The Adventures of Mark and Sarah

Siena and Out and About in Florence...

2008-11-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

2 days ago, we took the bus to Siena. The weather seemed a little iffy but we decided we would take our umbrella and go anyways. We located the bus station after a little confusion got or tickets and were off.

Once on the road it started raining. I thought for sure we were in for a very wet day of sight seeing but... 20 minutes in to our 1 hour 15 minute ride the rain stopped, the sun came out and the sky was blue. The bus ride was beautiful. We wound through hills covered with vineyards with villas perched on the hillsides.

We made it to Siena right on time (who says Italian buses don't run on time). The bus dropped us off right outside the pedestrian area (Siena was the first city in Europe to ban cars in the city center). The city is nothing but winding medieval streets and almost everything is made from brick... it's where the color name Burnt Siena comes from. The city itself is enough of an attraction but indeed there is more to it than a bunch of twisting streets and bricks!

Sadly we only had time to see the Duomo but, it was rather beautiful. The floor was amazing. It had many mosaic/relief sculpture-like scenes. There was also a Michelangelo altar at one of the side chapels but sadly (for us) it is currently being refurbished. They did at least leave an opening where you could see the women working on it... that was pretty interesting.

After that we didn't have much time left until the bus. We got a cafe and a pannini and had a nice conversation with a girl from Lago Como. She didn't speak a lot of English and we don't speak much (if any) Italian but, it's amazing how much can be communicated with an Italian-English dictionary and gestures.

The next day... we stayed in Florence. We slept in a little and then we headed off to see some of the museums. We went to the Bargello, the Uffizzi and the Boboli Gardens.

The Bargello consists mainly of sculpture. It is a rather small museum but it has some great works by Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello and Michelangelo. The most famous being Donatello's David (small bronze nude guy with a hat). Sadly... again... he is being refurbished. Only this time no window to view the progress. This was one of the works of art Mark was excited to see so it was a little bit disappointing that it wasn't available.

The Uffizzi has many... many... many.... famous works of art in it. All of the great Rennaissance men are represented here (Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Bottocelli and more). Mark and I thought this would take quite a bit of time so we sort of flew through it... at the end we realized that it is no where near as big as the Louvre in Paris and we wished we had maybe slowed down a little. Unfortunately, they only allow you to move through the museum in one direction.

We didn't have too much time in the Boboli Gardens as the weather was starting to deteriorate. What we did see was beautiful. It is attached to the Pitti Palace. The construction of the palace was begun by the Pitti Family (great rivals of the Medici Family). Sadly for the Pitti's they ran out of money when building the palace and the Medici's bought the palace from them and completed it. I don't know if they were too lazy to change the name or if they kept the name Pitti as a slap in the face. Either way the gardens are lovely and they offer a great view of Florence... even if it is raining.

Today... our friend's Long and Kim arrived. They will be with us for the rest of our travels. We had a pretty low key day with them. Their flight arrived here at 9:30-ish this morning. Our task today was to keep them awake so they don't get too jet lagged. We started with coffee and then Long decided he was going to eat all of Florence.

He had a pannini for breakfast. Then we walked them around the city to show them some of the sights. We then went to lunch at the smallest restaurant I think we've ever been to. There were only 3 tables. It was a recommendation from our Rick Steve's guide book (we just call him Rick though). Rick gave us a fabulous recommendation. I had some pasta with a zucchini sauce, Mark and Kim had some beef rolled up with cheese and something else, Long had some tortellini with meat sauce. I think all the pasta was made when we ordered the food. Delicious.

After lunch we went to visit David at the Academia. What an amazing work of art. I was also very impressed with several unfinished Michelangelo sculptures. They just looked like they were emerging from the rock. They are called "the prisoners" and they were intended for Pope Julius II's tomb but he got called away to paint the Sistine Ceiling and never got to finish.

After David... Long was hungry again and required some gelato... mmm. I can't say that I blame him... all I need is someone else to mention gelato and I am ready to have some. Then after the gelato Long decided he was ready for some pizza.

Now we have just returned from dinner/apertivos (buy a drink get a bunch of food free). We are stuffed and tired from our day of keeping Long and Kim moving and ready to sleep!

Tomorrow we are hoping for our long awaited ascent of the Duomo!

Blah!

