From Z(agreb) to B(russels) Part II

Remember way back when I was on vacation?  It seems so long ago!  Finally I'm getting around to the second half of the trip.  Missed the first part?  Check it out here.

Day 6
The alarm went off way too early.  When we booked the plane tickets, it seemed like a good idea.  Plus it was the only direct flight from Zagreb to Brussels.  But when the alarm went off, it was not feeling like a good idea.  We put the finishing touches on our packing and started lugging our suitcases down the two flights of stairs.  As soon as I got into the taxi I realized I had forgotten to give my postcards to the hotel clerk to mail.  But guess what?  There was a post office at the airport!  Hooray!

The flight was uneventful.  I tried to to sleep but settled for keeping my eyes closed and drifting in and out of wakefulness.

We landed in Brussels and passport control took forever but finally we were in a taxi heading for our hotel.  The sight that greeted us outside our hotel was the beginnings of a Christmas market!  Unfortunately it seems we were about a week too early for Christmas and Christmas markets - decorations were up or being set up but not turned on.
The hotel clerk checked us in and told us we were in the Istanbul room.  We stepped inside of the room and found out why - the room even had a hookah pipe!  Instantly the song of the trip became Istanbul (Not Constantinople).  In fact, it's still in my head!  We started calling it our Cave of Wonders room.  Or our Princess Jasmine room.

It was by now definitely lunch time!  We ended up at a seafood restaurant across the square from our hotel.  Our waiter was awesome!  I had salmon, which was good.  But dessert was DELICIOUS!!  It was my first exposure to speculoos, a type of gingerbread, but my dessert was in ice cream form.  Yum!!  And shockingly this was to be my only ice cream of the trip.  I know, right?  Me, the queen of gelato.  It was just too cold.

Our next stop was Church of Ste. Catherine, which was just a block from our hotel.  The church was completely under construction.  From there we walked to the Grand Place, which is a super cool.  I really like this square.  Since we were there, we visited the City Museum, which was inside the King's House.  The top floor held a collection of Manneken-Pis costumes.  That little statue has lots and lots of costumes!!

We wandered around a little bit more, poking our heads into chocolate, lace, tapestry and beer stores before walking over to see Manneken-Pis himself.  And then it was dinner time.  We found a little pizzeria close to our hotel (delicious!) and then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 7
We slept in a little and then had the joy of using our Princess Jasmine shower (oh how I missed our Zagreb shower).  It was on the small side which wouldn't have been too bad except the shower head was right in the middle.  And it was sort of at a slant so everything kept sliding.

Breakfast was a decent spread.  And they had a make your own cappuccino machine!  And remember that delicious gingerbread ice cream?  They had it in a spread which tasted fantastic on toast!

We set off to explore Brussels.  We walked through the Grand Place up to St. Michael's Cathedral.  This is where the royals are married and buried.

From there we walked up to the Upper Town and went through the BELvue Museum, which went through Belgium history (from 1830 to the present day) as well as a look at the kings.  In 1830, Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands.  Underneath the BELvue Museum were the remains of a 12th century palace which we explored as well.

Our tummies were telling us it was time to eat, so we had lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Museum of Musical Instruments.  The view was nice and the food was good.  The menu was all in French and Dutch so we had to guess a little but I ended up with a curry chicken which I enjoyed.

Next up was the Magritte Museum - Rene Magritte was a surrealist painter.  I wasn't sure what to expect with a surrealist painter, but I enjoyed the museum, much more than I expected to.  It was a good mix of paintings and letters and photos from his life.

We explored a bit more, did some shopping and by then it was dinner time.  We had crepes for dinner!  Yum!!  It was a super tiny little restaurant, but very good.  And I had peach beer which was delicious.  I am not much of a beer drinker (I just don't like the taste) but this peach beer was something else.  So good!!

Day 8
After breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to the train station and caught a train to Brugge (about an hour or so away).  For their honeymoon, my parents had bicycled around Europe.  One of the places they had gone to was Brugge and some of the photos they had taken in Brugge are still hanging up in their house.  So of course I wanted to go!  I had been to Brugge once before and was blown away by its charm so I was eager to go back.

