Our European Odyssey

Blog Recap

2007-02-03T19:14:00.000-06:00

This post is a lists of links to our previous entries grouped by geographic location for easier navigation. Thanks for sharing in our adventure.

Columbia, MO, USA
1. Welcome!
2. Here's the Plan
3. Keeping Our Excitement in Czech
4. Hair Ye! Hair Ye!
5. All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...
6. Home is where the garbage disposal is
7. Now Graduating...the Honorable Jake
8. Ronald, Sam and Ozarkland
9. Maps for the Geographically Challenged

Budapest, Hungary (including Szentendre and Eger)
10. Greetings from Budapest
11. Szervusz!
12. Pictures!
13. Day 2 Pics
14. Grandma's Home Cooking
15. Day 3 Pics
16. Szentendre on the Danube Bend
17. Szentendre pics
18. Locked Up in Budapest
19. Eger, eh?
20. Eger Pictures

Krakow, Poland
21. Andrea and Jake, the Churchgoers
22. The Salt Under the Earth
23. A Day of da Vinci
24. Auschwitz and Birkenau
25. Running With the Nuns
26. Final Thoughts from Krakow

Zakopane, Poland
27. "Cold" is a Four-Letter Word

Warsaw, Poland
28. We Saw Stalin's Penis
29. Eminem by Candlelight
30. The Anti-Smoking Gun

Prague, Czech Republic (including Kutna Hora)
31. "Lost" is Also a Four-Letter Word
32. Prague Day 1 Pictures
33. Prague Castle
34. You know you've done a lot of walking when...
35. In Honor of Katy
36. Chilled to the Bones (in Kutna Hora)
37. Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog (and a Baby)

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
38. Bohemian Rhapsody

Vienna, Austria
39. Prague's a Hard Act to Follow
40. Our Operatic Debut (Sort of)
41. Vienna Pics
42. Wien and Roses
43. The Rail World: Austria

Salzburg, Austria
44. Cookies and Sausage for Dinner

Bratislava, Slovakia
45. Bratislava's (Un)beautiful Block Buildings

Budapest, Hungary
46. Our Last Day...

Mexico, MO USA
47. "Airport" Isn't a Four-Letter Word, but it Should be

Glen Carbon, IL USA
48. Home Sweet Home

Trip Recaps
49. Eastern European Differences (The Good)
50. Eastern European Differences (The Bad and the Ugly)
51. Food Differences
52. Bathroom Differences
53. Picture Recap: Budapest
54. Krakow Photo Recap
55. Prague Recap Photos
56. Cesky Krumlov Photos
57. Vienna Photos

Glen Carbon, IL USA
58. The Working Life
59. The Bus is the Best
60. Live on the Levee

Live on the Levee

2006-07-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Last night we went to the first concert we'd been to in quite some time. Our concertgoing days almost ended after the Buzz in Columbia (the original Buzz) went off the air. When it was around there were many more cheap and good concerts at The Blue Note. With the Buzz's demise we haven't been to any rock concerts in a while (although we did find ourselves at a Three 6 Mafia concert earlier this year). During that time, our musical tastes have broadened some, however. For example, Jake is practicing his tin whistle right now. He's getting pretty good, but Jake plus tin whistle equals an end to the quietness of a Saturday at home...

Back to concerts, though. We saw Sister Hazel and Better than Ezra under the Arch on the riverfront. It was free, which is always a big draw for us. St. Louis is putting on free concerts on weekends throughout the summer as part of Live on the Levee. Both put on great shows, and the Better than Ezra lead singer was really funny.

One of the neat things about the concert was the interpreter for the hearing-impaired. We'd never seen an interpreter at a concert before. She would sign the lyrics, of course, but when there were no lyrics going on (which happens quite frequently), she was dancing to the beat, playing an air guitar and banging on air drums. She was really into it. Her job was to express the music, and she certainly did. She was impressive and had to have been exhausted after the show. The lead singers of both bands seemed really impressed. It was obvious they don't see interpreters for the hearing-impaired at most of their concerts. They both commented on how impressive she was. They also tried to throw her off by saying random or made-up words. It was funny.

After the concert, there was a fireworks show. It was a good one, too. They shot the fireworks from a barge in the middle of the Mississippi.

It was the first evening we'd spent in the city since moving here, and we still managed to be home shortly after 10. Sister Hazel started playing at about 6:15, Better than Ezra played at 8 and the fireworks started at 9. Early start times for a concert, but we're not complaining. It just means our early-bird schedules weren't thrown off too much.

Hope everyone is staying cool. This is one of those days when you're thankful for your air conditioner.

The Bus is the Best

2006-07-12T17:52:00.000-05:00

Andrea says: I never thought I would love the bus so much. After battling traffic during my first week of work, I decided to try out the Madison County transit system. I can drive to the bus stop from our apartment in about one minute (yes, I could walk, but I have to go through a busy intersection), and the bus stops right outside my work. It couldn't be any easier. I bought a month pass for $45. $45! I would have been paying that much for gas in a little more than a week. Plus the mileage, wear and tear on my car. (Powerhouse Escort that it is.) Anyway, I've ridden the bus every day for the past two weeks, and I plan do continue doing so. It takes a bit longer than driving myself, but I can read the paper, read a book, knit, etc. It's great. I also feel like I'm doing my little part for the environment.

Jake really likes my riding the bus as well. He for some reason says I was a little stressed out that first week when I was driving myself...

We're both getting into the swing of things at work. We're getting into our routines and feel like we can actually enjoy ourselves in the evenings now.

My mom and Jake's parents both visited us this past weekend. We actually have a bed and an extra room for them to sleep in. It's nice to be able to host people and not have to have them sleep on the couch.

This weekend we're going to get our Illinois license plates. Exciting stuff.

OK, I'm off to watch a Spanish telanovella with Jake. It's his way of "learning" Spanish. He's also reading the sixth Harry Potter book in Spanish, which is pretty impressive actually. He got it for me for my birthday, but I think we know why...

The Working Life

2006-07-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

Now that we've exhausted our European posts, we thought we'd give an update on our new home and new jobs.

First, the apartment still feels so spacious. Two bedrooms and two floors -- we hardly know what to do with ourselves. We've also noticed that our TV suddenly seems small, sitting there all the way on the other side of the room.

The jobs are going well so far. Jake drives about 20 minutes to get to the refinery at Wood River. He works with a British man who loves soccer and whose accent occasionally gives Jake troubles. One day he asked Jake to place a call about a unit called "Big Car Key" (or so Jake thought). Turns out he was saying "Big Khaki." Jake realized this after inquiring over the phone about "Big Car Key."

Andrea has a longer commute. It only takes her 30 minutes to get to work in the morning, but the afternoon drive home has been much worse. Construction on the Poplar Steet Bridge is adding to her troubles. Some days it's taken her more than an hour to get home. She's going to try out taking the bus, which leaves from very close to our apartment and stops right outside A.G. Edwards. It won't be any faster, of course, but at least she can read the paper, read a book, knit, listen to music, etc., instead of getting frazzled by the barely moving throngs of cars.

She's enjoying her job, though, and also slowly finding her way around the company's huge campus. (OK, she can get from the parking lot to her office, and that's it.)

In other news, Madison County (where we live) is starting to hold discussions on banning smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants, of course. Columbia couldn't get its act together and pass a ban before we left, so we hope Madison County will get one in place soon.

It's also nice to be in a blue state. It's a big change when your senators go from Kit Bond and Jim Talent to rising Democratic star Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip. Unfortunately, this means we won't get to do our part to give the Democrats back the Senate by voting for Claire McCaskill this fall. But we get the Post-Dispatch and listen to St. Louis radio, so we still get to keep up with Missouri news.

Happy Fourth!

Vienna Photos

2006-07-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Well, this is probably the last of our photos we will upload from our European excursion. We hope you have enjoyed them. Drop us an e-mail if you would like copies of any of them.

First, one of the famous Viennese pogo stick crossings.

A typical street sign in Vienna's Inner Ring.

Hofburg Palace.

A statue in the Fine Arts Museum.

A statue of Hercules battling Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound of Greek myth.

And finally, pictures from Vienna's beautiful Volksgarten.

Cesky Krumlov Photos

2006-07-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

Here are photos from our time in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It was a picturesque medieval town located on the Vltava.

A sign for Budweiser Budvar, a Czech beer that predates the American Budwesier. It was (unsuprisingly) quite good.

Prague Recap Photos

2006-06-29T17:42:00.000-05:00

Here are 10 more photos from our time in Prague.

The male peacock at Wallenstein Gardens.

Prague's radio/TV tower. It has statues of babies crawling on its sides, as seen in the picture. Unsurprisingly, it is considered by most Czechs to be an eyesore.

A second wedding we happened upon in Prague's Old Town Square.

The door to St. Peter and Paul Church.

One of Prague's panhandlers. For some reason, almost all of them struck this penitent pose, but we only saw this done in Prague.

View of the below street from the Old Town Hall tower.

We lack the words to describe this store we saw in a shopping mall.

A panel on a door in Old Town.

This is a ceramic stove in Prague Castle formerly used to heat rooms. We saw these in every castle we went into.

Even the manhole covers in Prague were quite fancy.

Krakow Photo Recap

2006-06-26T20:41:00.001-05:00

Here are five more photos from Krakow.

A policeman working crowd control before the pope's arrival. This picture was taken shortly before the infamous flag incident.

Wood carving on the back of a choir seat in one of Krakow's beautiful churches.

The Dominican Church at night.

More photos of Prague, Cesky Krumlov, and Vienna to come.

Picture Recap: Budapest

2006-06-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the pictures we didn't get to post while we were in Europe. These are all from Budapest. Click on any of the images for a larger version.

The Parliament building.

Stained glass inside Matthias Church.

Escalators to get from the surface to the Budapest subway system. They were at least 3 stories tall and moved very quickly.

The 12 Apostles on the outside of a church.

Andrea with Chain Bridge, the Danube and Parliament in the background.

A view through one of the turrets on Castle Hill.

Parliament and the Danube.

Parliament and the Danube with extra saturation added in Picasa.

Bathroom Differences

2006-06-23T11:05:00.000-05:00

For this, the last of the differences posts, we wanted to discuss something that affects each of us: going to the bathroom. As this is a function one must do several times a day, we noticed some differences from the bathrooms we are accustomed to in the U.S.

First, the porcelain throne. The universal symbol for toilet in Europe is apparently "WC," which comes from the British abbreviation for "water closet," the Brits' name for toilet. Also, it seemed like everywhere we went had a slightly different toilet bowl shape, none being the standard U.S. design.

The flushing mechanism was almost never a handle but generally a button on the back of the tank -- even in homes. We did see several of the old elevated tanks with pull handles. When one flushed the toilet, it appeared to use less water, but the water moved more quickly.

In several of the homes we stayed in, the toilet was in a separate room from the sink. This seemed a bit unsanitary, as we had to open two doors to wash our hands. But at least one person could use the sink while the other was using the toilet. Also, many of the bathrooms in homes we stayed in locked via a skeleton key. We didn't realize that anyone still used skeleton keys, but apparently they are quite common in Eastern Europe.

The showers were also different. Generally, the shower was a bathtub with a showerhead that had to be held and a water heater fixed on the wall. This was annoying, as it was impossible to soap up and hold the shower head at the same time. Oddly, although everywhere we stayed had a showerhead, there were few shower curtains. It made it hard not to get water on the floor.

The below pictures show a fairly typical shower/tub with the unfixed showerhead, water heater and missing shower curtain. Notice the open flame of the gas-powered water heater in the first picture. (We only saw an open flame in a tub at this particular hostel. It was an old bathroom... When you turn the water to hot, the flame grows bigger and flares out of the hole.)

Finally, the most annoying thing about the bathrooms is that you have to pay to use the public toilets. As you enter, you pay the attendant, who is generally an older lady. The cost when we were there was usually between 10 and 50 cents, but it could be more than a dollar in train and bus stations. We just held it in those places.

Food Differences

2006-06-22T17:41:00.000-05:00

As you may know, here in the Mongler household, food comes before everything else, so it is no surprise that when we travel, food (and eating well) is a chief concern. Therefore, we couldn't help but notice some cultural differences between American eating and Eastern European eating, whether we were enjoying a grocery store feast or a restaurant supper.

The primary difference was the abundance of cheap, good bread in the countries we visited. We enjoyed good rolls that cost somewhere between 10 and 25 cents each. In grocery stores, they were fresh-baked daily and put in large tubs. Several times, we arrived just as they were replenishing the supply, so we were able to snag hot-out-of-the-oven rolls. Mmmm mmmm.

Because of this, our breakfast was usually of the European style -- a sandwich made from a roll and filled with some combination of veggies, meat, cheese and a spread. It was excellent and a very easy meal to make and eat on a train or park bench. For dessert (yes, we had dessert at breakfast sometimes), we would spread some Nutella on a roll. Nutella, a chocolate-hazelnut spread, is definitely a good thing. When we returned to the U.S., we brought five jars with us.

The other big difference we saw was the less processed nature of the food. As one of our hosts described it, "American food is plastic-y. It is meant to be shelf-stable and prepared quickly." Which we had to agree is true. The difference was most apparent in the produce. The produce at the markets there was brighter and fresher-looking and generally tasted better. The tomatoes all still had a bit of the vine. In Eger, we enjoyed the best strawberries we have ever had.

Sauerkraut was everywhere. In markets and grocery stores, we often saw 30-gallon wooden barrels full of sauerkraut with a long-handled spoon provided for scooping it out. Cabbage in general is very popular. If we saw salad on a menu, typically it was cabbage- and not lettuce-based.