2008-11-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Anyone who says you can't get bad italian food in Florence hasn't been to the place we ate today! Sarah and I went to a little pizza joint on a sidestreet near the Ponte Vechio for a snack after a day of Florence sight seeing. We ordered a 6.5 euro pizza to tide us over until dinner time. The pizza had 3 ingrediants: dough, cheeze and oregano. The cheese was disgusting!!!!! It tasted like a very bad version of mozeralla flavored cheeze whiz. We really should have just left and ordered something else, but we were hungry. So... We scraped most of the cheese off and just ate it anyway. Shortly thereafter we had to buy a gellato to take away the horrid cheeze whiz aftertaste. This experience actually topped the gross breakfast sausage we ate in Spis on our roadtrip through Slovakia last year!

We're off to get our water bottle filled with wine now---which (unlike this particular gross pizzeria) is an amazing thing they do here. For a few mere euro, they will fill your water bottle (or other vessel) with flavorful Italian wine! We'll be back later to update on some of our other adventures including our trip to Siena! Bouna Sera!!!

2008-11-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

It's about 8:45 in the morning and, like usual, Sarah is still sleeping. I can't say that I blame her because it is cold here---which makes it more difficult to leave the warm comfort of bed. Actually, to better describe our sleeping arrangements, we are sleeping on the floor of the kitchen, living room, dining room, and guest bedroom of Jessica and Andrews apartment. The apartment is actually quite nice and apparently large by many European standards. I like the advantage of being able to grab a glass of milk while staying within the warmth of bed (or futon)!

Yesterday we spent our time on the Florence "Santa" tour. We visited Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, and Santa Croce churches. The San Lorenzo church was pretty cool since they had the famous Medici Chapel by Michelangelo. We also both liked Santa Croce a lot too. It has the tombs of Michelangelo, Michiaveli, Gherberti, and Galileo. It also has a neat group of pictures showing how the 1966 Florence flood filled this gigantic church with 8' of mud and how the workers toiled to salvage the church and items within. We visited the Science museum too, that has many of Galileo's telescopes and other scientific devices. Yes, we did get to see Galileo's middle finger which they have in a jar!

So far we've found the people of Florence to be quite friendly. We both find it funny when people assume we are not Americans before we speak to them. Sarah has been spoken to in Italian on many occasions. I think it is due to the black clothing (with mandatory boots) she has been wearing and her crazy hair. The slight humidity here has made her hair very entertaining! If you've ever watched the HBO move "Sopranos", just imagine Adriana and you've got what Sarah looks like! Ok... that might be a bit overstating things... As for myself, one of our cashiers started talking to me in French yesterday before realizing my eyes were glazing over and moved to English.

We have enjoyed heading out for evening walks around the city. It is quite a bit less crowded than during the day because many of the tour groups have gone back to their boats. It's completely different to walk around the Duomo and Ponte Vechio at night than during the day.
It's a little safer too... fewer people, fewer scooters and fewer buses.

Ahhh! Sarah is finally out of futon! That means I need to wrap this up! Today we are taking the bus to Siena--at least that's where we hope to end up. Obviously, as we head to the bus station, we'll be needing to stop by one of the cafe's for a cappucino or macchiato!! Ciao!

Cortona and Perugia!

2008-11-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

We drove to Cortona Saturday afternoon... after our bags finally arrived. YAY!!! It took about an hour and a half. The drive was beautiful... rolling hills dotted with cypress trees, towns perched on top and the best part is that the sun seems to turn everything gold... it is absolutely stunning.

First we had to find our hotel... which I believe would have been a very frustrating procees if we had not had a GPS in our car. The only difficult part about finding our hotel... Casa di Betania... was getting down the steep narrow driveway. It is surprising that our tiny, yellow European car was able to navigate the hill! Once there we were delighted to find that the Rick Steve's guide was right again. Our room was 48 Euro and had just re-opened 2 weeks ago after rennovations. Everything was new and clean, the rooms definitely big by European standards and the view was amazing.... this morning after breakfast we went out on to the terrace to see the the valley below, hilltops and steeples peeking out through the fog. Before leaving we wandered over to the small art museum which has famous early Renaissance paintings by Fra Angelico.

We could have stayed longer but we were anxious to get on the road to Perugia... which is actually in the Umbria area... not Tuscany. The 2 cities a very different from one another. Cortona small and quaint. Perugia is much bigger, the streets narrower and steeper and the architecture much more grand. We only had a short time to meander throught the streets before we had to hurry back to Florence to return the car.

