and we're back...

As if prompts from friends over the past couple of weeks weren't enough to remind me that I haven't written in a while, I just spent 20 minutes attempting to figure out my password so that I could blog. There was fear in my heart as I typed every combination. Each time hoping that it wasn't the time I'd be locked out, forced to answer security questions that I probably should pay more attention to. But I did it. Even when Blogger told me I didn't have a blog. I finally figured it out.

Husby and I just returned from a little getaway. Initially, this was going to be our vacation time. We were going to rent a cabin in the Appalachians. It was supposed to be a relaxing 10 days away--reading, writing, hiking, spending time outdoors. We even booked a few nights at the first stop on our trip. But then I confessed on the way home from church the next day that I wasn't happy with our vacation plan. (First world problem, I know.)

The issue? I can totally spend an entire weekend inside, watching episode after episode of a TV series, reading, napping and playing games. I can even spend a little time outside when it's not in the heat of the day. But 10 days in nature? Probably not the best place for me.

To be completely honest, I love the idea of hiking. And here's my confession: I really wanted to do it after Husby and I watched all six seasons of LOST in just as many months. I love that Kate totally rocks it hiking on the Island (aka: Hawaii). But I don't like snakes, bugs, spiders or their webs, feeling like I'm going to fall of the side of a steep hill, or sounds of the forest that make me think an animal is coming after me. These things are all realities on the border of Tennessee and Alabama. At one stop, when we told someone where we'd hike, she said, "Oh, just watch out for snakes. They could really be out during this season."

(Guess what they don't have in Hawaii? Snakes. Kate didn't have to worry about a water mocassin or copper head on her path.)

The next day (when I came down with whatever cold Husby had), we set out for a couple of hikes. I even downloaded a trail app for my phone. As it turns out, I prefer urban hiking. I do not enjoy overgrown trails, possible wildlife, keeping watch for poison ivy (for Husby), or spider webs. After hiking through a couple of these trails, we resorted to following a paved trail. Or a road. Whatever. This was our destination:

It's a double decker bridge: the top was for trains and the bottom was for cars. I feel certain that I would have timed my trips so that I never crossed with a train. Can you imagine?!

After we passed the heat of the day in a bookstore, we headed to our second hike: Dismals Canyon. This is why we came to this area. I found it over on kevinandamanda.com.

Because the entire hike is only 1.5 miles, we knew that we wouldn't need an extraordinary amount of time to complete it. It was well worth the trip. Although it's not urban hiking, it's wonderful! You hike into a canyon where the temperature is noticeably cooler. There's no wildlife or poison ivy in the canyon. It was great! Except in the dark, scary parts.



We timed our hike so that we could do a night tour into the cavern. On the canyon walls live little "glowworms" called dismalites. They light up when it gets dark, attracting gnats and rogue mosquitos that travel into the canyon as a meal. The canyon walls look like a dark sky speckled with stars. It was such an incredible sight! Think firefiles, but a sustained light. Unfortunately, I am not a great photographer at night, so there are no pictures to share.

Since we only spent a portion of our vacation time away, we have another trip planned in late July. This time, we'll stroll the streets of Chicago. And maybe rent a bicycle. And visit some museums. And maybe even go to a park. Because I like nature. In an urban setting.

savannah: the food

I like to think of us as novice foodies. We like good food, wine, enjoy eating out, and love to cook. We're learning the foodie ropes. That being said, our vacations tend to have an element of food to them. I decided to keep track of our meals. We like to reminisce. About food. Our time in Savannah was no exception. I grilled the valet parking attendant at our hotel as he gave a recommendation. I wanted to know where he would go eat; not where his boss tells him to tell customers to go.

He didn't steer us wrong, even though I almost did when I asked him to give us directions. He couldn't find the location on the map, and then I discovered it was the map of Charleston. Smooth move. We walked to a pizza place called Vinnie Van Go Go's, where they make the pizza dough everyday. Although they have a multitude of toppings, we had a simple pepperoni pizza that was wonderful.

