After 3 months in central and eastern Europe, Turkey was going to be a change of pace. So we decided to spend a few weeks exploring this country that is split both culturally and geographically between Europe and Asia. We stayed in six different cities/town during our visit.

Istanbul

Not the capital of Turkey (that's Ankara) but certainly the cultural hub and most well-known city in Turkey. Istanbul was the perfect transition between Europe and Asia as it really is a mix of east and west culture and development (and is literally split between the two continents). It has the western and modern feel to it with its major pedestrian shopping streets lined with chain stores, fancy hotels and numerous bars promoting alcohol. In other respects, it feels very much like a massive, crowded developing nation with muslim and eastern influence. A good example in my mind is the Blue Mosque, a beautiful, large mosque from the 17th century (middle eastern influence) that has a multicolored, dancing fountain in the courtyard in front of it that looks straight out of Vegas (western).

Ephesus

Ephesus is one of the best preserved Roman cities on remaining in the modern worlds. It ranks right up there behind Pompeii and Rome as the best Roman sight I have been to. It was surprising to me to find such an established Roman city in Turkey, but I forgot how far the Roman empire spread (Istanbul was the capital of the eastern part of the late Roman empire, then known as Constantinople). Ephesus take about a day to walk through and you see the remains of old houses, shops and meeting places. The best preserved, and most impressive, sites are the very large amphitheater and the facade of the old library, which are extremely well preserved. While it is definitely a city of ruins today, you still get a feel for how expansive and impressive Roman culture and technology was. It is also said that the virgin Mary actually fled to Ephesus and you can view her old home here.

Fethiye and Kas

Fethiye and Kas were the beautiful beach portions of our trip. Fethiye, though beautiful, was a little bit of a cheesy beach town, reminiscent of Panama City or the like. We were randomly there during the Turkish air show though and got to see some cool acrobatics of the Turkish military fighter planes.

Kas was even prettier and reminiscent of some of our favorite places in Croatia. The coastline was spectacular with views of the islands and mountains in the distance. Because of a mutual Facebook friend we were able to hook up with new traveler friends, also traveling for a year! They were dog sitting (for 7 dogs!) at a beautiful house with a large balcony and pool overlooking the ocean. They invited us to stay at the house and we had an amazing time enjoying the view and swapping travel tales. Definitely check out their blog for their great travel stories http://www.detourswelcome.com. Thanks so much Ana and Nic!

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the buses in Turkey. The train system in the country sucks, so everyone takes buses to travel, which can sometimes be long journeys of 12+ hours. But the buses are nice....damn nice. I mean, super comfy seats that fully recline, personal on-demand video screens and beverage and food service nice. It was a very pleasant surprise in a country that sometimes still seems like it is quite developing, but definitely not on the transportation front.

Check back soon for a write up of the city in Turkey with the most unique landscape, Cappadocia (plus some posts about Turkish Food and a weird Turkish cultural experience!

I cannot fail to write a blog about the Czech Republic, not just because we loved Prague and the quaint towns of Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora but mainly because my family came to meet us! 

Gordon and Pat (dad and stepmom) braved the travel itinerary from hell, consisting of 3 or 4 connections to meet us in Vienna.  While Vienna is beautiful and has some of the most impressive architecture in Europe, the weather really affected our ability to explore it properly. It gave us the chance to check out some classic Vienna cafes in our attempts  to avoid the rain. We were lucky that our last day was beautiful and we enjoyed walking to the outdoor market, Naschmarkt, where we had lunch and to some of Vienna's beautiful parks.  

The real adventure began as many an adventure has in my lifetime: with my dad behind the wheel of a car--in this case our rental car. The plan seemed easy enough, we would drive from Vienna to Prague and possibly stop at a small town along the way.  However, driving in a new country is more challenging than you might guess.  Road symbols, exit and entry ramps, and availability of gas stations are no longer familiarly predictable. Not to mention the road signs are in a foreign language! Coupled with a GPS and a father who had differing opinions on the best route to take, our first few hours were stressful.  I was taken back to meandering road trips from childhood,and I think Jed was taken back to various moments in our trip when I was similarly stubborn about navigating. At one point, the GPS was seriously confused and took us down what appeared to be a farmers driveway in the middle of nowhere. The Czech farmer and his sheep were as confused as us. We continued this way and that and concluded the must be no major roads in rural Czech Republic.