This definitely was a nice laid back start to our trip. Unfortunately... Jessica seems to be getting sick. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. Tomorrow Mark and I will be on our own to explore Florence--or perhaps take a train to Seina. I suppose we'll see what we feel like doing tomorrow when we wake...

2008-11-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

We made it to Florence and we are happy to be with Jessica and Andrew. We would be a little happier if our bags had arrived too but c'est la vie! We were told they were still in Paris and they should arrive tonite with the 9:00 flight... our fingers are crossed.

Tonite we went out for appertivos... fantastic! It is a great way to have some food and a cocktail and not spend too much money. It was 8 Euro for the drink and then there was a buffet of fresh Italian fare. The food was delicious and the cocktail welcomed after 30 some-odd hours of travel (and bags that prefer to stay in Paris).

After appertivos we walked Andrew home (he had some work to do) then we walked over to the Duomo (huge cathedral with Brunelleschi's magnificent dome... an engineering marvel). We sat at a sidewalk cafe, had a pint of beer and marveled at the Duomo. Not too bad for our first night!

Now we have to figure out how the futon works and wait for the fine people at Air France to call (keep your fingers crossed). Tomorrow we rent a car and head out for our Tuscan road trip! We'll get back to you Sunday night.

Back to Europe!!!

2008-11-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! We are about to embark on another European adventure. We figured with the election over we needed something else to occupy our time. So in order to ease ourselves back in to non-election frenzied life we are heading to Italy to visit our friends Jessica and Andrew (we stayed with them in Slovak republic last year... they cannot figure out what country they want to live in!) for 10 days and Amsterdam for 3 days.

We will have internet access almost the entire trip and we are very excited to share our impending journey with you all! If you're interested in our blog bookmark this website and check every couple of days. We will not have access to our email addresses and typing them all in everytime we update is rather tedious after a full day of walking on cobblestones :)

2008-02-08T12:48:00.001-08:00

Meanwhile... Back in Spis...

2007-10-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

So we're on our way to Spis. The scenery was beautiful, there were mountains, the leaves were turning... really lovely. It turned to night and we were still driving and admiring the church steeples off in the distance. Finally, we see a big castle on top of a hill off in the distance. This what we have been looking for... it looks huge even from afar. We again decide we should get a closer look immediately. As we are on our way up Jessica informs us that we are in Gypsy country. We go up to the parking area and decide not to stay right there due to an RV that is parked there... might be Gypsies. We go part way down and stop to take pictures. It is windy and cold. We start snapping photos and hear a rustling in the grass behind us. It sounds to big to be just the wind... we jump back in the car and high tail it out of there. We don't want to get taken by the Gypsies!

Now we are off to find our lodging for the night. Which is supposed to be close to the castle. It couldn't be that hard to find... there's not much around! Or can it? On our way! We go a little further and start up this winding mountain road. We get to the top of this road and realize we have gone too far... back down we go! It is now slightly raining and our car has signaled that it is near freezing. We are behind 2 semi's... on a tiny twisting mountain road that may have the potential to be icy. Next thing we know... we are about to take a hairpin turn and the car in front of us decides to pass the semis... on the inside of the turn! CRAZY!!! We make it down the mountain and back track and finally make it to the town our penzione was in... yay!!!

There is one problem though... the streets are not marked. Mark starts to navigate with the map by noticing the shape of the squares and using landmarks on the map (like curches). Now there is another problem... we discovered from another map we had that the arrow pointing out where the penzione is isn't pointing to the correct place! We've been looking for the wrong place. Now remembering that we are in Gypsy country we are noticing that the people in the streets are looking at us oddly and they do not look like Slovaks. The town also seemed to be a little run down. We find the penzione thanks to a collaborative effort of map decoding, Andrew remembering that the building was green and some patience.

We get checked in. We decide we are not sure of the locals and the penzione owners allow us to park the car inside the building. We get to our room and decide that it is not a good idea to head out in search of food. Thank goodness we went to the store before we left. Pretzels and Nutella would have to suffice for dinner. In the morning we head downstairs for breakfast... which consisted of 3 hotdog like sausages and some cookies. The sausages did not seem to be stuffed too tightly. Mark was hungry enough to eat some... Jessica, Andrew and I opted to pretend we had eaten some and flushed 6 of them down the toilet! The we discovered that this was not a free continental breakfast... GYPSIES!!! Fortunately, this the only time we would get taken by the Gypsies... not too shabby.

