Studneski Family 2013 World Trip

Paris, how much time do you have? Our 5 days were not even close to enough.
As far as I can see it would take a lifetime to see and explore all of the sites and immerse yourself into all of the history and culture here.
Not to mention the gastronomy.
I gained about a pound a day, eating twice as much as usual and feeling my tongue swell to the over indulgence of exquisite vintage French red wine while bits of brie cheese were stuck in my teeth. The best part was having inebriated conversations with sober French people whilst probably spraying small bits of that cheese out of my teeth upon them, but since I could not understand them, I would assume that the reason they were smiling at me and speaking in their local tongue insulting me gracefully was that I depicted the typical American tourist. But I did not care for on the most part the French are very friendly folk and I was happy to drink as much of their wine and eat as much of their cheese until I hit NIRVANA!
If I was to live in France I would be fat and happy till I died of a heart attack. ( But not a bad way to go )

I was a regular at this establishment. I was tagged on the first night the Idiot American. I had given the waiter a $10 euro tip. But every night after that the service was great and the drinks got bigger and bigger. (HA! Who is the Idiot now?)

Hanging at the Rouge with Miles.
At Tid bit for ya, the Moulin Rouge building has been in operation since 1889. The area was once coverd in vineyards, and dotted with windmills for making flour. People came to this area for the wine (HA, JUST LIKE ME) and stayed in the country ins that competed for guests by putting on dance shows called "Cabarets". Today the Moulin Rouge (red mill) is the the only one left.

The Arc de Triomphe
As I stand in front of most of the Arc, I had to laugh for it is also called by the French Arc de too late. For the late Emperor Napoleon orderd an arc of triumph be built to commemorate his victories in battle. Trouble was that his vision was so big that it took 30 years to build. By the time Napoleon had been kicked out of France the royals were back in power. Luckily King Louis-Philippe did not hold a grudge and eventually he allowed the arch to be completed. The Arch also stands in the middle of the Palace Charles de Gaulle, which itself is in the center of the worlds largest traffic roundabout- called the greand Axe- where twelve avenues meet.

So since I mentioned the wee man Napoleon it is fitting to have a look at his Tomb.
Safely tucked away is the body of Napoleon inside this coffin. Opps did I say coffin, I ment his body has been placed into 5 separate coffns and then been put inside the tomb. The tomb is kept in a chapel that is part of a museum called Les Invalides.
I Guss they might be worried that he might get out and start another revolution.

Enjoying the park around the Eiffel Tower with my sweet heart.
The view from the top is fabulous. It stands at 1063 ft. (about as high as a 80 story building) It took 2 years to put the 18,038 pieces of wrought iron together, starting works in 1887 and completed 1889.

The Notre Dame Cathedral beats out the Eiffel Tower as the largest tourist destination in France. There are storeys among the priests that the ghost of the Hunchback bell ringer is still haunting the Cathedral.

Of course you can not visit Paris with out a local artist drawing you.

When Paris fell to the Prussians in 1871, many Parisians saw it as a sign they were being punished for not having lived decently in the eyes of God. To make up for their sins, and to honour those who died, they built the Sacre-Coeur.

Our attempt of fitting in on the Paris art scene.

Whent for a visit in the Pere Lanchaise Cemetery to say HI to Jim Morrison. Even in death Jim gets no peace, for his grave is the most visited gave in the Cemetery. Also recently they have had to put a fence around his grave to keep people from doing all sorts of interesting things on it. Also during the peak tourist season Mr Morrison has his own personal guard to keep the wild visitors from doing the things they should not be doing. But even with all this security, Jim still has plenty of beers and other assorted "fresh offerings" upon his grave.

One of the many street performances we saw.

Stunning Museum, that was converted from an old railway station.

A weekend in Finland, what a outstanding country. Our wirl wind tour of 4 days was A blast would like to have seen more, maybe next time.
Wood pecker looking having a look at why I was hanging out by his tree.

Locals

Miles got to have his 16th Birthday at the Hermens house.

Old Bridge

Nice peacefull forest area

Time for fishing

Nice job stacking the wood for the winter

Hangin out in the local bar and having a drink with Angus

And to finish up the trip a nice day at the spa

Walking around Avignon taking in the 5000 years of History, it is quite an enchanting place.
Avignon was once the capital of the Cavare tribe, then a Phoenician trading post, then an thriving city under the roman rule.
As the choice of the papacy in XIVth Century Avignon became the capital of the Christian world, drawing the best architects and artists who left their influence, changing the face of the city forever.

The Palace of the Popes. This was the home of Sovereign Pontiffs in the 14th Century.

Local hero, and guardian of the Palace of the Popes.