Lastly, Jed and I took a day trip to Kutna Hora, a small town where the main attraction is a church decorated with human bones.  It all started in the middle ages when a Czech noble man brought back some fertile earth from the holy land and promised that those buried under it would decompose quickly and have a straight shot to heaven.  Well, there was little holy land real estate and heavy demand, so after a short time, the dead would be dug back up and their bones stored in the nearby church to make room for the newly dead.  The bones really started to pile up during the Bubonic Plague and a blind monk started making weird pyramid structures with the heaps of bones hanging around.  The nobility liked the idea of doing something with these bones and commissioned an artist to make something with the rest of the bones in the 1700s.  So he decorated the church with the bones, creating interesting structures, including a chandelier.  Apparently it is not exactly what the nobility had in mind, but it stuck and now is one of the oddest churches around.  

Thanks to G&P for visiting and for their generosity! It was so awesome to see them and made us a little homesick in their wake. (Luckily we saw them a week later for an encore in Switzerland, as they headed back to Vienna to fly home.) 

Our original October plan was supposed to include two weeks in Israel with my parents, but as so often happens to us, we happen to hit some bad timing. The planning for my parental visit in October was occurring right smack in the middle of the Gaza conflict. Thus, it was time for plan B. Switzerland is one of my favorite countries, but had been off our itinerary due to its insane cost (especially for budget travelers). Fortunately, having parents tag along lightens the financial burden quite a bit, so it was off to Switzerland for 9 days!

Lucern: Our Swiss trip started in the quaint town of Lucern. A picturesque, small city in Switzerland (though actually big by Swiss standards), the main feature of the town is the Chapel Bridge, a medieval wood bridge in the middle of the town. Unfortunately, like so many sites we have seen in Europe, it burnt down. The odd thing is, it was not some medieval gunpowder storage accident, as per usual, it burnt down in 1993! The likely cause was a careless smoker. It was rebuilt as it originally looked and, needless to say, it now has smoke detectors. Lucern also has a wonderful little art museum that is made up entirely of a private collection of one family and includes 180 works of Picasso, as well as works from the go-to impressionists. The then-young, female collector was quite friendly with Picasso (possibly in the way you think) and we got a treat when we got to meet and chat with the 82 year old dealer/philanthropist.

Berne/Murten/Gruyere: From the mountains we headed to the capital city of Berne, a surprisingly quaint capital town. We also spent a day in Murten, a tiny town with a cool medieval wall still standing around the town. From there was our most filling day of the trip; visits to cheese and chocolate factories. It started with a trip to Gruyere, home of the well-known cheese. We took a visit to one of the town's cheese factories to see the cheese-making process. Best part was definitely the free samples which actually was some of the best cheese I've ever had. Although we were already pretty full, we had to head to the nearby Collier chocolate factory (a division of Nestle). The tour starts with a disney-esque animatronic presentation about the history of chocolate and then goes into a glimpse of the manufacturing process. It ends with the absolute best part: all you can eat chocolate! Yes, you heard that right. There is several dozen different types of chocolate laid out for you to try and you can eat as much as you want. I've never had so much chocolate in my life (OK, maybe Halloween night when I was 10). I wanted to sit and wait in the corner for an hour to regain my hunger, but alas, after all of us felt sufficiently nauseated we left and set out to Lake Geneva.

Lausanne D'Ouchy (Lake Geneva): Our last stop was to Laussane in the Lake Geneva region. My dad surprised us all with an amazing room in a castle that surely beat the $13 night hostels we have been staying in. No trip to Lake Geneva would be complete without a boat trip, so we took an old-fashioned steam engine boat across the lake to the Chillon castle. Having been in Europe for some time, you would think we would be pretty sick of castles by now, but this one was surprisingly enjoyable. The city of Lausanne itself is nice but be prepared for lots of extreme uphill walking. 

Switzerland continued to impress me with its gorgeous landscapes, small towns, laidback atmosphere and focus on the important food groups: chocolate and cheese. The trip was all the more enjoyable since I get to spend some quality time with my parents. It had been a long time since I saw any family, and it was great to have some quality time with my folks before beginning the long second half of our trip. Thanks Mom and Dad!

To get around Switzerland with my parents (who were visiting us), we decided to be adventurous and rent a car. It seemed like a pretty good way to change things up, but got off to an ominous start when we got off at the wrong bus stop over a mile away from the car rental place and then were told the office was closed when we got there. Fortunately, the Hertz guy was not too far from the office and came back to give us our car for our remaining 7 days in Switzerland. Further good news (or so we thought), we ended up getting a free upgrade to a real schmancy BMW instead of our scheduled Toyota!

