Parting Thoughts………..

# of cities visited – 12
# of countries visited – 10
# of plane flights – 9
# of train rides – 6
# of boat rides – 6
# of total miles traveled – 9, 551
#of languages encountered – 8
# of steps climbed – 5,000+ (that could be conservative)
# of miles walked – 30+ (that could be conservative too!)
# of pounds lost – 0 (thank you Belgian waffles and gelato!)
# of dollars spent paying to pee – approx. $25.00
# of monetary currencies used – 4
# of times ripped off – 1 definite, possibly more
# of cathedrals visited – 35+
# of catacombs, crypts, or creepy underground places visited - 3
# of times we were clueless - too many to count
# of baby squid eaten – 11
# of TVs with no English-speaking channels – 2 (the rest only had CNN)
# of times bad weather affected our plans – 0 (thank You, Lord!)
# of suitcases lost – 1
# of suitcases found – 1
# of sick dogs back home needing surgery – 1
# of times Jerry kept us up with his snoring – (better question, # of times Jerry didn’t keep us up with his snoring
# of daughters needing counseling because they couldn’t come – 2
# of fortunate sons who did come – 1
# of wonderful memories – too many to count

TOTAL COST OF THE TRIP TO EUROPE: PRICELESS!!!

Thank you, Lord, for making this trip possible. Thank You for watching over us and keeping us safe in all that we did. Thank You for Your wonderful creation, and for inspiring men and women throughout the ages to build things that brought You honor and glory. We are thankful for this time we spent together and pray that all we did was honoring to You.

Venice……known for more than Venetian blinds!

With over 140 canals, 400 bridges, and 450 gondolas, Venice can be a really confusing place to find your way around in! I didn’t realize it before, but the city of Venice is made up of many islands. Centuries ago, in an effort to flee Barbarians, Venetians left dry land and floated out to a chain of uninhabitable islands. Though survival was difficult, they persisted, and are responsible for building one of the most unusual and beautiful cities in the world. There are NO roads in Venice – zero! Transportation is done by walking or by boat – period. We saw construction boats, police, boats, ambulance boats, laundry boats, water taxis, and water buses called vaporetto.
We weaved through wide and narrow streets and made our way to the San Marco Plaza which is the heart of Venice. St. Mark’s Cathedral is located here, one of the world’s greatest and most ornate churches. The inside was completely covered in gold plating and the altar (we couldn’t get near it) is set with hundreds of emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, and pearls. It was just a bit understated for my liking!!!! : ) One of the main industries for Venice, past and present, is hand-blown glass. There are hundreds of little shops with gorgeous glass pieces offering affordable jewelry to $65,000 chandeliers. We took a vaporetto to the neighboring island of Murano where the actual furnaces are located and watched a demonstration of glass-blowing. It’s truly amazing how something so beautiful is made with such crude tools and common materials. Of course, you can’t be in Venice without a gondola ride, so at dusk on our second day, we boarded a beautiful, black gondola and cruised through a number of quiet canals. Our guide, a 5th generation gondolier, sang to us, though he didn’t think he had a very good voice. He showed us where Casanova had lived and shared quite a bit of interesting Venetian history. One more check off my Bucket List!
On the 2nd day, we took a side trip to Casarsa, a little town northeast of Venice. Missionary friends from our church, Tom and Maureen, serve there. Tom met us at the station and showed us around the area. We were able to see the school where he serves, as well as their apartment and “stomping grounds”. To top off our day, he took us to a home-made gelato shop, where we all agreed, served the BEST, MOST SCRUMPTUOUS gelato we’d ever tasted!
We all loved Venice, but the one big drawback was that so did thousands of other tourists!! It was very crowded! A little extra patience was required, but all in all, we loved it, crowds and all!

One more short stop in Dublin, and then we’re Quakertown-bound………..We are ready to be back home.

Vienna…..Mozart, the Danube, and Weiner Schnitzel!

