjoyed our first Belgian beers of the day and some delicious in-season mussels with frites. Heaven.

The rain had died down by the time we finished eating, so we perused the town a bit until we decided we needed more beers. We went to a small little cafe to sample another brew, and Lisa wrote her postcards. After one beer, we decided we needed to be outside to enjoy the minimal sunshine - this is what happens when you live in northern Europe. You feel compelled to run outside if the sun is out, even for just the 5 minutes before it starts raining again. It's bad enough that it was mid July and I was wearing boots and a hoodie and still cold. We found a terrace with some sunshine, and drank very strong beers while playing a dumb version of the alphabet game that Matt and I made up (say the first word that comes to your head) and listening to the outdoor concert (a lady singing ABBA and Dolly Parton - this is Belgium, what do you expect?). After getting sufficiently inebriated, we went back to the hotel to relax for a few minutes before dinner.

Dinner was at the same place that Matt and I ate in Bruges with his parents and with Todd. Matt asked the waiter if he remembered us and he said, "Yes, I always remember annoying people." But he didn't remember us, or the beer he had recommended last time. We spent a few hours there, drinking and eating and talking, before heading to an Irish bar (I know, but they did have Belgian beers). Here we drank and danced and laughed until 2am.

We knew our hotel had a pool, so we all brought our swimsuits. Unfortunately, when the hotel clerk let us in at 2am and we were drunk and merry and asked if we could go in the pool, he said no. He probably saved our lives. Instead we got a bag of chips and sat in Lisa's and Nicole's balcony. We couldn't believe how long we made that Saturday last, and as Nicole philosophized, you can sleep when you're dead.

The next morning was rough. At first we were all doing pretty well, but then gradually as the day wore on we realized that was because we were still drunk. The worst was yet to come. I decided to have a beer at brunch, a "hair of the dog" thing, but it didn't do me any good. The ride home was much quieter than the ride in.

We arrived back in Amsterdam at around 2:30. Lisa was flying to Germany that evening and was in need of some relaxing time, as we all were. I parked myself on the couch, and my wonderful husband-to-be brought me a quarter-pounder w/ cheese to cure my hangover. He was so embarrassed biking back from McDonald''s with the bag that he brought a backpack to stuff our fatty wares in. We weren't dead yet, but it sure felt like it...

Wedding update

Our wedding website tells me that today we are 81 days away from the big day. Everyone says it will be here before we know it, but given my excitement level I'm not so sure. Luckily we have a few trips planned in between to make the time go a bit faster.

I wish I could give myself a bit more credit by saying how exhausting the wedding planning has been, but it's untrue. In fact, it has been (mostly) a pleasure. Strangely enough, I think that planning from afar made things go smoother. Mainly because I did not get bogged down with all the options. I found my vendors mostly through word of mouth. Plus the wedding business is big business and thus rather efficiently priced, so I knew that meeting several vendors and trying to bargain hunt in the end wouldn't save us much money at all and would just cause more stress and waste time. And though if I were in the US I may have done more DIY things, it was just more convenient to work with professionals. Ultimately I'm very happy with all the vendors I've chosen to work with, and I must say that my vision is really coming to life.

Probably the hardest thing for Matt and I to decide on were our wedding colors. I personally went back and forth on this many times. We decided on green and ivory after I had a dream about using those colors. I woke up all excited and told Matt and he was in total agreement. Those colors just seemed very much like "us", as you can probably see by the design of this blog! We decided to throw in some purple to make it a bit more elegant, and I haven't looked back from that since.

Now is around the time where I should be second-guessing all of my decisions. The one thing I keep going back to is the dress. I fell in love with my dress on my first visit to a bridal salon. It just suited me and the location perfectly - comfortable, soft, bohemian, beachy. Probably the reason I'm stressing over it now is because it's been months since I've seen it in person. I'm still waiting for the dress to be made so I can have my first fitting. I'm sure when I see it again there will be no more doubts. For someone as obsessed with fashion as I am, it's of course difficult to make a decision on your wedding dress, the dress you'll remember for the rest of your life. It's a funny idea - I've been to several weddings now, and I must say I don't remember any of the brides' dresses - not to say they were not stunning, I'm sure they were, but isn't that the whole deal with weddings? You pretty much want people not to remember your wedding, because if it's nice and everyone is pleased, they won't remember those details, just that they had a great time. The only time people really recall the details of a wedding they've been to is when something was tacky or if something goes blatantly wrong. So, plan a wedding they'll forget!