We arrived in Brugge and didn't read Rick's instructions close enough and the 4 minute bus ride we thought we were taking into town turned into a 34 minute bus ride.  Darn!  Guess it would have been better to take the 20 minute stroll into town.  But we made it to the Market Square to find more preparations for a Christmas market.

We started following Rick's City Walk, passing by Burg Square, the Basilica of the Holy Blood, and the Blind Donkey Street.  Lunch ended up being frites (or french fries) which we ate while sitting by the river. 

Our next stop was the Groeninge Museum, which was mostly Flemish painters (Flemish primitive, which basically means pre-Renaissance).  Whenever I hear Flemish, I generally think dark paintings, but that just goes to show you what I know.  These paintings had a lot of color!  From there we went to the Church of Our Lady, which had a beautiful Madonna and Child (by Michelangelo) as well as paintings from the 13th Century, which were fascinating.

Even though it was cold, we decided to brave it and take a boat ride through the canals.  Waiting in line, we were entertained by 4-ish yr old boy who was singing about ducks.  Swim, ducky swim.  It was quite the song.  The boat ride was fun, if cold!

Since lunch really wasn't that substantial, it was definitely time for an afternoon snack of waffles!!  We went into this little restaurant and were the only people there.  But I had probably the best cappuccino I have ever had!  I don't know if it was the cinnamon or the whip cream that made it so good.  Probably both.  And the waffles were good too!

We finished up our day by meandering through the town, going in and out of chocolate and lace shops.  There was a post office in the Market Square so I stopped to get my stamps and even though there was no one else in the shop, they wouldn't help me until I got a number.  But as soon as I took a number, it came up and I was helped.

It was dark by now and the Christmas decorations were actually lit up!!  Hooray!!

We were trying to decide whether to eat in Brugge, or wait until we made it back to Brussels.  We decided on a Rick restaurant and set off to find it.  We completely missed the street the first time, but finally found it.  Between the bus and trying to find this restaurant, Rick was not on our favorite people list.  Thank goodness we didn't give up on the restaurant, because the food was so good!  It served "Flemish specialties" and we had the beef stew.  Which came with a side of applesauce (random, right?  but oh so good!).  And I tried the cherry beer tonight.  Yum!  The restaurant was on the small side but it was decorated for Christmas and they sat us next to the fireplace (which after a cold day was a great way to warm up).

Then it was bus to the train station, train back to Brussels, metro to the hotel and bed.

Day 9
Our last day, and our last breakfast at the hotel.   Gearing up for the Christmas market was in full swing as we stepped out of our hotel and saw the Ferris Wheel they were assembling.  On the next block was a merry-go-round with random sea creatures and birds.  We slowly made our way over to Mannekin Pis to see him in the daytime.  And we started walking towards Notre Dame, passing by a section of the old city wall leftover from the 13th Century.  Notre Dame had beautiful stained glass.

From there we walked over to the Museum of Ancient Art (the Modern Art section was closed).  I don't know if I would consider the art we saw to be ancient.  There were lots of paintings of St. Sebastian, St. Anne and St. Barbara.

We walked back down and had lunch at the crepe place, which was once again delicious.  And finished up the day by going to the Costume & Lace Museum, which had lots of beautiful clothes.

We made it back to Grand Place where they were in the process of putting lights up on the Christmas tree.  But the stupid crane they were using did not make it easy to take good pictures.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant near our hotel.  Pizza - but just any pizza - pizza with salami, mushrooms, and Gorgonzola!  Wow, that sure isn't margherita pizza!!

Then we headed back to the hotel room to pack.  Packing is never my favorite thing to do.  But finally everything was in the suitcase.

Day 10
No breakfast at the hotel this morning.  Instead we were in a cab on our way to the airport.  We said our goodbyes and then Jana was off to Houston and I was off to Seattle.  

Istanbul Room

Grand Place

View of Brussels

I forgot who he was...

Watch out when you are taking feet pictures!

Yummy fries!

Brugge

Christmas Decorations

Ferris Wheel being assembled outside our hotel

Mannekin Pis

Our last day and they finally put the lights on the tree

From Z(agreb) to B(russels) Part I

At one point we thought about trying to squeeze in a day trip to Antwerp so we could say we'd gone from Z to A but it wasn't in the cards.