After that we were off to explore the castle. Which we found out The Last Legion was filmed there. The guide books said that the outside was the most interesting but, we had driven so far and we wanted to go inside. We were glad we did. Even though it was quite cold there was a lot to see and it was certainly worth it. After about an hour of exploring we had to leave... we had a long trek ahead of us. We had to make it all the way back to Bratislava.

Back in the car we go. About an hour into the drive we notice that we really missed out on the drive over. Since it was so dark out we did not get to see the Alpine-esque mountains that just seemed to grow out of a green field. They were big, rocky and snow capped. We had seen the Low Tatras on our way out and now we were looking at the High Tatras. Uunfortunately, we could not go for a closer look. Guess we'll have to go back!

As we got closer to Bratislava we had a little extra time to kill so we stopped in the town of Nitra. There was a small castle there and the oldest church in Slovakia. The castle was pretty uneventful, as it is used for offices but the church was quite a gem. It was pretty late in the day and it looked as if a monk was just closing up. Andrew asked if we could take a quick look and the monk briskly replied "3 minutes". We thank him and run inside... it is beautiful. We decide to go so he can go home and on our way out he asked where we were from. I told him the United States and he got very excited. He unlatched a velvet rope and told us to follow him. He then unlocked a door and motioned for us to come in. We were in the original part of the church that he informed us was from the 9th century and that Pope John Paul II had given a service here. Back out in the churh he showed us a relief sculpture that St Patrick's Cathedral in NYC has a replica of and another relief below it that was done by Donatello. He then told us of a 27 year old Bishop that had been imprisoned in the church for 30-ish years by the communists because he refused to allow them to turn it into a museum. It was really fantastic to get a personal tour of this church by someone that actually cares about it and not some monotonous tour guide. This was a big highlight of our trip.

Back in Bratislava. We had to prepare to take the train to Prague the next day and bid farewell to Jessica and Andrew... our gracious Bratislava hosts. We had an amazing farewell dinner of Royale with Cheese & French Fries... that's right McDonald's. Apparently, that is all that is open on a Sunday night!

More later... my fingers are tired!

done typing tonight!

Weekend Update...

2007-10-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend we took a roadtrip through Slovakia....

The car was delivered Friday night around 7:00 and we promptly hopped in and headed to the town of Trencin. We got there around 9:00 pm parked the car and started to hike up the hill to the beautifully lit castle on top of it. We were stoped short by a large gate and had to wait until the next day to explore. So we went down the hill and found the penzione we had a reservation at and checked in. We got a "suite" for the four of us $60 total(included a beer for each of us and 2 one and a half liter bottles of water). Sounds lovely... doesn't it? Well quirky is more like it. The penzione was part of a school. Our suite seemed to be a small classroom converted into a "suite". The bathroom had a toilet in one room and the sink and shower (looked like a large sink you could stand in) behind another. The floor looked like cross sections of tree trunks but was lanolium, the table was 2 desks pushed together with a table cloth over it and there were 4 twin beds... just like summer camp! For what it lacked in plushness it made up for it with cleanliness.

Saturday we finally made it up to Trencin Castle. It was very cool... both aestheticly and temperature-wise. We looked around for a little bit, checked out the view and left (the inside is currently being renovated so not much to see inside).

Back in the car and off to Beckhov Castle. The home of the Blood Countess. Rumor has it she killed young girls to bathe in their blood because she thought it would preserve her youth. This castle was not as well preserved as the first one but better because we could walk all over it. There was even part of the gothic chapel wall remaining. We spent about an hour here and then back in the car and off to Bojnice Castle.

Bojnice was very well preserved but it is like the Disney Castle of Slovakia. There must have been 10 weddings there the hour and a half that we were there. They move them in and out. There seemed to be a constant procession of people and decorated cars... some with bridal dolls attached to them... creepy! The castle was pretty but we got stuck on a tour in Slovak and we could not lag behind or we would get yelled at. We would have preferred to go through it on our own and probably would have been done much more quickly.