A real working, draw bridge on the Saint-Benezet bridge

Beautiful Park on the top of the town

Luna the warrior princess has returned

Theatre Antique D'Orange. One of the best preserved roman theatres left on the planet. This Theatre still hosts, concerts and plays.

The Triumphal Arch of Orange. This Arch was built around 27 BC. To show of the victories of the roman empire.

This little guys shure knows how to dress to look so French

I am like scrat off of the Ice Age Movies. I have found my acorn love.
Yes I drank as much as I could at this vineyard, for how often do you get to drink, Clos De L'Oratoire Des Papes, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, I am in HEVEN!

OK we have arrived in the one spot on the planet that has more billionaires and millionaires then anywhere else on the planet. I'm a bit taken back by the amount of wealth that some people have. But I do have to say that this town is full of fun.
The first thing I noticed as I came out from the train station, dragging my ratty backpack, was a Ferrari zooming by on the street, oh then a Lamborghini, oops there goes a Bentley, now a Maserati, wait was that shitty little fiat behind that Austin Martin, am I dreaming, nope just in Monaco.

Nice place for my yacht for the summer.

The Famous Monte Carlo casino, yup lost $10 euro in here, but loved having a drink at the bar pretending I was BOND MIKE BOND!

Stand back, the new MIKE BOND is here to save the day.

Luna managed to squeak in to meet this famous Russian Model at the car show. She even gave her an autographed poster.

Poor old Prince Albert's castle he lives in. Must be rough living quarters.

Changing of the guards at Prince Albert's pad.

Just another rich guy getting ready to race around the streets of Monaco

The one beach in Monaco.
As I walked down to sit on the beach I was asked for a $10 euro note by a guy who was trying to charge me to sit on this beach. When I refused I learned that the 500 cops that are on Albert's pay roll can be quite intimidating if you don't pay your money to have this privilege to sit on this little stretch of sand. In the end I declined and went and drank a $15 euro beer at the bar instead.

I felt like Clive Cussler, charterer (Dirk Pit) when I was allowed to paly in this beauty.

Miles asked me if I could buy him this car.

To sum it up, Monaco is definitely for the Ever so Rich and Famous.

San Fruttuso is a quaint Abby with amazing views. We stayed here for a week, it was the most peaceful week we had on the trip thus far. Due to the only way to get here is either trekking for and hour and half over the ridges,(which only day treckers do) or what most do is take the local ferry from Portofino. The last ferry leaves at 5:30 pm and after that it is you and the 4 perm ant inhabitants and us until the 8am ferry arrives. It was like having your own exclusive luxury hideaway. The Abby was constructed in the 11th centaury and is still in almost perfect condition.

Inside the Church at San Fruttuso

Small Tower at San Fruttuso

Portofino, Absolutely stunning little port town. (I think the average person living in Portofino has a very large wallet) Everything in this town is picture perfect. This town is by far the tidiest and best kept place on the planet that my eyes have seen. I can sum the town up in one word, pretentious comes to mind as I stroll along the glittering sidewalks.

Check out the paint job closely on this building

Cute little church

These two guys are famous models from England,( I don't know who the hell they are but maybe some of you will) they were on a photo shoot for a winters collection, for a Spanish clothing company called Zara. I snuck in close and took a quick snap shot. Then all hell broke lose, Portofino will never be the same, maybe some one caught it all on video and will post it to You tube, for who would have thought people would get so angry that I took one little picture of these 2 goofballs. Thus you can imagine seeing me getting chased thought the streets of pretentious Portofino by the camera crew, but I made my get away by jumping on to a moving ferry passing by the docks. Good thing the captain of the ferry thought it was funny, and didn't throw me over board! :0

Riding on the ferry after my grand getaway!( By the way all of my clothes in this picture are by Zara, NOT!)

Rome is such a great city. You walk around and it feels like your in an open museum, every corner you take is another monument or building that is more breathtakingly then the last. And I don't know where all of this crap about Rome being a dirty crime ridden city came from. All I saw and experienced was clean and very friendly happy people. Not to mention the Pizza is outstanding!

Luna & Miles taking on the Guards

Do I need to say any more?

A bit far away but we did get to see and hear the new pope.

The Guards at the Vatican City.

Sitting on the famous Spanish Steps

Nice little hotel in the early spring along a side street in Roma

Hanging in the ruins

Best place we have ever eaten at. 150 flavour of hand made Gelato to choose from. We had to eat there for 5 day in a row!

Street Artist in Roma

OK, Asia is over,(finally get to eat something besides rice and duck feet) the cheep part of the journey is long gone. 5 days in Dubai, you open your wallet and watch the cash disappear supoer fast. But besides that what a cool place to spend some time in the Arab world.