Day 1
This trip did not get off to the smoothest of starts.  A few hours before I was to leave I realized the spot on my camera lense wasn't just a spot but some sort of scratch.  I took some test pictures and thought maybe I would be able to live with the spot but then I thought more about it and realized I wouldn't.  So I jumped into the car and took off for Best Buy.  I got a brand new camera in under 10 minutes.  Which is a miracle in itself that I was able to decide on one in such a short amount of time.  But then again, I basically chose my old camera - just a newer version.  Crisis #1 averted.

And then it was time to leave for the airport.  In the car I did my usual check.  Passport?  Yes.  Credit cards?  Yes.  Debit card?  Ye....no.  No?  No!  What?!  I don't know if I can make it through the trip without a debit card.  Fortunately we hadn't been on the road too long and were able to turn around and pick up my debit card.  Whew!  And I still made it to the airport in plenty of time.  Crisis #2 averted.

I quickly checked everything else - camera, phone & kindle.  I don't have much to say about the long flight or the short flight except finally we were in Croatia.  (I met up with Jana in Frankfurt.)  We had a super chatty taxi driver.  We got to the hotel and found out (to our dismay) there was no elevator at our hotel.  Ugh.  So we lugged our suitcases up the stairs.  Fortunately we only had to go two flights of stairs.  Other than the lack of lift (or elevator), the hotel really was great.  It was in a fantastic location.  And it was quite large.   

We set off on a search for food as we were both starving!!  I'm sure you aren't surprised we found a pizzeria.  It wasn't the best pizza I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst. 

To keep awake (and shake jet lag) we wandered around, looking at the Cathedral and walking through Jelacic Square.  But finally we gave up the fight and went back to our hotel and went to bed, figuring a long, good night of sleep would be just the ticket.

Day 2
Well, that long night of sleep turned into a very long night of sleep.  We woke up with just a few minutes left before breakfast is over.  We threw on clothes and went downstairs.  Breakfast was good - the usual spread of meat, cheeses, rolls, yogurt and cereal.  And cappuccinos!!  Delicious cappuccinos!

We got ready to explore Zagreb.  The funicular took us up to the Upper Town (or Gradec).  I do so love funiculars!  Our first view after stepping out of the funicular was the Burglars' Tower.  It is from this tower a cannon is fired every day at noon.  And that cannon is loud!!  Next stop was the Church of St. Catherine which was absolutely beautiful on the inside.  There was a panorama view of Zagreb near the church.  Continuing up the street we ran into another church, the Church of St. Mark.  This church had a very colorful tile roof.  I can't really tell you about the inside because it wasn't open.

A block from the church was Ivan Mestrovic's former house which has been converted into a museum.  I like to think of Ivan Mestrovic as a Croatian Rodin.

The City Museum was close and so it was our next stop.  It was a very cool museum but it did start to drag on towards the end.  Our old friend (from Vienna) Maria Theresa (of the Hapsburgs) made a few appearances.  Surprise, surprise - Croatia was once part of the Hapsburg empire.

We had lunch at the self proclaimed oldest pub in Zagreb.  The menu didn't seem to have any food listed but when the waiter came over he assured us they had food.  In fact, he would make us a sandwich himself.  It was a decent sandwich followed up by a delicious cappuccino.  Have I mentioned I love drinking cappuccinos in Europe?

Our next stop was the Museum of Broken Relationships.  There was a lot of funny stories (one about Frisbee was my favorite), some sad stories, and a few fairly disturbing stories about the end of relationships.  It was a good museum.

We wandered around a bit more and did some shopping before heading to dinner.  Our waitress was great and recommended a good wine and pepper schnapps.  The pepper schnapps was quite interesting.  We also split a chestnut cake for dessert.

Towards the end of our meal, two priests walked in dressed in full priest garb.  (Doesn't that sound like a joke?  Two priests walk into a restaurant...)  We weren't sure what was going on and our waitress explained they were baptizing the new wine.  It is a tradition every mid-November to bless the new wine year. 

