http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/thehallidayinn/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from thehallidayinn en-us Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:26:05 BST Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:26:05 BST The Dalmatian Coast with Lindsay Jen and Rachel beautiful land gorgeous water sunny days friendly people now we know what the fuss is all about http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-74809.html The update from Marine Station Stareso in Calvi CorsicaWe left Vienna on the 18th of June driving first through the vineyards south of Vienna then winding through the Alps into Italy straight across the breadth of Italy through fields of sunflowers and pinon trees and to the coast. About nine hours after starting out that delicious salty sea breeze hit us. We took an overnight ferry from S http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Corsica/blog-71298.html As I'm procrastinating from studying anyway I'll take the opportunity to write about my amazing trip to Switzerland over the Pentecost holidays. Heck yes we got off from school for Pentecost As it should be. So I jetted off to visit my dear friend Ms. Buffington in la Suisse. Trip there went fine except so ironic i accidently had a Swiss Army Knife in my backpack left there from a hi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/blog-64743.html I couldn't think of a better title so i stole this one from a tshirt. Here are some of my photos from Prague.So now that I have had some time to proess my time in Prague I'll add a note to try to sum up my thoughts.After a day of Prague Spring by which i mean fresh grass trees by the castle laden with flowers enjoying views from the Charles Bridge and lounging in the sun in the old squa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/North/Prague/blog-54452.html Murano is an island in the venice archipelago that is famous for its glass artistry. Glassmaking is still the major industry and the island is lined with studios and boutiques. We went in to see a memorable demonstration. The glass artist was making how he makes a vase from the molten glass. Then the announcer said and now the master will make a leeeeetle glass horse. And he did He took http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-52824.html After spending hours lost in in the shadows of grand but crumbly buildings in mazes of narrow streets always deadending at uncrossable canals of still dark green water and being surrounded by pidgeons and the suffocating smiles or ceramic carneval masks I decided Venice is creepy. Or possibly romantic judging by the numbers of American honeymoonersvacationing couples but i thought it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-52823.html Again getting to the Adriatic seemed easy enough we bought a ticket from one city to another on a direct train. But somehow in a mix of Slovenian and Italian we were directed off the train put on a bus and driven around the countryside. I went to the driver to try to make sure we were still going to Koper but suddenly the English so ubiquitous in Ljubljana was gone. Lindsay who had http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Istria/Piran/blog-52813.html Bled... sounds vaguely forbidding and things looked a little dark at first. Took a very early train to the nearest station which is only 4km away from the lake and my guidbook just said to take one of the frequent buses for the last leg. This was a cheap but unfortunately impossible plan as there were no commuter buses least not on a Sunday in April. After looking around for said buses we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Bled/blog-52812.html Starving we pounced on the first friendlylooking restaurant. Meal du jour Fillet of Foal Yummmmmy. I have never seen a horse dish but Lindsay told me this is apparently a delicacy in Switzerland as well. This spurred way to many so hungry i could eat a horse comments and jokes that all the big dogs we saw were really just small horses hiding from the cooks. Instead of fillet of foal o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-52809.html But which border is the question Not towards the spring break strongholds of Cancun or Rocky Point but Slovenia Lindsay and I are going to Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia hopefully to be followed by some sunshine on the Istrian coast and then over the Adriatic to Italy for a few days in Venice. First stop before leaving Austria Graz a beautiful town in the south. The day we lef http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Styria/Graz/blog-50622.html Life after Hawaii... Made it back to Vienna from Honolulu via Baltimore although just barely what with crossing so many time zones I somehow managed to confuse the date of my return flight... I thought I had an extra day at home when actually it was quite the opposite. I went to reserve my inflight meal '24hr in advance' and realized to my horror that the flight I had a ticket for was leavi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-49988.html Hana Highway is the most scenic and sickening tour on Maui. It is famous for record numbers of bridges and hairpin curves made even more fun by sections that are so narrow only one car can drive through at a time. Luckily I wasn't the driver I had a window seat in a van and could sit back and ... try not to get carsick. Our excellent driverguide from the hostel Montana was this awesome b http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Maui/blog-45196.html Some more photos of maui including the awesome hostel i stayed at in the not as awesome but happily nontouristy town of Wailuku which is nestled in the Iao River Valley with the Maui Mountains as backdrop. A short hike into the mountains revealed awesome views of cloudshrouded mountain peaks a tree canopy covered in flowers wild strawberry guavas and some surprisingly prickly underbrush http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Maui/blog-45186.html a hiking trip through the 3000 ft deep crater of volcano Haleakala the house of the sun... http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Maui/blog-45088.html a trip to Hawaii to present my summer research... http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/blog-44926.html The past few weeks Vienna has been wrapped in a dense winter haze. Not cloudy with clouds you can see just a homogenously gray sky. This is complemented by a kind of snow tiny needlelike crystals that sort of swirl in all directions and thus coat tree branches on all sides which gives the whole landscape an otherworldly feel. Through this I travelled to the airport and bundled up in fleece http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-39776.html December has been a month of excitement and travel. The day I returned from Copenhagen my friend Matt who is studying abroad in Madrid came to visit me Rachel popped down from Salzburg and in between the Christmas markets and sightseeing we had a blast. Vienna is particularly beautiful during the advent season which the Austrians celebrate in a relaxed familyoriented way. Everything is d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lausanne/blog-38097.html Rachel Vanderkruik my exroomie and partner in all capecod related summer adventures fortuitously ended up studying in Copenhagen this semester. She visited me in Vienna of course I was more then happy to return the favor with a visit to Denmark especially since my mother's cousin Bill and his wife Susanne live there It was really exciting both to meet up with Rachel in Vienna we literal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-38091.html It was both unbelievable and completely normal to meet my girls from College Park in Budapest. Rachel and I arrived midmorning after a threehour early train from Vienna. Well here we are we said a little baffled as we were the only people in all the trainstation bustle lacking direction. I had to use the bathroom but that required Hungarian forints which neither of us had to add to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Budapest/blog-37741.html I took a great trip with my language program through the Wachau region of the Danube river valley a region renowned for fine wine and beautiful scenery. To share some highlightsMelk a benedictine monastary with one of Europe's oldest libraries and some interesting history. It is considered a baroque architectural masterpiece and from the outside I consider it very beautiful. Inside is a tad http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-37739.html