Little pastry shops were ubiquitous there also. Generally, their prices were good, and their offerings were always gorgeous. Unfortunately, while the pastries looked great, they weren't as great-tasting. Like some of the meals we had in restaurants there, the pastries were bland. They weren't usually that sweet -- a quality we value in pastries.

Speaking of sweets, we were a bit disheartened by the method of ice cream cone preparation. In the U.S., when you order a cone, they make sure to fill the entire thing with ice cream before adding the scoop on top. In Eastern Europe, however, you get the scoop on top and nothing else. One of the saddest things in the world is getting to that usually desirable last bite of your ice cream cone and realizing it's nothing but cone.

The final differences we will mention are all restaurant differences. Items are generally a la carte; if you want a side dish, you have to order it separately. The weight of a dish is always given, which is helpful for figuring out how much to order. Condiments are usually absent from the meal. If you want ketchup or some other condiment, you will have to pay extra for a serving of it.

Salt and pepper were generally absent from the table even though many of the meals could have used more salt. If salt and pepper were provided, they weren't in shakers but in cellars.

While bread from grocery stores is cheap, bread is not given free at restaurants, as it is in the U.S. They might set a basket of it on the table, but if you eat some, then you will pay for it.

On the beverage front, there is no free tap water or free drink refills. However, with the exception of Austria, beer (and sometimes wine) was cheap -- even cheaper than water. In the Czech Republic, we enjoyed a pint of beer for about a buck with our meals.

Also, every drink seemed to have its respective glass. If you order Gambrinus beer or Naturpure water, it will be delivered in a Gambrinus glass or a Naturpure glass, respectively. The glasses were also marked with a line showing the correct level for the full serving. We guess that prevents the establishment from cheating its patrons out of that last bit of precious liquid.

Mmmm, cheap Czech beer...

Eastern European Differences (The Bad and the Ugly)

2006-06-21T20:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we talked about things that were better in Eastern Europe than here in the U.S. Now for our list of things that made us miss the good ol' U.S. of A while we were away.

Friendliness is a big one. After we spent some time with people in Eastern Europe, they were quite friendly and jovial, but when we dealt with strangers, they were much less so. This goes for cashiers, wait staff, bus drivers, etc. In Eastern Europe, you rarely hear "hello" (which made it difficult for us to learn how to say it in any language), and when you smile at someone, your smile is rarely returned. We passed a nun in full dress one day, and she didn't even smile back at us. And we were so happy when a waiter told us to have a nice day that we almost jumped up and hugged him. No one had told us that since we left the U.S. A smile and a simple greeting really go a long way toward making you feel more comfortable in a strange environment.

Along the same lines, the service in stores and restaurants in Eastern Europe is relatively nonexistent. The server in a restaurant takes your order, brings your food and never comes back. It is even difficult to get his or her attention when you want the check. Tipping (10 percent to 15 percent) is expected, however. Similarly, cashiers in grocery stores expect you to bag your own food. While we were in Zakopane, four non-hard-working cashiers in a grocery store shared a laugh at our expense (we think) as we bagged our own items while they did nothing (except laugh at us).

Speaking of cashiers, for some reason, they don't seem to like it when you pay with "big" bills. This was incredibly annoying when big bills were all the ATM gave us. But the worst part was that they really weren't that big. For example, if something cost the equivalent of $5.15 in U.S. money and we paid with the equivalent of a $20 bill, the exasperated cashier might ask us in her most pissed-off voice whether we had anything smaller. We guess we were being difficult... Also, it's common in the U.S. to, for example, give a cashier $20.25 if something costs $15.24 just to avoid getting back so much change. We tried to do this several times in Eastern Europe, and cashiers frequently handed us the coins back. We don't know whether they just assumed we were dumb tourists who couldn't figure out their money, but we actually would have made their lives just that much simpler. Oh well.

The prevalence of smoking in Eastern Europe was a major concern for us. We breathed in more secondhand smoke in our month there than we had in a long time. It seems like smoking rates are much higher there, and unfortunately, we didn't see non-smoking sections in restaurants (except in Pizza Hut). Although plenty of people smoke in the U.S., it is a lot easier to avoid secondhand smoke here. We should mention that Krakow seemed to be an exception. We saw few smokers there.

We realized while traveling around Eastern Europe that someone in a wheelchair or disabled in some other way would struggle to get around at all there. If the countries we visited have laws like our Americans With Disabilities Act, we certainly couldn't tell. It was disheartening. Almost none of the sights we visited had wheelchair ramps or elevators. Most of the public transportation systems weren't handicap-accessible either. We actually almost never saw people in wheelchairs, quite possibly because they can't go anywhere in their wheelchairs.

Many of the sights charged you to get in and then tacked on an extra cost if you wanted to take photos. What a rip-off. We really didn't understand the point of this. It was especially bothersome when we didn't know a sight charged extra for photos and some cranky museum worker marched up as Jake was trying to snap a picture of something.

Lastly, we should mention that these differences became less pronounced as we progressed through our trip and moved into more Westernized countries. While strangers were unfriendly in Hungary and Poland, they were more friendly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and especially Austria. Almost every Austrian we met appeared to be very courteous, whether he or she was giving us directions or allowing us to cross the street in front of him or her.

Eastern European Differences (The Good)

2006-06-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

For the most part, the countries we visited were a lot like the U.S. The one glaring difference was the different languages, but other than that, they are very similar to the U.S. There were some cultural differences we noticed, however. Some of the differences were better and some worse than what we experience here in the States. In this post, we will talk about the good: the differences that make Eastern Europe better than the U.S. in some ways. Tomorrow we will write a bitchier post in which we complain about the bad and the ugly of Eastern Europe. We also plan to write a post devoted entirely to bathroom differences and one to food differences.

As we have never traveled to any European countries but the five we visited, we cannot claim that these differences are common across Europe, especially Western Europe. Also we only spent about a week each in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria and two days in Slovakia, so our impressions are rather cursory and might be a bit ill-formed. Now that the general disclaimer is over, we will begin.

The main difference that we witnessed was the less wasteful behaviors. We mentioned how small the cars were -- no gas-guzzling SUVs -- but that's just one example. The toilets use less water, we saw less food go uneaten in restaurants (perhaps because the portions were smaller) and in grocery stores, people brought their own baskets or sacks to carry home their purchases. (This could be annoying, though, as some grocery stores didn't have sacks at all.)

Many people seem to walk and take public transportation. The public transportation system is much more efficient than in the U.S. Whether we were going by subway, bus, tram, trolley or some combination, it was easy to get anywhere quickly in the cities we visited.

Furthermore, it was very easy to get from town to town by utilizing the rail system. The trains were quick and comfortable, especially in Austria (at a higher cost, however, than elsewhere). If you are taking an international train that leaves at 8:10, then you can plan to arrive at the station at 8, find the correct platform and get a seat in the train with time to spare. It is nothing like going to the airport, where you need to arrive at least two hours before your flight to check in, clear security and whatnot.

Maybe the extra walking and the lack of waste are why there does not seem to be an obesity epidemic in Eastern Europe. We very, very rarely saw any overweight people.

Another plus for Eastern Europe (and the rest of the world, for that matter) is that it uses the metric system. This makes everything a lot easier than trying to keep track of how many miles 20,000 feet is or how many ounces are in a pound (or a quart).

We were also pleased that in all the countries we visited, they had the numeric values of the coins or bills printed on them. In the U.S., the bills have numerals, but the coins do not. American coins spell out their values in English (like "five cents" or "quarter dollar"), which is only helpful if you speak English. If not, you have to memorize the values of the coins. In the countries we visted, however, the numeric value was printed on one side of each of the coins. See the pictures of Polish coins versus the American penny and dime below for an example. This made our lives as monolingual tourists much easier.

Finally, one of the more impressive things about Eastern Europe was the ability of people to speak several foreign languages. Luckily for us, English is becoming the standard second language to learn for most Europeans, but it was amazing to regularly meet cashiers, waitresses and people on the street who spoke very good English. We met quite a few people who spoke four or more languages. It made us wish we could speak another language or at least be able to say "hello" in Polish without embarassing ourselves.

Home Sweet Home

2006-06-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

Well, we're all moved in now. Most of our things are unpacked and in their proper places, though there is still work to do. After moving in Saturday, we were unpleasantly surprised to find out that the cleanliness standards of the property management company don't live up to Andrea's expectations. We weren't happy when we realized we'd have to do some thorough cleaning in addition to unpacking and arranging. But we really like our new digs.

This having-a-job thing must be getting to Jake because he sure has been throwing the money around in the past couple of days (much to Andrea's enjoyment). Today we purchased two area rugs, curtains, a gas grill and -- drum roll, please -- a washer and dryer (and not even the cheapest models). We decided to buy a front-end loading washer instead of the traditional top loader. Front-end loaders are much more energy-efficient and water-saving. They are also supposed to be quieter, hold more and do a better job. We hope ours lives up to expectations because front-end loaders have a higher upfront cost.

We're also enjoying being able to cook our own food again. Since being home, we've satisfied our cravings for Mexican, a big salad and gazpacho. And when we were done, we put our dishes in the dishwasher. We feel like rich people. Rich people with a craving for chili beans...

We promise to do a couple more Europe-themed posts this week, including our thoughts on food, bathrooms and differences between Europe and the U.S. and the ever-popular pictures.

"Airport" Isn't a Four-Letter Word, but it Should be

2006-06-17T05:17:00.000-05:00

Everything we write here is the complete truth. Although in composite, it may seem a bit far-fetched, each of these events did happen as described. Please bear with us as we do a bit of venting.

After spending one last interesting night in a hostel, we awoke Thursday morning to fly home. (Well, the hostel wasn't that interesting, but the owner was. He was a bit more concerned with being your friend than running a business. We almost had to beg him to take our payment for the night.)

We had just discovered the previous night that our nonstop flight from New York's JFK airport to St. Louis had been changed to a flight from JFK to Cincinnati and then a flight from Cincinnati to St. Louis, with an hour-later arrival. This change meant that our already-long travel day became even longer (approximately 22 hours from the time we left the hostel to our arrival at Andrea's parents' house.)

In Budapest, we spent a little more than an hour in transit to the airport, including walking to the subway, taking the subway and then taking a bus. At Budapest's Ferihegy Airport, we waited about an hour in line to check in. We got directed to a line that was stuck in neutral. The cause of the neutrality was the Hungarian Olymipic fencing team checking in for the same flight. It seems that it takes a while getting security checks done when you are checking bags full of swords...

After clearing check-in, we passed the 30 minutes until boarding by chatting with an Orthodox Jewish man from Brooklyn. We sure have met some interesting people on this trip. We don't encounter people like them much in rural Missouri.

The flight to New York was as nice as a 9½-hour flight can be. We were served lunch, snacks, a sandwich and drinks in the course of the flight. We were also shown two movies, "Walk the Line" and "Ice Age," which helped to pass the time nicely. Malev Airlines (Hungary's national carrier) was great both times we flew with it. We got plenty of food, and the crew was very friendly by Eastern European standards. The check-in process, however, was slow and torturous for both flights. (Not that U.S. carriers do any better, though, as we will soon describe.)

After arriving at JFK at 3:30 p.m. EST, we had two hours till our flight left for Cincinnati, and we needed every minute of it. We cleared customs in about 30 minutes, including rechecking our luggage. Leaving customs, we were directed to Terminal 2 for our connecting Delta flight. We hurried through corridor after corridor to get to the Air Train, which transports people to other terminals. JFK is apparently going through some kind of monumental construction because they have these detours that take you through never-ending hallways just to go to the next room.

Upon arriving at Terminal 2 and finding it completely deserted, we discovered that we needed to go to Terminal 3 instead. It was right next door, but when we opened the door, we stepped into mass chaos. There were hundreds of people standing in a lobby area -- some waiting to go through security, some to check in, some to check bags and some trying to get information about the flights they were missing by waiting in line. All of the lines joined into a massive jumble with no apparent end. No one was certain which line was the correct one. One employee was directing people to the "correct" lines and answering questions from the masses.

We were directed to a relatively short line because we had already checked our bags. After standing there for a bit, we were directed to another line. The woman checked our itinerary and told us that because our flight to St. Lous had been changed, we would need to be reissued tickets. Of course, that required moving to another longer, slower-moving line.

After standing there and not moving for 10 minutes, Jake got impatient and decided to try the initial short line we were directed to. What do you know, that was the correct line after all. Unfortunately, Andrea had stayed in the previous line to save our place. Jake waved frantically to get her attention, and thankfully, she saw him. After Andrea wound her way through the maze of people, we were able to check in and get our new tickets.

With that task complete, we went to stand in line for the security check. It was now 5 p.m., and our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30. After explaining our predicament to a passing security guard, he said to cut to the front of the line. However, at the front were 20 other people with 5:30 flights who were also trying to cut in line. We were thankfully able to get through security in about 10 minutes.

Once we were through that chaotic mess, we arrived at the gate just in time for the final boarding call. We had just made our flight.

On board, we settled down for a nice wait before takeoff. The place was 15th in line to take off with an expected 30-minute wait. We were up to seventh in line when the skies opened up and it began to pour. The rain was accompanied by large wind gusts (The captain said 50 mph.), which meant no planes could take off. Thankfully, the rain passed in 15 minutes, and planes began to take off again. Our plane finally lifted off the tarmac at 6:30 (an hour later than scheduled), which meant we were expected to arrive in Cincinnati at 8:15 instead of 8.

We should now mention that when our flight itinerary was changed without our knowledge, the layover in Cincinnati was only 30 minutes. We were supposed to arrive at 8 and leave for St. Louis at 8:30 -- not much time to catch a flight. And now we were down to 15 minutes tops.