Again... back in the car and off to Spis. This was about a 5 hour drive and our stop for the night. This is where things begin to get interesting and I have to get off the computer now because the computer room is full and I have run out of time.... so there'll be more later!

Still haven't left the Hilton

2007-10-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Okay... we have actually left the Hilton but since we haven't posted anything about our roadtrip yet we didn't want you to feel neglected. Prague is beautiful but we are TIRED!! Cannot think... too tired to remember everything in a sensible fashion... write more later :)

Prague through Hilton goggles

2007-10-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

We made it to Prague by train without any problems. We haven't left the hotel yet since checking in about 3 hours ago. I think we're both happy to slow things down a bit after all the activities of the last week and a half. We took a dip in the pool and hot tub and are about to head back for our second trip to the hospitality suite again for another drink and snack. We're both looking forward to a nice relaxing evening...

Leave for Prague in Morning

2007-10-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

We are back in Bratislava from our big castle road trip into Central/Eastern Slovakia. We had a great time and were able to see 5 different castles. We're a bit tired now, so won't elaborate just yet.... Gotta make sure to get some sleep for tomorrow's early train ride to Prague. When we have time, we'll update our blog more. But until then here's a teaser that doesn't include castles... Slovaks drive crazy, Nutella for dinner, a kindly monk, and of course... what European trip would be complete without Gypsies!!!

We'll catch up in Prague. Until then, we appreciate reading everyones responses!

Problem on the Railway!

2007-10-12T09:52:00.001-07:00

We ran into a bit of a problem on the way back from Vienna by rail last night. Or train arrived into Bratislava at about 9:00pm last night. After getting off the train, we head down the train platform and start down the stairs toward the main part of the train station. Just as we get to the bottom of the stairs, we hear a loud thud and a couple yells. When we turn around we see that one of the women that was sitting next to us on the train had fallen down on the stairs and seemed pretty hurt. We were all concerned for her well being, but also a bit skeptical wondering if it was the ever present possiblity of some sort of train station con artist scam. Andrew and I carefully head up the stairs to see if the person is really hurt or not. We find out it's one of the older women on the train who appeared to be from the states. She actually appears to be pretty banged up. At first she was regretful to admit that she was injured---possibly she was somehow embarrassed or perhaps she was afraid we were going to scam her. So, after a bit we mutually agree we're all good people and have to figure out if she needs a trip to the hospital or not. When she tried, she couldn't put any weight on her ankle. So, we decide all she really needs at this point is help getting to a taxi on the other side of the train station. Clearly, she wouldn't be able to hop the entire way. So... Andrew suggests we use some trick where we stand on each side of her, cross our arms and she sits back onto our forearms. Thats what we ended up doing. He and I carried her all the way through the train station directly to the taxis. You can just imagine how silly this looked with this women being carried through the station like royalty! We got quite a few stares.... Anyway, we were happy to help her out and hope that she was alright. Fortunately, she was here to learn about some medical equipment so hopefully there were some people at her hotel that could assess her problem and fix her up.

Out and About in Bratislava and the Surrounding Area

2007-10-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

We've been here a few days now and Bratislava is beautiful! It is the perfect size. We can walk everywhere. If we don't want to walk we can take a bus or trolley.

Yesterday, we were left on our own (Jessica actually had to work). She helped us figure out what bus to take to go to Devin Castle and we set out to get a ticket and find the bus station. We got the ticket with very little problems and took off for the bus station. We knew just where it was... we thought. We found the bus stop and looked at the sign that tells you which buses come through there and realized we were not at the correct stop. Not a problem. We'll just go a little farther down the road... or maybe we passed it... or maybe it's on the other side of the road (you can't get there from here). Mark decided to ask for help... fantastic idea! He asked a nice young girl (who he picked because she looked just like our friend Tammy... she must be nice, right?). She was quite helpful and finally pointed us in the right direction... looks like it was just a little farther.

Finally, on the bus and our way! We met a nice couple from St. Louis, Jeff (a dentist) and Mary Kay, we spent most of the day with them exploring the Devin Castle. It is quite large and sits on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Moravian rivers. It was very peaceful. There was only another group there... looked to be a school field trip. After checking out the castle we went into the town of Devin and saw a small church and had some lunch. The waiter did not speak any English but was very nice and attempted to help us learn some more Sovak words.

