Croatia --> Hungary --> Romania

Hey everybody!

I know it has been a good while since I have posted anything so I thought I would get you more or less up to date.

We left Vienna and took the train to Trieste Italy and then took the bus to Rijeka Croatia.  The view out the bus as the sun set on Adriatic was epic.

We spent the night in Rijeka then took the train to Split Croatia.  A little bit of a bump on the trip... we had to change trains at Ostarije and there was literally NOTHING there.  The station consisted of a single room with a wood stove...

But we still enjoyed it as much as we could.

The place we stayed was about 15 min walking distance from Diocletian's Palace and the port.  People just live there.  Its a roman vacation/retirement palace and people just live there.    Kinda blows my mind honestly but people gotta have a place to live.

It was really pretty, and the weather cooperated so we got warmish clear weather.

Not exactly what you think when you think "Croatia" is it?

We also got to sample some of the local delicacies

After spending some wonderful time in Croatia, we took the train north to Budapest Hungary.  Stayed in a grand hotel (just kidding..)  but we did get to enjoy one of our favorite cities so far.

The parliament building was gorgeous.  there was some sort of protest going on that involved a large group of people singing, whatever the protest was, it certainly would be successfully due to their singing... yikes y'all.

It was really windy too.  we were trying to figure out where to go, and the wind kindly held this map against a tree for several minutes while we planned our route.  (our hair would beg to differ on the benefits of the wind...)

Walking along the Danube they have a chilling memorial to the Jew who were drowned here during the Holocaust.  The killers made them take their shows off before forcing them to their deaths in the river.

We crossed the river and climbed up the hil to the Buda castel and while it was cool, it wasnt as impressive as finding the Eye of Sauron.

Grace tried a much more diplomatic approach to appeasing such a fantastically fearful foe.

Grace also found this friendly lion that gave us directions.

We followed the directions up to the Fisherman's bastion, and true to its word it was worth the climb.

The cathedral right next to the bastion was also stunning.

The inside had be refinished and was honestly one of the most unique and beautiful "modern" takes.  Certainly the most interesting cathedral interior we have seen.

Each dome was slightly different but complementary to the whole.

Grace really liked this statue

After enjoying our time in Budapest, just to keep things confusing we went to Bucharest, Romania.
Now to be honest we didn't get many pictures.  between forgetting the camera and being sick we got  almost no pictures at all.  However enjoy this picture of the center of the city (from our flat's balcony)

Here it is at night...

And a picture of our grocery bag.  For those of you on the east coast, I hope you enjoy either the international reach of a beloved icon, or the blatant rip-off.

After a little touch and go with sickness we dragged ourselves to the train station and took the train to Brasov (thank you Erin for the recommendation).  We loved this town.

Our hostess recommended that we take the cable car to the top of the mountain for the view, but not to linger as it was spring.  "It is spring so the bears are out.  If you do not want to be food for bears you shouldn't miss the last cable car down at 5:00".  Certainly the most thoughtful advice from a host yet.

Our first night there we went to a local eatery that specializes in soups and stews.  It was so nice to have a warm bowl of delicious stew with crusty bread for dipping, all washed down with a dark beer.

The next day we explored the town but got interrupted by a snowstorm.

Grace tried to build a snowman on her head and got a good bit of work done before we decided to call it quits and go inside.

We also got to see some sort of military/police presentation in the square.  I think that one guy is on to me.

The next day we visited Bran Castle.  This is the castle that was inhabited by Vlad the Impaler and supposedly inspired the legend of Dracula.  All the locals insisted that there was no truth to the stories, but I know true fear when I see it.  here it is...

Okay that was more what my face looked like, but the castle WAS pretty

The view was stunning from up there.  Loving the Transylvanian countryside.

We also bought this local pastry that is made over the fire around a wooden "rolling pin" it was quite tasty but I felt cheated by the lack of cream in our horn.

Also the town of Brasov is very beautiful.  Especially when there is a little sun

They have a wonderful square and it was decorated for easter and they had a fair going on.  So much fun.

Our last day there we went to go see Peles Castle.  It was certainly a different type of castle being quite modern; the first castle build with central heating and cooling built in.

With our time in Romania drawing to a close, we went and spent 5 hours in the unheated, pigeon infested Brasov train station while a bunch of teenagers made out in close proximity to us...  FOR 5 HOURS.

more soon!