We were quite excited about our free upgrade to this nice car with all its bells and whistles, but were a bit overwhelmed when we stepped in the car and couldn't understand what half of the buttons did. Oh well, off we went to our first stop at Interlaken. After a walk around town, we were at the gate to leave the parking lot when we realized we had forgotten to pay for the parking, so we quickly ran to the machine while a line of cars formed behind us to get out. After a few minutes struggling with the machine, we were paid and ready to go. But, our car wasn't. The electronic gear shift would not go into drive! No matter how many times we pushed it into drive, it would just chime but stay in park. Take 1, take 2, take 15. Nothing. The line grew longer and the awkwardness grew stronger. The man in the car behind us got out, opened our car door and yelled something at us in German. Try, try again, push every button we can find. Nothing. And then, it got worse. All of a sudden, an extremely loud alarm started going off. We weren't sure if it was the gate alarm or the car or what was going on, but it was loud, and very annoying. FINALLY, we somehow got the car in drive and off we went...but the alarm went with us! It was indeed the car making the racket and it would not stop even though we were off and driving. We could barely hear each other talk it was so loud. What had we done to the car?!

So we pulled over and tried pushing buttons...ALL of the buttons. Nothing. We turned the car off, and on, and off again, moved it, pushed buttons on the remotes and any button we could see, but nothing. Oddly, the alarm seemed to be coming from the interior and not coming from the external part of the car. So we got out and flagged some random Swiss people to help us read the German car manual. We then flagged anyone we saw with a BMW to see if they had any insight. We tried calling some Swiss BMW dealers who gave us a few ideas, but nothing seemed to work. Person after person came to see if they could lend a hand but none could get this extremely loud and annoying alarm to stop. A small crowd even started to gather our their windows to see what the commotion was. Finally, we gave up and called Hertz to send some help. They agreed to send someone, but he was over an hour away! So we waited, put in earplugs, and continued to try everything we could think of.

Excited to finally have a solution and a temporary end to this ordeal, we unpacked our bags from the car to prepare for our taxi. As soon as I put my backpack down on the ground, I saw a look on Caitlin's face that I had rarely seen and she shouted my name. My heart skipped, what had happened?! Did I break something valuable?! Did I spill something all over her clothes? Nope, much worse. “Your Personal Alarm!!!!” She shouted. My face turned green as I realized what she was saying. That loud, annoying, non-stop car alarm that had delayed us for hours, stumped numerous people and cause us to have rage blackouts at Hertz had actually been caused by MY own travel safety alarm that I had in my bag. It had nothing to do with the car!! I had accidentally pulled the alarm in the struggle to get the car out of the parking lot. I had serious egg on my face. I couldn't believe the ordeal I had just put everyone through. There were apologies from me to my family, and many apologies from us to Hertz and the mechanic. Fortunately, the grumpy mechanic seemed to have a sense of humor about it and smiled for the first time of the day. After a long, arduous ordeal, we were finally, sheepishly on our way...in silence.

So you too can feel like you were there that day, here is how the alarm sounded:

Woah! Austria really exceeded my expectations. From its super nice, fast trains, to the best beer gardens and pastries, I loved Austria.

Crossing the border from Slovenia into Austria via train, we had to change trains from a Slovenian train to an Austrian train, which seemed annoying at first until: Upgrade! Austrian trains are among the nicest in Europe. One nice but strange consequence of the particular Eurail train pass we bought was that the pass entitles us to 1st class seats. 

To get to Budapest from Krakow, we had to take a ten-hour, overnight, six-bunk train. As you can see from the picture, it was basically as economical as you would imagine that kind of cabin to be. After the initial hilarity of getting all our stuff onto luggage racks and our bodies into the beds, the train ride was met with mixed reviews: some members of the Warsaw Pact described the train as “the best sleep I had this whole trip” and, with its gentle rocking, “womb-like,” while others, pressed for comment, generally scowled and indicated that the sleep was less than ideal.

