So, I figured that I'd just knock out the last three days all in one go.  Turns out that one post per day equates to a lot of posts.  Who knew?

Aaanyway, so we're in Moravia (eastern portion of Cz, the western half is Bohemia.  you're shocked that Bohemia is a real place aren't you?  and you weren't expecting it to be in Czech Republic, right?  Yep, I was too.).  We're in the mountains in Moravia and we finally found our friends at their rental cottage.  The rain from the night before has passed and we're taking our time getting ourselves together in the morning, trying to figure out if there's a hike nearby that we can do and spending some time with the kids.  

We decided on visiting the legendary Radhost for our hike.  Unfortunately, Vasa and family were unable to join us for the walk, so we got ourselves together and headed out (yes, I am that short that a kid in elemetary school is almost as tall as I am!).  Unfortunately, we discovered that Radhost was packed because there was a festival going on, so we went the opposite direction on our hike, but it was still a lovely walk... and we all discovered how out of shape we were.  Yikes.  In my defense, we don't have hills here in Florida, so I'm totally going to use that as my excuse. :)  The wild blueberries were in season, and they were just fantastic.  Very different from the blueberries that grow here.

We left for Prague from the forest and spent the night in a wonderful little hostel.  We had a full day of wandering and then met up with our brother-in-law, Richard, who happened to be there on business that night!  This whole trip was like a family reunion. :)  We took a 'free tour' and saw all of the major sites that day.  I highly recommend the free tour because the guides only work on tips, so whatever you decide to tip them, if anything, is all that you pay.  Our guide was fantastic and I learned one or two new things.  I used my film camera for much of this day as well, so I'm anxious to see how those images came out.

This photo (above) shows a copy of the death mask of one of the protestors from January 1969, Jan Palach.  He was a student of the univeristy who burned himself at the top of the Vaclavske Namesti (Wenceslass Square) to bring attention to the inactivity of the Czech people against their Russian oppressors.  He is a very important figure in Czech history, and my sense is that his memory is held close tot he hearts of many Czechs.

Prague is a beautiful place, but my heart is in Plzen. I headed there the next day by train, while my brother and Sam hit the road back to Italy.

It was great to be back in my old home.  The first day I met up with a friend, Jirka, and we just sat caught up for quite a while.  Then we both went to Čuba's house in Dobrany (a tiny town outside of Plzen were both he and Vasa live), where I stayed that night and the next.  We made a point to stop at Modra Hvezda (the local brewery) during our first evening.  I love that place. :)

I spent the next day in Plzen and for the evening we made home-made little pizzas in Cuba's backyard oven, played with our cameras, and drank wine under the stars.  It was a fantastic evening and made it extra hard to leave.  There is nothing in the world like Cuba's house... it's like a little oasis of safety and joy.

Zeme Ceske, Domov Muj <3

Want more Europalooza? Check out Day 9!

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After our exciting evening of beer and sangria in downtown Vienna, we checked out the Museumplatz on our way out of town.  I had visited it back in 2008 when I was in Vienna for the first time.  It was a very similar situation... we just walked in and had a little wander.  This is one of those places that is (still) on my list of places to come back to and really spend some time.  I swear I could spend days there.  There are two sticker photos in this group that are significant.  The first is mine - the Give More Hugs - and the second one is a no monkeys sticker.  That is a photo specifically for my friend who is monkey-phobic. :)

From Vienna we hit the road to Czech Republic.  Every time we crossed into another country, we had to buy a 'vignette' for the car to use the expressway.  We ended up with these vignettes all over the windshield :)

We were going to meet some friends at a cottage that they had rented in Moravia (the eastern part of Czech Republic).  My plan - as we had no GPS and could not actually call (but we could send a text message if my cell phone battery was not dead...).  As we drove into CZ, we discovered that everything - EVERYTHING - was closed because of a national holiday.  I knew about the holiday, but I was expecting to find an open bookstore in Brno, a big city, where we could get a regional map to use.  Nope!  Ah well.  It was pretty frustrating because my Czech was TERRIBLE after not having spoken it since 2008, and not regularly since 2007.  Yikes.  I did eventually find an open pub with two younger guys working there who were able get me rough directions to the town.