Watch out for this guy I think he is wanted in several country's for beer consumption of crappy warm beer.

Sand Bashing in a brand new Land Cruiser at over 100K and hour was an Awesome experience, SOOOOOO much fun!

Sand boarding in the desert of Dubai. Hurts Much more then falling on the snow!

The girls ridding the camels at sunset.

The kids at Wild Wadi water park. Best part of this was we pick the only day in the year that it rained and only about 50 other people were at the park so we had the chance to go on all the rides with no lines all day.

Old Dubai Fort

Hanging out with our Saudi Buddy

Yup you can even ice skate in the mall in Dubai.

Cool Mosk

Four days in a row so far of surfing, morning and evenings, two hours each time. I am wiped out, but slowly getting back into shape. In the mornings I have to roll out of bed and pull myself up on the bed posts to stand up groaning like and old man. I am so sore. Muscles that I never knew exisited are sore.
But after a good cry, I make my way to the surf truck and force myself to get in each day, just for the fun of getting pummled by the surf.

I now have a vendetta with the surf, each day I swear and curse at it when trying to get through the breakers. After I finally make it I can barely move my arms. Then I look up and here comes the good wave. Out of breath I spin my board around, ok now I start paddling for my life, the wave crests and I start to ride it, then just to be thrown off, sent spinning around under the ocean until it finally pops me back up. I grab my boards spit out gallons of salt water, look up and get dishwashed by the next set of waves. After that set subsides and I am lying on my board like a wet slab of meat gaging, spurting and almost defeated. But I start the process all over again. MAN I LOVE THIS SPORT!
To sum it up we have five more days of this awsome tourture.

Mr. Ben the kids' surf teacher, has done a great job with them, after two days of lessons they both can catch a wave and ride it all the way to the beach.
After four days of lessons little Miss Ripper is already doing tricks on the board. Look out surfing world!

Talalla is a great little beach area in the south of Sri Lanka. Very much enjoying the relaxed pace of life here.
Getting a tan and losing my beer gut, but having a hard time not over eating here, for the food mouth watering.
Sleeping well at night. Basically passing out due to far too much activity.

Unloading the surf truck

Kids getting their lessons with Mr. Ben from England.

Miles getting it on!

Little Miss Shredder

Hey look the old man can still surf

Along the beach of Sri Lanka southern coast

Did you all know superman can surf, well now you do!

Riding along in the surf mobil

Group photo

Yala National Park Safari was toooo much fun. We stayed two nights in a safari camp with WILD TRAILS SAFARIS. It has been most likely one of the funnest experiences I have ever had. Yala is full of animal life. The only bummer about the place is there are far too many vehicles in the park at the same time all zooming up to each other, besides that it is an amazing park.

All of the gang in Yala

Camp life is very tough with Wild Trails Safaris, we barely managed to make it out alive. I mean who likes having beautifully prepared four course meals three times a day served to you in the jungle while watching wildlife all day long and drinking fine wine.

Inside the little tents. It was so cramped it barely fit my EGO!

Who said you cannot attach a toilet and shower to a tent.

Our first glimses of a huge lepard at dusk.

A young cub having a look at us

Elephant Rock

A tusker having a drink

Hornbills

Spotted deer

Sambur deer

Love is in the air

Loads of parrots. Every night we would watch hundreds of them fly over us to land in the trees nearby.

Waking up at 5 am, jumping into the open cockpit of a safari style Land Crusier. The wind blew into my face as we raced through Tissamaharama town, toward Bundala National Park. A rush of adrenalin was pumping through my veins. For the one thing that I enjoy so much in life is viewing wildlife.
By the time we reached the park the sun was just rising on the horizion. Our driver pulled up to a big lake and shut down the engine, as the sun light blazed an orange/yellow hue across the lake. We listened to the sounds of many species of birds waking up and saw them beginning to look for their morning feed. The back drop along with the abundance of bird life was exhilerating.

Within two hours of driving around this fascinating little park, we watched many birds of all sizes and so colorfull, mongoose chasing each other around tree trunks, a monkey galore playing and jumping around everywhere, water buffalo lounging in the water holes, crocs basking themselves in the morning sun, spotted deer gracefully hiding in the underbrush, and also one very large male elephant strolling down the beach for a morning walk; and all of this by 7am.

Bundala National Park is mostly known for its birdlife. There are over 190 different species of birds that live or migrate to the park each year.
I have had the opertunity to photograph a few for you to see.