Sunday, our final full day in Budapest, we saved for the activity that we thought would most likely be best after a long night at the club: the Turkish baths. Budapest has several spread throughout the city, remnants of the city’s Ottoman occupation, and we picked the largest and seemingly most well-known. The baths were incredible, with Turkish architecture and domes overlooking a gigantic indoor courtyard with multiple pools. Inside the gigantic halls were at least 15 more pools, all varying in temperature and in the minerals they contained. We went on a tour through these – sometimes jumping from ice-cold pools into scalding hot tubs – and generally relaxed the day away.

Jed, Caitlin, Jamie and Dan decided to visit Auschwitz (Brad guiltily declined, as having toured Dachau on a previous trip was enough for a lifetime). What is referred to as if it were one camp actually was comprised of numerous camps spread across this general area of Poland and combining to serve as the largest of the Nazi concentration and death camps. (Concentration camps are where victims were forced into extreme labor with unspeakably horrible conditions that ultimately led to many of their deaths, often in just a month or two. Death camps are where victims were intentionally murdered en masse in gas chambers.)  1.3 million victims were sent to Auschwitz over the course of the war. Of those, 1.1 million were Jews (most of whom, particularly in the later years of the war, were sent straight from the train to the gas chamber). Overall, more than 1.1 million victims died at Auschwitz.

Both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II were indescribably impactful. Auschwitz I’s individual exhibits, particularly the unthinkable amounts of hair and belongings from the million plus who were murdered there, made the incomprehensible acts of the Nazi regime sink in. But Auschwitz II was perhaps even more powerful; walking around the massively expansive camp (which cannot be described or adequately shown with pictures), seeing much of the camp which hadn't been destroyed in its original condition, looking across from the many wooden lodging cabins to the train tracks and the gas chambers on the other side, provided a feeling words cannot express.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Wherever the Wind blogging for this guest blog/forcible blog takeover. Branmie (Brad, Dan, and Jamie) have seen first-hand how hard Jed and Caitlin work on their blog posts, so we thought we would relieve them of this duty for the two countries over which we tagged along on their world tour. Our schedules all lined up to put us in two countries to which none of us had ever been: Poland and Hungary. With our first stop being Warsaw, we jokingly named the plan the Warsaw Pact after the Cold War security agreement, and set off on our way.

Following the club, at which we stayed way longer than planned, we topped off the night at a casino (where – certain parties (I.e.  Brad) may have made jokes comparing our blackjack victories to Polish failures during various wars; Brad wholeheartedly denies said allegations) and McDonald's, like true Americans.

The casino story is a good place to bring up Jed and Caitlin’s meticulous budgeting system. The two of them track each expense, no matter how small, on apps on their phone, which are automatically converted to dollars and measured against their planned budget for the particular country. The budgets are even broken down into categories so they know how they are doing (Jed’s lament at one point: “I am under budget on everything except ‘entertainment’” [read: casino losses]).

Sunday was our big tourist day in Warsaw. Our first stop was the Warsaw Uprising Museum, chronicling the attempts during World War II to oust the Nazis from Warsaw as the Russians approached the city. The museum offered a lot of explanation of the confusion and general awfulness of the time, even containing newsreels and various underground newspapers from the time, and a huge sobering memorial wall of the people who died during the uprising and the subsequent Nazi retaliation, which leveled the city. We were pretty sleep deprived and probably didn't get the full effect, but one thing that stuck out is how World War II really sucked for the Polish: their uprising failed, their city was destroyed, and then they ended occupied by the Russians anyway.

The evening found us wandering around Warsaw’s Old Town, which we heard in a few places described as “Disney Old Town.” Warsaw was leveled in the war, so they rebuilt the old town to look like an old European city. The effect was a little bit cheesy, but we did find a restaurant to try some Polish dishes – pierogies and, for adventurous Dan, pork knuckle: tender meat wrapped it its original fat and served with spicy mustard, horseradish, and sauerkraut. Nom nom.

Monday morning, with only a little time before our train to Krakow, we took cabs to the Lazienkowskie Gardens. Sort of Warsaw’s version of Central Park, the gardens were a huge expanse of trees, streams, and paths in which we could have spent hours. Unfortunately, we only had time for a quick tour (including numerous selfies in front of the main area) before we had to head to the train. We did manage to squeeze in a lunch at the (appropriately) Chicago-themed restaurant outside of our apartment.

Moment of admiration for the Wherever the Wind duo: even after only two days of travel, the three of us had trouble stuffing our belongings into our massive suitcases. Jed and Caitlin, old pros, got everything into their (much smaller) backpacks, and we were off.

