Hello friends. I promise this is the third and final post about my European trip in June. There was just so much to share I didn’t feel that I could squeeze it into one or two posts. If you would like to read parts I and II before this last one here they are. European Vacation Part I, European Vacation Part II. Anyway here we go:

We left Vienna on Sunday morning June 23rd headed to Salzburg. The distance from Vienna to Salzburg is about 211 miles. We drove for about an hour and then stopped and boarded a boat and took a ride on the Danube River. This was the most beautiful sight, Salzkammergut Lakeland.

We had coffee and cake on the boat. It looks delicious but it tasted just ok.

Also in Salzburg. The church from the movie “The Sound of Music. This is where the Von Trapp’s were married.

Can’t you just imagine Julie Andrews in this field singing.

See the Swiss Alps in the background.

After arriving at our hotel, we stayed at the Imlauer Hotel, and getting checked in we did a city tour. We visited Mirabell Gardens. I was so unprepared for the beauty of the gardens.

Isn’t it gorgeous!!!!!

Again bicycles are a main mode of transportation.

That big building on the top of the hill is a convent.

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart. I am sure this building has been updated a few times.

This bridge is called Love Locks Bridge. You can bring a lock, put your name and your true loves’ name, and put it on this bridge. There are thousands of them on the bridge. It is really something to see.

The next morning we took off bright and early for Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. I soon discovered the reason we left so early was because the elevation being what it was, over 6000 feet, it caused clouds and fog to roll in quickly. The best chance to get a clear view of the mountains was first thing in the morning.

We took a bus to the beginning of the steep road leading up the mountain. We then had to switch to a smaller bus that could handle the curves. It was so steep. I know the bus drivers are trained well but I was cringing at every curve and would have preferred to spend the ride on the floor of the bus so that I wouldn’t have to see the sheer drop offs at every turn.

It was really creepy thinking about Hitler spending time at the same spot we were in. Although, Eagle’s Nest was his vacation get away and he never actually spent an entire night there. He did have several meetings and day trips there.

Once we arrived we took an elevator to a point higher on the mountain. It was beautiful. There was even snow in the shaded areas. The view was breathtaking. Tyler went ahead of me, and Mark was even farther behind me taking pictures. As I was coming around a bend I heard a lady say ” oh my goodness who is that on the ledge of that rock?” I was thinking to myself please don’t let it be Tyler. Well you guessed it. It was Tyler. When I saw him standing on that cliff, mountain top, sheer drop off or whatever you want to call it my heart stopped. He may be seventeen but he was my responsibility and I could just imagine what his mother and grandmother would say if they saw him. I yelled for him to get down but he was so far away I don’t even think he could hear me. I did add a few hand gestures as well.

       Of course I had to take advantage of this photo opp. ha ha.

After leaving Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest we traveled back to Germany where we had started ten days before. Salzburg to Munich was 106 miles.  We arrived in the early afternoon and went into Munich for dinner.  We stopped at the famous Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s best known beer hall dating back to 1589.

Early on Tuesday morning we left for the airport and after a long morning finally boarded our flight for home.  We were tired and so glad to be back home.  It was a great trip and taking my nephew Tyler with us just added to the fun.  Now on to the next adventure.  Stay tuned.

Love your day your way!!!

 

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my post about my European vacation part I.  If you haven’t seen it you can catch up here  So here goes for part II.

When I last left you we were headed to Budapest.  We arrived in Budapest late in the afternoon.  We had a quick dinner at the hotel.  We stayed at the Radisson Blu Beke Hotel and it was very nice.  A wonderful buffet for breakfast and dinner was offered.  There was also this amazing little gift shop in the lobby of the hotel.  I can neither confirm nor deny that I did some damage on my credit card there. ha ha. We signed up for a city tour at night. Oh my goodness it was beautiful.  It was just getting dark when we took off so the city had a glowing shimmer to it.  We visited Heroes’ Square and had a drive through the city which was especially beautiful at night.  Our driver took us to the top of Gellert Hill (Citadel) where we saw the most spectacular view of Budapest. Gellert Hill is 771 feet high.  At about 9:00 PM buses and cars travel this winding road so that everyone can get the best view of the city at night.  Budapest is often called ‘Paris of the East’. I can certainly see why.  It is beautiful!!!

 

The second day we were in Budapest we left the hotel early in the morning and did some sight seeing in the city.  Budapest is another beautiful city but I think so far Prague is still my favorite.

We visited the 13th-century MATTHIAS CORONATION CHURCH.  That is the steeple from the church in the background.  You may have noticed that some of the pictures I take are at an odd angle, that is because the buildings are soooo tall and I am trying to get all of the building in the picture.  I actually went down the street a bit to get the shot of this steeple.
The pictures below are from inside the church.  The church was packed.  It was hard to get a clear shot without someone’s head in the way.

This picture of the city was taken from the towers of Fisherman’s Bastion, Fishermen’s Bastion is only 100 years old but it offers some of the most beautiful views of Budapest.  

One of the seven towers you can view from Fisherman’s Bastion
    After we did the city tour we did a boat ride on the Danube River.  It was slow and lazy and cool and just what we needed after our hectic time in the city.  We saw some amazing views of the city from the River.

After the boat ride we went to a wonderful Hungarian restaurant and had a Hungarian specialty dinner with all the trimmings, and lots of singing and dancing.  I will tell you the Hungarian Goulash was not like the goulash my mama used to make.

