Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark

The castle was first started in 1560, but most of it was built 1602-1620.  It is the largest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia.

Main courtyard (the chapel is to our right).

Ballroom

Castle gardens

Chapel (looking towards the head of the chapel from the prayer room)

Looking towards the rear of the chapel (the two black windows on the left are the King's oratory, the two black windows on the right are the prayer room).

Entrance to the King's oratory that contains the original paintings of the life of Jesus Christ by Carl Heinrich Bloch.  The main part of the castle's interior (including the chapel and King's oratory) was burned in 1859.  As a result the king commissioned Carl Bloch to create replacements; from 1865-1879 he painted 23 scenes from the life of Christ which remain on permanent display in the King's oratory.  The paintings are hung in chronological order.

Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie (viewed as though leaving the American sector and entering the Russian sector beyond the checkpoint).  Our hotel was located half a block from the checkpoint.

Checkpoint Charlie (viewed as though leaving the Russian sector and entering the American sector beyond the checkpoint).

Alan standing in East Berlin and Bonnie standing in West Berlin.  A line of bricks runs through Berlin outlining the original location of the Berlin Wall.

One of the longest remaining segments of the Berlin Wall (behind the children with the rounded top).  The site where the children are standing used to be the headquarters of the Gestapo and SS.  The large building across the street (beyond the Berlin Wall) was the headquarters of the Luftwaffe, the only major Hitler-era building to survive bombing.

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag (Germany's historic parliament building)

Spree River (used to be a dividing line between East and West Berlin)

Berlin Cathedral (1200-foot TV Tower in the background)

Gardens of the Neues Museum.  The museum contains a wonderful Egyptian collection which includes the famous 3000-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti.

Mediterranean Cruise

Alan arrived home from his deployment and two days later we left on an incredible Mediterranean cruise.  My parents watched the children here at home.  For the first time since our honeymoon we had an extended vacation with just the two of us.  Please excuse the number of pictures, but we hope to put together a book of the blog for our family when we are done updating. We hope to be updating more of the year as time allows.

Setting off on our Mediterranean cruise two days after getting back from deployment.

Strait of Messina from our balcony, Italy to the left and Sicily to the right.

The things we do with a day at sea.

You will notice all of the diet coke cans....  Alan likes to tease me that I have
to try the diet coke in each country we visit.

Panathenaic Stadium in Athens where the first modern Olympics was hosted in 1896.

Mars Hill as seen from the Acropolis in Athens.  Paul the apostle preached to the Athenians from this hill.

The Erechtheion and its Porch of the Caryatids.  Lykavittos Hill, highest point in Athens, is seen in the distance.

The Parthenon

Olive tree planted by Athena on the west side of the Erechtheion.

The acropolis of Athens as seen from the ancient agora.

Temple of Hephaistos in the ancient agora, one of the best preserved Greek temples of the Golden Age.

The odeon of Ephesus, Turkey.

Looking down Curetes Road in Ephesus.

Ancient public toilets.

The library of Celsus, third largest library of the ancient world.

View of Curetes Road from the library of Celsus.

Pillared facade of library of Celsus.

Prison on top of distant hill (as seen from the Great Theater of Ephesus) where it is believed Paul the apostle was imprisoned while preaching in Ephesus between 52-55 A.D.

All that is left of The Temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world); was destroyed by arson and plundering in 262 A.D.

The Greek goddess Artemis (daughter of Zeus, twin sister of Apollo). 

Valley near Ephesus looking towards the sea.

Remains of St John's cathedral in Ephesus.

Greek isle of Rhodes.  Location in the harbor where it is believed the Colossus of Rhodes once stood (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), the feet stood where the two pillars are located.  The colossus was destroyed in 226 B.C. by earthquake.

Greek isle of Santorini.  View of the town of Oia from the center of the caldera.

Tendering to the old port of Fira; once on shore you can take the cable car up to the town of Fira, walk the zig-zag trail up to the town, or take a donkey ride up the zig-zag trail.

Town of Fira

Our cruise ship, Celebrity Equinox, in the caldera of Santorini.

The Aegean Sea.

The town of Oia.

Walking down the zig-zag trail shared with hoards of donkeys and their excrement.

Streets of the Greek isle of Mykonos.

Windmills on Mykonos.

The Blu restaurant, the specialty dining room where we ate every night.

Downtown Naples, Italy.

The original floor fresco depicting the Battle of Alexander the Great that came from the House of the Faun in ancient Pompeii; this fresco is on display in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. 

Backgammon every night after dinner.

Piazza Navona in Rome.  Below is the Four Rivers Fountain in the center of the piazza.

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

Piazza di Spagna and famous Spanish Steps.