When we landed at 8:15, we got off the plane as quickly as we could and started running through the airport, following the signs to Terminal C. Come to find out, Terminal C is in another building, and we had to take a shuttle there. It was one intense shuttle ride. When we got to the terminal, we sprinted to our gate, where an airport employee smiled and said: "St. Louis? We've been waiting for you." We let her know that there were more people behind us and then took our seats with sighs of relief. We really thought we'd be spending the night in Cincinnati.

We landed on time in St. Louis, and our moms were there to drive us home. (Miraculously, our bags made it, too.) By the time we got to Andrea's parents' house in Mexico, we'd been awake for about 25 hours. We got to bed shortly before midnight but woke up at 6 a.m., unable to go back to sleep. We guess the time difference will affect us for a little while. Luckily, we haven't been too tired (yet) and hope the jet lag doesn't get to us.

After taking care of some errands yesterday and preparing a slide show of our travels, we enjoyed swimming and a barbecue at Jake's parents' home last night. (It was a birthday celebration for Jake's nephew Brit, who just turned 7.)

Today we're moving to our new apartment in Edwardsville with the help of Jake's parents, Andrea's mom and Jake's nephew Cayce. They're calling for rain, and we very much hope they're wrong.

Our Last Day...

2006-06-14T11:14:00.000-05:00

Well, this is it. It's almost time to go home.

Tomorrow is a 19-hour travel marathon. We just found out that our itinerary has changed, and we'll be flying from Budapest to New York to Cincinnati to St. Louis. How fun...

But once we finally get there, we'll be glad to be home.

There is really no sightseeing to report on today. We basically just traveled from Bratislava to Budapest and are relaxing and making sure we're packed and ready to go.

Stay tuned for more photos from the trip and other thoughts about European culture, food and more.

Bratislava's (Un)beautiful Block Buildings

2006-06-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

We've seen remnants of Communist rule in Eastern Europe over the past month, but nothing like this. These concrete slabs masquerading as apartment buildings are packed into the outskirts of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We saw these eyesores in the other countries we've visted but never in such great numbers. They have no beauty; they're just horrid.

Also an ugly Communist remnant is New Bridge with its UFO-like topper. In the background are nothing but the cement apartment buildings.

We are actually staying in one. When we got off the bus and realized this, we were a bit leery. But the husband and wife we are staying with have furnished their apartment very nicely. Our bedroom overlooks a beautiful red field of poppies. (Our hosts were quick to assure us that no one is making heroin around here.)

Although their apartment is the nicest and cleanest we've stayed in, we unfortunately didn't know beforehand that they're heavy smokers. We hope we don't reek too badly.

Last night we watched the U.S. get crushed by the Czech Republic 3-0 in the World Cup. Apparently, Czechoslovakia's split wasn't too divisive because our host had to restrain himself from rubbing the score in our faces too much.

Despite the lifeless Communist-era buildings, Bratislava has a very nice Old Town. We started our day by strolling past several of the city's whimsical statues. Andrea had fun embarassing Jake by making him pose. He tried to embarass her back, but she's happy to ham it up for the camera (including by playing the part of the paparazzi, like the statue).

After that, we visited Bratislava Castle. We're not sad to say we won't be visiting any more castles high atop hills for a while.

We checked out the exhibit inside the castle, including a temporary one from Italy on Leonardo Da Vinci. It was about his inventions and scientific drawings, not his art. We saw copies of his drawings along with notes written in his backward handwriting style. We also saw models of some of his inventions, including his flying machine and an underwater breathing suit. The exhibit was obviously sponsored by several European companies because mixed in with the Da Vinci stuff, we saw displays that were little more than advertisements, such things as "What do Leonardo and BMW have in common?" Capitalism at its best...

Next we climbed St. Michael's Tower for the views of the castle, Old Town and the breathtaking Communist apartment buildings towering everywhere.

All the climbing left us ready for lunch. We headed to Slovak Pub, recommended by our hosts and our guidebook as a good, cheap place to get authentic Slovak meals. "Cheap" might be an understatement. We paid $10 for two entrees, an appetizer, two drinks and the tip. Eating is easy on the pocketbook here.

Jake ordered dumplings with bryndza (Slovak sheep cheese) and sausage. Andrea tried the pierogi stuffed with meat and served with a cream and bacon sauce. Jake couldn't resist trying the "fat" bread with lard and onions. It was OK but nothing like the lard we enjoyed in Warsaw. To drink, Andrea had a red wine, and Jake accidentally ordered the Slovak national soda, which is a cola-like beverage with a licorice aftertaste.

After filling up on our traditional Slovak lunches, we visited the Primate's Palace. Unfortunately, it was no monkey's mansion, just a former palace of the archbishop. We had read that it is the most beautiful palace in Slovakia. If that's true, then we will pass on seeing the others. There wasn't much to it, and it wasn't very beautiful. (Oh well; it was free for those younger than 26.)

Tomorrow we take a train to Budapest, where we'll spend one more day before we fly home. We are looking forward to returning home after a month on the road. We can't wait to take a good shower, eat a home-cooked meal and -- yes, Doug -- even start our new jobs in the real world.

Cookies and Sausage for Dinner

2006-06-12T02:57:00.000-05:00

Apparently, very little is open on Sundays here. We've learned this the hard way.

We've stayed pretty stocked up on food but had planned to make a trip to the grocery store yesterday to buy food for a picnic lunch and a home-cooked dinner. Unfortunately, after passing a couple of closed grocery stores and asking around, we discovered that grocery stores (and almost everything else) are closed on Sunday. Even some restaurants in the tourist areas were closed.

We've run into this problem in every place we've been on a Sunday. It was especially bothersome when we planned to make a Sunday a shopping day in Budapest.

Anyway, we ended up eating lunch at a bar (where we tried the uninspiring weiner schnitzel -- little more than pork tenderloin) and made due with the groceries we already had for dinner -- snacks and a bit of sausage.

Despite our food woes, we had a nice day in Salzburg, where the weather was gorgeous -- almost hot. We started out by walking through the beautiful gardens at Mirabell Palace. They didn't compare to Vienna's rose gardens, but not much does. We spent some time just wandering around the city's Old Town, viewing historic churches and buildings, including former homes of Mozart.

We then climbed Monchsberg to reach Hohensalzburg, another castle on a -- very steep -- hill. We've seen our share of castles on this trip, so when we saw the $10 admission cost for this one, we opted to forgo touring the interior in favor of strolling along the hilltop. We think we made the right decision.

The views of the city below and the surrounding Alps were spectacular. We were in awe of the mountains. Coming from a prairie state, we couldn't get over how enourmous they really are. Pictures don't do them justice, but here are a few for good measure.

After descending the hill, we were just in time to catch the opening of the day's first World Cup match, the Netherlands versus Serbia and Montenegro. In one of the city squares, they had set up a giant TV screen and bleachers for viewing the game. Needless to say, the area was packed. Only standing room was available.

There was a large group cheering for Serbia and another cheering for the Netherlands. The excitement was palpable. Each side regularly cheered on its team and booed the opponent.

Though it was an exciting atmosphere, it was also a smoky, hot and crowded one, so after about 30 minutes, we decided to retreat to the cool confines of the apartment we stayed in, where we soon enjoyed our gourmet eat-what-you-have dinner.

This morning we're taking a train to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and our last sightseeing stop before our return on Thursday.

The Rail World: Austria

2006-06-11T02:26:00.000-05:00

"This is the true story of one American couple picked to travel together and have their lives blogged to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start riding the rails. The Rail World: Austria."

Just a little nod to the MTV generation. We had a very nice day yesterday and managed to stay polite.

After checking out of our hostel in Vienna, we met with Gabi, the woman who is allowing us to stay at her home in Salzburg for the weekend. She works in the Austrian Parliament and lives in Vienna but inherited her parents' apartment in Salzburg and spends some weekends there. She has to work this weekend, so she gave us the key and directions to the apartment.

After saying our goodbyes, we caught a tram to Vienna's south train station. We found out which platform our train was leaving from, and then we went our separate ways. Andrea elected to fiercely guard the bags at the station while Jake walked to the Military History Museum to spend the hour and a half until the train's departure.

Because of limited time, Jake focused on the artifacts from World War I and World War II. The World War I exhibit was phenomenal. It includes the actual car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo along with the uniform he was wearing when he died. His assassination was the event that sparked the outbreak of World War I.

It was amazing to see artifacts from a single event that drastically changed world history. After we return home, Jake will post more pictures he took there along with further descriptions (including that of a Nazi throw pillow).

After Jake left the museum, he met up with Andrea, and we got on our train to Villach for the first leg of our journey to Salzburg. We enjoyed some beautiful views of the Alps, but it was nothing compared to the views we experienced in the second leg of our journey. After arriving in Villach, we caught our train to Salzburg. That's when the truly breathtaking views began.

Our trip took us through the heart of the Austrian Alps. Mountains rose up from the clouds enveloping them as mountain streams ran beside the train. Some mountains were lush-green with trees, while others were rough, jagged, snow-covered peaks. Unfortunately, it is hard to take good landscape pictures from a moving train, but we got a couple.

Interestingly, we passed large lakes in the mountains that had sailboats on them. It isn't very often that you see sailboats in the mountains.

We are now in Salzburg, a small city nestled among the mountains. Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, and this is his 250th birthday, so they are a bit Mozart-obsessed.

As a bonus for the lack of pictures, here is one more rose picture we took in Vienna's Volksgarten.

Wien and Roses

2006-06-09T13:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a museum day in Vienna (or Wien, as the Austrians spell it). We spent about four hours in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, German for "Fine Arts Museum." We spent almost the entire time in the picture gallery, one-half of which contains works by Northern European masters (primarily from the Netherlands and Belgium). The other half contains works from Southern European masters, almost entirely Italians.

You can't view these masterpieces cheaply, however. It cost nearly $10 apiece to get in -- by far the most we've paid for any museum. This price is more the rule than the exception for popular sights in Vienna. It's not a cheap city to visit.

Nevertheless, we saw rooms full of works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Brueghel, Raphael, Titian and others.

We splurged and rented English-language audio guides for the museum. We are very glad we did. The guide is just a cell phone-like device that gives backgrounds, descriptions and analyses on some of the artwork. It made the experience much more meaningful, especially since we don't speak German, which made the written descriptions useless.

We learned some very interesting things from our audio guides. For instance, "Bravo" was a Renaissance Italian slang term for "assassin." At 16th-century Flemish wedding feasts, the groom was not allowed to attend, and the bride -- though she could attend -- was not allowed to speak or eat. (We guess they did their celebrating later ...)

Our two favorite facts we learned from the audio guide: In Renaissance Italian paintings, a small froufrou dog symbolized marital fidelity. Makes perfect sense (?) Also, if you see a man with a duck on his shoulder, he must be a Quaker. (Or was it a Quacker?)

After we finished viewing the paintings, we decided to leave the museum, as our stomachs were rumbling since it was 3:30 p.m. and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We decided to head to the beautiful Volksgarten to sup amongst the roses. (More like eat ravenously, but that's not as poetic.) We enjoyed our late lunch and the sunshine but decided to head back to the hostel when the skies started looking ominous.

We made it back to the hostel just in time for the opening match of the World Cup, Germany vs. Costa Rica. As you might guess, soccer is a big deal over here. We could feel the excitement building over the past three weeks in every country we have been in. The hostel we are staying in has seven TVs, and every one was showing the match. We enjoyed it. We've been a bit TV- and sports-deprived.

Today is our day of riding the train to Salzburg. We are taking a bit of a sightseeing detour -- a route that will take us through the heart of the Alps.

Also, we forgot to mention that the ballet we watched at the State Opera House was "Sleeping Beauty."

Vienna Pics

2006-06-09T03:35:00.000-05:00

We were finally able to find an Internet cafe in Vienna that allowed us to upload pictures. (For some reason most don't have accessible USB ports.) Here are six pictures we took yesterday.

Volksgarten with its beautiful roses and Hofburg Palace in the background.

One of the beautiful roses with Andrea's lovely hand.

The paternoster elevator. There was a posted warning before you reached the topmost or bottommost floor.

The Rathaus, Vienna's town hall.

Austria's Parliament.

Our Operatic Debut (Sort of)

2006-06-09T00:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday in Vienna started out as another sunny, beautiful day. (But of course, we did get rained on before the day was over.) We took advantage of the early sun by sitting in a park between the Fine Arts and Natural History museums and reading. We then decided to go to Stephansdom, the cathedral that lies in the center of Vienna's Inner Ring.

Stephansdom is a 12th-century church that offers supposedly beautiful views of Vienna from its two towers. After touring the inside, we decided to ascend the North Tower. The North Tower goes higher than the South Tower, but it requires using stairs instead of an elevator (343 stairs, to be exact.)

After paying our $4 apiece, we climbed the stairs and were greeted with a magnificent view of ... scaffolding. First of all, the view is from the inside of a room with tiny windows. They are also doing restoration work, so what tiny views we had were mostly obscured by the scaffolding. To add insult to injury, the room was filled with adolescent boys whose parents haven't told them about deodorant or showering regularly. We have climbed towers in almost every place we have been. The costs were much lower in the other places, and the views were much better. Needless to say, we wished we could have gotten our money and time back.

After that debacle, we decided to do a walking tour suggested by our guidebook. It was quite enjoyable. We hit back streets, old churches and historic buildings, but Vienna is still no Prague.