Our Ghost Tour was scheduled for that evening, but my choice of footwear wasn't appropriate for walking the streets of Savannah. We made our way back to the hotel, but along the way found Lulu's Chocolate Bar. We were both uber-satisfied with our choices. Husby ordered the White Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake; I went with a Peanut Butter Cup Martini.

The next morning, I was desperate to find a non-Starbucks coffee shop. {My name is Kristina, and I'm a coffee snob.} I don't like Starbucks. I'll drink it, if necessary, but I prefer good coffee. I used a nifty app on my phone, and we breakfasted at Gallery Espresso. It was quaint and artsy. I discovered that iced coffee is big in the South. Not iced cappucinos or mochas, just plain coffee with a little cream. It was nice, since the heat wave of 2011 hit when we arrived in Savannah. We (or maybe I) loved this little shop so much that we returned for iced coffee and muffins the next day.

After our bike tour of the city, our tour guide recommended Soho South Cafe for lunch. Although the wait put us dangerously close to the reservation we made for dinner, we stayed. Husby had a rice salad, which was refreshing. I chose a panini with ham, brie and granny smith apples. It was so good, that I've recreated it at home.

Then there was dinner. We were torn at whether or not to eat at The Lady & Sons--Paula Deen's restaurant. We heard from many locals that it isn't good. BUT how could we be in SAVANNAH and NOT eat at PAULA DEEN'S? We decided to do it. Normally, there is a wait to make a reservation, but while on our bike tour, NO ONE was in line. Husby hopped off his bike and made our dinner reservation.

Oh, dear. I really wanted to like it. I mean, it's Paula Deen. Although I'd been warned to stay away from the buffet, I wanted to know what the hype was about, so I went with the buffet. Husby ordered the chicken pot pie.

Husby's chicken pot pie was beautiful, but all of the puff pastry was a little much.

He also said that mine is better. I married such a good man!

My buffet plate (clockwise from the chicken): fried chicken, mac & cheese, collard greens,

one boiled Brussels sprout, okras & tomatoes, black-eyed peas, lima beans.

The verdict? Meh. They had very few pieces of dark meat, and the white meat was dry,

my mom makes better everything, and why in the world do you serve boiled Brussels sprouts?

No wonder people don't like them. Dessert was about the same: not worth eating.

I'm glad we ate there, but any return trips to Savannah will exclude The Lady & Sons. Although disappointed, we still had a whole day of meals to eat. After breakfast at Gallery Espresso, we toured a house, visited the old cemetery and then had lunch at Caraway Cafe. I can't remember what we ordered, but I do remember that Husby had a sandwich with basil mayonnaise. I loved it so much that I ordered a side to go with my sandwich.

After lunch, we just couldn't pass up Leopold's Ice Cream next door. Oh mercy. It was good! I had a scoop of coffee chocolate chip; Husby had the coconut. Both were amazing. The best in the South. But not the best in Texas. That's reserved for Blue Bell.

That evening, we had dinner at The River House on the Savannah River. I really wanted to try Shrimp & Grits, so that's what I ordered. It was quite good. Husby was super satisfied with his steak.

I would love to return to Savannah for a long weekend. I think it's the perfect sized town for a three day getaway: not overwhelming, but plenty to offer, especially in terms of food.

savannah: the tours

This summer, Husby and I vacayed (that's the past tense of vacay, right?) in the South. 

(Just to clarify: Southerners are quite adamant that Texas is not considered as part of the South. To further clarify: east Texas--and the town where we live--is more Southern than some cities in the South. But that's fine, we don't have to be included. It hurts, but Texans are resilient.)

(Speaking of Texas, did you know that we can fly our flag at the same height as the United States flag since we were once a nation? It's true! [We also love to brag about things like that, even as others roll their eyes.])

Back to vacaying...we had a fabulous week in the South. We decided to fly into Atlanta and drive to Savannah, and then onto Charleston and back to Atlanta. That wasn't the smartest plan since it's a five hour drive from Atlanta to Savannah--it looked so much closer on Google maps! We were so tired by the time we arrived. But it paid off in the end when we were able to spend time with dear friends.