So... we did eventually find the town.  I had some vague directions from my friend, Vasa, about how to get to the cottage once in town.  The key word there was vague.  We ended up recruiting and old man (Mirka) who spent a good half hour riding around with us in our Panda (which was absolutely full of stuff and had no space for another person to fit) and getting out every five minutes to ask anyone knew where the Americans were going.  He also kept trying to talk to Mike and Sam in Czech.  Like a lot.  Mike was driving and ended up learning all the directions in Czech (right, left, stop, straight, keep going, etc.).  It was a pretty hilarious experience.  

At one point we stopped at a house to talk to some people.  While Mirka and I were talking to the people there, Mike decided to play with my camera as he is learning about shooting manually on an SLR.  The shirtless dude started FREAKING OUT and wanted to know why Mike was taking photos.  He thought that Mike was doing some kind of identity theft surveillance or something... I tried to explain that Mike is just visiting the country and taking photos of things that are different from what we have back home and the guy would have none of it.  He started shouting and pointing at Mike in Czech (of course) and then started to take pictures of him back as a 'so there' gesture.  Of course Mike had no idea what was going on.  Ah, good times.

Anyway, we did eventually find Vasa and the cottage and spent the night there.  We had big plans for a bonfire and a sleep under the stars, but it rained.  It was so, so great to see Vasa.  He was another close friend that I spent a lot of time travelling with (along with Robert who we'd met up with in Palmanova).

Want more Europalooza? See more of Vienna or visit Czech Republic.

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Vienna was a good day.  We didn't have much planned aside from a nice wander, a cheap lunch, and some beer.  We did achieve all three AND Mike also accepted a new job that day!  We found a pay-as-you-wish Indian buffet for lunch, which was fantastic.  It was REALLY hot in there, but really tasty and cheap.  We did see some weird things around town during our evening walk, which was fun and unexpected.  I did a lot of shooting with film that day, so we'll see how those come out (I still haven't sent the rolls off to the lab...).

And yes, that's sangria in a a little yellow watering can.  It was a good night!

More Europe? See a little more from Vienna or visit Palmanova, Italy.

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We were all exhausted at this point and decided to have a leisurely morning before the ride up to Vienna.  We decided at the last minute to stop there (rather than going straight through to CZ), and better yet - to spend two nights in one place, which we hadn't done yet.

On the way, we met up with my friends Robert and Eva from Czech Republic.  They were visiting Italy on vacation and we were able to meet up on the way out of Slovenia in Palmanova, Italy.  It almost didn't happen because it was relatively late by the time we actually got in touch.  We did finally manage it, though, and after some goodbyes with the lovely Pia and Tine, we headed to Palmanova, Italy.

The city of Palmanova was pretty interesting.  It was dead quiet (weird), but it was shaped like a star.  The old fortification walls were still intact, and at each side there was a road leading into the center of town.  Each road leading to the center was marked with colord flags indicating the cardinal direction.  Pretty cool!

Image from www.mtvfriulivg.it/

We planned to meet in front of the church with the tallest steeple in the main square and actually managed to find each other.  It was the first time I was able to meet Robert and Eva's kids... I hadn't been to CZ for four years, Eva was pregnant with their son the last time I was there.  For lunch I ordered shrimp... which was an experience.  You may or may not know that I am vegetarian, and seafood is an occasional cheat for me while at restaurants.  I wasn't too strict on this trip because sometimes it's just super-hard to do while travelling, especially while travelling with other people.  So anyway, I ordered shrimp for lunch.  These shrimpies came with heads on and were not de-veined, so I literaly had to perform surgery on them... oy.  That was a thing.  My brother (who is an omnivore, btw) was totally grossed out.  Fortunately, there were only six, and one of them was not even cooked through all the way, so there were really only five for me to... work on.  To top it off, they were more than a euro a piece.  Fantastic.  