When we got back to the hotel the streets were wet from a recent rain.  The city looked dark and glittery and beautiful.

After a couple of days in Budapest we traveled to Vienna Austria. It is approximately 174 miles from Budapest to Vienna.  The countryside was beautiful.  We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon and did a city tour with a city guide.  It was hot!!!!  Vienna was experiencing some of the hottest temperatures in recorded history.

Tyler loves ice cream!!!!!

After our city tour we did a tour of the Schonbrunn Palace.  It was huge!!!  We only got to see a small part of it and we couldn’t take any photos inside.

 

In Vienna we stayed at Roomz Vienna Prater.  It was probably one of my least favorites of the hotels that we stayed in.  It was actually a newer hotel on the outskirts of town.  The air conditioning didn’t seem to be working properly and they never came by to clean the room.  We had to ask for towels just to get us by.  Lots of people complained about the air but it didn’t change anything.

 We had a wonderful dinner at this little restaurant

We were serenaded by this precious man playing the violin and when we told him we were from Tennessee he played the Tennessee Waltz. 

Our last night in Vienna we went to one of the City’s concert halls.  An opera house orchestra and soloists performed famous works by Johann Strauss, Lehar, Mozart, and more.  It was a wonderful time and even Tyler liked it.  That’s saying a lot for a seventeen year old.

We are now headed to Salzburg and I will share the rest of the trip with you there.  There was just too much to put into this post.  I have lots of exciting things to share with you in Part III.   I promise it is the final post about my European Vacation.  See you then.

In the meantime.  Remember.

Love your day your way!!!!

 

Hello friends. I have been missing from my blog for a few weeks and missing you but things here have been really crazy. Here is the story, beware this may be like the old days when your friends invite you over to look at vacation pictures or slides or whatever, here goes:

A few months ago my husband and I decided to take a trip out of the country. We hadn’t been on a big trip in a couple of years. Mark, my husband, was very interested in seeing Germany and some of the countries around it. We went online and started looking at some travel packages. In the meantime I was talking to my nephew Tyler, he is 17, and he said he would love to see Germany. So I said “well you should come with us you can think of it as an early graduation gift”. He actually graduates next year. So the plan started to take shape.

We actually went with a tour company called Globus. We knew for the amount of time we had, about 12 days, and all the countries we wanted to see this would be our best chance to see everything we wanted to see.

Mid June is actually a time of year that my work is slow before really going crazy during the summer. So We chose the dates June 15-25.

We decided to visit Central Europe where we would be traveling through five countries. Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.

Of course the time leading up to the trip is usually unbelievably stressful for me. I do it to myself. I know I will be having people come to the house to care for Kitty Kitty and Molly, so me in typical me fashion goes crazy trying to make my house look perfect. I don’t know why I do this because it never happens and it is just fine anyway. But as I said I had a huge list of things to do like cleaning the house from top to bottom, making my yard and shrubs look immaculate, clean out my garage, oh and work up until the day before I leave so I will stay caught up on work. Silly silly me. I didn’t get any of those things done and the trip came and went and just as I said it was all fine. I know my sisters had to see my less than perfect house, garage and overgrown yard, and it was ok. My sister in law always keeps Scruffy for us because he is a little needier.

We arrived in Munich on Sunday morning around 8:30 AM. We had to wait a bit for a shuttle to take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Munich City hotel. There was a little problem with an extra bed for Tyler but they quickly moved us to another room so all was good.  After a small nap we went out to see the sights. Munich is a very busy city even on a Sunday. There was a festival going on in the town square so we walked into town and listened to some live music and of course tried the beer.

On Monday morning we had a short city tour of Munich and went back to some of the places we had been the day before. Lots of people in Munich ride bikes. There are designated bike routes everywhere. Our tour guide told us they always have the right of way. He may have been joking about that.

Later that day we traveled 255 miles into The Czech Republic to Prague. I was blown away by the beauty of this city.  Prague is considered one of Europe’s most exquisite cities.  We stayed at the Grandium Prague We saw the Astronomical Clock.  I am adding a link here so you can check out the history of this clock.  It is so amazing.  http://www.pragueastronomicalclock.info The clock strikes on the hour and the “show” lasts for 26 seconds.  You can see all of the people waiting for the top of the hour.  It really is something to see.

We also did a boat ride in Prague and saw several beautiful sites from the river.

  The Charles Bridge

As I said I was blown away by the beauty of this city. Just when I thought I had seen the most beautiful site I would turn around and there would be another one. Ahhhhh this was my favorite city.

After we left Prague we drove into Slovakia. We were only there for a short stop in the city of Bratislava. An adorable city with lots of open air vendors. We had time here for lunch and a little shopping.

Prague to Budapest was about 329 miles so stopping in Slovakia was a nice break. I did buy a few linens, a hat, I love my hats, and ice cream.

Now on to Budapest. I will cover more of the trip in part 2. I will tell you that I got incredibly homesick. I’m not sure why it’s the first time it ever happened this strong. I’m not sure if I was missing the fur babies, my friends, or maybe because it got incredibly hot and crowded or I just missed home and the familiar. I felt so very far away. Anyway a wonderful trip one I will never forget. Stay tuned soon for part 2. Heck there may be a part 3 to this European adventure.

Remember.

Love your day your way