Savannah is beautiful. The architecture is stunning and the history is amazing. Although I love the great State of Texas, we just don't have as much history.

Our first night in Savannah, we took a Ghost Tour. Although I hate scary movies, I like hearing spooky stories--unless I'm going to be home alone or walking alone at night (which doesn't happen very often or ever, by the way). I didn't think I'd need my camera; I forgot about capturing spirit orbs. Dang it. Savannah is considered the most haunted city in the United States. And I'd just like to say that there should be no complaining about this: THEY MOVE GRAVES AND BUILD ROADS OVER CEMETERIES AND FORGET WHERE PEOPLE ARE BURIED. Yeah, you're gonna have a ghost or two or forty six.

We learned that a couple of terms used today come from Savannah in the 1800s. They had three bouts of yellow fever. (Again, no complaining, you brought slaves over. You deserve it.) A symptom of yellow fever is extremely low pulse. There was an occasion where non-dead yellow fever victims were buried alive. The following morning they were found outside of their graves. Dead. So they started tying string to a finger of the "dead" with a bell attached on the outside of the grave. If they heard the bell in the night, they called it a "dead ringer." This shift late at night listening for dead ringers in the cemetery was called the "graveyard shift." Cool, huh?

When we go to a new city, we also love doing some type of a walking or biking tour. Luckily, there's a bike tour offered in Savannah. It was so much fun, even though I thought our tour guide was going to melt off of his bike. Evidently, some people can't handle the heat.

There is a large Catholic population in Savannah. The Irish came to Savannah and worked as cheap labor; Savannah had a huge Irish population, and has the second largest St. Patrick's Day festival after New York City.

Savannah is laid out in a grid system and very well organized...except for the names of squares and monuments. Oglethorpe Square does not include the monument to Oglethorpe. You'd need to visit Chippewa Square to see that.

Spanish Moss [which is neither Spanish nor moss] grows along the Live Oaks and Crepe Myrtles. Supposedly Spanish Moss doesn't grow where unsettled spirits still roam.

After our bike tour.

Our final tour in Savannah was a Dolphin Tour. I was super excited about this. Until we started speeding out into the middle of the ocean as water splashed in the boat. I was convinced it'd sink. Luckily, it didn't. Our guide told us all about the dolphins he'd seen on the three previous tours that day. Including..wait for it...baby dolphins that were two feet long and swim beside their mamas. Precious! I just knew my heart would melt. Which is probably why it was a good thing we only saw ONE dolphin in an hour. It was so sad; she should have been with an entire pod. I worried that she was being bullied. She gave us a few jumps out of the water.

We had a lovely time in Savannah, even though we arrived with a heat wave. (If you're keep track, this is our second vacation in a row with record temperatures. Next year, we're headed north.) The city is laid out for walking, which we love. We had way too much amazing food. And even more sweet tea. I'll share all about that tomorrow!

Summer Plans

For vacation this summer Husby and I are going to west Texas. Yee haw! Our vacation last year to Europe was a definitely a splurge. Being the planner that I am, tonight I decided to research a few destinations to hit. Our trip is inspired by a class trip I took in middle school.

When I was in eighth grade our science teacher took three dozen students to west Texas for a week. Can you EVEN IMAGINE taking that many middle schoolers that far away?! We traveled by Amtrak train from Dallas to Alpine, Texas, and then ventured to places including: Carlsbad Caverns, the Marfa lights, Big Bend, El Paso, and rafting down the Rio Grande for a picnic on the Mexico side (something not advised these days). We stayed at Prude Ranch--a dude ranch where they warned us not to venture from our cabins after bedtime for fear of javelinas. Amazingly, it worked, even though we were pretty sure it was a fictional animal. Turns out--they're real. (And now a HUGE problem in Texas.) They also told us ghost stories about the ranch. I realize now that was probably in an attempt to scare us into not leaving our cabins at night. Smart people.