After lunch, we visited one of the University of Vienna buildings for its elevator. It contains one of the last paternoster elevators in the world. It is an elevator that consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two people) and moves slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers who are agile enough can step on or off at any floor they like. It received its name from its resemblance to the Rosary beads, with "Pater Noster" meaning "Our Father," the name of the Lord's Prayer. (The below image was taken from the Internet; we will post our own photos when we get a chance.)

It may have been the highlight of our day. We had a lot of fun riding up and down. It is easy to understand, however, why they are a dying breed, as it would be very easy to get hurt (or crushed) using one.

With our thrill-seeking over, we enjoyed the exterior views of Parliament and the Rathaus. The Rathaus is Vienna's town hall. (Jake thinks the name is apropos.)

We then went to the Volksgarten to enjoy the last of the day's fleeting sunshine. Volksgarten is filled with hundreds of different rosebushes in a myriad of colors. It was beautiful.

For our evening's entertainment, we headed to the State Opera House to get standing room-only tickets. We waited for 30 minutes for our tickets and then waited another 30 minutes before we were allowed in. We didn't realize until getting our tickets that we were going to be seeing a ballet and not an opera. However, it was the first time we had watched a performance in an opera house.

For 2 euros (about $2.50), we got tickets for the rear of the highest balcony. Although we were very far away from the stage, our view was quite good. We enjoyed the first half of the performance but decided to leave at intermission because it was very hot and we were quite hungry. (Always thinking with our stomachs.)

Prague's a Hard Act to Follow

2006-06-08T00:31:00.000-05:00

First we would like to apologize for our recent tardiness in posting. It has surprisingly become increasingly harder to post as we travel to more Westernized countries. Unfortunately, it also looks like we won't be able to post pictures at all while we are in Vienna. We travel to Salzburg on Saturday and then on to Bratislava, and we hope to have better luck with pictures there. Regardless, we plan to post more pictures when we get home.

Moving on, we are obviously in Vienna now. We caught a 6:30 a.m. train from Cesky Krumlov yesterday and arrived in Vienna around noon. After dropping our bags off at our hostel, we started by taking a ride on Tram 1, which circles the Inner Ring and passes most of the city's major sights.

Unfortunately, Prague has ruined us. Though Vienna is beautiful, we can't help but compare it to Prague, the most gorgeous city we have seen. Between the two, Vienna comes up lacking.

Nevertheless, we did a self-guided walking tour that hit many of Vienna's major sights, including the State Opera House, Hofburg Palace -- including the stables of the famous Lipizzaner stallions -- and a few churches and government buildings. Perhaps the best part of the walk was that for the most part, it was sunny and relatively warm.

We should also mention that we are experiencing sticker shock in Vienna. Prices are expensive compared to what we were paying earlier in our trip (and even by Missouri standards). We plan to do a lot of grocery store eating here.

Today we are hoping to buy standing room-only tickets to the opera. We hear it is worth the long wait and the lack of chairs.

Bohemian Rhapsody

2006-06-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to the beautiful Prague and boarded a bus for Cesky Krumlov, a medieval town in the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. After arriving at Prague's bus station, we were impressed by the many sleek, modern, comfortable-looking buses lined up to whisk people off to various destinations.

Then our bus pulled up. How did we get stuck with this thing? A 1970s Soviet-era relic with a lovely puke-green color scheme.

It turned out to be reasonably comfortable actually, but the interior wasn't any easier on the eyes. The nearly three-hour trip wasn't bad though.

After arriving, we followed some hard-to-follow directions to our hostel, where we had a private room, which was great after five nights in an eight-bed room in Prague. (Some of our roommates weren't exactly quiet or considerate.) We got a map and some advice from the hostel owner, a chain-smoking Santa type, and then headed out for lunch.

We ate on an enclosed patio overlooking the Vltava at a restaurant that serves traditional dishes and stays as close as possible to traditional methods of cooking. Our meal was superb. It was called "Feast for Two (or More)," and it included rabbit, ham, potato pancakes, millet casserole, potatoes, dumplings and a cabbage and carrot salad. In our immense state of hunger, we forgot to take a picture of the platter they brought out, but here is Jake's plate with all the items on it.

The meal was easily in the top two on our list of best food we've had on this trip. Oh yeah, we finished it all off with what they called rolled cookies. They were a lot like cinnamon rolls, which is a very good thing.

Satisfyingly stuffed, we wandered (or maybe waddled) through the town and up (yes, another hill) to the castle area. We climbed the tower there for some picturesque views of the town. We strolled through the various courtyards and then enjoyed a nice walk through the castle gardens. There were tall old trees, the birds were singing and we couldn't hear cars. It was a really nice break from the cities we have been in lately. After that, we basically just wandered around for a while, enjoying the views and the smell of smoke coming from the chimneys.

In the Czech Republic, it's unusual to find a meal that doesn't include some kind of meat. So we were pleasantly suprised when we read in our guidebook that there is a good vegetarian restaurant in Cesky Krumlov. We decided to split the sample platter, composed of dishes made of beans, lentils, cous-cous, rice, carrots and broccoli. It was quite good and temporarily satisfied Andrea's veggie cravings. Unfortunately, in our immense hunger, we forgot to take a picture. (Do you notice a pattern?)

We enjoyed our day in Cesky Krumlov, but it's a small town and there wasn't much to do, so we decided to take an early train to Vienna yesterday morning. We are looking forward to Austria but not the euro's strength against the dollar.

Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog (and a Baby)

2006-06-05T23:43:00.000-05:00

We had a close call yesterday morning. While walking to the tram stop, we narrowly escaped being mauled by this ferocious attack dog and his menacing-looking master. We somehow leaped onto the tram in the nick of time. Jake was able to snap this picture of the duo from the safety of the tram.

After that harrowing incident, we headed to Vysehrad, the site of a former castle in Prague that is now a city park. We hadn't actually planned to go there, but Jake realized at breakfast that the place he had planned for us to go to is closed on Mondays. In light of this fact, we decided to make it a rather light day.

We strolled around the park for a while, enjoying the rosebushes and nice views. We also checked out the cemetery there.

After a picnic lunch, we decided to enjoy Prague from the inside of a movie theater. We caught a matinee showing of "X-Men 3" with Czech subtitles. We enjoyed the film and were rewarded for sitting through the credits by getting to watch a brief scene that gave a hint about "X-Men 4."

Today we're taking a train to Cesky Krumlov and then on to Austria the next day.

Chilled to the Bones

2006-06-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our day trip to Kutna Hora, site of the Sedlec Ossuary. (See previous post.)

We arrived in Kutna Hora at about 9 a.m. and had great intentions to see Mass in Czech at one of the local churches. The train station is at the far eastern side of town, and seemingly all the churches are at the far western side -- about three miles away. So we started speedwalking in hopes of making 10 a.m. Mass. (By the way, we actually had no idea what time Mass started. Andrea just assumed that in a town with several Catholic churches, at least one would have a late Mass.)

After checking a couple of other churches, we rushed up to St. Barbara's just in time for 10 o'clock Mass -- only to find out there was no 10 o'clock Mass. In fact, only two churches in Kutna Hora have Mass -- at 7 and 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Let's just say Andrea was a bit perturbed. She had put on makeup (for the first time on our trip) just for the occasion.

Despite the town's insufficient Mass schedule, we forged on with our day. We entered St. Barbara's Cathedral, yet another large and beautiful Catholic church. Much of the artwork in the church portrays miners, as the town was founded because of its extensive silver mine. The church's namesake, St. Barbara, is the patron saint of miners. Some of the pieces in the church date back to the 1300s. It's always amazing to see something so old.

Then, to get to the ossuary, we had to walk the three miles back across town. It was such a pleasant stroll -- as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. As quickly as our legs could carry us, we made it to the Sedlec Ossuary.

The ossuary grounds became the vogue place to be buried after a monk sprinkled dirt from Calvary at the site in the 13th century. Eventually, there was no more fresh dirt to bury people (thanks in part to the Plague.)

So what do you do when you have more human bones than you know what to do with? Why, you arrange them to form pyramids and other artworks.

The ossuary contains four huge unbraced pyramids apparently made only of skulls and femurs, a chandelier that contains at least one of every bone in the body,a very detailed coat of arms and other smaller works. All told there are bones from some 40,000 people in the chapel. It's an unusual sight but a stark reminder of human mortality.

After taking the train back to Prague, we restarted our mission to hear Mass in Czech. We went to a tourist information center and learned that the historic Loretta Church would be holding Mass at 6 p.m. However, it was 5:20, and the church was about two miles away up the very steep Castle Hill. It's a good thing we stay in shape.

Who would have guessed we would be booking it around two different towns to try to make it to Mass?

The Mass was said in Czech by a monk from the nearby Capuchin Monastery, but the music was sung in Latin by a choir, with accompaniment provided by an organist and a trumpeter. The singing was absolutely beautiful, and it was enhanced by the acoustics in the church. Although maybe 20 people were in attendance, the Mass was quite long -- an hour and 15 minutes. They also used incense at many times during the service. It was certainly done differently than American Masses. We're glad we made it.

So our day ended the way it began -- with us rushing around madly to make church services in a language we don't understand.

In Honor of Katy

2006-06-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

A year ago today, our sister (and sister-in-law), Katy, died. Time helps the hurt, but it doesn't go away. We've thought of her a lot on this trip. She'll always be with us. We love her and miss her.

This one's for Katy.

You know you've done a lot of walking when...

2006-06-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

You know you've done a lot of walking when sitting down at the end of the day is one of the best feelings you've had for a while. We've done quite a bit of walking today, although that wasn't our intention.

We started out by visiting a grocery store to buy some food for a picnic lunch. While we were analyzing the yogurt, a strange thing happened: A man walked up to us and said, "Do you have a washing machine here?" Our first thought was "Why would anyone have a washing machine in a grocery store?" One look at the guy revealed he was American. If the accent didn't give it away, then the cowboy hat sure did. (It's the first one we've seen in Europe. Well, that's not entirely true; we did see the waiters in Krakow's Cowboy Steakhouse wearing them.)

From what we gathered from the brief conversation that followed, he is staying in Prague and can't figure out how to operate the washer. So what do you do when you're in a foreign country and you don't know how to use an appliance? You randomly ask two 20-somethings in the grocery store. But seriously, he must have heard our English and hoped some fellow Americans could help. Unfortunately, we have been doing our laundry in a sink, so we were of no use.

After leaving the grocery store, we proceeded to Petrin Hill and took the funicular to the top. Petrin is a large city park with many trails and gardens. Except for the nice views of the city, it is easy to forget that you are in a crowded urban area. We were also able to enjoy the sunny and relatively hot weather (hot meaning a high of 66 Fahrenheit.)

After Petrin, we wandered down to Wallenstein Gardens, which date back to the 17th century. These gardens contain semi-tame peacocks, ducks and other birds that roam the grounds.

As we enjoyed our lunch, we were joined by several peacocks with appetites. We had to be careful not to turn away while holding our bread or else they would take a bite. After our meal (which we shared a bit of), one of the males decided to show off by opening his plumage. He seemed to be modeling as he turned from side to side so everyone could see.

After lunch, we recrossed the Vltava and walked through Prague's Jewish Quarter. Most sights were closed because it was Saturday, but we were able to see the cemetery from outside the fence.

We finished our day's sightseeing by visiting the Mucha Museum, which is dedicated to Alfons Mucha, a Czech who helped found the Art Nouveau movement. Turns out we really like Art Nouveau and Mucha's works (like the one below.). We bought a set of four reprints that are allegorical of the seasons. We're excited about hanging them up in our new place.

We finished the day by attempting to find an Internet cafe. Easier said than done. We didn't have much trouble elsewhere, but Prague has been difficult. We have tried eight different places here and haven't liked any of them. (Actually, the one with no lights on worked out well, but it was slightly creepy ...) Also, rates are much higher here ($6 to $7 an hour) than they have been elsewhere, but real bloggers don't give up. Our search for a decent Internet cafe is when a lot of our walking happened, as two were closed and one couldn't handle uploading pictures.

We are heading to Kutna Hora for the day to see the Sedlec Ossuary. (See previous post.) We also hope to catch Mass (in Czech) at the town's cathedral.

Prague Castle

2006-06-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we visited the magnificent Prague Castle. We wandered around the grounds for a while before grabbing a spot to watch the changing of the guard at noon. The changing of the guard happens every hour on the hour, but the longest and most impressive display happens at noon, when banners are exchanged while a brass band plays a fanfare from the windows that overlook the courtyard.

Next, we went inside the Old Royal Palace, which dates from 1135. When we entered, we stepped into Vladislav Hall (shown below), a cavernous room that once was used for banquets, councils and even indoor jousting tournaments.

The palace also contains the room where the infamous Defenestrations of Prague occured. (See the previous post "Keeping Our Excitement in Czech" for more information.) Jake tried to create a third defenestration by throwing Andrea out the window, but he's really no match for her.

After taking a break for lunch, we walked down the castle's Golden Lane, a cobblestone alley lined with small, colorful cottages created in the 16th century for the castle's sharpshooters. The doorways to the cottages are about five and a half feet tall. The lane today is little more than a tourist trap though.

Next, we visited the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral (shown in the above pictures), probably the largest church we've ever seen. Its monstrous proportions will make it stand out among the dozens of churches we've seen. The sanctuary contains amazing stained-glass windows, including the one designed by Art Nouveau artist Alphons Mucha shown below.

We then climbed the cathedral's 285-step staircase to view Prague from the tower. The pictures below were taken from the tower. As is usual in Prague, the views were spectacular. We feel like we've taken as many pictures in our two days in Prague as we took during the two weeks we spent in Hungary and Poland.

We finished off the day with a leisurely stroll through the Royal Gardens.

