August 8, 2010 – The JimAnna Chronicles

Bavarian Wedding!

We had the honor and privilege of helping at our dear friend’s (Gabi and Philipp) wedding. Anna was Gabi’s witness and I served as the official/unofficial photographer. Without a good flash, it was a bit tough, but here are some of the images from that day.

Philipp about to drive to his wedding.

Gabi right there with him … no superstition here!

The officiant (mayor) reading the vows and ceremony.

As this was a civil service, it wasn’t long before the bride and groom were signing their marriage documents.

This is where Anna came in. She was Gabi’s witness to make it official.

Gabi and Philipp’s hands on their family book.

Apparently, it’s a Bavarian tradition for newlyweds to saw a log together. Gabi’s father, being a consummate outdoors man helped make it happen.

Much of the food was cooked by Gabi’s mother. It was delicious!

Slicing the cake.

Interestingly, all the women in Gabi’s family (sister, sister-in-law, and adopted American sister … everyone except Gabi) were pregnant at the wedding.

The family proper.

Family and friends

Aren’t they cute?? They’re like this *almost* all the time. 🙂

It was a great ceremony, party and visit with Gabi, Philipp and their whole family. We were so pleased to be a part of it.

After we left Bavaria, we headed down to France to begin our new life in France. The next post will (finally) have some images from our time here.

Until then…

–Jim

Babymoon — Miami, Florida

The final leg of our Babymoon was back in Miami. We met another couple on the ship who was sticking around a while longer and ended up seeing the city together. It was a nice end to the trip. Here are the images to go with it.

This lighthouse is a part of Bill Baggs Florida State Park. It’s supposedly the same place that Ponce de Leon named the Cape of Florida when he explored the region in 1513.

The lighthouse was first built in 1825, but damaged in the Second Seminole War.

It was re-built in 1846 and is now the oldest freestanding structure in the area.

A manatee swimming just off shore.

Which is the stick and which is the bug? I can’t tell!

These next images are from the Miami Zoo. As far as zoos go, it’s a very nice one.

The always graceful flamingos.

I think this tortoise looks quite sage, don’t you?

Soaking up the sun.

Cute, but poisonous.

This little one was a bundle of energy and stopped only for a split second.

And why wouldn’t you stand like this?!

Well, that wraps up our Babymoon. It was a great trip, but we were anxious to get to France, settle and and await Alexander’s arrival. The next post will have a few images from our friends Gabi and Philipp’s wedding in Germany.

Until then…

–Jim

Babymoon Cruise — Costa Maya, Mexico

A little further north, we stopped at Costa Maya, Mexico. A town literally made for tourists. But, it’s also close enough to some Mayan ruins that it was a fun stop.

Although I love history, I admit I don’t know as much about the Mayan culture as I do about some others. However, as I understand it, no one really knows that much. Enough of that, on with the pictures!

Upon arrival, we navigated our way our of the modern, ultra-touristy mall complex, through the standard maze of aggressive taxi drivers and quasi-tour operators to find the tour we booked. Fortunately, this was a much better company than our experience in Belize. We hopped on a bus to Chacchoben ruins about an hour away. Here are the images from the city that was built sometime around the 8th century in the current era.

These ruins were only excavated in the last 20 years and open to the public since 2002. So, it’s kinda nice to be a little less well known.

Anna was a trooper to trudge around all day, again.

Ravishing, don’t you think?

An insect’s eye view.

A not-so-little friend we found walking back to the ship. He was just hanging out.

One of the most interesting experiences that day was stopping to buy some pineapple. It was slice of super fresh fruit in a plastic bag, AND had cayenne spice. Absolutely delicious! Yumm.

Anyway, that covers our brief time in Mexico. We were supposed to stop in the Bahamas, but high winds and waves kept the tenders from safely operating and consequently, we just hung out on the boat for another day. That was just fine with us.

After we finally disembarked, we spent another couple days checking out the sights in Miami. Unfortunately, our good friend Tom had already moved to Europe, but he offered some good tips.