As a side note of very little importance, I came to loathe pimiento cheese after this trip and didn't eat it for at least 15 years after. For three lunches we had a very simple pimiento cheese--grated cheese mixed with mayonnaise--on white bread. But then I somehow convinced myself to take a tiny bite of pimiento cheese from Central Market, and I liked it. They use fine grated cheese, mayonnaise, pimientos, garlic powder and dill. It's yummy on crackers. Plus it hasn't been sitting in the bottom of a chartered bus for five hours. It really makes a difference.

Now back to our trip. We've talked about visiting each of the places I did on our trip, including McDonald Observatory and Fort Davis. As well as a couple of other sites like Monahans Sandhills and Balmorhea Springs. Although it will be a lot of driving, I think it'll be fun. Plus, we can listen to some books on tape. Like every other cool couple I know. Right?

We thought it'd be super fun, as well, to camp at Big Bend National Park. So I pulled up that information to read about reservations and such. I thought it'd be wise to read about safety at Big Bend. Of course, I realize it's in the desert, so water is essential. I also realize that snakes are in the wild. And we're going into the wild. I wasn't prepared for the sentence that read: inspect your shoes and sleeping bag before use. At which point I announced to Husby that we would not be camping in a tent at Big Bend. This girl does not do rattlesnakes. (Or any other kind of snake, really.) Instead, I'll find a cute little cabin that will keep us from  lions and snakes and bears. They're all out there in the wild of west Texas.

Valentine's Getaway

Two weeks between posts seems a tad ridiculous, right? Do you ever have seasons of feeling overwhelmed? I certainly do, and hopefully, I'm coming out of that season. Thankfully, this has also been a season sprinkled with quality time with friends and making new friends. I love that part. I do. I just looked through my camera and wouldn't you know that I pictures from September that I haven't shared?! Maybe this week, we'll take a visit to the past and look at a few fun things. I think I'll start with the most recent. That makes sense, right?

For Valentine's Day, Husby and I take turns planning. He does one year; I do the next. It makes it easier, and it's TONS less pressure. This year we headed to Fredericksburg, Texas.

We live southeast of Dallas, so it was a 5+ hour drive. But totally worth it. See, we spent New Years with our super good friends, Patti and Brent. Patti mentioned that she was planning a secret trip to Fredericksburg for Valentine's Day. What started as a trip for those two turned into a super secret mission for us to meet them in F-burg for the weekend. Husby didn't know where we were going until the night before, and then didn't know we'd meet up with them until breakfast on Saturday. The reaction we got was fabulous! We had the best weekend with our dear friends. Our husbands said that the next surprise trip could be out of the country since we did so well with this one. Ha!

I arranged for us to stay at a private bed and breakfast, Carriage House on the Creek. It was more like a mother-in-law suite with vouchers for breakfast at area restaurants. Perfect! It was so warm and cozy, and our inn keepers (whose house is just in front of the garage/carriage house) were so helpful and kind. We'll definitely stay here again.

We arrived on Friday, both of us having taken the day off work. After we checked into to our B&B, we headed to dinner at Cabernet Grill--a recommendation from our inn keeper, Mitch. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I had a fabulous meal that was half an eggplant, scooped out just a bit, breaded and fried; then it was filled with blue crab and shrimp in an asiago cheese sauce. Yum! Husby had the best pork tenderloin we've ever tasted, along with three cheese grits.

On Saturday once we met up with Patti and Brent, we used our vouchers for breakfast at Rather Sweet Bakery. I had a breakfast sandwich, and it was so yummy! When I ordered, I was amazed by all of the baked goods. I was so close to buying a macaroon, but thought that might be excessive for breakfast. Imagine my delight when Brent decided to buy one for an afternoon snack. It was the best macaroon I've EVER tasted.

After breakfast, we headed to Enchanted Rock, which is a huge pink granite boulder. Patti and I climbed just a bit, and then decided that we weren't properly dressed, so we sat and talked and soaked up the first non-winter weekend we've had in a couple of months. Our husbands climbed and jumped from boulder to boulder, across caverns. Let me just say that wearing a denim skirt with tights and cute little tennis shoes doesn't lend itself to jumping and climbing. I thought that a huge granite boulder meant that it would be like a super smooth hill. I was wrong.