So far, Prague is in close contention with Krakow as our favorite city we've visited. We're taking bets as to which will win.

Prague Day 1 Pictures

2006-06-02T03:02:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of yesterday's pictures.

This is the astronomical clock located on the Old Town Hall.

While we were in the Old Town Square, a wedding party was getting pictures. Here is the bride giving schoolchildren gifts of cookies. It must be a local tradition. Obviously, her mother-in-law did not make her a cape to keep warm.

A view of Tyn Church from the Old Town Hall Tower.

Jake enjoying his $1 pint of Czech beer.

Statues on the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River.

The sunset from the window of our hostel.

"Lost" is Also a Four-Letter Word

2006-06-01T15:34:00.000-05:00

It could be worse. We could have broken bones. We could have ended up in Albania. We could have been arrested. Instead, we lost our digital camera. Actually, it was most likely stolen, but we'll never know for sure what happened. We thought we were vigilant about keeping it safe at all times, but something must have gone wrong. Fortunately, Jake has been transferring our photos to a USB thumb drive, so we're only missing photos from Warsaw. (And Andrea has been taking pictures with the non-digital camera, so we have several of those from Warsaw.)

After progressing through the stages of camera loss -- anger, denial, grief -- we reached the final stage: bargaining (meaning we bought a new camera). Having your camera stolen is a good excuse to buy a smaller, newer, more powerful model. (But we wouldn't recommend it.)

Anyway, we took an overnight train last night from Warsaw to Prague. The trip was pretty good except for the discovery of the missing camera upon arrival in Prague. After taking the tram to our hostel and checking in, we enjoyed the free breakfast offered by the hostel. It was nice because we were able to enjoy cereal after eating rolls every other morning.

We then left to acquire our new camera and see Prague's Old Town. We bought a Canon A430 (after checking its reviews at an Internet cafe). We would post a picture of it, but it is kind of difficult to post a picture of your camera with that camera.

We immediately put it to good use. We have heard nothing but good things about Prague, and so far, we haven't been disappointed. It has churces to rival Krakow, beautiful buildings to rival Budapest and Warsaw's Old Town and charm to rival Eger. We felt as if we could have sat in the main square and looked around for hours (if we weren't shivering, that is).

We enjoyed the 400-year-old astronomical clock with its parade of the 12 apostles on the hour and the view of the city from above after climbing the Old Town Hall tower.

For lunch, we enjoyed the warmth inside a restaurant in Old Town. Andrea tried the Czech version of goulash, and Jake had a Czech version of fried pork tenderloin (large enough that he wasn't hungry for dinner). He also had a pint of Budweiser. No, not that Budweiser but the original Czech Budweiser, from which the American one took its name. It cost just more than $1. Have we mentioned how cheap alcohol is here? (For dinner, we bought a $2 bottle of wine.)

This afternoon, we enjoyed a choral concert in one of the ornate Catholic churches, and we finished off the day with a trip across Charles Bridge, a 600-year-old bridge that crosses the Vltava and is famously lined with 16 statues.

We aren't sure whether we have mentioned it, but we have eaten at least one meal a day of food purchased at a market or grocery store. It is a cheap way to eat and a great way to experience local culture. Here's an example of how much we can get for so little: Tonight we bought five freshly baked rolls, a packet of sliced cheese, cream cheese, two small bags of chips, four containers of yogurt, four tomatoes, two peppers, five apples, a large bottle of water and a bottle of wine, all for $9. Pretty darm good, and it should suffice for two or three meals. We highly recommend it. Also, it can be fun if you don't understand the labels.

Tomorrow we plan to spend the day visiting Prague's Castle. We can't post pictures from here, but we have many from today and will do a picture post tomorrow when we can.

The Anti-Smoking Gun

2006-05-31T07:52:00.000-05:00

We started our day with a visit to the Russian Market, which is a large open-air market located in a former soccer stadium. You can find clothes, antiques and more (including bootlegged movies and other shady goods). Despite the shadiness, Andrea bought a sweater to fight the incessant cold. Her one long-sleeved shirt just isn't enough.

We then headed to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which was recommended to us by Maciek. The museum is dedicated to the citizens of Warsaw who rose up against the Nazi occupiers in 1944. They were successful enough to control parts of the city for more than two months but were eventually crushed by the Nazis. As punishment for the uprising, the Nazis methodically leveled the already-war-torn city. This is why there are very few pre-World War II buildings in Warsaw and why it looks like a more modern, U.S.-style city (with skyscrapers and all).

Although something like 150,000 citizens of Warsaw were killed, until our trip, we had never heard of this event. Our history books focus mostly on the Western front, where American forces were actively involved. It's easy to forget about the horrors that occurred on the war's Eastern front.

The museum was very interactive and well-done. We hadn't planned to stop there, but after going, we would recommend it to any of you who find yourselves in Warsaw.

Later, while making our way down the Royal Road, Warsaw's most regal street, we happened upon an anti-smoking parade. Some people (such as the guy below) were carrying big cigarette guns and wearing skull masks. Whenever someone who was smoking passed by, these protesters fired their "guns" at the offender. It was odd but nice to see an anti-smoking movement here.

Our next stop was the day's second museum, which houses the John Paul II Collection. It's not pictures of the late pope but instead a collection of paintings donated by one family in honor of him. The museum features works by Dali, Picasso, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian and Van Gogh.

Oddly enough, however, we had the museum to ourselves. They actually turned the lights on and off as we entered and exited rooms. We aren't sure why there was no one else there, but we felt like we were getting a private showing.

Tonight we plan to eat a Polish dinner with Maciek and his girlfriend before boarding a night train to Prague. Jake is hoping for more lard at the meal. He's developed quite a fondness for the greasy stuff. Andrea just wishes they sold granola bars in the grocery stores here.

Eminem by Candlelight

2006-05-30T09:58:00.000-05:00

Today, we visited Warsaw's Old Town and New Town. New Town dates back to the beginning of the 15th century, and Old Town, as would stand to reason, is even older.

In 1944, the citizens of Warsaw rose up against the German Nazi occupation. They were successful for a short time, controlling a large section of the city, but the German army responded with overwhelming force, retook the city and crushed the freedom fighters. As punishment for their rebelliousness, the Nazis destroyed almost every building in the city, including the historic Old Town and New Town.

Shortly after the war, both Old Town and New Town were rebuilt as close as possible to how they looked before their destruction. Large fragments of the original buildings were reused in the reconstruction. Old Town was so well restored that it was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is by far the most beautiful part of Warsaw.

We first visited the Royal Palace, the palace that replaced Wawel Castle as the royal residence when the capital was moved from Krakow to Warsaw. We will say again that royalty sure does have its privileges. It was beautiful. We visited the royal apartments and state rooms. Some of the furnishings were reproductions from the pre-war designs, but others were original pieces from the 17th and 18th centuries.

We also visited churches, but they were nowhere near ornate as what we saw in Krakow. Old Town and New Town both have beautiful main squares as well. The first picture shows Old Town's main square.

For lunch we ate at Gospoda Pod Kogutem, a small restaurant in New Town. We had potato pancakes with a "spicy" sauce (shown below). We have learned that nothing is actually spicy here, even the chili pepper sauce.

Andrea had a traditional sour soup. It was served in a bread bowl and consisted of a white broth, sausage and half of a hard-boiled egg. Jake had a soup that consisted of beet broth and small meat-filled dumplings (shown below).

We also enjoyed bread with homemade lard (shown below). It was surprisingly very good, though it doesn't look that appetizing. The lard had a strong bacon flavor and had pieces of bacon and carmelized onions in it.

We should mention that this whole meal cost only 30 zloty, which is about $10. You can eat very cheaply over here. That is a very good thing.

The ambience of the place was nice. There white tablecloths and candles on the table. The walls were adorned with a variety of traditional Polish items and pictures. However, the music was American pop music, including Eminem singing "The Real Slim Shady." It took something away from the elegance of the place, but it was amusing.

Speaking of food, we should mention the meal we had for lunch yesterday. Maciek and his girlfriend wanted to take us to a nearby Asian restaurant that is owned by a half-Chinese half-Polish woman. Jake had a Thai soup made of chicken broth and coconut milk, and Andrea had a Thai green curry dish. It was very good. The meals were supposed to be spicy but weren't. We guess the Polish palate is more sensitive than ours.

We also forgot to mention that after we arrived at Maciek's yesterday (a little before noon), he offered us tea and shots of Polish vodka. Apparently, it is a traditional thing to offer guests a shot of vodka when they first arrive. It is also traditional for the vodka to be cherry-flavored. We declined.

We Saw Stalin's Penis

2006-05-30T03:25:00.000-05:00

Well, we were finally able to post again. It's always a bit trying to find an Internet connection when we get to a new city. Really, it just takes a bit of time to get our bearings (actually for Jake to get his bearings, as Andrea never has hers). It seems like just when we are getting comfortable with a place, we move on, but such is the traveler's life.

Yesterday, we got up at 4 a.m. to catch the 5:30 train from Zakopane to Krakow and then an express train to Warsaw. When we arrived in Warsaw, we walked to the home of our friend Maciek. We met him last summer in Columbia when he was visiting Mizzou after winning a journalism contest.

He had offered that we could stay at his place, but until we walked in his place, he failed to mention that his apartment consists of only a small kitchen, living room and bathroom. There is not even a bedroom. For those who have seen our Columbia apartment, his place makes ours look like a mansion. The couch pulls out into a bed, which is where he and his girlfriend sleep. The only place left to sleep is the limited amount of hardwood floor left over.

Luckily, a couple of Maciek's friends, with a very spacious apartment, offered to let us sleep there. So all is well, and we even got gifts last night and breakfast this morning.

On the sightseeing front, we visited Wilanow yesterday (pictured below). They call it Poland's answer to Versailles. We've never seen Versailles, but the palace sure was pretty. We had also planned to visit a poster museum, but unfortunately it is closed as they change exhibits.

After we rode the bus back to the city center, we were able to get a good look at Stalin's Penis...

"Stalin's Penis" is actually a pejorative nickname given to the Palace of Culture and Science (shown below), a 1955 "gift" from the Soviet Union. It was at the time the tallest building in Poland and was widely viewed as an ugly symbol of communism.

Today, we plan to visit the New Town and Old Town. Also, we booked our reservation for the night train to Prague tomorrow night. The forecast for Prague is calling for highs of about 50.

Speaking of the weather, our host Maciek said this is the coldest May that he can remember. It is apparently freakishly cold now. *Sigh*

"Cold" is a Four-Letter Word

2006-05-28T05:28:00.000-05:00

Enough with the hot-weather comments. You are making us jealous.

Yes, it is cold here. We'll sum it up this way: Andrea has worn the one long-sleeved shirt she packed five days in a row. (Don't worry; we've been able to do laundry.)

We arrived in Zakopane yesterday, and the temperature was maybe 50. Plus it was raining. The perfect combination for getting out and exploring a place. It's a shame because Zakopane is a beautiful outdoor recreation area surrounded by the Tatra Mountains. It's also extremely popular in the winter. It was actually one of the finalists for this year's Winter Olympics.

Anyway, we had big plans for hiking in the mountains, but this has ended up being more of a relax-in-our-warm-room kind of weekend. Actually, our room is as cold as it is outside because our hostess leaves the windows open, but at least it has blankets.

We took a bus yesterday morning from Krakow to Zakopane. It was an experience in itself. Roads were blocked off in Krakow so the pope could be taken from one place to another. Our bus driver apparently was unaware of this and had a conversation through the window with a police officer at a busy intersection. The officer must have explained that the way was blocked because we then set off on a bit of a detour. Instead of getting on a highway, our driver (after backing up traffic by doing something like a U-turn in a residential neighborhood) started down a very narrow, very curvy, carsickness-inducing road for which the speed limit was 30 mph (but our bus went more like 45). We traveled this way for too long as far as Andrea is concerned. She wasn't feeling so well, but eventually we made it to Zakopane.

As soon as we stepped off the bus, our next adventure began. Zakopane is the only stop on our trip for which we didn't arrange our lodging ahead of time. There are many residents who offer rooms in their homes, and we had read that finding a place to stay is no big deal.

When we got off the bus, an older Polish woman told us in broken English that she had an available room in her home. After asking her a couple of questions and having her point to her place on the map, we decided to give it a try. The room is just fine -- we even have a TV (to watch such great shows as a Polish-dubbed version of "Baywatch") -- and there is a shower and a toilet.

But our hostess -- well, she's no Hungarian grandma. She's actually quite weird. She repeated herself a lot. She told us many times which direction the souvenirs were. When she made up our bed, she kept repeating something that sounded disconcertingly like "Gross." We think she might have meant "Great" though because she asked Andrea whether we're from "Gross Britain." We do have such refined, proper-sounding accents...

Oh yeah, and she decided that Andrea's name is Angellica and Jake's is Jackie. But she talks mostly just to Andrea, however. She showed Andrea how to lock and unlock the doors, but after Andrea took the keys from her, she snatched them back and said, "No. Man" and handed them to Jake. Apparently, Andrea's dainty little feminine mind wouldn't be able to keep track of the keys. Funny considering the fact that Jake has had to call Andrea at work a few times after locking himself out of the apartment.

After we escaped her clutches, we wandered down the main road, which is tourist central. Jake said it reminds him of Estes Park or Jackson Hole. Andrea said it reminds her of Branson.

We decided that instead of taking a hike, we would ride the cable car up into the mountains. Our guidebook says the walk to the cable car is less than a mile. It's actually more like 3. Uphill. Well, up a mountain really.

