Dachau Concentration Camp...

Today, after many, many frustrating moments that will inevitably arise when you travel in foreign lands for months at a time, I was on the road to Dachau, the first concentration camp built in 1933, soon after Adolf Hilter took power in Germany. This experience simply added to my sobering day. I have been in my head, choosing not to take pictures of what I saw as I hope you are able to one day visit a concentration camp memorial and have your own first hand experiences in the future.

What I felt/feel after reading the accounts of the inhumane way in which thousands, if not millions, of people were treated because of their religious beliefs, political views or simply b/c they didn't look the part, was humbled. I have to be honest with you all and say that though traveling around Europe is exciting and full of unique adventures, it also comes with difficulties. From simple things like not knowing if the tap water is drinkable, to bigger things like not having a home and constantly sleeping in different beds night after night. I am not writing this to try to invoke sympathy, believe me. Chris and I are very much enjoying ourselves. But during the moments of homesickness or feelings of frustration the world seems to be batting against me. Then I visit Dachau and see what suffering truly means. How these people who were beaten, degraded, humiliated, starved and tortured on a daily basis still had the will to live, to survive and stay strong through stories of their people or songs from their homelands or poetry, even underground orchestras were formed to keep spirits alive. These were people who were fighting for their lives and suffering intolerable conditions for what probably seemed to be a never ending amount of time, clinging on to the smallest spark of hope. Therefore I felt/feel humbled. A new perspective quickly puts me in my place as I am living this life of comfort and world exploration. I have never truly known what it means to suffer. I hope the same is true for you.

After reading this entry, please take a minute of silence and reflect on what it is you are thankful for in your lives.

Budapest, Hungary...

Chris and I ventured out in the bone-chilling cold, cut you like a knife, wind to visit St. Steven's Basilica. Quite beautiful!

We walked down the avenue to City Park. This was Hero's Square...

The castle in the park...

The castle's church...

Though we were enjoying all the traditional food of the Eastern/Central European countries we were visiting, we were both jonesing for Mexican food. Believe it or not, we found it in the middle of Budapest. Now, our expectations weren't very high, especially after the terrible "mexican" restaurants in Dublin...and our expectations were not met in Budapest. But it did the trick for the time being. We were in Slidell, LA two days later and definitely got our fill of descent Mexican food there!

I tell you what though, Budapest had some magnificent homemade pasta nuggets and beef goulash along with pickled sides and homemade lemonades at this one restaurant (whose name I can not recall at this moment). It was a bit out of our price range, but totally worth it. We were serenaded by "gypsy music" and the waiter was very charming and did not care one bit that were were Americans who spoke no Hungarian! We enjoyed Budapest very much!

Bratislava, Slovak Republic...

Chris and I popped through the Slovak Republic for a night on our way from the Czech Republic to Hungary...I must say, it's not a very interesting or nice country. But what we did see in the capitol city had it's charm! Here we had lunch in the Slovak Pub where the beer was good, but the food was not!

walking near Old Town...

This was the most amazing cheese shop...strictly sheep's milk cheeses (and wines...but not from the sheep of course). It smelled like it in there too.

This was the cheese we ended up buying...it was sensational...walnut cheese!

The Danube River...

I just thought this optometrist sign was cool...

Old Town Square...

Czech Republic - Spindleruv Mlyn...

Katie and Dermot talked us into joining them in the Mountain town of Spindleruv Mlyn (still don't know how to pronounce it). We were jam packed (as you could see in Chris' blog pics) with Chris and my stuff jam packed in the boot and Katie and Dermot packed like sardines amongst their bags for the 2 hour ride up. Katie and I wanted to be a little more adventurous and see some of the smaller towns so we started out with the SatNav on "avoid toll roads" The boys kept their mouths shut until we came upon a slight hitch...the bridge that British Emily was persistently telling us to cross was non existent. I'm sure it was at one time, but there was no way for vehicles, such as our Clio III to cross and no alternative in sight.

The only other hang up with had along the way, besides Czech highway drivers only passing as high speeds up and around a blind corner into oncoming traffic where no one slows down, they simply just skim into place as though no lives were in danger...so other than that, we were sitting in traffic for about 20 minutes, waiting for the railroad crossing arms to raise since there was clearly no train approaching. Finally two men volunteered to raise the arms manually to allow traffic to cross on both directions. It was slow going, but nothing I've ever experienced before!

