Photo of the Week - Alabater Mosque in Cairo

So Photo Friday isn't really a regular feature in our Travel Journal, I thought that I would like to showcase one of our photos today. I enjoy the photos that many of my favorite travel blogs and websites post so I thought, "Hey why not!"

I am not promising to showcase one every Friday, but I will try. If you have a favorite travel photo that you would like me to showcase, please feel free to send a note to me through our contact page here:
http://www.excellent-vacation-ideas.com/contact-us.html
and we can arrange that.

So for today's photo:

Alabaster Mosque in Cairo
(Mosque of Muhammad Ali at the Citadel)

Not bad for my attempt at being "artsy".

What do you think? Comment below I would love to hear any tips of tricks you may have! 

Playing with the Elephant Seals

Recently Warren and I took a lovely romantic and relaxing trip to the central coast of California. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this trip was to see the Elephant Seals.

I wasn't disappointed. In fact, on our first evening in Cambria, Warren and I went for a walk on the boardwalk and found a couple baked out on the rocks as the tide was going out.




However the next morning, while Warren did a little work, I went for a walk on my own. There was lots of activity on the boardwalk that morning. The squirrels were out, and quite brave! They are obviously fed by humans often as they followed me and got really close.







I was so excited to see the Elephant seals baking out on the rocks as the tide was out.


I decided I wanted to get a little closer and walked down to the rocks. I sat and hung out with them for a while.



I couldn't wait to bring warren back to see them! Unfortunately it didn't work out as every other time we were near he beach the tide was in and the seals were bouncing around in the water. Tip...take advantage of seeing wildlife when you see it as it may not work out if you "come back later".

These seals were younger as they were smaller. They were most likely the younger males.



On our way out of Cambria and up through San Simeon, we stopped to see the big beach where thousands migrate too in the winter months. There were about 30 hanging out when we got there so Warren got to see them then.

Have you seen the elephant seals on the Central Coast of California? Share your experience by commenting below:

Does the Amsterdam Red Light District Live Up to It's Reputation?

When I tell people we spent some time in Amsterdam, one of their first questions is, "did you go to the Red Light District?"  I answer, of course we did. There are not many places in the world where you can buy marijuana, sex films and toys, or sex so openly, it is hard not to be curious about it and want to check it out.

Now having said that, we did walk through it often to get back to our hotel due to where our hotel was located. But we didn't mind, we love the vibrancy of the area and would have sought it out anyway.

We love watching the tourists gawk and awe at the ladies in the windows lit up with red light (apparently they chose red as it makes the ladies look better). We also like the energy of the area. You have grooms and brides to be on their Stag and/or Doe weekends (or bachelor or hen night parties), military men from many different countries on leave walking around, young people, older people. The energy is light and party like, with now judgment (at least in my experience). It's a real mix of fun, especially as we were there during the World Cup and Holland was in the Quarter and Semi Finals.

We even did a tour of the Red Light District to learn more about the history of the area and to be honest how it all works. Every tourist we talked to wondered the same thing. What we learned was that the prostitutes are paid anywhere from 30 to 50 Euros for 15 minutes of their time. They rent out the "windows" or work areas for 8 hours at a time. Their services are regulated and they must pay taxes on their earnings. There are also rules on how each girl is to dress (must where a bikini of some sort). There are girls of all shapes, sizes, nationalities and age and sexes (blue lights mean that they are actually transvestites). Whatever you do DON"T take a picture of the girls - in my mind out of respect - but also they will get REALLY angry with good reason.

Trying to catch a breeze in his apartment during the heat wave in the Red Light District

This is just like any other neighbourhood really. There are schools and apartments, restaurants, pubs and coffee shops, even art in some windows (the city bought out 1/3 of the windows to try to "clean" up the area and display local artists work).

You will find live sex shows too.... On our visit in 2004 a doorman at a live sex show told us that it would save our marriage if we saw the show - thanks but our marriage is perfectly fine.

Overall the Red Light District is a lot of fun. As the majority of visitors to it are tourists it really feels like a big tourist attraction.

Have you been to the Amsterdam Red Light District? We would love to hear your experience - Please comment below.

Back from our Romantic and Relaxing Trip to Europe

Wow. I didn't know it was possible, but Warren and I managed to have a relaxing vacation in Europe. We visited Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nice France and Paris France.

In my younger days (fine I am only 40 but still) I always felt like I had to spend every waking moment experiencing the places I was visiting. I wanted to pack in as much as I could.

This trip however we didn't do that. We actually took it easy and really experienced these cities. Instead of waking up early, rushing from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, we changed it up. (It helped that we had been to Amsterdam and Nice before and I had been to Paris as a teenager).