Another difficult decision was the invitations. I definetely had a vision, after bouncing back and worth on it for a bit. When I first met with my invitationalist, she didn't have the right paper I wanted, in terms of the color and texture. I spent a few hours with her, just going through samples and trying to compromise on what I initially wanted. This was especially difficult because Matt wasn't with me. I kept choosing very romantic things, but I knew that it wouldn't be fair to choose something very girly without discussing it with the other party to this wedding first. Fortunately, as I was perusing a sample, I found the perfect paper. We had to do some finagling with the manufacturer, but in the end we got what we wanted. My mom just picked the invitations up last night and said they look beautiful - I can't wait to see them!

Other than those things, everything else just fell into place - we have a wonderful florist with a great creative eye, a highly recommended DJ, a very talented Brazilian bossa nova band that I found online, a friendly reverend that wrote us a beautiful ceremony (also found him online), a photographer that takes the most stunning pictures in the photojournalism style, a Zagat-rated chef and a beautiful location on the beach. But most important of all, we have the best guests, which is the key to any great wedding. We can't wait for this day to finally get here, so we can celebrate with all of our friends and family!

So my wedding tip for any brides to be: Expect to second-guess everything, but in the end stick to your instinct. Don't sacrifice yours and your grooms' personality by just going with the latest trends (can anyone say chocolate brown?).

Bike woes

Yesterday evening was the second time in less than four months that I have had to walk my crappy bike home from work because of a flat tire.

The first time was especially infuriating because it was literally the day after I had just gotten a new tire, the same one that popped a day later. I walked it the mile or so to Central Station in my heels, then locked it up and took the tram home. I picked it up later that night so that I could bring it to the guy by our apartment that had "fixed" it. The next morning I brought it in and held my composure. I had paid this guy €25 to fix my tire, and what's my thanks? When I picked my bike up later that day, he says "you're not going to believe this". Turns out, the guy that was putting in my new tire dropped his pen in there without realizing. How does this country go on?

So yesterday afternoon, relieved that another incredibly boring work day was over so I could hurry home and address more envelopes for our wedding invitations, I go to my bike and find the front tire completely flat. This time I walked it to a bike repair shop by Central Station, again in my heels. And today it's pouring down rain so that should be a fun walk going to pick it up.

Finding a good bike here is tough. Keeping it is also not easy. A few weeks ago Matt's bike was stolen from right outside our place. It was an "oma fiets", or grandmother bike, which he had bought from our friend Jane. The difference between an oma fiets and a regular bike is the kick stand. It was a good, solid bike, old as hell of course, and the tires were nice and thick. It was a shame to lose it. My tires are so flimsy and frail that everytime I go over bits of broken Heineken bottles (quite frequently in the touristy region of Centraal Station) I worry about getting flats. It's so funny that before I came to Amsterdam I dropped serious cash on an exquisite, brand-new Volkswagen GTI (love of my life) and now I can't justify spending a couple hundred euros for another bike. I guess I'm really becoming Dutch after all...

Smell the dairy air

Back from yet another whirlwind trip home to the US! This time for Susie and Chima's wedding, which we combined with an opportunity to visit my family in Wisconsin, take an exam and plan our own wedding!

We flew to Madison on a Saturday, with a layover in Detroit, and rented a car at Madison to drive to my family's farm in Coon Valley, Wisconsin. I drove this leg b/c I was too wired to study, and I knew that Matt would be the driver for the rest of the trip. The drive wasn't too long - just under 2.5 hours - but we were really impressed with ourselves for lasting the massive journey. We had left our apartment in Amsterdam at 6:30 am local Amsterdam time, and arrived at the farm at 3:30pm Wisconsin time, which is 10:30pm Amsterdam time.

One thing I realized in Detroit is how incredibly rude the Dutch really are when you compare them to Midwesterners. One lady stepped on my foot and shoved me while on the security line, and I was confused - Midwestern people don't act that way. Turns out, she was Dutch. Of course - I should have known!

