Guest Blogger Today

Today, we have a guest blogger, as our daughter Rachel has been visiting us. Here is her take on Central Europe.

Hey guys!

Greetings from Bratislava! Competing for e-mail time with the rest of my family can be challenging so here are some random things that I have done so far. Sorry if it jumps around but I cut and pasted from various e-mails.

I arrived in Bratislava on a Sunday and it was sunny and beautiful. This changed quickly as the cold and the rain started and lasted for around 5 days. My parents have a flat by old town with a fabulous view of churches etc. For dinner the second night we had traditional Slavic food and were serenaded by musicians. The restaurant was in an old wine cellar in the basement. For awhile we were the only ones there. Pretty cool. Then we went for a walk thru the cobblestone streets in the square.

Tuesday morning I walked to the International Women's coffee get together thingy with my mom. It was cold and rainy (It snowed Monday night in the hills) outside. In the afternoon we went to a yummy Cuban restaurant for lunch. After lunch my mom and I went for a long walk across the bridges.

The TV is funny here. It is all translated into Slovakian. I did not know that Bart Simpson speaks Slovakian so fluently. All my shows are here but all translated so the voices sound different. VH/1 is in English. It is the European version. I saw an Abba video from the 70's and some hair band from the early 90's. Highly entertaining... My mom and I walked to the movie theatre and saw Dreamgirls this evening. Really great movie!

We had a great day today. (Wednesday) We (My mom, my Aunt Nancy, and myself) walked around all over town and watched a folk dance out in the square. Half of the dancers had Down’s syndrome which I thought was really cool. Then we followed them and watched them march to the river. At the river they danced some more and then threw a large doll into the river. I asked a few of the dancers why??? and they told me that it was a tradition to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring. Hello Spring!!! Tonight we drank wine and ate yummy pasta with mushrooms. Thursday Dad and I are off to Vienna for the day to check out castles and some Museums. On Thursday we had a really lovely day in Vienna. We went to three museums and took an elevator and climbed up to the top of a church to see a fresco. Then we had some mugs of beer and yummy lunch and wandered thru the markets. Really cool... Then we saw this bizarre modern art exhibit with photos that would probably be banned in the States. :) Then we went to another museum and had cappuccinos outside in the square. It was sunny but cold. Tomorrow we are off to Budapest in Hungary which is one of my favorite places. We will visit the famous baths of Budapest and wander around the city so start studying Budapest.

We just returned from Budapest. It was really a lot of fun and still as wonderful as I remember it. The first night is was rainy and cold so we went to the baths. This was a lot of fun and very relaxing. The baths were in a huge palace with Turkish influence. We started at the outdoor bath and then explored about 20 baths inside. The all had different temperatures. We ended up at a outdoor bath that had a current in the pool. There was a inside circle that propelled you around. It was a lot of fun.

The next day we explored the huge food and craft market. Then we rejoined my mom at the Museum. Later that day we took the metro to the castle and explored a fabulous church. Sunday we went to a artist’s fair. At this point I decided to explore on my own and do some shopping and sight seeing. I had a wonderful time exploring the shopping areas and stopped for some gelato. Then I went back to the castle grounds and sat in the sun. It was fun to be on my own agenda.

Tomorrow I’m off to Krakow, Poland to hopefully connect with my brother in a couple of days. I’ve never been to Poland so I’m excited for the adventure. While there I plan to check out the salt mines and explore the markets. The markets are getting ready for Easter and so there are a lot of chocolate bunnies and eggs everywhere. People really take Easter seriously. There is a tradition that single girls get buckets of water or perfume sprayed on them in Central Europe. I don’t think that would go over well in the States.

Miss you’all and see you soon!