In between visitors Brendan and I made a few getaways on our own. On the weekend of our 3rd wedding anniversary (August 2000) we went to Bellagio, Italy on Lake Como. During the weekend, Brendan was plotting my surprise 30th birthday party -- see next picture.	In August 2000, I turned the big 3-0. Brendan surpised me with a party on board a boat(La Dolce Vita)during the festivities of Sail 2000. Sail 2000 is a once in five year event where the 18th & 19th century Class A Tall ships dock in Amsterdam Harbor for a week. Here are some of my Amsterdam friends and I cruising on this great evening. The pressure is on for Brendan's 40th....only two more year's of planning left.
We joined a number of our American friends for a fundraising (and for Brendan, hair raising) event on Halloween 2000. Here is Janice Joplin with some of her band members. Our friend Jim (a.k.a. Koz) was good enough to also dress the part.	In November 2000, we escaped the rain and went to the Andalusia region of Southern Spain. This is a picture in Grenada at the Alhambra. This is an ancient Moorish development. It is said that Christopher Columbus got his sailing orders from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to sail in search of the "New World" in one of the rooms we visited. This truly is the most spectacular piece of architecture we have seen in Europe.
Here is Brendan at a waterfall in Iceland. We spent 6 days there in August 2001. What a unique and beautiful country! Most of the topography is a little like one would imagine the moon. We saw the world’s largest mammal, a blue whale, and the lava flow from Helka, a volcano that erupts every ten years, the last eruption was in the summer of 2000. We also visited the home of Free Willy, but he was out for a swim.	Brendan and I spent 10 days in Greece in September 2001. This was our last big trip before the baby so we spent most of the week just relaxing. We visited the islands of Mykonos and Satorini (pictured).