Today I toured the mountainous countryside about 2-3 hours outside of Bucharest. Two highlights of the day: Pele's castle is one of the most amazing castles in the country. It is the former home of the Romanian Royal Family (all originally from Germany). The small town of Bran is the home of the "Dracula's Castle" the castle that played a role in the inspiration for Bram Stoker's book Dracula. "Dracula" has very little to do with Romanian … [Read more...]
Exploring Bucharest
After a quick glimpse and walk around old town at 7am in the morning - this part of Bucharest seems to be old world meets construction zone. Apparently this part of Bucharest is seeing a revitalization of sorts - not sure where the money is coming from for this but there are a number of major projects in this part of town including businesses remodeling their own buildings in the middle of the old city. As someone I met last night mentioned, … [Read more...]
No Rest & Relaxation on these travels!
The screaming followed me across the pond and then did not let up as I hopped across the old world from the United Kingdom to Romania. The first screamer shed no tears for the 10 hour flight - rather he hit every note in the key of F sharp and was a persistent little bugger. Lesser children would have killed it a few hours into the flight. After 10 hours this young chap was going strong wailing like a banshee. Unfortunately he was seated right … [Read more...]
Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland
While flying somewhere in Europe last month on a short Wizz Air flight we happened to spot an article about the salt mines near Krakow in the in-flight magazine. Hey, an in-flight magazine on a budget airline and more leg room than say Ryan Air - we were happy. In any case, the article caught my eye - a salt mine that continuously operated for 700 years and over time contained huge man-made caves, tunnels and sculptures carved entirely from rock … [Read more...]
Visiting Auschwitz, Krakow Poland
Krakow is a significant cultural and historical center; there is much to see in and around the city. A visit to Auschwitz requires a full day, including the main camp and then minutes away by a free shuttle, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. During the hours of 10-3pm you must pay to join a guided tour (given in a variety of languages). Human genocides do not get any bigger than this and a visit here is a solemn and moving experience. Exhibits showing … [Read more...]
Sticker Shock!
Norway has got to be one of the most expensive countries in the world...oh and along with Iceland perhaps and maybe Switzerland. Here are a few examples of prices we paid: Small Bowl of Pho (soup) at a hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant: nearly $20 US dollars! Two chicken drumsticks, a small cup of rice/veggies and a fruit drink (non alcoholic): nearly $30 dollars! Aside from the high prices there is plenty to do in Oslo under the … [Read more...]
Flam Norway
We find ourselves under the grey skies at the marina in flam Norway overlooking the beautiful fjord. Another blog iPhone update! We are slowly making our way to western Norway fighting the cold rain and grey skies for the past week. Today we became uber excited upon seeing the sun for the first time in Norway. This was as the train cruised past the impressive glaciers on top of Europe's highest plateau. The last hour of today's train ride … [Read more...]
Exploring Sweden
Wooo - the day dawned CLEAR! We were told this was the first clear-partly cloudy day here in over a month. Luck is with us as we move further north in these latitudes. Today we visited the west coast north of Malmo and stumbled upon a Swedish Stonehenge equivalent - a circle of large stones placed in a grassy field overlooking the ocean placed their by the Nordics many years ago. The town below served up some expensive but tasty smoked fish and … [Read more...]
Woke up in Malmo Sweden!
After a hectic day of flights, chaotic logistical problems and a blur of trains, planes and airports that made 24 hours seem like 48, I awoke this fine morning to find myself in Malmo Sweden. To awake in Malmo was a heck of a surprise as I thought I fell asleep on the floor in the Copenhagen train station last night - but I'm not complaining as Copenhagen is only 30 minutes away from Malmo by train. The weather is exactly what I expected: … [Read more...]
Europe Trip Highlights
The following are some highlights from our latest trip to Europe: Partying late late in Belgrade Serbia - awesome party town, night clubs on old boats in the river. This was going to be museum-less trip, but we made exception for Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade - we visited the museum and were duly impressed with the exhibits in action and hearing about his life on the guided tour Budapest - Buda Thai restaurant, one of best Thai … [Read more...]
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