My mom had flown out the week before to meet us in Wisconsin, so it was great to be able to spend some more time with her. On Sunday, a bunch of my family came for a picnic. The night before, my aunt said she was making a carrot cake, and I hooted "carrot cake is my favorite!". And she says, "really? Ok, I'll make two" :-)One thing about Wisconsin people - they love their sweets. After you're finished with lunch or dinner, you're just getting started - often there will be more dessert than actual food. On Sunday we also had our first taste of the Norwegian dinner-slash-dessert rommegrot. It's like pudding that you put melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar on. We had it for dessert, but apparently Norwegians will also eat this stuff for dinner.

On Monday we went to the Amish auction. I'm really confused by the Amish. I know that there are different kinds of Amish, and you can tell this by the color clothes they wear. Some can use electricity, some can't, things like that. But I had always thought they couldn't deal in money. But they certainly do - they were selling flowers, quilts, food and furniture, and these things weren't cheap. And they also had a cage with some sad looking puppies with a sign on it that said "Free Puppies". We got my mom's cousin on the case - she rescues cocker spaniels. Unfortunately these weren't cockers so she couldn't really bring them home, but it's so messed up that these puppy mills are still allowed to go on. Apparently the Amish are very big into these puppy mills too.

My family sold all their cows a few years ago and decided to lease the farm land. Since there was no farming action for Matt to see, my uncle took him to a friend's farm nearby. Matt had a good time there, and learned that the organic business is good business for the small farmer - they can charge higher prices and yet have lower costs, since they don't spend money on the chemicals to clean the wheat. He also confirmed what we had heard about free-range chicken - it only means that chickens have ACCESS to an outside field for 30 minutes a day, and most of the time, the chickens prefer to just stay in the cage. What a rip! Matt then earned his farmer badge by driving a tractor, and then speeding down the road on the 4-wheeler with me hanging on for dear life in the back.

On Wednesday, we left to make the trip to Milwaukee. Since Chima and Susie's wedding was going to be on Friday, May 30 and my Law exam was scheduled for the day before, I arranged it so that I could take it at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. I studied the entire drive, and by that point I was confident with the material. We arrived in the afternoon at our Ramada hotel. American hotels are all the same! It's so funny to notice things like that when you've been gone for a while. They all have 2 big beds, a big TV, a desk and internet connection - things you'd be pressed to find in Europe unless you're willing to drop some coin. And they also have these shiny vomit-colored comforters. We asked the concierge what there was to do in Milwaukee, and he said the Brewers were in town. Well, why not! We had some time before the game so we went to the Fridays in the stadium - we had a pretty legit meal of wings, meats and Miller High Lifes. And very American - especially since as we sat down the waitress told us we had the table for exactly one hour! You'd NEVER hear that in Amsterdam. The game itself was pretty boring until the 7th inning, but then the Brewers got some runs to win the game.

Thursday was exam day! Matt dropped me off around 9:45. Unfortunately there were freshman placement exams also going on - not in my testing room but I could still hear the announcements through the door. I also had a moment of panic when I saw that 2 of the topics I studied heavily didn't appear in the questions at all! But I recovered and think I definetely passed, so no worries. After 3 hours of some cramping essay-writing, I was done. The drive to Madison was short - especially since I napped for most of it. That evening Matt had to go to the rehearsal, and I stayed in the hotel watching Oprah and doing my nails before the rehearsal dinner.

The dinner was at an Italian restaurant in a converted church. It was a really beautiful place, and we were able to put some tables together so all of us friends could sit together. It was really great seeing everyone. After the dinner, we kept the party going out on the town in Madison. There was a jukebox at one bar - I miss those! The next day while Matt went for a run with Ryan and Kootman, I celebrated my new freedom from studying by watching a marathon of MTV's The Ex-Factor. Later that morning a bunch of us met up for brunch at a Greek diner. We had what I thought were delicious omelettes, except everyone but me thought they were nasty! Guess I really miss diner omelettes. Afterwards, Matt had to go try on his tux - turns out that when the Chima gave the tailor the measurements that Matt's tailor had provided, converted from cm to inches, the guy laughed and said there is no way a person could have these measurements. While he went to do some damage control with the tux, I dragged Kootman and Ryan with me to Urban Outfitters, where I had what could only be called a shopping spree.