The views from the cable car on the way up were spectacular -- tall peaks, deep valleys, black rock, green trees and white snow. The view from the top was also spectacular. Spectacularly ... foggy. We really couldn't see much more than a few feet. So like the pope photo fiasco, we were foiled again in our quest for photo glory. It was also really cold up there, and it was misting.

After our descent and minibus ride back into town, we gave in to our American urges and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We didn't exactly feel like hard-core travelers, but it was a good meal.

We relaxed in our room last night. We even watched a little Polish TV. Five of our seven channels were covering the pope's visit. They're pope-crazy around here.

This morning we were lazy and lay in bed until 7:30. After leaving, we followed a stray dachshund to the train station to buy our tickets to Warsaw. Oddly enough, this is actually the second stray dachshund we've seen around a train station. (The other was in Hungary.)

We went to the local natural history museum. It was neat and also free. It had taxidermied animals that are found in the Tatras. Later, we might do a short hike up one of the nearby mountains. It's not looking promising though. There's a 90 percent chance of rain. And of course it's still cold.

Final Thoughts from Krakow

2006-05-27T09:19:00.000-05:00

Well, we are in Zakopane now, but we wanted to share a few more photos and thoughts about Krakow. First, we did a double-take yesterday when walking by a clothing store in Krakow. It had a shirt in the window that said "Iowa State Supply Teacher." We don't know what to say about that.

Interestingly, in Krakow they seem to put heads on everything, like these two doors to St. Mary's Church. In Wawel Castle, there is a room with 30 wooden heads on the ceiling that were made to look like a taxidermist's work.

While in Krakow, we visited a lot of churches.

We ate a lot of good food.

And at the end of the day, we were worn out.

Running With the Nuns

2006-05-26T23:01:00.000-05:00

First of all, we did get to see the pope last night. We will explain the circumstances in just a bit (including the running with the nuns.)

We apologize for the multiple post madness. We were having trouble and tried to post several times but didn't think it was working. It obviously was...

Anyway, after we returned from Auschwitz and Birkenau yesterday, we were hungry and decided to try some authentic Mexican food, as only Poland makes it. (OK, Poland's version of Mexican food.) Instead of chips and salsa, they brought us peanuts in the shell. Definitely interesting. Our meals were pretty good though. Andrea had enchiladas, and Jake ordered fajitas. Our only complaint was that they needed salt. That's actually been our one complaint about several of the things we've eaten here. It seems these Eastern Europeans don't know how a little salt can really enhance flavor.

The salt and pepper (if they are present) are located in little ramekins on the table. (A ramekin is a small bowl.) If you want some of either, you pinch a little out of the bowl and sprinkle it on your food. In several places, we have seen ramekins of paprika alongside the salt and pepper.

But back to the pope. You could tell he was coming because of all the preparations in the city. Vatican and Polish flags were everywhere. Barricades were set up, and the police force seemed to double daily. At Auschwitz, they were setting up chairs for the pope's visit on Sunday. Also, many of our fellow hostel guests were pretty upset to learn that alcohol sales would be banned while the pope was in town.

It can be extremely hard to get good information when you are in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. After we found out that Pope Benedict XVI would be coming to Krakow, we asked at least three different people (and looked on the Internet) for the schedule surrounding his visit. Until last night, we thought that we were just going to miss his visit -- that he would be here Saturday and Sunday, but we would be in Zakopane those days.

Turns out that he was arriving by helicopter at about 8 last night. We only discovered this when we noticed barricades, people waiting by them and a large number of police (including SWAT team-like officers). We decided to try to catch a glimpse of him, so we walked to Main Market Square a little before 7. We got a good spot and settled in to wait. And wait we did. We stood alongside excited Poles and tourists waving their pope flags that the city had been selling in anticipation of the big event. At about 8, a helicopter, which we assume was transporting the pope, flew overhead.

After waiting two and a half hours, we saw the first police car of the motorcade. The next vehicles were loaded with security personnel. And then came the popemobile, with two cardinals in front and Benedict himself. The excitement in the crowd was contagious. As the cars cruised by, the pope smiled and waved to all. We were within 15 feet of him. It was pretty neat. We'd like to say we can prove it with pictures, but as you can see, in the only picture that would have turned out, the pope is obscured by an exuberant Polish woman's flag. So use your imagination, and remove the flag from the picture to see the pope.

Here is a news photo from the event showing the pope in his popemobile.

After his drive-by, the crowds began to disperse, so we headed back to the hostel. We had left laundry in the washer and needed to move it over. As we approached our hostel, we noticed that people were running around us in the direction of the Archbishop's Palace, where Benedict would be staying. Jake went to investigate where everyone was going while Andrea went up to move the laundry.

Jake followed the crowds, but they only led to a dead-end street. He stood around for a few minutes until he heard a huge cheer a few streets over. He (along with everyone else) began running over to where the cheer came from. As he ran the three blocks, he looked to his left and realized he was running alongside 10 nuns holding hands. They were giggling like schoolgirls. It isn't every day that you run with nuns down cobblestone streets in search of the pope.

He arrived at a huge park packed with thousands of people just as Benedict began to address the crowd. Jake couldn't see him, so he tried to move to get a better vantage point. However, everyone else had the same idea, so he didn't move very quickly.

He never did see the pope in the park, but he did hear his speech, which he assumed was in Polish. The only word Jake recognized was the pope's last one in the speech: "Dziekuje," which is Polish for "thank you."

It sure was exciting. It will be hard to top the experiences that we have had here in Krakow, but today we move on to Zakopane, a popular outdoor recreation area.

We plan to do one last Krakow post when we get a chance with some more photos and stories.

Auschwitz and Birkenau

2006-05-26T15:18:00.000-05:00

This morning we took a minibus from Krakow to Auschwitz and Birkenau. Our tour started at Auschwitz, which was a concentration camp until 1943, when it was changed to an extermination camp. The difference is that in a concentration camp, the causes of prisoners' deaths were starvation, overwork and illness, whereas in an extermination camp, deaths came quickly via poisonous gas. About 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz and Birkenau, mostly Jews but also intellectuals, Russian POWs, gypsies, homosexuals and the infirm.

Above the entrance to Auschwitz is the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, German for "Work Shall Set You Free." This only gave false hope to the many who perished there. We also saw barracks where prisoners were housed, cells used for punishment (including cells so small that prisoners suffocated) and an execution wall.

One of the barracks housed the most gut-wrenching exhibits. There were rooms full of the prisoners' personal belongings recovered when the camp was liberated in 1945. These items were confiscated from the prisoners when they first arrived at the camp. There were rooms stuffed full of eyeglasses, shoes, pots and pans, crutches and prosthetic limbs. Perhaps the most difficult to view were the children's clothing and toys. There was also a large room (about 10 feet by 25 feet) full of hair that had been shaved from corpses in the gas chambers. The Nazis sold these items, including the hair, to industry and German citizens. The Nazis even went so far as to sell the human ashes from the incinerators as fertilizer.

The second part of our tour took place at Birkenau, which served primarily as an extermination camp. It was built hurriedly because of overcrowding at Auschwitz. Even though Birkenau was 425 acres, conditions were so crowded that 10 people would share a 5-by-10-foot bed. We got an upsetting glimpse into the cramped and filthy conditions the victims were forced to live in.

Birkenau has five gas chambers that were used to kill prisoners with the gas Zyklon B. The chambers were about 2,000 square feet, and as many as 2,000 prisoners would be packed in and gassed at one time. The chambers are in ruins now because the Nazis destroyed them shortly before the camp was liberated in order to remove evidence of the genocide that was taking place.

It wasn't what you would call a fun experience, but we're glad we went. It was a sobering reminder of the evil man is possible of.

A Day of da Vinci

2006-05-25T23:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we took a break from Catholic churches to visit Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. You can't escape religion in Krakow.

Kazimierz is the 600-year-old Jewish quarter of the city. Before World War II, there were more than 68,000 Jews in Krakow. However, because of deportation and extermination by the Nazis, there are now fewer than 100 practicing Jews in the quarter.

The first cemetery we visit was Remuh Cemetery, which was founded in 1553. Legend says that the Remuh, the rabbi who founded the cemetery, caused strong winds to rise up and cover the cemetery with sand, protecting it from the 19th-century Austrian invaders. It was still covered with sand during the Nazi occupation, so unlike many other Jewish cemeteries, it was not destroyed.

We also visited the New Jewish Cemetery, which was established in 1800. Unlike Remuh Cemetery, it was largely destroyed by the Nazis. It has been mostly rebuilt, and broken tombstones have been symbolically used to construct a portion of the walls.

We also visited two synagogues in the quarter, Remuh Synagogue and Old Synagogue. We were struck by how plain and simple they were, in sharp contrast to the extreme ornamentation and gilding in the town's Catholic churches.

After lunch, when Jake had more pierogis and Andrea enjoyed sauerkraut and sausage pasta, we visited the Czartoryskich Museum. The museum houses Polish historical items and European art. Its most famous work is da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine" (pictured below). We played the roles of art critics by critiquing the masterpiece. (Because we know so much about art...) While there, we also saw Egyptian mummies (both humans and animals), Greek art and medieval military weapons and armor.

We ended our day with more da Vinci by seeing "The Da Vinci Code" (or in Polish, "Kod Da Vinci") at a nearby theater. Going to the movies is easier on the pocketbook here. For about $7, you can buy a ticket, popcorn and a soda. Polish theaters are different also because you get assigned seats when you buy your tickets. The movie was pretty good. It was in English with Polish subtitles. The only problem was that because the movie has scenes spoken in French and Latin, the Polish subtitles weren't that helpful.

On the way back to the hostel, Jake stopped to take a photo of the Ratusz and Cloth Hall at night.

On the pope front, we found out that he will not be in Krakow until Saturday. Unfortunately, we will be in Zakopane by then, so we will not get a chance to see him.

Several of you have mentioned that the weather is hot and dry in the Midwest now. Here it has been cool and rainy almost every day. We packed shorts but haven't worn them yet. Andrea has worn a fleece pullover every day. We can't say we are longing for a Midwest summer, but some warmer weather would be nice.

Today we are going to Auschwitz and Birkenau. It should be a sobering day.

The Salt Under the Earth

2006-05-24T23:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, we rode a minibus from Krakow to Wieliczka, home to a gigantic salt mine. On the way there, we saw another poster advertising a Guns N' Roses concert in Krakow. So they're not just big in Hungary. They must have quite a following across Eastern Europe. Speaking of American music, we hear '80s American pop songs everywhere. American music at its pinnacle...

But back to the salt mine. We took a two-hour tour that started with us descending 385 stairs. But by the time the tour was over, we had gone about 400 feet underground. (And the mine extends much farther down than that.)

The mine was started more than 700 years ago and at one point supplied more than a third of Poland's GDP. They only stopped actively mining salt six years ago. This mine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the sculptures carved into the salt by the miners. Everything is salt, from the walls to the floors to the chandeliers and staircases.

Some of the sculptures we saw date back more than 400 years, but the crown jewel of the mine is one of the chapels. We say one because the mine has at least three that we saw on the tour and several more that we didn't see. So we even make it to church when we are 400 feet below ground.

This chapel features carvings that date from the 1870s to the 1950s. The carvings depict scenes from the life of Jesus -- from birth and the slaughter of the innocents to his teaching in the temple (pictured above) to the wedding at Cana to the Last Supper (pictured below), the crucifixion and Doubting Thomas. All of the carvings are made entirely of the dark gray salt native to the mine except the baby Jesus in the Nativity. The baby Jesus was done in pink rock salt from a nearby mine. This chapel was phenomenal and entirely done by three miners who were only amateur sculptors.

After the mine, we came back to Krakow and took time to, you guessed it, visit a few more Catholic churches. We then stopped in a poster gallery featuring original and reprinted Polish posters. Jake sure is glad he brought a poster tube because now it is filled. He picked up a couple of political- and travel-themed items.

We finished the day by attending a classical music concert at Saints Peter and Paul Church (pictured above at night). The performance was done by a five-piece ensemble (with a trumpet soloist). They performed six different pieces by J.S. Bach, Pachelbel, Albinoni, and Mozart. The crowning piece was Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music"). It was phenomenal. The church was not only beautiful but also had great sound quality. It inspired us to listen to more classical music. The only downside was that we had to sit in the hard wooden pews for an hour and a half.

Today we are planning to visit the Jewish Quarter and a couple of museums. Thanks for reading!

Andrea and Jake, the Churchgoers

2006-05-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

Since we've started this vacation, we've turned into avid churchgoers. We've probably been to church more than any of you, dear readers. OK, not really to church but in church. Churches, actually. Since arriving at 6 yesterday morning in Krakow, Poland, we've been to at least seven Catholic churches.

Krakow appears to be the most Catholic town we've ever seen. In addition to the many Catholic churches packed into a very small radius, we've seen nuns, priests and monks (in full garb) everywhere, plus posters trumpeting the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

Last night was our first night in a hostel. So far, we've been very impressed. Mama's Hostel offers a free breakfast, free laundry, free Internet and a great central location. We can walk basically everywhere we want to go in the city.

Did we mention free breakfast? It's quite a spread, too. In both Hungary and Poland, we've been served sandwiches for breakfast -- not American-style bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches but ones with good bread, deli meat, cheese, veggies, cream cheese and more. They are wonderful.

We're sleeping in a 10-bed dorm. Not surprisingly, we were the first to go to bed last night and the first to get up this morning.

Yesterday, after checking in at the hostel, we started our day by visiting Wawel Castle, a 10th-century castle with 71 chambers and beautiful 16th-century tapestries. We viewed the state rooms, the armory and the royal treasury. Royalty sure did have its privileges.

