Budapest

Our hotel was on the Buda side of the city. If you haven't been to Budapest - one side is Buda and the other is Pest... interesting huh? We stayed at the Gold Buda which is walking distance from the castle district. Right now I am so wishing that I had written these posts right after our vacation even without pictures... it's hard to remember the names of all of the places, plus I am tired... spent all week decorating the school for Halloween. Ok, back on track!

So Budapest. We spent our first night there in the castle district looking around. It's an historic area that sits high on a hill in the city. Buda is hilly and Pest is flat. We had dinner at an outdoor cafe, unfortunately with each city that we visited the beer got more expensive. Then headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest. We had done a lot of walking the past several days and our feet hurt.

Day 5
In the morning we first had to tackle some money issues. Our bank cards were not working in the machines in Budapest. We ended up going to a bank to take money out and would you believe that the teller didn't give us the right amount of money? We had been warned about checking restaurant receipts, and taxi drivers and such, but were shocked to have that experience at a bank. In any case, I won't waste time talking about the negative stuff.

We walked around the castle district area again. Checked out a few churches and things. Unfortunately most museums were closed on the day that we were there. Later we headed over to the Pest side of the city where we checked out the "shopping street." Larry bought a new pair of shoes for me to help my aching feet. We took a break during the day with a couple of beers and sodas hanging out by a fountain. Then we decided to check out Buda Castle way up a hill side. Yet another hike, but it was fun, we sang and told stories about our trip.

Day 6
For our last day in Budapest we decided to go to the Aquincum which is an ancient Roman city. Afterwards we went to a Turkish bath house. It was pretty cool! Just like in the Aquincum there were 3 pools, one cold, one medium and one hot. We spent about 2 hours there. Interesting to figure out how that kind of thing works, what kind of pass to buy, where to change, etc. It all worked out albiet awkward. We had lunch at a street vendor in the park. It was nice.

Then we headed back to Vienna!


The Gold Buda Hotel where we stayed.




Mathias Cathedral



Fisherman's Bastion






The Aquincum


the Turkish bath that we went to and Hero's square which is in the same park as the bath.

Banska Stiavnica

Day 4
The day after the wedding we headed to a Banska Stiavnica. It is a completely preserved medieval town which is also a UNESCO site. It was an amazing place, we all wish that we would have had more time to explore it. We did get a chance to go up to the Calvary which is a church of sorts which has 13 monuments relating to the Bible. It's on a mountain side so it's a pretty aggressive hike to get to the top.

Later that day we headed to Budapest.

Topolcianky

Day 2 - continued
Our next stop was Topolcianky - the wedding location. We stayed in an old castle called ZÁMOK TOPOĽČIANKY or Topolcianky Castle. We were there for 2 nights. We had a nice large hotel room with unusual bathrooms. There were 2 glass cubes on either side of the room, one with a toilet and sink and one with a bathtub and sink.

On our drive to the castle we came across a street festival so after we checked-in and unpacked we headed back to the festival. It was very much like any street festival in the US only cooler since it was in Slovakia! There were many local vendors selling Slovak food, pastries, cookies and candies, and a spice wine that they call buciak. Of course I had to try some of that. We had a great night walking around the festival enjoying music, food and beer.

Day 3 - Wedding day
First thing in the morning Larry went for a jog in the park surrounding the castle. When he returned I talked him into taking a long walk. Dani started out with us, but soon bagged and headed back to the castle to hang with Elle. Larry and I walked for over 2 hours in the forest, orchards and vineyards nearby. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was a truly wonderful morning. After cleaning up we headed out to lunch with Larry's friend Ronnie and her fiance Guissepe and new friends Nikki and Raj. We ate at a local pub and of course had beer with lunch.

Zuzana and John were married in a small church within walking distance of the castle. It was beautiful! The church was decorated for the harvest, lots of local fruit and flowers. The ceremony was in both Slovakian and English - very cool. Afterwards we headed back to the castle for the reception. Dinner was very good. I am just now remembering that one of the girls took some really fun shots of Raj with oranges. He was very funny! Wish we had those pictures.

