When I woke in the morning and went to look out at the view from my balcony I found myself standing in the middle of a snow squall. As I stood out there gazing up at the Alps towering above us a local train flashed past less than 100 yards from the hotel. If any trains went by last night, I never heard them. Cassie had had enough of my snoring and slept in Grandma’s and Gail’s room. It took forever for my travelmates to get ready for breakfast. I lay in bed watching TV for nearly an hour waiting for [View Full Entry]

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No need to go into how I slept during the night. Cassie really complained about my snoring this time. Maybe I’ll get my own room from now on. We had a long drive ahead of us today. Last night we asked Ton when breakfast started. We got up early enough to be the first people in the dining room. They laid out a massive spread. I suppose the fact that half the population of Holland was staying here may have had a lot to do with the heaping buffet table full of breakfast treats. We got first pick at the feast [View Full Entry]

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Still living on the cheap we didn’t partake of the 9.50 Euro breakfast buffet. I was in a hurry to check on our van parked out on the street. The night before, the hotel clerk advised us to pay to park in the hotel lot, but seeing that others had parked on the street I figured “what the heck”. Once again we were lucky - no tickets, no tire boot and no dents or scratches. Once we had crammed our now bulging suitcases in back, rearranged our loose junk laying on our seats and powering-up Nuvi, we pulled-out into late rush [View Full Entry]

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Last night we decided we had to go to Budapest’s famous baths. Until now we really hadn’t seen much of what we had planned to see because of all the holiday closings. Going to the baths, no matter how scary or uncomfortable it might seem, would at least make us feel like we had “done” Budapest. Besides, it was Gail’s birthday and she seemed very determined to go there. When we had returned from dinner and our walk downtown the previous night our hotel desk clerk had told us that the baths would open at 6:00 am, but they didn’t get [View Full Entry]

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At sunrise on the day after Christmas there was still no peace on earth: Gail and Cassie were still moody and not talking. In a way it was probably fortunate that we didn’t have breakfast included in our room rate. Sitting together around a table would not have been an especially pleasant prospect while those two sulked. I don’t remember how we were able to convince the two wackos to join us as we began our self-guided tour of the sights of Budapest. From our walk the night before we knew where to find the funicular up to Castle Hill. It [View Full Entry]

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I started planning this trip more than nine months before we left. I worked and re-worked the itinerary constantly. From the start we were certain that we wanted to visit Berlin, Prague and Budapest. It was where we would go in between that took the most consideration. Once I had a fairly concrete plan I spent nearly every night up until our departure date booking and canceling our accommodations. I was continually searching for better deals. First priority in selecting a hotel was price, followed by whether breakfast was included, with location being an afterthought. Knowing we had [View Full Entry]

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Even though I consumed almost a gallon of Prague’s finest brews last night, I didn’t wake with any semblance of a hangover. We did choose to sleep in though. A late night combined with the knowledge that our first tourist stop (Prague Castle) wouldn’t open until 9:30 convinced me that I needed to rest up a bit before my proposed full day drive on Christmas Day. Once again we began our day with complimentary breakfast in the hotel. The Tivoli’s breakfast paled in comparison to the sumptuous offerings at the Agon and Ralf’s place, but as long as there were sof [View Full Entry]

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It got mighty cold last night but by staying under my fluffy down comforter I stayed warm. I just hope none of my appendages were sticking out as I slept. I don't need a repeat of last year's brain-numbing flu. Once again Tyler was the last one ready for breakfast. When we finally were ready we headed downstairs to the totally quiet and deserted breakfast room. The smells of hot coffee let us know we were expected. As we walked into the Fruhstuckzimmer we could see Ralf had really laid out an impressive breakfast spread. Just like the breakfast at the [View Full Entry]

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I seemed to have adjusted very quickly to the time change because noise outside our window last night kept me up for awhile. But since we slept in again (until 8:30) I felt well-rested when we headed downstairs for the Big Breakfast. Gail and I ended-up watching about half an hour of Lassie on TV as we waited and waited for Tyler to wake-up, shower and make himself beautiful. The breakfast room was much more crowded this Saturday morning. It looked like a lot of other tourists had stayed for the weekend. Everyone that walked into the room mumbled "Guten Morgen" [View Full Entry]

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I must've been really tired last night because I slept straight through until morning. Normally my internal clock forces me to wake up around 2:00 am when I first get to Europe. This morning I woke up well-rested and even refreshed. Waking up Tyler was another story. I'm not sure he ever adjusted to the time change. I'm not normally a breakfast person, but when visiting Europe I take every advantage of the bountiful breakfasts we usually get in Germany. The breakfast at the Agon Frankfurter Allee was no different. Just look at the pictures! Nobody makes hard rolls like they [View Full Entry]

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