After Enchanted Rock, we headed to the Texas Wine Trail. We visited a few wineries, but they were SO busy that we didn't taste at all of them. Our favorite was Grape Creek Winery. We came home with a Merlot and Riesling from Grape Creek. We also visited a fabulous chocolate shop, Chocolat. They have liqueur filled chocolates. Not a creamy center, but actual liqueur. My free taste was on an Amaretto filled chocolate. I could have eaten a dozen!

Food was obviously a theme for the weekend, as it often is while on vacation. (And by vacation, I mean anytime we're out of town or off work for more than the weekend. Ha!) After Enchanted Rocks and wineries, we took a little break before heading to dinner at Hilltop Cafe. It was an abandoned gas station that was converted to a restaurant. Again, we had great food. Here are a few pics of us at dinner:

 

Then for breakfast the next morning, we used our vouchers at Sunset Grill, which was amazing! They have a separate Sunday brunch menu, and it did not disappoint. I had a wonderful black forest ham and brie panini. I'll eat pretty much anything with brie on it! After a little shopping in downtown Fredericksburg, we headed home. Although the weekend wasn't super relaxing, it was super fun. I loved the quality time I spent with my sweet husband and friends.

Budapest, Take 2

Let's start with the good stuff! Ten years ago, I discovered the Double Magnum Ice Cream Bar. Holy moly, it's seriously the best ice cream bar ever. Ever! I ate as many as possible while in Hungary. In fact, on the weekends when we'd drive to Budapest from Romania, we'd stop at the first gas station with the excuse of needing more gas. The truth was, it was the first place we could eat a Double Magnum. And we probably needed more gas. Who cares when snack are an option, though?!

I almost had tears in my eyes when I found that they still sold them in Budapest. I forced Jeremy to eat one and take a picture of me with mine before I devoured it. One of these things he really enjoyed. I'm pretty sure the other one annoyed him since I was so hot and sweaty that it took a couple of shots. (Did I mention Europe had a heat wave come through when we arrived? 100 degrees isn't as much fun when air conditioning is not an option!)

Me and my Magnum.

Please excuse the frizzy hair, sweat and freckles (that my dermatologist refers to as age spots.

What does she know?!)

This ice cream treat was beyond extremely needed. This was the day that we decided to do EVERY TOURIST ATTRACTION IN BUDAPEST. It was a tough day! We didn't exactly realize that we did so much until the next morning when we couldn't move. Here's a run down of those attractions:

The Jewish Synagogue

This is the 2nd largest synagogue in the world, behind the one in New York. But it was so ornate.

A picture of the outside, and a picture of the beautifully painted ceilings.

(This was the same place where we saw the mass graves and Tree of Life.)

The Subway

This was our day to figure out public transportation. Hungarian has no familiar words, so it's not exactly easy to navigate in this city. Thankfully, so many people spoke English that if we were in a bind, someone was usually able to help. I swear these are the fastest and steepest escalators I've ever been on. And with a fear of escalators, you can imagine my joy each time I stepped on these things. (My ankle was cut open by a stair when I was little. I've been afraid ever since.)

Parliament

This building is beautiful and is the backdrop to many of our pictures in Budapest. As we walked up the subway stairs, we grabbed the map to find our way. Turns out, it's not easily missed from the subway exit. This is what you see:

St. Stephen's Church

In turmoil and about to be challenged by other countries, Stephen declared Christianity as the national religion of Hungary, thereby making the Hungary credible as a European country. This catholic church is named after him. A while after he died, he was exhumed and his right hand was removed. His right hand resides in the church. Once a year--in August, I believe--they have a national holiday where the hand is carried throughout the city.

Heroes' Square

Next up was Heroes' Square. (Actually, next was lunch at a Chinese restaurant. These are nice in foreign countries because they have picture menus. Pointing is always a plus when language barriers exist!) Heroes' Square Millenium Memorial was built for the 1000 year anniversary of the founding of Hungary. The statues on the center of the square are the leaders from each of the tribes that founded Hungary.