After dinner and some dancing Zuzana and John snuck away to change into Slovakian outfits. They returned with a group of local woman dressed up as well. They sang to Zuzana and transformed her from a single woman to a married one with song and a change of headdress. It was great to see a bit of the local traditions.

Trip to Slovakia, Hungary and Austria

Larry's friend, Zuzanna, invited us to her wedding in Slovakia. Luck was in our favor because the kids would be off for Eid Ul-Fitr (the celebration after Ramadan). We decided to see a few more places since we could!

Day One
We used our airline miles to get tickets and flew into Vienna. After we picked up our rental car we drove to Bratislava - the capital city of Slovakia. We were all struck by the windmills in the farm fields that we saw during the drive. They are massive and beautiful. It's a wonder that they aren't utilized all over the world. Driving over the border was a bit curious as well. We are used to driving between the US and Canada or Mexico and the UAE and Oman where there are border guards, passport stamping and car searches. We knew that we had to purchase a sticker for the toll roads, but we also thought we would have go through some type of border crossing. Anyhow, after asking at 2 small stands near the border with non-English speaking shop keepers we finally figured out that within the EU you can just drive right over the border. We felt silly that we didn't know this ahead.

Once we crossed the border Bratislava was not far away. Our hotel ended up being on a pedestrian street which was great while staying there, but tricky to get to. Always an adventure!

The hotel was a small place with only 8 apartments, but it was clean and such a great location. We spent our first night checking out the shops and sites on our street. We found a great little pizza place nearby. We relaxed with a few beers and pizza. It was wonderful!

Day Two
The next day we took in the sites. We went to the historical old town, visited Michael's Gate, St. Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava castle, the Blue Church and much more. Everything was so close that we could walk.

We really enjoyed Bratislava. The pace was slower, the sites were great, our hotel was lovely and the the beer was very good and cheap! Beer was only about a dollar for 50ml.

After lunch we drove to Devin castle, which is a beautiful old castle/ruins. We decided to take a long way to Topocianky so that we could see more of the country side. It was a nice drive.

The "Blue" church.


Old town with Micheal's Gate St. Martin's cathedral


Old town square Bratislava castle


More of old town


The Danube river with the Bratislava castle in the distance.




Devin castle

Slacker!

I have been a totally lazy blogger!! I've been crazy busy with DAAPA, our school's parent organization and getting ready for my first art show. Plus we lost Elle's camera on the last day of our trip to Europe and we lost Dani's camera about a week later. So... we have no pictures from our trip. Too depressing to blog without visuals, ya know. Any how, I have been gathering images off the web of the places that we visited. I am sure that I will violate some copyright law here or there but it's just to show everyone where we've been.

Look for an update soon. (I promise!)

Back in the saddle again....

Sorry that it's been so long since I've posted an update. Our last couple of weeks in the states were crazy. We are now back in Dubai. It took longer this time to adjust to the time, we seemed to be night owls for days. Though it was VERY hot and humid, we went the beach several days in a row. The beach here is so beautiful.

We also met some great new friends, Daryn, Lara, Ethan and Owen from Halifax, Nova Scotia. We met them last June when they were in town looking at the villa next door to us. Unfortunately they ended up moving to another villa, but we have become great friends. I have a feeling that we will be doing a lot together this year.

Dani and Elle started school on August 30. Both have started off the year very well with teachers they like and friends in their classes. It's hard to believe that just last year we were miserable trying to get settled in. I've asked the girls to make at least one new friend and invite them over. It makes such a difference when you are new to Dubai to make friends and have someone to talk to. It seemed to take me a long time to meet friends last year, so I am also making a big effort this year to find new people and help them feel at home in this far away place.

First Day of School

Here is a picture of Dani and Elle on their first day of school. So much different than last year... this is going to be a very good year for us!