We also visited Wawel Cathedral, the coronation site for centuries of Polish kings and queens and home to the tombs of several Polish royals and national heroes. Our poor legs didn't get a rest, as we climbed to the top of the cathedral to view Krakow from above.

We then meandered down the Royal Road, home to many of the city's notable sights, mostly churches. Also part of the Royal Road is Cloth Hall, a venue for local merchants to sell jewelry, clothes and knick-knacks. The jewelry is made primarily of amber from the nearby Baltic Sea.

We just found out yesterday that the pope will be in Krakow at the end of this week. We'd like to catch a glimpse of him while he's here, but it might not work out. Notice in the poster that Benedict is following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who was Archbishop of Krakow and beloved by his countrymen.

For dinner last night, we went to a small restaurant that specializes in pierogi, a dumpling that can be stuffed with a wide variety of food -- fruits, cheeses, meats, etc. Andrea had the pierogi ruskie (stuffed with cottage cheese and potatoes), and Jake had a mixed platter of pierogis (stuffed with cheese, meat or sauerkraut). Oh yeah, did we mention that bacon grease was drizzled over the tops of them? They were a very good dinner. We also drank cherry juice with our dinner. It was neat because you could see the woman making the pierogis after you ordered. It was definitely made-to-order, authentic Polish cooking.

Today we plan to visit the Wieliczka salt mine. Click on the link for the fascinating history of the mine.

Eger Pictures

2006-05-23T23:35:00.000-05:00

Here are the promised pictures from Eger.

Andrea enjoying browsing at the local market. Notice how happy she is to be around all that food.

The ultimate fear conquerer, the minaret, with its small circular staircase. Our legs are still feeling the aftereffects.

The view from the top of the minaret. Some of the vineyards can be seen in the background.

Jake enjoying a glass of Bull's Blood wine in the Valley of the Beautiful Women.

While in the Valley, we enjoyed an appetizer. Don't worry; we ate off of the "Special Diet" menu. Apparently, a special diet in Hungary means all fried foods; sign us up!

Eger, eh?

2006-05-22T23:41:00.000-05:00

Hello from Krakow, Poland! It's 6:30 a.m., and we got off the train less than an hour ago. We have no Poland stories yet, but here's how our day went yesterday:

We said goodbye to Grandma, who had hugs and the traditional two-cheek European kisses for us, and boarded a train from Budapest to Eger. We arrived at 11:15 a.m. and had to catch our train to Krakow at 8 p.m., so we didn't have a lot of time. Shortly after arriving, we already wished we could spend more time in Eger. Though it is a town of more than 50,000, it seemed like a relaxing and quiet place, far from the hustle and bustle of Budapest.

Because we both think with our stomachs, our first stop was the local market, where we shared a langos, which is a Hungarian fried doughnut. We topped ours with sour cream, though other toppings include cheese and garlic. We also bought some strawberries at the market. They looked gorgeous and tasted just as delicious. You don't eat strawberries that good very often.

After our lunch of sorts, we headed to the minaret, which was formerly used to call Muslims to prayer when the city was controlled by the Ottoman Turks. It's just a very narrow, 130-foot-tall tower, and for a dollar, you can climb to the top. Sounds simple, but we didn't know this would by far be the scariest thing we'd done on our trip. (Scarier than getting locked in a Burger King bathroom even.)

To get to the top, you climb a long spiral staircase. Each step is small and narrow, and the staircase is only about 2 feet wide. It would be impossible for someone to go up while someone else was coming down. Also, there are a few light bulbs installed, but one was burned out, so we had to climb a few stairs in complete darkness. Oh yeah, did we mention there's no handrail and the stairs are very smooth (nearly slick)? It seemed like a way to attack all the big phobias at once: claustrophobia, fear of darkness, fear of heights ... We enjoyed the view of Eger once we got to the top. We then braved our way back down and quickly noticed our quads were burning. The climb was quite a workout.

We then visited Eger Castle, which had its heydey around 1500 when Dobo Istvan, supposedly emboldened by the town's famous Bull's Blood wine, led his men to success by unexpectedly stopping the invading Turks.

Our next stop was the Eger Cathedral, which was huge and ornate, as so many Catholic churches in Europe seem to be. It's also the location of Europe's second-largest organ. We wish we could have heard it played.

Our last destination in Eger was the "Valley of the Beautiful Women." Eger is known for its red wine, and the valley is filled with private wine cellars dug into the volcanic rock. We visited a couple for samples, including Bull's Blood, a dry red that's a bit spicy. Unfortunately, the insides of the cellars were covered with mold, which wasn't good because Andrea quickly found out she's allergic to mold. She couldn't stand to be in them for very long, so we sat outside.

We finally boarded our overnight train to Krakow, where we were awakened three separate times for passport inspections at border crossings, not to mention the additional times we were woken for ticket checks, so it wasn't a very restful night. We're now in Krakow, where we'll spend the next four days and get to see the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps and the Wieliczka salt mine. Hopefully we'll be able to post pictures later today.

Locked Up in Budapest

2006-05-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

Of all places for Andrea to be locked in a bathroom stall, it would have to happen in a Burger King in a foreign country. She went in to use the restroom and after taking care of the lack of toilet paper in the stall by finding some in her bag, couldn't get the door unlocked. She tried unsuccessfully for a few minutes but realized she would have to wait for someone else to come in the bathroom (an English speaker at that.) After a few minutes, a couple of people entered, and Andrea asked whether anyone spoke English. Someone said she did, and Andrea explained her predicament. The nice young woman went to get an employee, but before she returned, another helpful soul managed to unlock the door with a coin. By the time Andrea came outside, Jake was about ready to send in a search party.

That was probably the most exciting episode for the day. Today was a rather relaxing day because most stores in Budapest are closed on Sundays, and we had planned to do some shopping.

We were able to go to the House of Terror, a museum that documents the horrors of Nazi and Communist occupations of Hungary. The museum is located in the former headquarters of both the Hungarian Nazi and Communist parties and includes the torture chamber and gallows in the basement. It was a powerful exhibit.

For dinner, Grandma served us goulash and bread. It was very authentic and perfect for the rainy weather. Dessert was a dense, doughnut-like ball with a sour cream topping. We have never had anything like it.

Also, we forgot to add this the other day: A choir from the University of Missouri-Columbia is going to sing at Matthias Church in Budapest next Sunday. Talk about a small world!

Tomorrow, we head to Eger (known for its red wines) for the day, and then we will take an overnight train to Krakow, Poland. We aren't sure when we will post next, but we will when we get a chance.

Szentendre pics

2006-05-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures we couldn't get posted yesterday.

Andrea in a Szentendre side street.

A group of the aforementioned dancers at the Szentendre children's performance festival.

This photo shows a man sweeping the walkway of a church. The broom is made of twigs. We also saw workers in Budapest using this same type of broom along with more modern-looking brooms. It looks like a Quidditch broom from "Harry Potter."

Szentendre on the Danube Bend

2006-05-20T09:23:00.000-05:00

We spent the day in Szentendre, a small town north of Budapest on the Danube Bend. In Hungarian, "Sz" is pronounced like the S in "Sam," so the town name is pronounced sen-ten-dra. (We have seen English loan words like "szerviz" for "service" and "szauna" for "sauna.") The town is known for its cobblestone streets, medieval church, artists and Danube view.

After enjoying the medieval church and early-morning deserted streets, we bought Grandma some flowers at the town's outdoor market. We hope she likes them.

We were in luck because a children's festival was going on today. We got to see kids singing and dancing to some traditional Hungarian music and others dancing to some not-so-wholesome American rap and pop music. The audience and performers probably had no idea what the lyrics were saying.

We enjoyed a quiet lunch in a local restaurant. Andrea had Bűkkős-style pork stew, and Jake had Bugac-style turkey breast stew with fried potatoes. We had two glasses of strong Hungarian wine along with our meals. It was very good. We would like to describe our meal a bit more but aren't sure how.
We wanted to post more pictures, but we are having computer issues. We guess that is how it goes when you use an Internet cafe. We'll try to add them later.

Day 3 Pics

2006-05-20T08:23:00.000-05:00

Here are six of the pictures from our third day in Budapest. Click on the pictures for larger versions.

A view of the Danube, Margit Island and Parliament from Chain Bridge.

A view of Chain Bridge and St. Stephen's Basilica from Castle Hill.

Andrea next to the stone fortifications surrounding the Royal Palace on Castle Hill.

The altar and one of the stained glass windows in Matthias Church on Castle Hill.

Our Hungarian grandma, who only pretended she didn't want to pose for a picture. In true grandma style, she keeps trying to feed us cookies when we are already full, including for breakfast this morning.

Speaking of Grandma, this is a picture of the dessert she made for dinner last night. It is what we described as an apple German pancake-like dessert with meringue topping. She said the name of it is Magiya Rakas, which means "witch's bonfire pile" because the layers are stacked up like wood in a bonfire pile to burn a witch.

Grandma's Home Cooking

2006-05-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

The home cooking came late in the day. The morning didn't start so wonderfully, however. We planned to go to the Esceri Flea Market to check out the local wares. This seemed like a simple task, though it involved four switches on public transportation. After we finally got on the bus that was supposed to take us to the flea market, we never saw it. We kept riding until we got to another market. We got out there and wandered around for a minute before realizing it was a produce market and not the flea market. We asked a woman (well, Andrea pointed to the flea market's name in our guidebook) whether we were going the right way and found out we needed to turn around. So back on the bus we went. But it was the wrong bus. We needed Bus 54, and this was Bus 54GY. Easy mistake to make, but we ended up heading the wrong way. Anyway, we never found the flea market but did find a metro stop that took us back to the city center.

After that crazy adventure, we headed to Castle Hill. To get there, we crossed the Chain Bridge on foot. It's Budapest's oldest bridge and the best way to cross the Danube. After reaching the top of Castle Hill, we enjoyed spectacular views of the city's eastern side. We also enjoyed our first authentic Medieval castle, the Royal Palace. It was huge. Also on Castle Hill, we visited Matthias Church, which dates back to 1290 and was a Muslim mosque for a short time when the Ottomans controlled the city. Every square inch on the inside was covered with colorful designs and murals.

From Castle Hill, we decided to take a scenic tram ride through the Buda Hills to the Children's Railway, which really is run by children. We bought two tickets. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. The ride was an uneventful, unscenic 45-minute trip through the forest. However, we did have the pleasure of sharing the train car with a class of noisy junior high kids on a field trip. Unbeknownst to us, we could not get back to the station we started from, and we weren't sure how to get back to town. Andrea attempted to get help from four middle school-age railway workers who spoke very little English. She had quite a time, and the boys must have been amused by us dumb Americans. But they really wanted to help and managed to direct us to a nearby cograil station. From there, we managed to get back into the city.

Even though we got lost twice today, we enjoyed ourselves. You don't have these kinds of adventures every day.

Back on the home front, our two teenage hosts went out tonight, so it was just us and Grandma. She fixed us a delicious pork and sauerkraut dish with a sour cream and paprika topping. She speaks no English, but between our guidebook and the old Hungarian-English primer she found, we were able to have a choppy yet amusing conversation. We'd like to adopt her as our Hungarian grandmother.

Speaking of the language barrier, we knew that bottled water here is very commonly carbonated, and we intended to avoid buying it. However, that's easier said than done when you don't speak the language. We scrutinized the labels and thought we picked regular old bottled water. But we were wrong. It was not only carbonated but also fortified with calcium and magnesium, which gave it a dirty taste.

Also in our grocery store adventure, Jake picked up what he thought was yogurt for lunch. He failed to notice that the container said "sour cream." Oh well. It was almost as yummy as the kefir he bought. (Kefir is a fermented yogurt-like food.) They both went relatively uneaten.

Last but not least, Jake checked his grades today. He had three A's and a B+, giving him a cumulative college GPA of 3.940, which means he earned summa cum laude honors. Andrea would just like to add that her cumulative GPA was 3.943.

Day 2 Pics

2006-05-19T03:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the comments. We really enjoy hearing from everyone. The weather is a lot like Missouri this time of year. It was rainy Wednesday and today but sunny and warm yesterday.

Here are pictures from the second day.

The Budapest Opera House on Andrassy Avenue. It is fairly characteristic of the nice buildings on that avenue.

The ceiling of the entrance to the baths. Photos are forbidden in the facility, but Jake took two before being stopped by a gruff Hungarian woman.

The castle in City Park that was built for the city's millennium.

The aforementioned Guns and Roses poster.

A classic example of "American" culture here in Budapest. You see these all the time back home... Notice that the pictures are taken directly from the film "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

Pictures!

2006-05-19T02:54:00.000-05:00

We were able to get to an Internet cafe this morning after having fun getting lost on the bus system. We'll explain about getting lost this evening.

These are five of the pictures from our first day in Budapest.

This is the Parliament building.

The dome of St. Stephen's Basilica.

A stained glass window in the rear chapel of St. Stephen's.

Andrea on the top of St. Stephen's with Castle Hill in the background.

Jake on the top of St. Stephen's with Parliament in the background.

Szervusz!

2006-05-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

Or, in English, hello. We just hope we've been pronouncing it right. We realized at the end of the day today that we've been mispronouncing the Hungarian word for "thank you." But everyone seemed to understand what we said and appreciate the fact that we made the effort.

Today was a busy day. We left before 7 a.m. and rode the suburban metro train to the city center. We walked down Andrassy Avenue, which is lined with some beautiful old houses and buildings.

At the end of Andrassy is Heroes' Square, which contains statues of several of the city's "heroes" from the past, primarily Hungarian kings from about 900 through 1300.