Vajdahunyad Castle

First of all, this is a perfect example of Hungarian being pretty much impossible to read. It's just so unfamiliar! Okay, so this castle really isn't a castle. It was built of cardboard and plywood for an exhibition in the late 1800s. It was so popular that they rebuilt it, making it permanent. It has four different buildings in different styles: Romanic, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

This was the location where the above Magnum was found. I think you'd agree we needed a sweet treat! And we're still not finished with that day or night!

Budapest Opera House

The king of the Austro-Hungarian empire footed half of the bill for an opera house to be built in Budapast, but gave one stipulation: that it not be bigger than the Vienna opera house. But he forgot to mention that it couldn't be more beautiful. After one visit, he never returned because he was so unhappy that this opera house was more beautiful!

Walking Tour and Night Cruise

Before we left for Europe, we scheduled a walking tour of Budapest. Crazy enough, we returned to ALL of the sights we visited during this crazy day of touring. But we were able to hear a little more history of the city. We ended our walking tour with a night cruise along the Danube River. Budapest is a beautiful city, especially at night--it just glows.

The Chain Bridge and Buda Castle 

Okay, folks. Maybe one more post about Budapest, and then we'll move onto our time in Vienna.

First Stop: Budapest (Take 1)

Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. The cities we visited on our summer vacation. We've been asked at least a dozen times each why we chose those cities. Just in case you're wondering, this is it: we both wanted to visit Eastern European cities. I'd visited Budapest several times while doing orphan work in Romania, so it made the list. Jeremy has always wanted to visit Prague, and both of us wanted to see Vienna. Since, Vienna and Prague are cities that are easy to access by bus or train, it seemed natural that these were our three cities.

Now that I've shared more than you ever wanted to know about our vacation planning, let's get to some details. For some reason,we chose a flight that would leave DFW at 8am. What in the world?! That means, leaving home at 4am to reach the airport two hours ahead of time. Not only that, but with the time zones involved, we arrived in Budapest at 9am their time (the following day, of course). By the time we cleared customs and got to the hotel, it was about 11am. And we had to stay up until bedtime. Otherwise, sleep patterns would have gone arry. Thankfully, our plan worked and within a couple of days, we were on schedule.

Here are a few pictures from our stay in Budapest:

Getting our much needed caffeine fix upon our arrival. I had two cappucinos, back to back.

The Chain Bridge

Budapest is cenetered around the Danube River; Buda is on one side, Pest is on the other. There are six bridges that link the two sides. During World War II, all of the bridges were destroyed. The bridges were built as similar as possible to those that were standing prior to the War. The most famous, perhaps, is the Chain Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge, with gorgeous arches, that reminds of something that could be in Paris. (Afterall, Budapest is referred to as 'Paris of the East.') The bridge is flanked by two lions on either end. When the bridge was complete, the architect challenged the people of Budapest to find something wrong with his bridge, believing he'd paid close attention to detail. Well, wouldn't you know he forgot to put tongues in the lions' mouths. Legend says that he jumped of the bridge into the Danube. I'm unsure of his outcome, as he's rumored to have both survived and drowned in the Danube.

The tunnel on the Buda side of the bridge was dug through the mountain. To go up the mountain, one can ride the funicular (below right) or hike up the mountain, as we did.

Having visited Budapest previously, I was a little saddened when I saw how commercialized it's become. Ten years ago, the folk art/traditional souveniers were beautiful. They're still pretty, but the city has certainly learned how to market itself with its souveniers. It reminds me of any American city with its 'souveniers' that are made half-a-world away. Thankfully, I found a store that had a few eggs, and other souveniers, without 'Budapest' being plastered on them.

We visited the main synagouge in Budapest, which is home to this Tree of Life. Sadly, some 200,000 Jewish people were killed in Budapest during World War II. The Tree of Life has leaves that list the name of each Jewish life lost in Budapest during the ward. This site is also home to mass graves of Jewish people. Since only the names are known of those killed, headstones are propped up against each other in the cemetary. During the tour, someone asked how many Jews still live in Budapest. The tour guide--a Jew, although gracious, shared that since the Holocaust, it is not considered thoughtful to ask someone their religion. So many lives were taken because of religion. I found this very interesting, and had never thought that it would be a topic to avoid in Europe. It makes me wonder how effective evangelism is in a continent that has been deeply wounded by an aversion to a particular religion.