Anyway, we had lunch, spent some time chatting and getting to know the kids, and then set off for Vienna.  I am really, really glad that we decided to meet up.  Robert was one of my closest friends when I was living in Plzen.  We spent a lot of time together partying in pubs and travelling... camping and hiking in Corsica, in the Italian Alps, and all over Czech Republic.  We have big plans to make a trip with another friend, Vasa, to the French Pyranees for some backpacking one day.  Robert and Eva have always been open, welcoming, and willing to help with anything.  So lucky to have such good friends <3

After parting ways, we hit the road for Vienna.  It was a really pretty drive.  There were a lot of tunnels as we passed through the Alps.  It was so gorgeous... every bend leading to a more beautiful view than the last.  It was just impossible to capture with a camera (plus I think I was driving at that point) so I don't really have any photos of it.  You'll just have to trust me!  

We did stop at some crazy Austrian rest stop... it was so weird.  It was called Old-Timey or something, I don't even know.  I can't even describe it, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking here :)

We did finally make it into Vienna and spent a long time driving around and getting lost as we searched for our hostel.  It was late, we were tired.  I was driving, so whenever Mike and Sam went to ask for directions, I stuck my camera out the window and played with the low light of the dark city.  We did eventually find our hostel.  For you photo nerds... I was flipping out when I saw the Impossible sign. :)

More Europe? Visit Vienna or see some of the perfect fariytale land that is Slovenia.

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Wow.  It's been a long time since I've posted... I'm sorry guys!  

The last few weeks have been a bit unbalanced, but it seems that things are starting to fall back into place now.  We moved (and just finally got interenet connected yesterday, after 22 days, three tech visits to the house, and two different companies), I helped to throw a baby shower, I attended a funeral out of state, I changed phone service, I made some adjustments to the business, and still managed to put in 40 hours a week.  I still don't know where everything is here at the new place, but we like it.  We'll get it sorted out sooner or later!

My new phone number is 352-256-6842, so please be aware that the 585 number will be out of service shortly.

So!  Day Six - Slovenia.

I just love Slovenia.  Czech Repulic is always going to have the #1 spot in my heart, but Slovenia is running a close second.  The country is fairly small but has such a wide range of geographic variation, it's surprising.  Of course, Pia and Tine are pretty spectacular people, so that also helped!  We felt instantly welcomed and like we had been friends forever.  Ah!  So wonderful. :)

So we had spent the night of Day Five at Tine's Parents' house.  His mother is an architect and had designed their home.  We got up fairly early on the morning of Day Six and headed out the door.  Mike and Sam took the Panda to downtown Ljubljana and Tine and I picked up Pia from the salon - she had her makeup done that morning because we had a Beloved session planned!  I have a separate post planned that goes into detail about their session, but for now I'll include just one photograph.

After the session, we met back up with Mike and Sam.  I can't recall what they had planned for the morning, but whatever it was didn't really work out.  It might have been something related to retrieving Sam's bank card that was eaten at an ATM in Cerknice...  Anyway, we met up and headed over to a fantastic Spanish restaurant for lunch. It. Was. Amazing.  I had a seafood paella (complete with tiny octopii and other sea things) and we all ate waaaay to much.  I'm having vague recollections of sangria as well...

We went back to Pia's mother's house for a little rest (read: we were too full to move) and then decided to head up to the castle.  Pia wisely decided on a nap... we had worn her out, and it was 100F+ degrees.  Veeeery toasty, though not too unlike Florida.

We spent the afternoon at Ljubljana castle.  One of the rooms was being used for an art exhibition, so we spent a little time there.  We also wandered around a bit, visited the lovely little chapel, and went up the tower were Tine pointed out the landmarks of the city and different regions of the country.

We headed back to Cerknice to spend the night at Pia and Tine's house.  When we got there, we picked up Amos (their dog) and went to the 'disappearing lake'.  The lake is actually a section of a river that runs through the extensive underground cave system nearby.  As the water level of the river changes, the level of this lake changes.  It changes seasonally and also daily, it's really quite interesting.  Amos was happy to get out and run around, and did manage to spend a little time in the water.  By the time we got back for the night we were all exhausted from our two days, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  It was such a pleasure to meet Pia and Tine in person and to visit their wonderful little country.  I highly recommend it if anyone is thinking of a trip.

Wanna check out Pia & Tine's Beloved Session?  It's right here.

More Europe?  I've got a drive through Palmanova, Italy up to Vienna lined up for you, or more from Slovenia.

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