We then walked through City Park. While there, we spent some relaxing time at the Szechenyi thermal baths. There are indoor and outdoor pools of varying temperatures, and the water contains large amounts of minerals, supposedly a cure-all for what ails you. There were lots of elderly locals in skimpy Speedos and bikinis. Andrea packed her one-piece in the interest of not offending anyone by showing too much skin, but she was one of the few females not wearing a bikini. We were almost too relaxed when we left. We didn't feel like walking anywhere else.

But walk we did... We checked out a castle in City Park, built for the city's 1,000th year of existence. (It's neat being somewhere with things that old.) We then ventured to Great Market Hall, a huge market with many vendors selling produce, meats, pastries, crafts and more (including recently severed, very large catfish heads.) The food part was great -- like a huge farmers market. We bought two rolls, a hunk of cheese, two tomatoes and an apple for lunch. It was healthy and delicious. We enjoyed our meal in the park across the street and plan to buy lunch there again tomorrow.

Speaking of the produce, everything we have seen has looked like it could be in a photo shoot. The tomatoes were firm and juicy, the radishes were the biggest we have ever seen and there was a large variety of peppers (called paprika) to suit any taste. We also found out that Hungarians like to eat sauerkraut stuffed in about any kind of vegetable, especially peppers.

After lunch, we wanted to go to Margit Island, a large park in the middle of the Danube. This proved more difficult than we thought, as we got lost on public transportation a couple of times. It took some time, but luckily we have a three-day pass for public transportation in Budapest. The island itself was just all right, not much more than a big park.

We then caught the metro back to where we are staying. Grandma served us a dinner of fried sausages, creamed peas and bread. Dessert was an excellent apple German pancake-like dish with meringue on top. Superb.

After the day was over, we were able to reflect on a couple of interesting facts. First, Guns and Roses is apparently still together and performing in Eastern Europe. According to posters we saw, they will be in Budapest next week. Second, Chuck Norris is a pop culture hero here as well as at home, but the Hungarians spell his name Chauk Norjis. Third, it is amazing how small the cars are here. We saw one SUV today (a Jeep Grand Cherokee) and no non-work-related pickup trucks. The cars are small sub-compact vehicles. Fuel efficiency must be considered important here.

Last, we think that we are turning into conservative old farts. We have seen lots of teenagers making out and hanging all over each other in public. Apparently, public displays of affection don't have the same stigma here as in the U.S. We have been grossed out by it. We thought about yelling, "Get a room!" at one young couple but figured that if they didn't speak English, then they might think we were cheering them on.

Tomorrow, we plan to spend a third day in Budapest, focusing primarily on Castle Hill. We are going to try to post pictures again tonight, but if it doesn't work, we are going to try to find an Internet cafe tomorrow. Best wishes to everyone back home.

Greetings from Budapest

2006-05-17T12:25:00.000-05:00

We made it! Although we crossed six time zones and got about two hours of sleep on our New York-to-Budapest flight, we're here and in one piece. And our luggage made it, too. :)

During Andrea's long travel day yesterday, she got a big glob of makeup on her shirt, sprayed carbonated water (that apparently had been shaken) on her pants and finally spilled pasta sauce on herself on the plane. As you can tell, she was being extra careful not to be piggy...

Malev Airlines, Hungary's national airline, is great. They served two meals on an eight-hour flight! We got yummy dinner and then breakfast before we landed. We also had our seats switched so we could sit together, and we were assigned to the first row behind first class, which has much more legroom than the rest of the economy class. (In case you hadn't heard, our original seating arrangement had Jake sitting directly in front of Andrea.)

After landing and making our way into the city, we visited the huge Parliament building and took a short tour. We then went to the also-huge St. Stephen's Basilica, which is ornate and lovely. Those Catholics really know how to build a church. The basilica's guidebook was apparently sponsored by the local Burger King. The back page was a big BK ad, which seemed really out of place in a basilica. The basilica is known for having the intact right hand of St. Stephen. (He died in 1035.)

Maybe our favorite part of the day was our visit to the top of the basilica. The view of Budapest, including the Parliament building, Castle Hill and the Danube, was breathtaking. So was the climb to the top. Unlike most people, we took the stairs up and the elevator down. We're not sure, but we think it was probably about 20 stories up.

We're being hosted by a family in a nice neighborhood in the northern part of the city. We somehow lucked out because they have a guesthouse, so we have our own little private place. And Grandma (who doesn't speak English) wants to cook us some Hungarian food.

We're going to try to upload pictures tonight, but if we have problems, we'll try again soon.

Maps for the Geographically Challenged

2006-05-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

We realized that we had not included any maps of the countries we will be visiting. The first map is the continent of Europe, and the second is a more focused map of the five countries we will be visiting: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia.

Click on the images for a larger version. For those interested in seeing larger maps of the individual countries, try these links: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia.

Ronald, Sam and Ozarkland

2006-05-15T14:48:00.000-05:00

Today is our last full day in this country for a while, so we visited those true icons of American life: Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Ozarkland.

We're not kidding; we really did visit them, though not because we love what they represent or offer. We were given a McDonald's gift card, so we used that to buy fruit and yogurt parfaits for breakfast. We combed Wal-Mart and Ozarkland in search of Missouri postcards, which are surprisingly hard to find. It seems the Missouri postcard industry is trapped in the '80s.

In case you're wondering why we're buying Missouri postcards, we plan to give them to the people we stay with in Europe. We also searched for postcards at tourist information centers, bookstores and Cracker Barrel, all with no luck. We ended up buying some from Ozarkland. We stayed away from its large supply of hillbilly postcards, however.

In addition to our postcard adventure, we bought some last-minute items, turned in the keys to our Columbia apartment and did some other moving-related errands. It's been a thrilling day.

Our flight leaves St. Louis at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. After a layover at JFK Airport in New York, we'll be landing in Budapest at around 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. Missouri time) on Wednesday. It might be a couple of days before we post again, but we plan to update our blog whenever we can, so we hope you check back regularly. Ta-ta for now.

Now Graduating...the Honorable Jake

2006-05-13T17:39:00.000-05:00

And now we would appreciate a collective sigh of relief from everyone. Jake has finally(!) finished his undergraduate degree. He took his last final exam yesterday, and today was his honors graduation. He braved the partly sunny Missouri spring weather and the understimulated crowds to enjoy his two seconds of recognition for graduating Summa Cum Laude in Chemical Engineering. Andrea cheered loudly in vain from the crowd (as Jake could not hear her). Millie's view was obstructed by some overeager and possibly rabid (like foaming-at-the-mouth rabid) mother.

Also on the home front, we moved out of our Columbia apartment, thanks in no small part to a great moving crew made up of Jake's parents, Andrea's mom, and that star performer, Josh. We didn't know that he was going to make the drive down from Iowa, but we were very excited to see him, and he was certainly a huge help. He saved Millie and Lou from being loaded down like pack mules. We loves us some Joshy.

We will now be crashing at our parents' for a few days until we jet out to the land of the Magyars.

Home is where the garbage disposal is

2006-05-12T11:59:00.000-05:00

We're excited to announce that we signed a lease for our apartment in Edwardsville yesterday. This is great news because it means we won't be homeless when we get home from Europe. We're going to have a dishwasher and a washer and dryer and -- drum roll, please -- a garbage disposal! So this apartment is quite an upgrade from our current (until tomorrow) home sweet home. We're going to feel rich. :)

Jake is about to leave for his last final. He's likely to be pretty giddy when he gets home.

Have a great weekend!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

2006-05-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

Even though we aren't quite yet leaving on a jet plane, we have finished packing our bags for the trip. We wanted to show everyone the bags that we will be living out of for the next month. Jake got to model one of the two packs we will be taking. (Isn't he lovely?) Believe it or not, the packs are less than two-thirds full. We left plenty of room for small souvenirs.

Hair Ye! Hair Ye!

2006-05-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

So we were talking about how Andrea should get her hair cut for Europe, and Jake suggested that maybe she should get it chopped off. Her initial reaction was one of shock.

After thinking about it for a while, though, Andrea decided short hair wasn't such a bad idea. Because we'll be living out of backpacks for a month, she won't be packing a hair dryer and wanted a haircut that would dry quickly and look good without being styled. "Maybe I will get rid of my long hair," she thought.

So she went for it. She went to her trusty hairstylist and told her what to do. She was pretty happy about the result. Jake likes it, too.

Even though the short hair was Jake's idea, Andrea is still smarter.

Keeping Our Excitement in Czech

2006-05-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

Today we'll continue our theme of featuring a few of the places that we are most excited about seeing while in Europe. These are places and things that you can't experience in Missouri. They are even pretty unique in the world.

The Czech Republic has several of these places. The first is Prague Castle, which is unsurprisingly found in Prague. Guinness lists this as the world's largest ancient castle, which is pretty cool considering there aren't many ancient castles where we're from. But what really makes this castle appealing to Jake is that it was the location of the Defenestrations of Prague. "Defenestration" is a fancy word for forcefully throwing someone or something out of a window. Prague Castle was the site of two famous defenestrations: one in 1419 and the other in 1618, both of which led to wars.

The first defenestration led to the deaths of seven city council members after they were ejected by a Hussite mob. The second defenestration is the more colorful one. At Prague Castle on May 23, 1618, an assembly of Protestants tried two Catholic governors for violating religious freedoms. The governors were found guilty and were promptly thrown, along with their scribe, out of the high castle windows. They supposedly fell 50 feet into a large pile of horse manure. Miraculously, all survived. Roman Catholic officials claimed that they survived due to divine intervention because of the righteousness of the Catholic cause. Protestant pamphleteers said that their survival had more to do with the horse manure in which they landed. This event was one of the intiators of the Thirty Years War, a war that eventually embroiled the entire continent. So you can see why we would be excited to see this castle. Talk about making history come alive!

One of the other fascinating things to see in the Czech Republic is the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora. In 1278, Henry, the abbot of the Sedlec monastery, returned from the Holy Land with some earth from Golgotha, the hill where Jesus was believed to be crucified. This earth made the Sedlec cemetary a very popular place to be buried, and with the subsequent onset of the Bubonic Plague, space in the cemetery became nonexistant. So the monks set about creating an ossuary decorated with the skeletons of the deceased. It is estimated that more than 40,000 human skeletons are located on the premises. These skeletons are artistically arranged to form everything from chandeliers to the altar to a coat of arms. The chandelier shown here is said to contain at least one of every bone in the body. The ossuary is about 30 miles outside of Prague, so we are going to make a daytrip of it.

These places are just two of the many unique things we are planning to see. Hopefully, we will be able to write about a few more before we leave.

Here's the plan

2006-05-08T18:44:00.000-05:00

Now that we're down to the wire and doing last-minute Europe stuff, the planning stage is mostly a fond memory. We thought we'd explain a little bit about how we prepared for the trip (Is that boring? Oh well...) and what we'll actually be doing for a month in Europe. If anyone reading this decides to venture into Central/Eastern Europe, maybe this will give you some ideas. We actually split up the planning. Andrea took Hungary and Poland and Jake took Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Yes, he had one extra country, but we're spending a total of a day and a half in Slovakia, so he did not have extra work. Don't believe him if he says he did.

Anyway, we chose these five countries in the first place because the European East rail pass can be used in them. Therefore, we knew we could save money on train travel. Also, I should mention that these countries are much less expensive to travel in than the western part of Europe. One day, we'll do London, Paris, Rome, etc., but Jake needs to be a little more removed from college first (meaning he can contribute to the savings account a little more). :)

After we decided which countries to visit, we checked out almost every Eastern Europe guidebook the library offered. We took lots of notes... After we felt more informed, we split up the countries and did more in-depth research about what to visit, how to get around, where to stay, what to eat, what to avoid, etc. We then shared our notes and decided which cities to visit. Here is a little information about what we'll be doing in Budapest, Hungary. (We'll share more info about other places later.)

We'll be in Budapest for several days. A can't-miss Budapest experience is a visit to one of the local thermal baths, where locals and tourists go to relax and for medicinal reasons. Many of the city's main sights, including churches and -- obviously -- a magnificent castle are on Castle Hill. Margit, or Margaret, Island lies in the middle of the Danube and offers gardens, paths to stroll along, baths and more. The city also features many bridges that cross the Danube to link Budapest's two sections: Buda and Pest. Clever, huh? The massive Parliament building includes 12 miles of stairs. We plan to race each other up and down them. (Not really.) Fisherman's Bastion is supposed to be beautiful at sunset.

So these are just a few of the many things we'll be doing in Budapest. The thing we're most excited about has to do with (unsurprisingly) food. We're staying with a family while we're there, and they said Grandma is going to be stopping by to make some authentic Hungarian meals. That sounds right up our alley. :)

Welcome!

2006-05-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

Hello there,

This is our attempt to have a blog about our travels in Europe. We thought posting our stories and photos would be the best way to keep our family members and friends updated on our experiences.

Right now, we're in the thrilling process of packing up our apartment. Every wall is lined with boxes, the oven has been cleaned (yuck!), the walls are bare and we're getting down to the last of our food. This week will be filled with more packing and cleaning while Jake prepares for his last(!) finals and graduation. We're so glad he's almost done -- Jake because he's been sick of school for a long time and Andrea because it's not fun being the sole breadwinner in the house on a journalist's salary.

By the way, Andrea has accepted a position as a copy editor/proofreader at A.G. Edwards' corporate headquarters in St. Louis. She (along with one other editor) will be editing/proofreading all documents the company publishes, from internal communications to e-mails from the CEO to newsletters and brochures to advertisements to the ever-exciting annual report.

We hope you'll check back regularly as we prepare to leave and then as we make our way around Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia. Our flight to Budapest leaves May 16. We can't wait. :)