One day and several trains later we arrived in Dijon, France. Corb's cousin Anna and her husband Paul are living there at the moment as funnily enough, Paul makes the mustard the town is known for! They have just had the cutest wee girl Grace and so it was a perfect time to catch up and meet the newest addition to the family. They too have a cool apartment literally right across from the Notre Dame Cathedral. Unfortunately there were some troubles with the plumbing and so waste water was thrown out the window (for that true French village experience) and dishwashing was done in the bathroom sink. It was a bit chaotic. Little Grace made up for all the madness by being the cutest little button ever. We spent pretty much all our time hanging ... read more

After one last family breakfast (mmm nutella) we headed to the station for our train to Germany. Since we didn't have to meet our friends in Heidelberg until the evening when they finished work, we decided to meet the guys for ein paar mass at the Wiesn and some general hilarity before moving on. It was great. We'd text Gkee before leaving Salzburg and he'd got the message, so at a few minutes past half past twelves the guys strolled up, Gkee looking a little worse for wear after a hard first night. This time we chose the Hacker-Pschorr Tent with the clouds, though unfortunately the beer wasnt so good and we got the tourist treatment which was notably different from that of our day with the almost locals. We had a great couple of hours ... read more

Back in Salzburg it was more of last weekend's fun: so we spent the evening at the festival in town, drinking beer and sekt and checking out all the locals in the lederhosen. We then headed up to the 'Sky Bar' with Christoph and Claudia where we had cocktails and gazed out at the Festung and old town by night, it was really pretty and a good time. Saturday was more family festivities; this time in Upper Austria with 3 more of my grandmother's half sisters and their husbands. Traffic wasn't so good so we drove through Germany, crazy! Lunch was a traditional one at an inn under the trees. It was a special place for the family as two of the sisters met their husbands here when they were waitresses while their mother ran the ... read more

Our day with the family in Salzburg was great and full of food. We started with breakfast on the terrace of the fluffy cats, admiring the beautiful countryside all around with the green, green fields that stretched on forever and the tree covered hills that headed skyward. There were even a couple of highland cows to entertain us. We met up with the rest of the relatives and headed to a hillside inn just out of Elsbethen for lunch. It had wonderful views over the city and surrounding areas, but not so wonderful singers of folk music. Thankfully the food was fantastic and we tried more of the local grub: blutwurst, sauerkraut, cheeseypasta stuff, strudel, topfenstrudel, straum... it just kept coming. Spent the afternoon exploring the Festung, the Fortress above Salzburg and getting a brief history ... read more

So today is our last day in the Czech Republic. It has been a fantastic couple of weeks and we will be sad to leave, but we are definitely planning on coming back so it is not too sad. Also tomorrow we go to Salzburg to meet up with my family which is going to be great. Yesterday we arrived and got a room in a very sweet pension. The room is extra cute though not exactly to Corb's taste - it's all floral and lacey with paintings and a brightly filled window box of flowers. It overlooks the river and the park so we can watch all the locals all out walking their puppies and see the trees as their leaves turn orange - very pretty (They also serve a huge and very tasty breakfast ... read more