After lunch we hopped back on the bus to Bratislava... 15 minutes later we are back in the city. Hard to believe that only minutes away it is so green and quiet. Later on when Jessica and Andrew got home we went out for dinner and walked to the Novy Most (New Bridge). It is a suspension bridge across the Danube with a large UFO-like structure on top of it that actually has a restaurant in it. We went to the top of that and looked out over the city. It was very interesting to see the Stare Mesto (Old Town) on one side of the river and Petralzka on the other side of the river. When we were walking around Petralzka it was not apparent how many of the large generic concrete apartment buildings there are. On our way back down we stopped to use the bathroom... not usually something we share but... I would rank this as the COOLEST bathroom ever! You actually look out over the city while using the facilities and, it is pretty swanky too!

Today.... we went to Vienna for the day. What a beautiful city. It is quite a contrast from Bratislava. Big and busy!!! Very cosmopolitan. We went to St. Stephen's Cathedral which is home to the entrails of most of the Hapsburg empire. Their hearts live in St. Augustine's and the rest of their body is entombed in a small modest crypt in a Cappuccin Church.... which we also went to. Their sarcophagi are very ornate and get more and more ridiculous as time goes on with the pinnacle being that of Maria Theresa and her husband. After that we just wandered around the city and waited for Andrew to get done with work (he works in Vienna). We had some dinner and a lovely dessert. On our way back to the train we wandered into a church that was having a small candle lite service in a side chapel: we quietly listened for a few minutes. Then we were back on the train and home to Bratislava. It was a busy day. We definitely need to go back to Vienna to spend some more time.

Tomorrow we have most of the day here in Bratislava. We have a rental car being dropped off at 7 pm and then we are off for a weekend excursion to see some more castles. We hope to make it all the way to Spis. It is out in the eastern part of the country and has one of the largest castle complexes in Europe.

Bye Bye BudaPest; Hello Bratislava

2007-10-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I spent our last day in Budapest on Monday with a trip to the Gellert Bath. Since we didn't have our bathing suits we decided to head to the cave church next door built into the side of the mountain in Buda. We also went to the top of the mountain (which was twice taller than we originally thought--about 20 minute walk) to the large Liberty Monument. It used to be a Soviet Monument, but they changed the legend and now consider it a Hungarian freedom monument.

So later in the afternoon we take a cab from our friendly BudaPest Hilton for the train station. After our train experiences in Italy last year (near pickpocketing, extortion by train conductor) we were ready for the worst. After a bit of confusion buying our ticket, we found our platform and got on the train with plenty of time to spare. After about 1.5 hours we reached the border crossing for the Slovak republic and two customs agents (one Hungarian; one Slovak) opened our train door. They checked us out and were promptly on their way! Moments later, the conductor came by and verified our ticket without incident! All in all, we have began to have renewed faith in the European train system since we didn't have any problems whatsoever. Lets hope our luck keeps with us when we head to Devin castle tomorrow for the day and to Prague later this week...

So, now we are staying with Jessica and Andrew in their apartment across the street from the Slovak presidential palace. Literally could throw a rock and actually could hit the fence of the palace. Crazy! Jessica played tour guide today starting with a lovely trip to the "beautiful" Petrzalka. These were the large "Bronx-like" housing projects created in Bratislava during the communist occupation after WWII to the late 1980's. Anyone see Eurotrip?!! Actually, they have began to make improvements to the complex--but still appear to have a long way to go before making it feel like a warm and fuzzy place to live. Imagine lots and lots of building and tons and tons of concrete. Everything looks the same.

After leaving Petrzalka we headed to the Stare Mesto (old town) and walked around all the old buildings within the old castle walls. What a beautiful part of the city. Notice that beautiful is not in parentheses! Most of the crumbling building have been fully restored. There are large squares with fountains, free wi-fi, restaurants, shopping. It reminds us a lot of Paris but smaller and without all the crowds. A nice change after the busier BudaPest. If anyone tells you not to visit Bratislava, they obviously haven't been here lately. Later we headed to St Martens cathedral build in the 1200's and has been termed the coronation church since about a dozen Hungarian rulers have been coronated here when Bratislava was part of the Hungarian empire. The church architecture was amazing!