Following the animal tracks in Bundala was a blast, but after trying to track any one of these tracks I was surpirsed to find that I was no bushman after all, for I did not find any big animals just some beatles, oh well I shall continue to work on my tracking skills.

Entrance to Bundala

Mike Dundee lives!

Bee eaters,searching for them buzzing flyers

Crested serpent eagle on the lookout

White Brested King Fisher

Great stone curlew

Marabou stork

Wild peacock

Spoonbill

Water buffalow cooling off in the mid morning heat

Local fisherman heading out for the morning catch

Blue heron

Monitor lizard

Grey langur monkey having a drink

Smile your on camera

Nice jump

Family tree

oops, well in the morning sometime it just happens!

Beautiful butterfly

Dialuma waterfalls

How we dry our freshly washed clothes in Sri Lanka

Well, all I can say is that if you have not yet been to Sri Lanka, you are missing one of the most incredible places on this planet.
The first thing you will notice when you arrive is that the people are in no hurry and seem to be extremely happy all the time.
It has only been one week since we have been in the country but I think I am in love. So far every day is filled with beautiful people, stunning sites and very good food.

We took the train from Colombo to Kandy and then on to Ella. The train was slow but the sites were breathtaking along the way. At every corner something seemed to jump out at you and say hey look another stunning view. Needless to say I have taken about 300 photos in just one week here, for the next two and a half weeks here I think I might overload my camera's memory.
Anyway have a look and stay tuned for next week, for we will be heading on a safari, yeha!!!!

Sounds of local drums

Taking the elephant for a wee walk

Buddha's tooth is hidden behind these doors

Buddha is everywhere in Sri Lanka

Buddha statue in Kandy

Kandy town and lake

Finally met a real snake charmer

Sir please don't hang out of a moving train! It was worth it!!!!!

Bagging the tea leaves to take to processing

Plucking the tea leaves

Having a spot of tea high up in the mountians. And soooo good!

Tea field

The tea inspector

Waterfall - view from out our room window in Ella

Mini Adam's peak

Local post office in Ella

Cool woodpecker

3 weeks in China was great fun, things I will miss : Firstly, being able to spit freely everwhere, secondly, the mad taxi drivers and all other traffic related madness, thirdly, using martial arts, kick boxing or just plain street fighting to make your way into events, buses or trains, fourthly, being able to chain smoke everywhere and lastly the public toilets. I will miss them the most! Overall China was a rewarding experience that I will never forget.

Mr. Panda Chill'in

I can see you

Happy Happy JOY JOY

The only brown panda in the world, according to our guide

Yes, I'm soooooo cute!!!!

Mr. Tarkin

Speed racers. Even the police stopped to have a look at the MAD girls!

Bell Tower at night Xi'an

Squid on a stick anyone??

Wild Goose Pagoda

View from the top of the wild goose pagoda

Riding the speed train from Xi'an to Beijing VERY FAST!!

Dressed for success while walking around in Beijing during a sandstom that hit us from Mongolia

Ok, who has the coolest shoes on #1 #2 or #3??

OH MY GOD, THE DEVIL IS ALIVE IN CHINA ALSO!!! YUCK!

XI'AN China is by far the coolest most modern city we have yet to see in China in my opinion. There is so much history and so much to see here I wish we could have stayed here another week to experience much more.

Two days ago we went to view the Terracotta Warriors. It is a very disturbing but fascinating story.
In 1974 some farmers were digging a water well when they pulled out of the ground a piece of a Terracotta Warrior. This prompted the Chinese Goverment to investigate, thus unearthing the largest pottery figurine group ever found in the world. So far four pits have been discoverd and the tomb of the Qin Emperor. They date back to 210 BC. So far over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 720 horses and the number is still growing, have been unearthed. The history of this find is not a nice story of how and why the Emperor made these Terracotta Warriors.

The Xi"an City Wall was built by the Ming Dyansty (1368-1644). It is the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well as being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. It stands 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12 to 14 meters (40-46 feet) wide and 15-18 meters(50-60 feet) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 Kilometers(8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat surrounding it. Every 120 meters, there is a rampart which extends out from the main wall. Altogether there are 98 ramparts on the wall. Each rampart has a sentry building, in which the soldiers could protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. Besides, the distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of an arrow shot from either side, so that they could shoot the enemy, who wanted to attack the city, from either side. On the outer side of the city wall, there are 5948 crenellations, namely battlements. The soldiers can outlook and shoot at the enemy. On the innerside, parapets were built to protect the soldiers from falling off.

So we decided that we did not want to fight anyone on the Xian City Wall instead we just rented bikes and made our way around the 13 km cycling enjoying the views on the inner and outer area of the now modern city of Xi'an below.