Our choice of transportation to Vienna was a completely unique one – a boat ride down the Danube River. It took a little longer than a train ride, but was so relaxing and we experienced going through two river locks, which was very interesting to watch. We arrived in Vienna around 4:00 and immediately set out to explore the city. We strolled down the Karntnerstrasse, a pedestrian street filled with shops and bistros. It didn’t take long to realize that we were standing in the midst of a beautiful city! We saw the Spanish Imperial Riding School, which included the stables and the performance area. Every single building we walked by was picture-worthy, with exquisite, elegant details carved into every brick and stone. We had heard there was a “movie in the park” at one of the famous town squares and thought we might check it out. Once again, our expectation was completely exceeded by a mile! The city had set up a very large (40’ x 50’) screen right in front of one of the most beautiful buildings in Vienna. Spectacular spires and a huge clock rose above the screen, and if you took your eyes off the screen and gazed above it, the night view was simply breathtaking! To top it off, not only was there a HUGE screen, but to Jerry’s delight there were HUGE speakers to boot. And it wasn’t a movie we were viewing, but the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra performing Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. We honestly felt like we were in a symphony hall! Unfortunately, Vienna was one of our shortest stays, so we got up bright and early to pack in all that we could. We began by walking to the humungous outdoor market, nibbling a variety of breakfast treats along the way. I knew it was going to be a good day because the first bathroom we stopped at didn’t ask us to pay to pee! We strolled by lovely gardens, the museum district, the Opera House, Parliament, and numerous other REALLY LARGE statues and buildings. It seems our Austrian friends could build nothing on a small scale! We kept an eye open for any structure found in the “Sound of Music” movie, but alas, found none. (Jerry says he thinks it was all filmed somewhere in the mountains of West Virginia anyhow). We climbed 343 steps inside a continuous spiral staircase to the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and I’m thinking, “Who needs the Buns of Steel video when you’ve got cathedral spirals to ascend?” We decided that it wouldn’t be a complete experience in Vienna unless we took in a genuine, bonafide, guaranteed, warranteed classical performance somewhere. We had endless options to choose from. We opted for a concert which show-cased a variety of the Viennese arts. A chamber orchestra played some well-known sections composed by Mozart and Strauss, and some of the songs were accompanied by ballet, or opera singers. What made the experience even more memorable is that we were watching this all from the theatre in the Auersburg Palace where, at the age of 6, Mozart performed for the queen for the very first time. We enjoyed a much cooler walk back to the U-Bahn (subway), and spent the remainder of the evening packing for our next stop – Venice!

Budapest……..a City Recovered and Flourishing!

I have always loved history and am fascinated by the story of how a country/culture has evolved over the years. I knew very little about Hungary, but after being in its capital city, Budapest, for a few days, I have a new and genuine appreciation for what this country has gone through and how it has survived the atrocities of war. It was taken over by the Nazis in the early 1940’s and survived that cruelty, only to be “saved” by the Russians, and then forced into their communist way of life. Hungarians were treated just as brutally, if not worse, under Russian rule. The city was severely bombed and many of its beautiful buildings destroyed, but despite years of hardship, it has risen again to become a cultural European icon.
We began our exploration of Budapest by walking over one of the many bridges that crosses the Danube River. We took the funnicular (an incline) up a big hill to the Castle District and saw the Buda Palace, which has NOTHING to do with Buddha by the way. From that vantage point, we had a perfect view of the entire city. We explored the underground labyrinths that snaked underneath the castle and saw the Mattthias Cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed by Nazi bombings. We enjoyed a traditional Hungarian meal for dinner, and after dinner (and I don’t know where we got the energy from), we decided to hike around 500+ steps up to the highest point of Budapest called the Citadel. All I can say is that the view of the city at nighttime is SPECTACULAR! The second day we visited the “House of Terror”, now a museum but once a large building in Budapest that was the party headquarters for the Hungarian Nazis, and then for the notorious communist AVO terror organization. Budapest is built upon underground thermal springs, so the city boasts of numerous public “Turkish Baths”. We had done A LOT of walking, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon of soaking in the Szechenyi Bath pools. We thought we would be in something similar to a hot tub – HA!!! The facility is enormous and there were 15 – 18 different pools of varying sizes and temperatures, including a swimming pool in case you wanted to cool down. It was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before, and we felt so relaxed after spending a couple of hours soaking and playing with all the different kinds of water jets, as well as a circular “whirl pool” pool which carried you round and round with no effort on your part. Next stop…….Vienna, Austria!