From what I thought I knew about weddings, guests are told to come at a certain time for an "invite" which usually is 30 minutes before the ceremony. So I guess not in Wisconsin, b/c when we walked in, half the wedding party was preparing to walk down the aisle and no one was returning our smiles and cheery "hellos". So we rushed to our seats while the whole church looked on. The wedding was very nice, except I had a "I wore the wrong shoes" moment. It felt like my feet were in a vice! Luckily I had time to change out of these evil things before the reception.

The reception was great - we all danced up a storm! Chima and Susie looked fabulous as always and it was so nice to be able to come and celebrate with them. Since Agata's wedding in Poland, Matt and I have made vodka our drink of choice for wedddings. It's so clean that it goes down easy and you don't get sleepy like with beer and wine or mixed drinks with sugary sodas. Problem was that we were not allowed to have shots, according to the bar staff. To get around this, they gave us vodka neats in what were supposed to be smaller portions, but these were huge shots. Luckily everyone was fine and no one made a spectacle of themselves.

Saturday we spent the morning walking around the capitol for the weekly farmer's market. We sampled lots of delicious treats - cheese curds, cheese bread, cream cheese pockets, pepper jack cheese scones, carrot cake, and ostrich slim jims. If you ever find yourself in Madison on a Saturday, this farmer's market is not to be missed. In the afternoon Susie's parents had a BBQ at their beautiful home on the lake. More brats and cheese products and beer. Later that night we went out to a bar and I tried to wingman Ryan, but I didn't let him talk to any of the girls b/c they were either too young or too cheesy or both. Wingman-ing is when you try to start converstations with girls to hook up your friends, or when you stick around and talk to the ugly friend. I guess I'm too picky to be a proper wingman.

On Sunday we had to say goodbye. Matt and I flew together to Detroit and our connections boarded at the same time, so we had a few minutes to sit together - Matt was going back to Amsterdam and I to Laguardia to spend some days at home to plan the wedding. I arrived without event in NY, curled up on the couch to watch bridal shows on A&E and eat lasagna. This is the life. The next day was sunny and gorgeous and so I headed right to the beach, with a pit stop to get sunscreen and Us Weekly. The beach was completely empty - the beaches in the Hamptons are absolutely stunning, I can never get over it. It was windy, and after a few hours I headed back home to lay by the pool and eat a turkey on rye sandwich. At 4 I went with my parents to meet Matt's mom, aunt and grandma at Atlantica, our wedding venue, for a tasting. Let me tell you, the food here is phenomenal. No detail is spared. We got to try one full plate of everything on their menu. We really couldn't go wrong with our choices. And they threw in some wine, coffee and desserts. The day was still beautiful and we sat in the tent where the ceremony and cocktail hour will be. I really hope it's not too windy on our wedding day and we can keep the end flap of the tent up - the views to the beach are so stunning. Either way it'll be beautiful.

The next day was full-on. I went back to Atlantica in the morning to meet our officiant, Reverend Don. He has a great personality and his New York accent is killer. I'm sure our international guests will get a kick out of it. Then I met up with Matt's mom and grandma to go meet with our invitations lady and florist. After a busy afternoon of making decisions, we ended it on a high note with a slice of yummy NY pizza. The fun continued the next day - my mom and aunt joined me for another trip to the invitation lady to finalize a few things, then for my hair and makeup trial. This I was nervous about - one, I had no idea what I was going to do with my hair, and two, makeup people always pile on too much and I really want to look like myself on my wedding day. Luckily, these girls were great - I'm confident that they'll be able to do what I'd like on the day. Then we headed to some home stores to find frames for our table names and a few other things. Everything is coming together so smoothly! By this point though, I was exhausted. I had planned to go into the city and see some friends, but the thought of that just made me want to go to sleep. And the next day was busy too - my mom and I drove to Huntington Station about an hour away to meet my photographer. I'm really excited about him - his pictures are amazing and he is so easygoing and friendly. He does a lot of the photojournalistic style that looks really cool. The weather turned sunny and warm at around noon so I got to spend some time in the sun before my flight back to Amsterdam that night.

Overall, a fantastic trip - though my time at home was a bit short. This was my longest trip to the US since I moved to Amsterdam, so the jet lag was at its worst. But it's nice that I can now relax - no more tests and the wedding is nearly all planned.