I am going to have a little rant.

Just because you are on vacation it does not mean that you can wear whatever you want. I guess I watch too much What Not to Wear.

One of the things is: Why are people wearing clothes that are 2-3 sizes too small? You can't tell me that the clothes fit when you left home, no one gains that much weight on vacation.

Gentlemen, bathing suits are not appropriate attire for sight seeing. Pool yes, churches and museums no. I understand that it is hot but respect others and yourself.

Ladies please stop wearing halter tops wityh regular bras, I don't care how pretty the strap is we don't need to see all of it. (This includes the back strap as well) At least make an attempt to make the straps line up. Bras are pretty sophisticated and they make them so that you can change the strap configuration or even use clear staps.

I am not saying that I am perfect in any way, but when I dress poorly I am doing myself a disservice, not grossing other people out.


We took a little side trip through Zagreb yesterday. We left Budapest on the train for Ljubljana and got off for a few hours in Zagreb. I mean a few hours. We had time to eat and walk around the town. Apparently there are lots of museums but we walked to the sight seeing lookouts and saw the buildings and then that was it. We could have taken a later train to get to Ljubljana but other than sitting to drink we didn't see very much else to do. I am sure there was but you would have to stay for a while and have time to do them justice.

Ljubljana is very nice. Beautiful country side green, lush hills and great old buildings. It is neat to see from the train some of the old brick buildings and farmyards. (Reminds me of the farms outside of Ottawa on the way to Montreal) As you get closer to the city centre there are more and more concrete buildings for big box type stores. A little sad but at least the tourism keeps many old buildings from being bulldozed and rebuilt.

We fly to London tomorrow and spend a few days there before coming home. Sorry there are not many pictures but very few computers will upload them. I will do it when we are home.

Here we are in Budapest.It is August 20. Vienna was great, one day is not enough time to see things. We visited the catacombs under the city. The Sissi museum about the Empress Elisabeth. We went the the Leopold museum and that was a bust. There were only 2 paintings by Klimpt. We visited a butterfly room. Lots of live and pretty butterflies flying around. Not really an Austria sight but it was neat all the same.

Budapest is good. Very busy, lots of tourists. We saw an interesting exhibit on the Inca. The castle is neat, right now they are having a folk festival which is fun to look at all the crafts. It was super jammed with people. They had some sort of airplane races on the river and that was pretty cool to watch, they fly fast. It was the national holiday on Monday, everything was closed so we missed out on the baths but we got to see great fireworks. When I say everything is closed I mean everything but souveneir shops. We tried to go to Tesco to buy the final Harry Potter to read on the train but no luck. He did find it at the train station, we paid full price but what can you do when you have a 5 hour train ride ahead and have nothing to read. So if anyone wants a copy you can buy one off of us for $14. (we now have two)


We have done so much stuff it is all starting to run together.
Off to Croatia and Slovenia tomorrow.

Wow, when you stay in a Hilton it makes you not want to leave the hotel. We were upgraded to an executive room. (Ryan was a gold card member when I booked the room) We now have access to the executive lounge. Complimentary beverages, snacks and free internet access. Otherwise you would not be hearing from me. Access is darned expensive. In the room there are great toiletries, a bath bomb for goodness sake. I have been talking about the bathroom and bathtub for the last two days. I knew it would be nice but I had no idea. Two weeks in the same set of 5 outfits only washed in the sink and 30° weather with high humidity have made me yearn for a bathtub. And I don't like baths. There is even a rubber ducky!

Living high off the hog. Ryan is less impressed but he spends half his time in a hotel room. I like to be pampered.

We took a boat down the Danube from Bratislava to Vienna. It was a very nice way to travel. We went through the meseum about Emperess Elisabeth (Sissy and found it pretty neat). I hope to go the the Leopold museum tomorrow and see some of Gustav Klimt work. You have all seen the print. I think Andrea might have it on her wall. Not that everyone has been in Andrea's room. I guess that part of the post was for my family. I posted the picture for those that did not know.

We are having a great time. Can not believe that we are 2 weeks in. It is flying by.

I will post again soon. (no pics this time because the CPU is locked up)

Here are a few pics. I finally found a computer that recognizes the camera.

This is the first dinner in Warsaw.

Wow an entire octopus. Well prepared not chewy at all.

Ryan can be half way around the world and still have pizza and beer for dinner.