Day 3
So, we did not spend the most restful night.  I don't think I slept for more than an hour at a time.  Instead I got to listen to the stupid bells that seemed to go off at random times.  I think I finally fell really asleep right before the alarm.  Figures.  Apparently that long, long, long night of sleep caught up with us.  Stupid jet lag.  I had a much needed cappuccino at breakfast.

We walked up to the Upper Town to the Croatian Museum of Naive Art which was a really enjoyable museum.  My favorite was a portrait entitled "Cross-Eyed Steve" and sure enough it was a portrait of the artist's cross-eyed neighbor. 

The next museum (Natural History Museum) was not my favorite.  It seemed like a bunch of collections haphazardly thrown together.  I could have done without the rooms of stuffed birds or the ginormous shark but the minerals and fossils were interesting.

The Arts & Crafts museum (in my opinion) had little to do with arts and crafts.  But instead it had lots of furniture.  And a room full of clocks (one of which was a hidden Mickey!).  I'm all the way in Zagreb and I find a hidden Mickey!!

We walked over to the bus station to catch a bus to the neighboring town of Samobor.  Once we arrived we tried to follow Rick's directions into town but they were completely useless.  My theory is this was a new bus station and Rick's directions were from the old bus station.  We finally made it to the main square and by that time we were starving!!  It didn't help that daylight was fading fast either.  So we took a few photos and looked around before finding a place to eat.  I wasn't up to being adventurous so I had gnocchi, which was delicious.  After dinner we walked along the river in the freezing cold towards what looked like the ruins of an old castle.  We reached a little shrine to some saint and figured it was time to turn back.  When we reached the main square it was definitely dessert time!  We split a cream cake, which was the specialty of that area.  No espresso or cappuccino for us, because unfortunately the machine was broken.  So instead we tried Bermet, also a typical drink of the area - a sweet red wine.  It reminded me a little of sangria.

Our adventure in Samobor over, we took the bus back and then took our first ride on the tram back to the main square. 

Day 4
I slept much better, which was good because we woke up early to catch a train to Ljubljana (in Slovenia).  After breakfast at the hotel, we caught the tram (since we were now experts) to the train station.  And Jana bought us tram tickets in Croatian!  (Although, there really wasn't a language issue - they spoke better English, for the most part, than I did!) 

This would turn out to be the day of passport stamps.  Right before crossing over to Slovenia, the train stopped and Croatian officials came on the train and looked at our passports.  And then right after crossing into Slovenia, Slovenian officials came on to the train and looked at our passports.  When we first stopped Jana and I looked at each other.  We were both thinking "did we need a visa to enter Slovenia?"  But no, this was just standard border crossing. 

In our train car was another woman who was Croatian and ended up getting roped into helping someone who was on the wrong train.  Woman 1 (who was lost and spoke a little Italian) was trying to get to Belgrade and was going in the wrong direction.  She kept asking Woman 2 (the nice Croatian who spoke a little Italian) where we were going and where we were.  Woman 2 kept answering her and was very nice and very patient about it.  Literally she (Woman 1) kept asking basically those same questions for an hour.  Over and over and over again.  The train is going to Villach, Austria.  We are approaching Ljubljana, Slovenia.  It was bordering on the ridiculous.  Hopefully she was able to finally get where she wanted to go.

Rick's directions from the train station to the main square in Ljubljana were much better!  We walked along the riverside market (which was decently active for being such a cold day) and ended up at the Dragon Bridge.  I do love dragons!  Another random thought - I always associate St. George and the Dragon with England but St. George is everywhere!!

We turned around and walked back along the river to a pizzeria recommended by Rick.  I had - you guessed it - margherita pizza!  It was much, much better pizza than what we had on the first day.

After lunch we continued our meandering with our destination being the funicular to take us up to the castle.  Yay!  Another funicular!  There wasn't much left of the castle and the view ended up being a bust as there was this haze/fog that had settled on the city.  We watched a little movie about the history (or Jana watched and I listened while closing my eyes) and went through the museum.  We took the funicular back down to the lower town, wandered around some more, did a little shopping and then headed back to Zagreb.

For dinner we wanted to try one of Rick's recommendations in the Upper Town, so we took the funicular up but they did not have any availability.  Darn.  So back down to another Rick restaurant (and a pizzeria) where I had the gnocchi (I was trying to branch out from just having pizza).  It was good, but I have had better.