Italy: Florence -->Bologna --> Venice

Hello everyone!

I know it is not so long since you heard from us, however we had so many pictures of Italy that we really had to break it up to keep from breaking the blog with a photo overload.

After seeing the wonders of the Vatican we hopped on the train and headed towards Tuscany. We stayed in a the little medieval hill town of Siena just a short train ride from the center of Florence.  we arrived late, but thankfully the local taxi driver (yes there was just one and his name was Fabrizio) was able to pick us up.  Here is a view of the town from the train station:

We got to our hotel and were welcomed by a very helpful staff and a warm and cheery room.

The Villa we were staying it was about a 2 mile walk from the train station, but worth every step.

We went and grabbed some dinner at the hotel's restaurant that was in the big villa on the top of the hill.

We got some amazing food and amazing wine in a beautiful restaurant. Welcome to Tuscany.

The next day we hoofed it down to the train station, but the walk was beautiful so we didn't mind it too much.  Plus, after Nepal what is 2 miles?

We made it safe to Florence and checked out the main cathedral in Florence, which is made out of multicolored marble which I have never seen on the outside of a cathedral before.  Very unusual.

It was pretty inside too.

We also went to the gallery where a lot of Michelangelo's work is, including his statue of David.

The next day it had turned kind of rainy but the hotel loaned us some umbrellas which made us feel quite fancy.  Here I am like a million dollar trooper, trying hard to look like Gary Cooper.  I don't think it worked; maybe if I had some spats.

We found this tower, but it was falling down!  Don't worry, I was there to hold it up.

I also reserved a museum and factory tour at the Ducati plant in Bologna, and Grace was very supportive as I geeked my way through it.  I took way too many pictures, but I wont bore you with too many.

They had several MotoGP bikes that raced in the Grand Prix over the years.  Each bike is worth about $500,000 if you don't count all the research and development that went into them.  VERY COOL.

Then with our time in Tuscany drawing to a close, we packed up and took one last jaunt through the countryside.

I will certainly miss the views of rolling hills covered in vineyards and olive groves.

We caught the train and headed north to Venice.  Its only about 2 hours via train from Florence S.M.N. (Santa Maria Novella) train station to Venice.  I am really gonna miss the trains when we get back to the States.

We took the water bus to our hotel.  The view was only so so.  ;)

This was our hotel, about 5 min from the Grand Canal and Saint Mark's square

We walked around as it got dark.  It really is a pretty city.

Grace did some window shopping.  The streets were all quiet, without cars and scooters and buses. Just the chatter of people walking by and the hum of boats in the canals.  It was like walking on a movie set.

The next day we walked around the city.  The canals...

The narrow streets and bridges..

We also toured the Doge's Palace, armory, and prison.  Not sure what this guy's problem was...

The word of the day was: Opulence

Everything was very ornate and almost every space was used for some sort of decoration.

There was an extensive collection of documents, maps, and treaties on display which were very interesting. This is a extremely detailed hand-drawn map of Europe, complete with minute city names.

Also I just want to point out that we have been lied to all these years.  Here is solid proof that unicorns DID get on the ark.  What happened after that?!  Did Voldemort finish off the last of them?  Will we ever know?

Then we went to the armory, which was mind blowing with the collection of actual weapons created way back when.  It was amazing to see the workmanship and sometimes the lack of it.

They were displayed in a very impressive way.  The sword smiths had their work cut out for them with all these weapons.

There were SO MANY swords and pikes and war hammers etc etc...

And there were some rather... unexpected things.  This is a wheel-lock action multi barrel revolving "machine" gun.  The barrels are all twist damascus.

A close up of different gun.  The machine gun was almost impossible to photograph due to the glare on the case.

Then we went down to see the prisons.  Sadly I took a wrong turn and got thrown in...

The doors were so short!

Then we escaped into the sweet sweet sunlight of freedom.  We exercised our freedom to roam the city once more.

The basilica was beautiful as the sun went down, captured against the cloudless sky.

Also this is the look of resignation and long suffering.  I guess having a seagull sit on your head will do that to you.  By the way, the seagulls in Venice are evil.

We loved our time in Venice but it was quite expensive and so we caught the water bus back to the train station, then the train to Trieste, then a bus through Slovenia to Rijeka Croatia, where we would take the train to Split, but that will have to wait till next time.

Take care everyone!