Day 20 (Wednesday, September 24th) We awoke to our first morning in Vienna with lovely rain showers outside; much to our annoyance, the wet weather seemed to be following us around from country to country. As we only had two full days in Vienna, I had quite a busy schedule planned for the day. After eating a crappy 3.50 Euro breakfast at our hostel (not worth the cost and over-priced; we could have bought what we ate for much cheaper at a grocery store), we left and used the subway system to make our way into the central part of town, also known as the Ringstrasse. During the 1860’s, the Emperor of Austria (Franz Josef) decided to tear down the medieval wall surrounding the core of the city. In its place, a new circular road ... read more

Day 16 (Saturday, September 20th, 2008) After checking out of our hotel in Ljubljana this morning, we quickly walked a few blocks east in order to reach the car rental office where we picked-up our rental car. Somehow, although I had reserved the cheapest option possible through Gemut Auto Rental, we ended up with a small white Mercedes, which was a pleasant surprise! We have rented cars several times during previous trips to Europe. Each time, even though we always had directions printed out, we would inevitably become lost. To help prevent this from occurring again, Mike purchased a GPS system before we left on the trip so that we would have a much less stressful driving experience. Once he turned on the GPS system, it worked flawlessly, each time bringing us to the correct destination ... read more

Day 10 (Sunday, September 14th, 2008) After eating a quick breakfast in the restaurant below our hotel, Mike and I left Eger and took the 9:30 train to Budapest. We arrived in the city about two hours later where a taxi driver was awaiting our arrival from our bed and breakfast. The taxi driver was extremely nice and friendly, and spoke to us in broken Hungarian and German as we drove through the city, making sure to point out the famous landmarks. I was immediately impressed with Budapest and its beautiful architecture. I was also surprised at how big and sprawling the city was; it was so much larger than I had expected it would be. The best comparison I can come up with regarding the city is that it is a Paris in the making; ... read more

Day 6 (Wednesday, September 10th, 2008) Our overnight train from Prague arrived in Krakow at 6:30 after an eight hour journey. Neither of us seemed to get much sleep as the train was constantly stopping or slamming on the breaks. I guess I probably received two to three hours; needless to say, we were both exhausted when we got off that train! The early morning air in Krakow that greeted us was cold and crisp but helped to wake us up. We walked down to the main terminal with the friends we had made on the train and took some Polish Zlotys out from the ATM. From the train station, we walked outside in order to catch a tram to our hotel. Along the way, I stopped to buy a piece of bread called a obwarzanki ... read more

Although Mike and I have traveled quite extensively as a couple, I have never really taken any trips with my family, the only two exceptions being a week-long stay in Southern California when I was 13 and traveling to Italy and Greece with my sister in 2006. During Easter of this year, my aunt Stacie and I had discussed the possibility of organizing a family camping trip as we had never done so before. Mike and I are not fans of camping, so I suggested Lake Crescent as I had previously read that in addition to a campground, the Log Cabin Resort also had several different cabins to rent. We had to make sure that we found a place that was dog friendly, as Stacie wanted to bring their dog Chloe and we also wanted our ... read more