http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Fanburg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Fanburg en-us Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:35:01 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:35:01 +0000 8509The Final Blog FamilyToday we made the final journey back home. More to comehellip.The remainder of Romania consisted of seeing the real Dracula Castle in Vidraru Romania with a setting up in the Transylvania Alps foothills see photo. We next visited the Black Sea a summer spot for much of Romania and part of Europe. Last stop was in Romaniarsquos Capital Bucharest. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Lexington/blog-425846.html 8209Happy Birthday Austin Today Austin turns 12. He is celebrating his birthday in Bucharest Romania. Here are some photos of Austin and the rest of us in Bucharest. In lieu of a birthday cake we went to the All You Can Eat Dessert Bar at the hotel. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Muntenia/Bucharest/blog-424726.html 72609AustinIt has been awhile since we last blogged and we have a lot to update on. We have been traveling through Romania for the last two weeks. We went to the Transylvania Alps near Sinaia and braved the weather to hike to the top in very windy conditions. We also spent a night in a freezing cold Cabana at the top of the mountain. The views are beyond words in the beauty of flat topped http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transilvania/Brasov/Bran/blog-423900.html 71109Family Our ride to Poland was interesting. At least we got on the right train yet finding a sleeper car seat was difficult at best. Upon some advice of an English speaking German tourist handing the conductor some cash resulted in access to the sleeper car which previously wasnrsquot available. At one stop at 2am Jon filled in for the sleeping conductor to unlock the train door to a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-417448.html 7509Lily and Austin with some parent inputWe have been in Hungary for the last 1 weeks including travels through Budapest Lake Balaton and Eger. Budapest is a giant city divided in two by the Danube River. Pest is flat and Buda is hilly. While we were there the Danube kept getting higher each day until flooding over the banks was prominent. Many different styles of architecture can http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-415180.html 62309LilyOver the last four days we have been in Pamporovoro and Sofia Bulgaria. Pamporovoro is up in the mountains. We stayed at two different apartments. We did lots of hiking in the mountains. The views are small until you get up high but when you are high up the views are great.Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria. There is lots of architecture in Sofia is European. I enjoyed the f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/West/Sofia/blog-412597.html 62009For those of you who were guessing where Cyrillic lettering originated the answer is Bulgaria and that is where we are. One responder correctly pointed out that the lettering was actually invented by two Greeks however our sources say that it was done so in Bulgaria and adopted into the Bulgarian language. Jon and Stephanie we took over the blogging this timeWe didn't orginally http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-409922.html 61509 INTRO Istanbul is a truly amazing city. Situated in both Asia and Europe with the Bosphorus Strait running in between it originated as a cross roads of trade for Asia Europe and Northern Africa. It still has Bazaars that sell EVERYTHING and has cultural diversity among its 11 million inhabitants. Lily Istanbul is the biggest city we have gone to so far. It is the only ci http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-408805.html 6109FamilyWe found that this blog was never published after all so here it is. It is mostly just pictures and a couple of interesting observations including.1. Gas is really expensive here. At 8gallon we felt the pain with our last car rental that wasn't as economy sized as previously rented cars. The gas cost more than the rental. No wonder there are scooters everywhere. We have http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Ephesus/blog-403899.html Sorry about the half entered blog Turkish Culture. The rest was deleted by mistake. The problem with blogging is we do them in brief moments and rarely are they completed in one sitting. It is all too easy to push the Publish button. I guess the photos tell it all.6109 LilyPamukkale Turkey Pamukkale is one of the most famous sites. It is calcium rock http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/Goreme/blog-405466.html 53109To the children who receive this blogAustin and Lily have loved seeing your comments and emails. Keep them coming. They miss their friends a lot. We had a wonderful surprise in the Turkish city Selcuk when we met another American family with three similarly aged children who are also travelling and home schooling for four months. The five children became friends had a study hall tog http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-403921.html 52709FamilyAnswer to mystery question from last blog WE ARE IN TURKEY. That was the Turkish flag. The lucky winner will be receiving some Turkish Taffy and an Evil Eye in the mail unless customs abducts it. The evil eye is everywhere and keeps evil spirits away.We have arrived in Turkey 51309. We took a short ferry from Rhodes to Marmaris. Customs asked us carefully ab http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Antalya/blog-402725.html Austin and Lily want to get a feel for who is receiving their blog. We know that 40 people receive it but we don't know who. So here is the teaser to write back and let us know who is out there. Your commentresponse will be deleated and not show up on the site for others to see.Where are we see photoAnswer1. Greece2. Italy3. Turkey4. Ukraine5. RomaniaCorrect answer will show up in ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-400859.html Rhodes Yes. Another dated blog. We are presently on the island of Rhodes also typed Rodas. It is one of the southern most islands in Greece and is very close to Turkey. The town of Rhodes is located on the island Rhodes.51409LilyToday I saw a castle were knights lived It was fun and big I had the BEST TIME EVER.I GOT VERY HOT. We are right now in Rhodes. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Rhodes/blog-399759.html 51209Jon We have spent the last week on the large and remote island of Crete. Loaded with history and ruins dating back to 4000 BC remote beaches that make the steep dirt road drives worth it and cheap prices we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Stephanie drooled on the historical palaces of Knossos. Lily loved wave jumping some huge turquoise waves on ideal sandy beaches Austin became wrap http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Crete/blog-398368.html 43009Austin Over the last three days we have been in Paros. We went to beaches and stayed in our hotel and walked around town. To get to town from our hotel we had to make our way through a bunch of small alleys. All the buildings were square shaped and painted white and blue. Flowers were interesting and everywhere. The world windsurfing championship was going on in one of the bays and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-397281.html 42509 Lily and Austin Over the last couple of days we have looked at some of the sites and history found in the Peloponnese. Olympia was an awesome and sacred place where the Olympics were held every four years. Between those events no one was allowed to be there. A lot of cleaning up had to be done before each Olympics. In the Olympics back then the shortest race was one ldquostader http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/Nafplion/blog-393767.html 41909LilyToday we saw Meteora a bunch of big rocks that have churches and monasteries at the top. Monks and nuns stay there. There are 6 montestaries in all. We saw five of them. There are lots of frescos on the walls a piece of paper with painting from long ago some have killings on them.Mom me and my brother bought Easter Eggs on Easter today because they would be nice souveni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Thessaly/Meteora/blog-392908.html From Austin and LilyWe have been traveling extensively for the last few days. We saw many sites and views. Two days ago we saw the city of Volos and the small villages high in the mountains next to it. Our lunch consisted of Tzaziki bread cucumber salad at 2pm. Most stores close between 25pm when people eat their lunch. The stores reopen between 59pm and they have dinner at 9pm.To http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Central-Macedonia/Vergina/blog-391728.html From Jon Steph Lily and AustinWe are now in Delphi site of the oracle of Apollo answered worldly questions. It sits high among the mountains with stunning views into the valley. Lily found the mountain winding roads to be a purging experience yet not ridding of her spirit. We have gone from sea level to the 3000rsquo heights of Delphi.On the way to this site we traveled to Marathon the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Central-Greece/Delphi/blog-390635.html