Day 5
Our last day in Zagreb.  And our last breakfast at the hotel (as we had booked a stinking early flight the next morning). 

First on the agenda was to visit the market and do some shopping.  Foremost on my list - postcards!!  I had been looking and looking for postcards but had not found them anywhere (well anywhere in Zagreb - I did find some in Ljubljana).  Success!  I finally did find postcards along with other treasures. 

Random fact - the cravat (the ancestor of the neck tie) was first invented in Croatia.  So of course I had to do some tie shopping.  The proprietor of the tie store was really cute and sweet and didn't speak a lot of English.  And I swear he was mixing some German in with his Croatian.  It was probably the most fun shopping I did.

We dropped off our packages and headed over to the Cathedral to look at it during the day before heading back up to the Upper Town to see if we could have lunch in the restaurant we were turned away from yesterday.  And we could!  Our waiter recommended an appetizer and it was yummy!  Some sort of fried puff things with cheese.  Lunch was steak with fried potatoes - yum!

On our way to the Archaeological Museum we started noticing lots and lots of people in Croatian soccer scarves, shirts, hats - you name it.  Sure enough, the Croatian national team was going to be playing Turkey that night.

The Archaeological Museum was very well laid out and it had a mummy!!  Which I just think is fascinating.  It had been in someones collection and they decided to donate it.

Our next stop was the Old Masters Gallery which was a small museum on the top floor of a building and by the time we were done, everyone else in the building had gone home and it was very dark. 

As we walked back to the main square we were seeing more and more soccer fans, some of whom were singing and carrying on. 

We had dinner at the pizzeria we had eaten at the night before and this time I did have pizza - but pizza funghi!  Mixing it up a little from my regular pizza margherita. 

We could no longer put off the inevitable and we went back to the hotel to pack.  We turned on the soccer match, which ended in a tie.  But not long after the game ended we could hear singing from the main square.  Guess the tie was a good thing?

So ends Part I - stay tuned for Part II where we get to eat chocolate and fries and waffles in Belgium!

Cathedral

Feet picture - on the funicular

View of Zagreb

Church of St. Mark

St. George

Ad for the Zagreb marathon

Hidden Mickey

Samobor

Market in Ljubljana

Dragon Bridge

Not the greatest view from the castle

Jelacic Square

Yummy appetizer

I'm Really Getting Sick of Riding Rides with You

So while those words did come out of Jessica's mouth they originated with a kid in front of us while we were waiting for the Yeti (proper title being Expedition Everest, but much more of a mouthful than to simply call it the Yeti).  It cracked us up and so became our go-to phrase during the trip!  I think we're going to do a bullet point extravaganza to sum up the trip because that means it will actually get done!