Terracotta Warrior

The army

Horse Warriors

Miles and I chill'in with the gang

My old pals

Cool building in Xi'an

Inside the main square on the inner city wall in Xian

On top of the City Wall

Biking on the Xi'an Town City Wall

Looking down the Xi'an City Wall

Sentry building

Check out this door, no wonder nobody could get in.

Luna taking on the guards

Bell Tower in Xi'an in the smog

Downtime in Xi'an at the Han Tang House

Ok, now I have seen everything! This dog was walking around in the park in XI'AN with her master who almost had the same style of clothing.

The man who started it all.

After a few day in Gubeikou Village playing in the snow we made our way two hours north to Chengde.
As soon as we arrived in Chengde we were introduced to the freezing cold of China. I have not been that type of cold in many years. But we did not let the cold stop us from visting some really great sites.

Chengde is reknown for the Emperor's "Mountain Resort" and its eight outlaying temples. In 1703 the Kangxi Emperor built the mountain resort as his summer residence to avoid the heat of Beijing. It has an impressive area of 5,640,000 sq meters. (It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1994).

After walking around the Mountain Resort, the next day we made our way to the Putuozongcheng Temple. It was built between 1767 to 1771 during the reign of the Quianlong Emperor (1735-1796). It was modeled after the Potala Palace of Tibet.

Chengde is a very beautiful small city. I would assume that during the summer it is breath taking. The one thing we noticed as soon as we arrived in the town was that not many foreign tourists go to this area as much as other parts of China. We were followed by many people wanting to take pictures of us. As we walked down the streets people would stop and just stare at us, pointing and then smiling or laughing. Luna and Miles get the most attention from the locals. Luna, of course, with her dirty blond hair is an instant celebrity. Throughout our travels thus far in China I have lost count now of how many Chinese people have photgraphed us. Now I have a bit of the feeling of what movie stars must feel like when they are being stared at while in public.

One of the things that is the hardest to get used to here is the smoke. EVERYONE SEEMS TO SMOKE!! You can't escape it, no matter how hard you try. So if you plan to travel to China and you don't smoke get mentally prepared to breathe in second hand smoke for the duration of your stay. But if you are a smoker then you will be in Paradise!

After the snow storm in Gubeikou Village

Kids love playing in the snow

Local Gubeikous making their way in the snowy backstreets

Cool bird in Gubeikou having a morning drink

Looks like a cold ride to me. BURRRRR

Wood supply to get through the winter months

Guard Dog

Sitting inside the Great Wall Box House having "KUNG FU TEA" until the snow strom stopped, with MR.JOE

A temple at the Mountain Resort

My first RAT on a stick. It was TASTY!

Putuozongcheng Temple

Arch Way in Putuozongcheng Temple

Scary Guy

Hanging with the monks

Prayerwheels

Thumbs up Mountain in Chengde, wel, it is actually the Hammer Rock Mountain

The new lama of the Putuozongcheng Temple

OK, we have found out a very secret spot 2 hours north of Bejing to walk on the Great Wall of China and we were the only people trekking all day with no site of another person.

Gubeikou village is located along the Yanshan Mountain range in the northeast of Miyun County, about 100 km northeast of Beijing. It is composed of the Wohu section of the Great Wall and Panlongshan Great Wall. Although being collapsed and dilapated, the whole wall of Gubeikou is not under any restoration at all. It keeps its orginal appearance. It is awesome and much of it is still intact enough to walk along and soak in the history without the crowds.

The first section of of the wall was built durning the Northern QI Dynasty (550-557) Centuries later, General Xuda ordered to rebuild it in the early Ming Dynasty (1368 -1664). The defensive capability of the wall was enhanced by adding more stones. When QI Jiguang was appointed the chief commanding officer of Ji Garrison (one of the eleven garrisons in the Ming Dynasty), he laid another line of brick wall beside the orginal one, thus forming the unique Gubekou double-lined Wall. Smart thinking YA!!!!

Today the famous Gubeikou Great Wall streches for more than 40 km (25 miles). There are 14 beacon towers, 143 watch towers, 16 strategic passes, 2 citadels and many other military constructions.

Many things here are so much different than I expected, very interesting places with exceptionally beautiful landscapes and people.

Have a look for yourself!

General Jinshanling

General Jauyongguan Tower

Crouching Tiger Tower

The New Guard.

Walking the Wall

Making our way along 3 km of the wall in freezing weather, but it was soooo worth it!

Loving the view!

Guard dog in the town of Gubeikou

Keyhole doorway

Local roof

Street lights

Gubeikou Village

By far the coolest place we have stayed in yet, have a lookwww.ciqihouse.com