Once in SM, we were able to stay at the same hotel as K&D, which meant many, many, MANY games of Catan. We are changing up the rules all the time, really spicing things up. One of the spicier ways to play is to share rose champagne (two bottles) of 13% alcohol between two light weight ladies...that is the moment team testosterone took the lead in wins...but we sure had fun!

We went snow tubing, which turned out to be more ice tubing at night, the first night! So much fun!

Then we fed our hungry appetites with some lovely hand tossed pizzas...

Room with a view...

The prince getting his beauty sleep. Chris really took time to relax and catch up on his sleep...or at least he tried. He stayed up late many nights (all two of them) watching the winter olympics...though covered in Czech, we were still able to see some American wins!

Czech Republic - Prague...

Chris and I finally made it to Prague about 4 days after we planned to be there. We were warmly greeted by Andrew, Robin's youngest child...though he is not a child any longer. Andrew is living in a town outside of Prague, teaching English. He was kind enough to take us around to some of the sites and orient us to the city.

A night walk back to the hostel... This was a wonderfully unexpected reward for the awful time we had finding parking. Luckily Czech drivers are extremely patient and considerate!

We desperately needed to do laundry and finally found a laundromat conveniently located within walking distance of our hostel. When we arrived we found that some English students were shooting a film of some OCD college kids who met and fell in love at a laundromat. Our clothes took twice as long b/c we could only access the machines during breaks in shooting, but we got free internet access for our troubles! The clean laundry was well worth it!

I was jonesing for some American style grub...quick and easy and well that's about it! So McDonald's was my choice and it was actually quite tasty compared to the US version...

Chris was in heaven since we went there at my request (this never happens) and b/c he discovered Taschtikas (hot mixed berry pie).

After my run in gluttony, I didn't feel so good...

Chris, on the other hand, felt amazing!

Later, I took a walk down to our parking garage b/c I discovered that though the night walk was lovely, I dropped the parking ticket from my pocket along the way. I took a scenic 45 minute walk back to the parking garage to see what I would have to do to retrieve my car. Turns out I only had to show my passport, drivers license, car registration, car keys and pay 3.000 Kc (~$150)...umm, lesson learned! Luckily, we decided to stay longer to meet up with our friends from Dublin, Katie and Dermot, so we ended up only paying for the equivalent of 1 extra day.

This is what I saw on my way to the parking garage!

This beer is delicious btw! It's similar to the Javaporter at the Southern Sun in Boulder.

We met Katie and Dermot at this restaurant b/c they boasted brewing their own beers (8 types) that you couldn't find anywhere else in CZ. I mainly picked it b/c it was big and I figured they wouldn't get upset that we would be there for hours playing portable Catan!

My victory dessert!

In Old Town Square...

The light was too dark for me to get K&D without a flash, but there is a beautiful bridge and castle in the background! Still, a lovely picture of a lovely couple!

Germany - Nuremburg...

When Chris asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I thought long and hard and decided I wanted to spend it in a small, Bavarian town. Well I got the Bavarian town part right, as Nuremburg was a bit bigger than I anticipated...however, Old Town was just the right size.

Here is my birthday walk...

The bottles on the side are what seems to be Bavarian wine bottles...

I ventured up toward the Imperial Kaiserburg Castle, which was under construction and only had tours in German. The clerk at the desk said the tours at this time of year are even boring for Germans and recommended I not pay money for it, but simply walk around the grounds on my own.

I love the windows in the roofs...

So many churches...

and purses in bird cages...

Back to the Garden Hotel to pick up Chris for lunch...He was busy wrapping presents in my stead...

view of the restaurant I picked out for us to eat...

the courtyard...

Hare with cranberry and the best spaetzle I've ever had...

Chris was super excited about his pork shoulder and sauerkraut with wheat bier...he's loved it so much he's still talking about it.

After all that AMAZING traditional German food we had to walk some of it off before we felt human again...

So we walked to the Toy Museum...

The girl's room was my favorite part. These are small recreations of kitchens but the equipment was made with real materials, so the rich children of dukes and earls could only play with them under the supervision of a governess.

The very first roller blades...

Here's to you Robin...

Walking back to the hotel at sunset! Happy Birthday to me!