Craziness

So I haven't updated in a few days simply because I haven't had time.

Thursday my parents finally arrived in Salzburg around 10:30 pm. I was basically sitting at the window watching for them.

We booked our hotel for Friday night and then headed to our hostel. We were starving and the only place open was mcdonalds so that is where we went. We went to bed around 1 AM and we were up again at 7. I showed them around Salzburg, all the main sights, and we had lunch at the market.

Then we hopped in the car for a nearly 4 hr drive to Vienna. Along the was we stopped in St Gilgen, a lovely little town right on the Wolfgang See. We walked around for a while and then hopped in the car for the 3 hr drive to Vienna. We got to Vienna a bit before 7. We stayed in the Allegro Hotel which had a treble clef as a G...it was exciting. Then we wandered around for a bit to find a beer garden. We finally found one and we had a lovely dinner. The waiter was very excited that I could speak German. He talked to me and I translated for everyone. It was fun.

So Saturday we wandered around Vienna. We saw St Stephans Cathedral and a variety of other buildings. We were going to go on a tour of the Schoenbrunn palace but the wait was over an hour and we just didn't have time. We walked around the gardens and then we got in the car once again.

We drove for an hour, into Hungary, and went to this cute little town. We saw a church and walked around for a bit and then took the 20 minute drive to Bratislava. Bratislava is an amazing city. It was so peaceful and pretty. The people are very friendly and it was just a lovely town. I definitely want to go back there someday.

After that we had a 5 hour drive to Krakow. Our road was closed and we had to go on a detour through the mountains and some very old and vacant towns. Luckily Sean-Sean (our GPS) got us through it. Later, after dark, we drove through some very dark and windy roads. It was a little scary but we eventually got back on to the highway. So we entered Poland and about 10 minutes we entered Poland. We were really confused. So in Europe rather than paying tolls, everytime you enter a country you have to buy a pass to use the roads. They are about $7/week. So we stopped at a gas station to buy a pass for what we thought was Poland. Later we realized it was actually the Czech Republic. Luckily, I have a board enough knowledge of languages that I could at least partially understand the people in the gas stations. No one in those regions speaks English or German so I was communicating with everyone in Polish in Czech. It was pretty cool. So once we figured out we were officially in Poland we learned that Poland doesn't have a highway pass. We did have to pay 2 tolls though. We panicked though cause we came to the first toll (about an hr into the country) and we realized that we didn't have any Polish Money (zlote). Luckily the people at the toll also took Euros.

So finally around midnight we arrived in Krakow. We went up to our hostel and they told us there was a mistake and they didn't have a room for us. So they made us a reservation at another hostel (which was awful). The room we paid for was supposed to have 4 beds, a tv, a private bathroom,a buffet breakfast, and wireless. Well the room we got had 8 beds, no bathroom (1 bathroom on the floor which was co-ed and had clear doors), our breakfast was a roll with jelly and butter and we had to clean our own dishes. We were not happy.

So the next day we wandered around Krakow which is really a lovely city. We went on a golf-cart tour of the city and saw all the sights in 30 mins. Then we found ourselves in the middle of a pierogie festival. There were about 20 booths all selling pierogies in different varieties. They had cheese and potato, mushroom, spinach, raspberry, and tons of other varieties. There's nothing better than experiencing a pierogie festival in the middle of Poland. Juli and I also got waffles with whipped cream and fruit on top. They were marvelous.

So then we got in the car for a 1.5 hr drive to Auschwitz-Birkenau. We walked around the camp for a while. It was a much different experience from Dachau. At Dachau the gas chamber and crematorium and all that are still standing so you can see them but the dorms have been demolished. At Auschwitz the dorms and quarantine areas are mostly still there so we could see the real living situations but the gas chambers were all destroyed in the war. So I got to see both sides.

Then we got back in the car to continue our drive to the Czech Republic. However, as we were driving we realized that we still had 300 Zlote and we needed to spend it. 300 zlote is about $100. So we stopped to get dinner and then we stopped at a grocery store. This grocery store was huge. It was like a giant warehouse and it was almost like a mall. There were little stores within the grocery store. So we got some bread and cheese and pasta for dinner, and we bought some eggs and cheese for breakfast and we got some drinks and snacks for the car. We also got gas. We ended up with 9 zlote left after all that so we decided that wasn't so bad (being left with $3 in a foreign currency is not a big deal). So we entered the Czech Republic.

We arrived in Prague at about 9 pm. We are staying in an apartment at the US embassy so there is lots of security. First we had to go through a check-point where they looked through our car, in the engine, and under the car with special mirrors. Then they let us go through. We pulled up to the embassy and the guard standing there didn't speak any English. He sent us up this narrow windy road which dead-ended at a gate. So we had to turn around in this tiny little road...that was interesting. So we drove back down the hill to the embassy. I got out of the car to see if I could communicate with this guard in German (many people in Prague speak German) but when I got there I found it was a different guard...he spoke English. He let me into the embassy and we got our key. Then he showed us to our apartment. We unloaded all of our stuff and had to carry it up to the 3rd floor (no elevator). Once here we found it to be quite nice (a big step up from the night before). We have a kitchen, a bathroom (with separate toilet), laundry, a bed room (for the parents) and a living room. Juli and I are sleeping on the sofa bed which is more comfortable than any bed I have ever experienced. We have wireless and a TV with several German channels plus BBC and CNN. So then the nice guard showed us where to park. We made dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

This morning we did some laundry and then went out into town. We walked up and down some hills, saw some churches, and wandered around the old town. Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. It is my goal to go to everyone in the world (oh we also stopped by the very newly opened hard rock in krakow-opened in July). Our waitress was so excited that we were American. She is Czech but lived in Chicago for most of her life.

After that we came back to our apartment. We got to go into the embassy. We had to go through security and leave all of our electronics at security while we went in. I was allowed to keep my inhaler but they wouldn't let me take my epi-pen. I probably could have argued that but I didn't really care. So we went to the little commissary (gorcery store type thing) which had all American food (so exciting!!). No we have been relaxing in our room and in a few minutes we are heading back out. It was so hot today and the city was so full of tourists so we needed a break. Well that's all for now.

Tomorrow we may be going back to Germany to see about catching a flight or we may stay in Prague for one more night.

Maybe I'll update tomorrow and I'll try to load pictures tonight.

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