So far we haven't had too much of a language problem--of course we've had Jessica "attached to our hip" thus far. Tomorrow Sarah and I will venture on our own all day since Jessica will be working. I think we'll get by with a combination of pointing, miming, and just plain grunting... We'll see how that goes... ;)

Things here in Bratislava are quite affordable. All 4 of us ate dinner tonight with drinks for the equivalent of $36! It was a nice sit-down dinner too! Later we went to a chocolate bar and had a few different types of hot chocolate for dessert. Mine had some sort of spicy peppers that I thought looked like lady bugs. Heck, even if they were, they sure tasted good! Sarah had chilis, anise, and some other spice. Yes, that's right... In her hot chocolate. Delicious!

So tomorrow we head to Devin Castle about a 20 minute bus ride out of Bratislava. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled Bill Clinton the whole time!

Hangin' on Castle Hill

2007-10-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

The four of us spent the day so far on castle hill. We first went over to theFisherman's Bastion again to soak up the awesome view of the Pest side of BudaPest. Then on to underground Labyrinth where thousands of citizens sought shelter during WWII. Unfortunately the placed "cheesy" reproductions of cave paintings found elsewhere in the world---which didn't really fit in. Without our own guide books we wouldn't have known anything about the history of the cave system under Castle Hill.

After the caves we Palace area on the south side of Castle Hill and finally made our way around to lunch near the Chain Bridge. After lunch we made the painful trek up the hill to go into Mattyius church next to our hotel. After spending about 15 minutes in the church, Andrew says, "There he is again!". Sarah thought it was the creepy looking Asian guy with spiked blond hair and goatee we have seen a couple times earlier today. But no.... It was Bill Clinton again! What the heck!!! The guy is now stalking us! So, we made our way down from the upper level of the church to get another closer look. Again we were 10 feet from him in the church where he was getting his own private tour. How cool! We tried to get Sarah and Jessica an opportunity to shake his hand this time, but unfortunately only Jessica was successful. Sadly Sarah has not yet experienced the softness of President Clinton's hands! :(

Maybe we'll see Clinton at the Gellert Baths tomorrow where we plan to visit before taking a train to Bratislava later in the afternoon.

Jessica, Andrew, St. Stephen's and a President

2007-10-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

We woke up early this morning and saw the sunrise over Pest. It was quite beautiful. I (Sarah) went out for a little bit and took some pictures at the Fisherman's Bastion... which gets flooded with tourists in the afternoon. So it was nice to be there when nobody was there.

We waited for Jessica and Andrew to arrive until 9:30 am and decided to venture out on our own and check back intermittently to see if they had arrived. We weren't out very long when too long when some oddballs jumped out and shouted at us. It was them! YAY!

The four of us set out to explore. We decided to check out Parliament; sold out. We walked along the Danube and saw a monument to the Jews thrown in the river by the Nazi's. It was very moving. We walked and walked and walked... most of the day. We saw a lot of Pest. The architecture is beautiful, the weather is fabulous and it's not too crowded. After lunch, we checked out St. Stephan's Cathedral. Beautiful but unfortunately we could not meander about like we are used to in Western European churches.

It looked like it was going to rain so we decided to head back to the hotel. We made it to Gresham Palace which is now the Four Season's hotel, just east of the Chain Bridge. There was a small group of people waiting for something. It looked as thought there was a famous person about to arrive. There were a couple of paparrazzi and some people with a program-like thing and a pen. We asked a photographer what was going on and he said he didn't know (even though he had a press pass). A man walked up to tell the photographer something so we asked him... nothing(even though he had a super sneaky ear piece in). We were intriuged. We waited just a few minutes and all of a sudden a convoy of police vehicles arrive and pull up on the sidewalk. I thought... this is no celebrity. This is actually someone important. Then........... I hear Mark say, " It's Bill!" Then I see none other than President Bill Clinton... I scream, "IT"S BILL!!!" It was fantastic. Mark asked if he could shake his hand and Bill made eye contact and parted the crowd and headed directly to Mark to shake his hand. Andrew had a small conversation with him as his father had a class with him at Georgetown University years ago. I now understand why people cry when they see famous people. It was quite exciting. My leg muscles were shaking. He certainly knows how to work a crowd. Also... he likes old school Nike shoes.

That's it for now... we got to meet Bill Clinton. What are the odds of that?!?!?

Now..... We REALLY Made It!!!

2007-10-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

The first post was just us trying to figure out how to make the computer show us English!!! Now that it is in English instead of Hungarian things are MUCH easier.