This is in the disosaur caves at the castle in Warsaw.

Auschwitz

View of the Castle in Prague. We went to black light theatre in Prague. The show we say was a little cheezy and high school production level but neat and didn't cost us a fortune in ticket prices.

Prague is a great city, very busy, lots to see We got to see the Bodyworks display, the one with all the real bodies preserved with silicon. Really cool. National Museum had lots to see some of it was like re-living my undergraduate degree. Great squares to visit, shop, people watch, eat etc. Wonderful transit system made life easy.

Brno was good. Small but we were only there one day. I dragged Ryan to the Mendel Museum and forced him to learn about genetics and Punnett squares and stuff. We also went into the crypts and saw really mummified bodies of preists and monks. They were really dried up.

Bratislava is nice. It is now very hot and not a drop of rain in sight. Castle was neat. We are staying on a boat for our hotel. http://botelmarina.sk/ Pretty neat, the swaying is hard when you have had a few beverages. We went to the Sovak Pub http://www.sovapub.sk/ realy great. Huge place, 12 inch plank wooden floor and huge wooden tables and chairs and loads of people. It is a university pub and has great prices if you can proove you are a student. It was loud and rowdy and great.

Ryan took a crapshoot at the huge menu and picked something not really knowing what it was and it turned out great. It turned out to taste like perogies without the wrapper. Finding the place was a fluke but a good one.

There is so much smoking in Europe, our most disturbing sight was a woman 8-9 months pregnant with a cigarette in one hand. (In Ryans mind she was drinking too)

Off to sail down the Danube tomorrow to Vienna. Life is hard.

We are now in Prague.Lovely city lots of neat spires.Very busy and lots of people. Auschweitz was amazing, we took the guided tour once you get there and it is well worth it. Ryan hates tour groups but this was only 25 people and when you go to Birkenhauer you are outside so there is lots of space. Hard to imagine 1.5 million people being killed in less than 5 years. The Germans had a pretty sophisticated scam going on. But a 3.5 hour tour seemed to fly by. Then a hour long wait for the 1.5hour bus ride back to Krakow. The waiting in lines almost killed Ryan but he survived.

The saltmines were neat but a very long wait in line and then a 2 hour captive tour. You end up 134m into the mine. Lots of stairs!!!!! Interesting carvings but some of the published photos of the place capture it better, there are just too many people to really take it all in. But neat just the same.

Met some very nice people in the line for the mine. Samantha and Mike, are from England and they just finished University and are touring Asia and Europe for 6 months. Pretty impressive, I don't know if I could travel for that long with one person.

Daniel and Nicole were a couple from Switzerland (but really from Tennessee) that we met in a Vodka bar before our night train to Prague. They were great lots of tips on what to do in Prague.

Train was fine, Ryan didn't appreciate the 3 am banging of the "gustapo" to check our passports as we crossed the border. Apparently I could have slept through it all.

Once in Prague we went to the Castle and looked around. Climbed more stairs, 244 or something rediculous like that to go up one tower. I do have to say I am way more fit than lots of tourists, some people were dying when they got to the top or even before (there was a lot of panting).

About 6pm the skies opened up and we got to use the rain jackets that we have been packing around. It poured for a few hours and then we headed back to the Old Town to get dinner.

Now we are having breakfast and about to head out again. I will get some pictures up eventually.

Well we made it to Poland. One thing that I can say is F***ing air Canada. In Calgary they told us our flight would be delayed 2 hours. Making our connection in England a little/very tight. Luckily they actually fixed the problem and we were in the air in 1.5 hour and British Airways was great and moved us though Heathrow very quickly.

In Warsaw we spent a little time recouperating from the jet lag. 19 hours of travel and a 9 hour time difference is a lot to deal with. Super nice hotel, Warsaw itself is pretty plane. You can see most of it in one day. We went to the park one day and old town the next. We are pretty museumed and churched out after the last two summers so if that is not the plan then there is less to do. I might of said this before but a wheat allergy in the land of the perogi is tourture.

Krakow is great. A lot like Venice. Lots of people and lots to see. We just watched some fire dancers in the square. Nothing like some fire after a good mexican meal! Really!! We went to Wawel Hill and checked out the castle and some dragon caves, pretty neat. Off the Auschwitz tomorrow and to the salt mines after that.

He Mom or Andrea I forgot the milk in the fridge could someone through it out.