• On the Magical Express video, Huey, Dewey and Louie are on the screen and the little kid behind me goes "3 Donalds!"  And this is just another reason why Disney needs a Classic Disney channel to show all the old cartoons!!  That way Huey, Dewey and Louie are not mistaken for their uncle!
• We had to work our way up to the Yeti with the trio of dinosaur rides - Dinosaur Dumbo (I don't know its real name), Primeval Whirl, and Dinosaur.
• We were entertained (and reassured) while we were in line for the Yeti by 4 cousins (ages 7 to 12).  The one who said "I'm really getting sick of riding rides with you" was pulled out of line by mom and substituted with a girl cousin.  They were super cute and helped pass the time.  Although they did tell us that the Harry Potter ride was not a good ride.
• I just discovered the fruit and cheese snacks at Animal Kingdom!!  Yum!
• Jessica, errr Cruella, got reprimanded by most of the characters at Mickey's Not So Scary.  Poor puppies!  
• I did get recognized as Minnie (I'm sure the ears helped!) and Minnie liked my outfit! :) 
• I remembered the Headless Horseman being way cooler.
• Ditto with Cinderella's carriage.
• We did not do so well getting candy at the Halloween party - and it was not the good candy either (i.e. no chocolate).  I was fairly disappointed in my candy haul.
• I felt a little like a traitor going to Universal but good things about Universal?  Starbucks, the super cool hand dryer machines, and BUTTERBEER!
• I was nervous about going on Harry Potter for several reasons, one being would I be able to fit considering I'm on the bigger side?  I sat in the test chair outside the ride and was given the okay that I could sit in any chair I wanted.  Whew!
• Harry Potter was a crazy ride!!  But fun!  And much better if you close your eyes in the room with the spiders.  
• Of course the second time I got stuck in the room with the dementors.  Ick!
• Butterbeer was DELICIOUS!  (A cross between cream soda and butterscotch.)
• Loved Suess Landing!
• Usually it's Toy Story over Rockin' Rollercoaster, but this time it was the other way around.  
• Jessica IS the rebel spy!
• Um, when did Lightning McQueen replace Herbie on Lights, Motors, Action?!
• Watching Fantasmic while Illuminations is going on is a little distracting.
• We brought our sweatshirts instead of buying new Mickey ones.  Which is probably the more fiscally responsible thing to do. 
• Not having a park hopper option is somewhat liberating!  Instead of deciding what park to go to next when you are done, you just go home.
• I love driving to Magic Kingdom (and Epcot) and looking at roads I've run on - and will again in February.  Ack!!  That isn't that far away!!
• We had zero line magic at Epcot.  Which meant no Mexico and no Nemo.  Boo.  Guess that means another trip is in order! :)  Hey, how about February?
• There is no gum sold in the Orlando Airport.  Seriously.  No gum sold in the entire airport.  Normally it wouldn't bother me, except I caught a cold and so really needed gum on the way home.  No such luck.  It was a fairly painful descent (although I've probably had worse, but this was the worst in recent memory).  And my ears are still plugged.  Ugh.

Disneyland - September 2011 Edition

Would you believe it?  My annual park pass expired at the beginning of August.  And since then I have been feeling like I lost something - the ability to pick up and go to a Disney park on a whim to be precise.  To renew the annual pass or not is similar to the chicken and the egg.  If I have the pass, I can go whenever, and it will save me money the more times I go so of course I should get the pass.  But if I didn’t have the pass, I wouldn’t go as often, which would also save me money.  Ah, the dilemma.  But since I am planning on going to WDW in October and February (for the Princess Half!), I felt justified in renewing.  But instead of renewing (which you can’t renew the premier pass online – lame!), Jana & I figured it was probably time to go to Disneyland and buy in person.  Pretty smart, right?  Plus with me doing the Tinker Bell in January, and us going to Disneyland to renew, I had completely validated my decision to renew the premier pass.  Completely makes sense to renew!  For those of you thinking I have a *slight* Disney addiction, you would be wrong.  It’s more than slight.  I was trying to explain it to a friend of mine.  It is my happy place.  I can feel stress melt away as I walk through the entrance.  It isn’t just about rides or food or what have you.  It’s about the atmosphere and how I instantly feel young again.  Not that I am old, by any stretch.  Plus it is a fantastic place to meet friends who also happen to be Disney fanatics!  Especially meeting up with those friends who love Disney and who live in other parts of the country.

(And this year, I started a spreadsheet to track my savings.  Oh yes, I am a nerd.)

All this to say, guess where I was last weekend?  That’s right!  Disneyland!!  And perfect timing – since I had just finished the You Go Girl Half (within my time goal!) I felt a little like a Super Bowl winner – “Emily, you just successfully walked the You Go Girl Half in 3 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds.  What are you going to do next?”  To which I happily reply, “I’m going to DISNEYLAND!!"


We’re going to do this recap in bullet point style:

• We had breakfast at La Brea all three mornings.  Yum!!  And each morning I would have juice, cappuccino and water.  Liquid much?  Why yes, thank you!
• I love the new Little Mermaid ride – especially the first part where you go “under the sea” and the room playing Under the Sea (although I didn’t care for the Ariel with the crazy hair in that room).
• I had visions of the new Goofy’s Sky School being like Barnstormer.  Boy was I wrong!  Instead Goofy’s Sky School is a lot like Mulholland Drive.  Except with Goofy.  And planes. 
• I totally won on Midway Mania.  Jana totally won on Astro Blasters.
• It does not take much to convince me I NEED to buy another Mickey sweatshirt (instead of walking back to the hotel to get one).
• Speaking of shopping, I think I got one thing on my list.  But I got lots of things not on my list! 
• I would so buy a World of Color soundtrack if it were for sale (hint, hint Disney merchandising people). 
• Speaking of soundtracks, I was set to buy a Disneyland soundtrack, but could not find one anywhere.  Boo.  Word to the wise, if there is something at Disney that you want, don’t wait to buy it because you may never find it again. This has happened more than once.
• This was the first time I smelled the ocean on Soarin'!  I don't know if it was because I had been near the ocean the week before and the sight of the ocean triggered the smell or if it actually smells like the ocean.
• I love the Matterhorn at night!!  Not so much during the day.
•  I heart Mr. Toad.  And I think I need to read the Wind in the Willows (I thought I read it when I was younger but I’m not so sure now). 
• We waited in little to no lines for Indiana Jones – all 3 times we rode it!  Guess that means the park wasn’t super crowded (although it felt like it sometimes). 
• Holiday Haunted Mansion rocks my socks! 
• Oh – and it smells like gingerbread!!
• Mickey Ice Cream is delicious!!
• I still get teary eyed watching Fantasmic.  The DL version is my fave (although I do like the setup better at WDW.)
• After Jana left I had about another hour before I needed to leave so I got in line for Tinker Bell.  Oh yes.  My excuse for being an adult in line to get her picture made with Tinker Bell?  I needed to do costume research of course!  (I'm thinking about putting together a fairy outfit for the Tinker Bell Half.  Not sure how yet...  Or what fairy for that matter!)
• Pirates was closed.  Boo.  Guess that means I need a return trip. :)
• Drinking Diet Coke on vacation is awesome!!  (I only let myself drink soda on vacation or in a dire emergency.)
• ETA: Oh!  I completely forgot one very important thing!  We were walking over to Fantasyland and I glanced at the guys walking next to us and they were both wearing identical shirts with Club 33 on them.  If I were brave, I would have asked them if they worked there and how we could score an inside glimpse of the famed Club 33!  But no, instead I walked them walk by and wondered...

 I’m sure there was much more, but that’s all I have for the moment.  See ya real soon!

What to have to drink this morning?

Drinks at Breakfast #1

Drinks at Breakfast #2

Drinks at Breakfast #3

In line for the Little Mermaid

California Adventures

Disneyland

I heart Mr. Toad

I heart Mickey Ice Cream

Us in our new Mickey sweatshirts

Costume Research - hmm, Tink or Vidia?

Edelweiss

Well I'm not coming up with a witty opening line so let's just get to it!

Day 1

As flights go, there was nothing out of the ordinary about this flight, other than it was long.  But finally I was in Vienna!  After dropping my bags off at my hotel, I set off to walk around to shake off the jet lag (and stay awake until a reasonable hour).  My hotel was super close to St. Stephen's Cathedral so I walked down.  The cathedral itself wasn't open but guess what was?  The stairs to the top!  343 steps later I was at the top.  The top was enclosed though, which was a bit of a disappointment.  But the view was still pretty amazing.  I continued wandering around and found a gelato shop!  Yum!  I stayed awake as long as I could and then I gave up the fight and went to sleep.

Day 2

I started off the day at the Albertina Museum.  Last time I was here, the Albertina had crazy long lines.  This time it was amazingly empty.  Probably because I entered not too long after it opened.  They had a special exhibit from entitled from Monet to Picasso.  While I'm a huge fan of Monet, Picasso is not my favorite, but I was impressed with a couple of the Picasso's in this exhibit.  From there I hopped on an open top bus tour of the city.  And then it was out to Schonbrunn Palace, which was absolutely beautiful, especially with the flowers in bloom.  Back to Vienna and dinner at an Italian restaurant with dessert at my fave, Cafe Sacher!  Jana & I loved this cafe when we were in Vienna.  As a side note, I saw several women throughout the day with race bibs and medals.  If I had but known of this race!!  I so would have joined.  If running and Disney isn't expensive enough, can you image running and Europe?  But how much fun would that be? 