Until the next post…

–Jim

Babymoon Cruise — Blue Hole, Belize

The first stop on our Caribbean adventure was in Roatan, Honduras. I was able to do a little SCUBA diving, while Anna snorkeled. Then, a massage for each of us … all of this on a private resort. Heavenly. But, alas, no pictures sorry. The next destination was over to the tiny country of Belize. They are also world-renowned for SCUBA (thanks to people like M. Jacques Cousteau). Since we had just been diving in Roatan, we decided to trust TripAdvisor on the number one activity. Cave tubing. It was a lot of fun, but the tour company, Explore Belize Caves, left many things to be desired (we would NOT recommend that company).

Anyway, since there was a little time in the afternoon, we decided to see the most talked about dive site in Belize … The Great Blue Hole. There are two ways to see it: dive it, or fly over it. We opted to rent a Cessna 172 and fly over. Unfortunately, the plane had a pilot included, but it’s always fun to be in light aircraft and even more fun when you fly over something as spectacular as the Great Blue Hole. This is the site of M. Cousteau’s expedition. The reef surrounding the hole is relatively shallow, but the hole itself seems to plunge to an abyss. It wasn’t until M. Cousteau brought in the famous Calypso that the true depth was discovered (124 meters). It is strikingly symmetric and 300 meters across. M. Cousteau declared it was one of the 10 best dive sites in the world. I’m not sure about that, but here are the aerial pictures.

The Great Blue Hole, Belize.

Getting ready.

Enjoying the ride!

A little perspective. Although the hole is massive, it is dwarfed by the rest of the reef system.

We circled the Great Blue Hole a few times at various altitudes to see it from all angles.

The reef line.

Anna captured this image of a boat going up the canal.

Looks like a nice place to live, huh?

Yes, this is in fact the airport. I’ve never landed at such an austere airfield … right next to the sea!

A view from the tender taking us back to the Norwegian Jewel. Since this was our third cruise, we’re getting a better idea of what sort of things we like and what we don’t. The Freestyle Cruising that Norwegian advertises is great for some people, but not us. Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s varies by cruise, but the biggest difference at Norwegian (that we saw) was the dining. Normally, cruise lines seat everyone at the same time, and your tables are assigned for the duration. That is nice because you can make friends with your table mates and the wait staff gets to know your preferences. However, at Norwegian, they don’t have a set meal time. You just show up at one of the main dining rooms or make a reservation at a specialty restaurant (steak, sushi, French, Italian, etc). Seems like a great concept, right? Well, in practice, the quality of meals is sub-par at the “regular” restaurants and there is a cover charge at the specialty spots. Plus, on top of that, you’re always anonymous at meals. It’s not a huge deal, but something we observed and have decided will point us toward other cruise lines when we take our next cruise.

Up next are the Mayan ruins at Costa Maya, followed by some time in Miami at the conclusion of the Baby-moon.

Until then…

–Jim

Babymoon — Florida Keys

Lest I get too far behind in my posts, please allow me to post some images from our “Baby-moon” trip we took back in March. It was our last pre-Alexander trip. We decided to fly down to Miami, rent a car, and drive to Key West (a destination we’d heard much about, but never visited). Then, after a few days on the island, head back to Miami (via the Everglades) and hop on a cruise for a week. Finally, after all that, back to DC, and fly on to the next chapter of our lives … parenting in France. 🙂

Ok, so these next few images are from a great sailing trip we took with Danger Cruises. We highly recommend their Wind and Wine Sunset Sail. It was quite simply, spectacular.

Although it looks beautiful, it was a bit chilly on the boat.

This is the view from the tower of the Key West Ship Wreck Museum.

The museum was filled with entertaining and enlightening stories of Key West’s Wrecking past. If you’re a little confused on what that means, so was I. Basically, it means that the people of Key West were able to capitalize on the treacherous weather and when a ship sank, they would remove the valuables from the ship and turn a handsome profit.