So.... Our friend Susan kindly trucked us to the airport yesterday (Thursday). We promptly checked in and found our way to the gate. Our flight to Miami was perfect. We had about 5 hours to kill so we went through security and found some Cuban fare. We made our way back to the gate with a couple of hours to spare, the GIANT 747 arrived, people gawked and took pictures, the flight crew arrived and went to the plane. Everything was going along as expected and then the "fun" began. We were to leave at 5:40 pm then a delay.... and another delay.... a few phone calls and a meal voucher later (7:30 pm) we were told we would board at 9:00 pm. That actually happened... yay! We proceed to board the plane happy as 2 little clams when, halfway down the jetway we realize that we are missing a neck pillow.... vital to trans-atlantic travel. I (Sarah) board the plane and Mark goes back to get the crucial pillow that had been rescued by a fellow stranded traveler we had befriended. Mark comes to meet me at our seats only to find out that I cannot figure out the crazy numbering system and have moved in to the wrong row. We shuffle our belongings to the appropriate place and Mark says "did you put my passport away?" Well I hadn't.... we go in to total defcon 5 panic mode searching for his passport which HAD to be on the plane since we had to show it upon boarding. After several LONG minutes of searching a flight attendant pages "Monsieur Lemieux"... his passport had been found by a kind-hearted fellow passenger and thus our adventure rescued!!! Mark hugged the flight attendant whose response was "ahhh.. okay" with a smile and a lovely French accent. We settle in and prepare to take off by now it is about 10:00pm. The plane is actually moving... thank goodness! Then... the lights flicker. Apparently, something else needs to be fixed.... it'll take "5 minutes". We return to the gate. Twenty minutes later we are told to take our seats we are a go for lift off. About this time some crazy people decide NOW they don't want to be on this flight anymore. Seriously, what the heck?!?!?! After 4 hours of crap now they're uncomfortable flying on this plane? There is some arguing with several flight attendants and the pilot. The Miami police board the plane, 3 of them. They "kindly" escorted 3 no longer fellow passengers off the aircraft. We have proof---Mark took some pictures with his phone... did anyone see us on the news? Finally, almost 2 hours later (12:00 am) we taxi to the runway and take off!!!

We make it to Paris and we have obviously missed our flight... by 6 hours. It is 2:45 pm (Paris time) there is a flight (pardon the interruption, but while typing this blog our executive lounge hostess just forced us into *another* shot of Palinka. Abresheygadra---cheers!) at 3:30 pm. We are told it is not possible for us to make it. The ticket agent will re-book us on Mal-something Hungarian airline at 6:50 pm but, first we have to go upstairs and get a paper ticket instead of an e-ticket. We head upstairs, heartbroken at the late departure. We get to the second counter (3:05 pm) the agent up there tells us we are booked on the 3:35 pm flight.... we think as a result of Mark calling Delta while the nice people were getting kicked (aka: escorted) off the plane. The gate is actually within our sights. All we had to do is make it through security... and we did!!! At 5:35 pm... finally... wheels touched down in BudaPest quite smoothly after a lovely flight over the snow-capped Alps!!!

We are so excited to be here. Our hotel looks out over... (pardon once more, but another offer for more Palinka!--this Hilton girl is CRAZY!!!) the Danube with Parliament on the opposite bank and just below our window the Fisherman's Bastion. Really... The view couldn't be better!
So anyway, we are here safe and sound (that's for you Linda!). Tomorrow we are excited for the arrival of Jessica and Andrew who are due to arrive about 7:00 am (early after all the Palinka!). So far our limited exposure to BudaPest has been positive. Heck, the cabbie didn't screw us out of extra Forints and did we mention Jolina, our Hilton hostess, keeps offering us free shots of Palinka?.... We hope the next couple days in BudaPest are as lovely as our start (perhaps with a bit less drama).

We Finally Made It!

2007-10-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

test to make sure it works

Almost Time to Go!

2007-10-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

We are counting the hours until we depart for our trip to Europe. We fly out in the morning and arrive in Budapest Friday afternoon. We will be in Budapest until Monday morning. Then we depart for Bratislava (Slovak Republic) where we will be visiting our friends, who are currently living there, for a week. After that we finish up with 4 days in Prague. Since we will have access to a computer pretty readily most of the trip we thought this would be the easiest way to keep in touch.