Nomadssortof

I thought I had read in one of the books that Melk, a small village about an hour West of Vienna, houses a monastery and a winery. We had a free day and it was a sunny one so we took advantage of it and hopped on the train to Melk. The ride was beautiful and it allowed us to see the countryside of Austria we had not seen yet. You could see the monastery from the town and it looked like it pretty much dominated the tiny village. The tour was not until 2p so we walked around the outside grounds for a while and tried to find a coffee shop. Everywhere was closed for the winter, even the park adjacent to the monastery. Oh well. We did some mini-hiking and waited for our 2p ... read more

The morning of the 6th Suzy and I ventured out to go to visit Vienna's neighboring city Bratislava, Slovakia. We had decided that it would be the perfect day trip based on it close proximity to Vienna, 45 minutes, as well as short train ride. Upon arrival at what seemed to be a completely empty and abandoned train station we were a bit dumbfounded, not being able to open any of the doors into the station. We sat and pondered and watched the group of Spaniards pull everyone of the door handles to know avail, but soon enough we saw a tiny arrow pointing to the left/end of the building and entered the train customs area. After a couple quick glances and two stamp thuds we were through the gates and into the main station, now ... read more

The Grand Vienna Operahouse We have been resting in our home away from home for a few days now.. And have started a much needed diet to try and feel normal again. Trying to do better than pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have replaced alcohol with water for the time being. We have even started some kind of an exercise regimen in preparation for our trip to India. We came to the scary realization that once we shed off all these layers of clothes..we may not feel as comfortable in our skin :) So far so good...we have tried some great new recipes with lentils, tofu and mushrooms...yum.. We were supposed to go meet our friend Arash in the Italian Alps this week, but after extensive research we decided against it. (It was a ... read more

On our last day in Copenhagen we decided to take the train ride over the Baltic Sea to the little town of Malmo, Sweden. It was about 30 minute train ride from Copenhagen and aside from the hurricane force winds (that kept anyone from storing luggage overhead) it was a pretty uneventful ride. The main center of town was very small but it did have a very quaint atmosphere. We wandered the steets and checked out the town square, as well as walked to the park and checked out the castle. From across the street of the castle is where I was able to take the picture of the "Twisting Torso." After a bite to eat it is back to Copenhagen and off to Berlin, for whats sure to be a crazy time. ... read more

OK, so maybe that’s a little too dramatic, but the way we were talking about the forbidden city, one would think there would be a genie at the train station welcoming us and offering to make our three wishes come true. Well, there was no genie, but our first impression of Amsterdam was far from disappointing. The 5 minute walk from the train station to our hotel let us feel the pulse of this city.. and It was alive and kicking! People walking around everywhere (even though it was raining), colorful shops, bars, lots of canals and even more bicycles. Our hotel was a street over from the infamous red light district.. We were a little worried that it may be a little too shady, but the location turned out to be perfect. Hotel Luxor (not ... read more