April Action Jackson

1) We're moving ... 5 minutes away. Sad to report our landlords (and friends) are selling our cozy little canal apartment. But, in a huge stroke of luck, we found another cool spot nearby from a friend of a friend, as that's the only way to avoid highway apartment robbery.

2) Birthday Gene - I surprised Geno with a 24 hour adventure to Texel Island (about 2 hours away, one of the 5 or so islands in The Netherlands). Here's pics - beautiful spot.

3) Hello Today Show! - We discovered the NBC peacock van at the bottom of our canal last week ... turns out "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" hit Amsterdam. Geno managed to meet Matt in person, as well as another celeb, see pics.

4) Queen's Day 2008 - Another year, another crazy Queen's Day holiday in Holland where everyone is decked in orange and kids are providing clever entertainment in the park, click for more pics.

5) Copenhagen - So, with the extra public holidays, we decided to hit Scandinavia. Spent the weekend meeting local friends my dad met during his travels a while back ... who proved to be exceptional hosts and made sure we covered all the major sites. We even took a quick ferry to Sweden (sounds amazing but was really only 20 minutes away). Here's pics.

Superlatives for Easter Break

There are not enough superlatives to describe our heavenly trip to Sevilla, Spain and the Algarve Portugal over the Easter holiday. (good Friday and the Monday after Easter are public holidays, nice!) It was the BEST sun holiday we've had ... it's that simple.

Began with Semana Santa in Sevilla, where we watched the traditional Good Friday (well, 2 AM day before) procession of thousands of KKK looking guys called "Nazarenos" walk through the streets holding candles, carrying crosses, or lifting up huge statue floats (really gotta see the pics and read Geno's desciptions) ... all while being silently observed by thousands of adults and kids. These Narzrenos walk through the city from their neighborhood churches to the enormous Cathedral in the center of town. It was stunning. Aside from the traditions around holy week, we got the bonus of hanging out with my cousin Reagan, including her taking command of the restaurant where she works, leading the life every 20something year should experience.

We then picked up our reliable little rental car in Sevilla and head for relaxation in Portugal. Geno really outdid himself this time ...he picked amazing boutique hotels staggered along the Algarve. So for 5 days we hopped between 3 perfect spots, all close to the beach and superb seafood. While Amsterdam was hit with a blizzard, we soaked in the sun - it was 68 and perfect for relaxing and reading, golfing and Geno even surfed the waves in the Atlantic at the tip of Portugal. Oh and it was anniversary #4!

Here's the deal --we know we get fired up about everywhere we go, so we're not the best city critics, but we do agree that if someone says you've won 2 free tix to Portugal - take 'em.

Click here for the must see pics.

So Hungary

Turns out people really do wear those Russian fur hats in Eastern Europe cause it's just that cold. I mean ice ripping through your skin cold. But they've got sun, so it evens out. We landed in Budapest on Valentine's Day, just in time for Geno to keep our tradition of eating at an Indian restaurant on V-Day alive. (And it was legit!) Here's a few key facts you should know about Budapest (or "Budapesht" as the locals call it):

• Acutally two mini cities, "Buda" and "Pest", separated by the Danube River
  
• Broke free of Communism in 1989, so no way any of us were getting in before then
• Famous for Paprika and Goulash soup
• Good to know a few words of Hungarian or at least mimic the accent as Geno can do quit well
  

I hesitate to admit this, but, for our first time in our lives together, we did one of those "Jump On Jump Off" City Bus Tours. Smart move as the city is huge ... not so smart was chasing after the bus (picture Geno hobbling on a bad knee, another story) after we realized they really do only stop for 2 seconds. Anyway, we loved Budapest ...from the ancient, colorful buildings with crazy ornate details to the outdoor park ice skating rink with blasts of Michael Jackson music....it's a city not to miss. Check out the pics.