Day 3

I started off the day by switching hotels since the business portion of my trip was starting.  I finally got to see the inside of St. Stephen's and then toured the Imperial Apartments.  I walked through the parks and then met up with my co-workers for a brief walking tour of Vienna and dinner. 

Day 4 & 5
The next few days are going to be brief since they really won't be too interesting.  The taxi driver taking us from Vienna to Bratislava thought it would be too boring to go via the highway so he took us via the back roads.  Okay, random.  But we did see some cool Roman artifacts in the distance.  Dinner Tuesday night was at a restaurant near the castle and Wednesday night at a museum after a boat ride.

Day 6
We finished up at the conference and decided to swing by Munich for the afternoon before heading to Salzburg.  It was the beginning of the rainy part of our trip.  In fact our train from Munich to Salzburg was delayed because of lightening!  Another side note - today was the day we ended up in three countries - Slovakia, Germany and finally Austria.

Day 7
Well this morning did not get off to the best start and I was late.  I am never late.  Okay so you aren't supposed to say never or always.  I am rarely late.  But I finally got on track and met up with my bosses and we were off to a salt mine.  We dressed up in white miner suits and rode a train deep into the mine.  You'd better believe I was humming Hi-Ho!  And then we slid down a chute!  I was a little nervous but survived.  After the mine we went back into town and had lunch.  After lunch we walked around old town Salzburg and avoided the rain.  Later it was a beer garden and then dinner.

Day 8
So you know what Salzburg is famous for?  Well, besides salt and Mozart?  And I probably should clarify - famous for Americans.  Why the Sound of Music of course!!  It was the home of the Von Trapps and where parts of the movie were filmed!  We went on a Sound of Music tour (and sang on the bus!) and saw the gazebo, both houses that were used to film the front and the back of the Von Trapp villa, and the church the Captain and Maria were married in for the movie.  It was super fun!!  I really want to watch the movie again since now I can say "I've been there!"  After the tour we walked through the Mirabell gardens where Do-Re-Mi was filmed.  For dinner I had Wiener Schnitzel (when in Austria) and we finished up the day with dessert at Cafe Sacher.  And then it was time to say goodbye to my bosses who were going heading home the next day.

Day 9
My day to explore Salzburg!  I started off the day at Mozart's house, which was not the best museum I've ever been to but still interesting.  Then it was the Salzburg Museum and Rick's old town stroll.  Next up was the castle.  But do I take the funicular up to the top?  Or walk up?  I love funiculars.  It is probably my favorite word.  So funicular it was!  The castle was pretty interesting - they even had a random marionette exhibit.  Because I took the funicular up, I decided to walk down and did so the long way, walking above the town for awhile before making my way back down.  Dinner and then gelato and then I headed back to my hotel.

Day 10
I decided to sleep in today and it turned out to be the wrong decision because as I stepped out of the shower the power went out.  Ugh.  Let's just say I did not have the best hair day.  Finally I was ready to go.  I went to the Salzburg Cathedral and then it was time for my tour to Eagle's Nest.  I had debated trying to go to Berchtesgaden and the Eagle's Nest by myself but in the end decided to take a tour.  Not too long into my tour I realized I am really not a tour person.  The only thing we ended up doing was the Eagle's Nest, which was cool.  The Eagle's Nest was a chalet built up high in the mountains which was a 50th birthday present for Hitler.  He didn't use it all that much as he was afraid of heights.   To reach the top, we had to take special buses with really good breaks and an elevator.  The view was incredible!!  And don't worry - I stayed far, far away from the edge and did not go on any unmarked trails! :)  After the tour we were dropped off back in Salzburg.  I was looking for a Rick recommended restaurant but I walked by a pizzeria and the smell filled my nose and I wasn't going to be happy unless I had pizza!  So pizza it was.  Yum!

And that was all - the next morning I woke up super early and flew home!

At Schonbrunn Palace

Downtown Bratislava 

Marienplatz (Munich)

In the Salt Mine

Still Life - at the Biergarten

Back of the "Von Trapp Villa"

Doe a deer, a female deer

Salzburg - Mozart platz

Salzburg Castle

Afternoon gelato break

Eagle's Nest

Yum!  Pizza!