Okay, there's so much more from Budapest. So as not to bore you too much in one day, let's break it up! To be continued...

Austria: Wine Country Bike Tour

Our first full day in Austria wasn't spent in Vienna, but on an amazing bike tour through the Austrian wine country. Although Husby and I love to visit a cities, this was such a nice break from the hustle and bustle and busyness of a major city. Oh, and did I mention that we arrived in Europe with a heat wave? Yeah, so the temperatures hovered around 100 every day, and since Budapest and Vienna are both on the Danube River, the humidity was so nice! That's not normal for Europe, so they don't make a habit of air-conditioning their buildings. Even if they are, it's not the A/C we're used to in Texas.

After scurrying around Vienna--a city much larger and much more difficult to manage than Budapest, Hungary (our first city to visit)--we found our meeting place for the bike tour. I felt sure that we'd see bicycles lining a building, but we didn't. Instead, once our group of 30 was set, we hopped on a subway, then a train, and then a one-car train to a town about an hour outside of Vienna. Imagine the delight of everyone on the tour when the sky was overcast and the temperatures weren't where they had been the previous week.

Most of our fellow tour-mates were about our age; there were a few from the States and lots from Austrailia. Our first stop was at a winery in the town where the one-car train stopped. We learned that Austrian wines are consumed while they're very young, within a year of being bottled. (I think I learned more about wine tasting and wines in Austria than in Sonoma Valley on our honeymoon. Crazy, huh?!) After our first stop, we hopped on our bikes and started our journey through the wine country.

Husby and I both agree that this experience was one of the best things we've ever done! It was beautiful and so unlike anything in the States. At one point, we stopped on the side of the road and our tour guide pointed up to castle ruins. We learned that King Richard the Lionhearted was held captive in that exact spot. How cool! Later, we were able to hike up the mountain to the ruins. So, so amazing! (Just to be clear, we were just west of central Austria and not biking/hiking in the Alps. Those are in western Austria and Switzerland.)

Instead of lugging around the super-duper camera we borrowed from my mom (thanks, Mom!), we took our little point and shoot. Honestly, we were so in awe of being on this adventure, we didn't want to be stuck behind a camera lens. Although we took several pictures, there's no way that it captured the beauty of everything we saw. And I just realized that I forgot to snap pictures of us on our bikes and us swimming in the Danube. (And by "swimming", I mean: Husby was swimming; I slowly walked out, hoping not to step off one of the shelves into deep water and praying that nothing would touch me, and then dipped down to my shoulders and hauled it out of the murky water.)

Walking through the vineyards to a little barn that held our bikes.

This big buy seemed very interested in me and another girl. We were so excited that we'd charmed him. Then we turned to see the farmer behind us with chicken feed.

One of the wineries. There is a tunnel underground so that they can transport their wine to the bottling center across the street. Notice the vineyards on the terraces above the building.

One of the MANY 'Thelma & Louise' shots from the trip. At this point, I'm praying that I don't fall off my bike. Ha!

On the left, the Danube River. It isn't blue in either Budapest or Vienna. Strauss definitely used his poetic license for that title!

A blue cathedral. It caused quite an upset in its day, since that color is reserved for Mary. People liked it so much and started giving money to the church, and then the church leadership was suddenly okay with it being blue. :)

In Durnstein, Austria at the top of the mountain where King Richard the Lionhearted was held captive. We estimated that it was about 1000 feet up. You know, vacation should be about 15K bike rides and hiking up small mountains. It was SO worth it though! The valley was beautiful.

Durnstein, Austria. Isn't it cute? We drank yummy cold chocolate (actually called frozen chocolate, but their version of frozen and ours are quite different!) and walked around a bit. We decided that on future trips we want to visit these small towns outside of the major cities.

Oh, I just love looking at these pictures! In the busyness of life, they're an escape. We had a wonderful vacation. It was worth the movie and dinners out that we skipped to save for our getaway! I can't wait to share about the rest of our trip.