Krakow
The train to Krakow was smooth, with the five of us sharing a cabin with one unfortunate Polish businessman. We went to the restaurant car for a while, where the friendly – but constantly upselling – clerk, Maicek, gave us some Polish beers and regaled us with his English (it was basically saying “okie dokie” a lot).

Tuesday morning kicked off with an apparent Wherever the Wind staple, the free walking tour.  The tour started in Krakow's main square, which is the largest medieval town square in Europe, and walking around it alone took the first part of the tour. Our guide gave us a condensed history of what must be one of the most beautiful and storied cities in Poland: capital of the country during its independent years in the mid-1000s, the seat of its kings, and its subsequent years of occupation, uprisings, and nonexistence. Our guide dryly noted that Poland was good at throwing uprisings, but not really good at winning them – over the years of occupation by Prussians, Russians, Austrians, Germans, and Russians again, Poland rose up against its occupiers a number of times, but they were put down every time. Still, they had the last laugh: free elections in Poland first took place in 1989, months before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The walking tour took us up to Krakow’s castle, with awesome views over the Vistula River, and complete with a fire-breathing statue of a dragon. By that time, we were wiped – these walking tours are no joke; Jed and Caitlin will have calves of steel when they return.

After lunch and a long nap, we were ready to hit the town. On recommendation of our host, we hit up a bar that boasted 100 vodkas in its inventory. We ordered a tasting of everything from raspberry to hazelnut flavors, and one that tasted suspiciously like Apple Pucker. After that, we crawled (figuratively, mostly) through Krakow’s clubs, ranging from the underground-and-empty to a second-floor bar that was surprisingly happening on a Monday night (no doubt aided by our vodka-fueled debates happening in the lounge area).

After that long night, we split up into separate factions on Wednesday. Dan and Jamie headed to the factory owned by Schindler’s List’s eponymous Oskar Schindler. The factory was converted into more of a general World War II museum, with mention of Schindler and his list limited to just a few rooms. It was, however, a very interesting museum, with immersive exhibits, and served as an effective prep for the trip to Auschwitz to come. Brad, despite being exhausted from staying up to watch the sunrise from one of Krakow’s bridges, somehow managed to crawl to the top of the Krakus Mound, a prehistoric structure overlooking the city. Jed and Caitlin got an experience with Polish socialized medicine, with Caitlin twisting her ankle in a fall – but she bounced right back after a short stay in a weirdly vacant Polish hospital. Total bill: $70. Reconvening, we had awesome Italian food near the main square (Wherever the Wind pro tip: walking tours make you crave carbs like no other) and prepared ourselves for a rough, emotional day to come.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of "Wherever the Takeover" coming soon....

We left Chicago almost exactly 6 months ago today! It also happens to be the birthday of my favorite travel companion and  So in commeration of those two things, I thought people might be curious--How is it spending 24-7 with one person for 6 MONTHS STRAIGHT? By and large we have done pretty well. I am lucky to have the best travel partner.  At the risk of mushiness, the following list of why Jed makes a fantastic travel partner is also instructive on what it takes to survive so much time with one other person.

1. He is almost never cranky or irritable and is very tolerant when I am. (Which can be often and is subject to temperature comfort, hunger/hanger level, hours of sleep, length of time wearing full, backpack, et al.)

2. He does a bulk of the pre-planning and he enjoys it!  Plugging in countless possible flight scenarios to Kayak.com or combing through hundreds of AirBnBs for the best deal makes me irritable (see #1). This man loves a spreadsheet and for this I am very appreciative. 

3. He is always down for a nap/pastry/coffee break. Yeah, we do a lot of those. 

4. He is very good at diffusing arguments. Inevitably, we argue. However, without the ability to compromise and/or make me laugh at the right time, I might still be annoyed about something from two months ago.

5. In a crisis, he is calm and decisive.  I learned this the hard way after fainting and ending up in a Polish hospital last week. That is a separate blog post, but lets just say I'm glad he was there. (Special thanks to Jamie and Dan for the assist). 

6. He is always game for new experiences. Whether its hitchhiking in Africa, trying a horse burger in Slovenia, or hot air ballooning in Cappadoccia despite a fear of heights, he is willing to challenge himself for the sake of a new experience.  Not only do I appreciate this but it inspires me and I hope to always emulate it. 

Happy Birthday! Here's to the 2nd half of the trip!

It's a weird start to your stay when your check-in is delayed a few hours because a Polish television crew wants to film your room. Such is life at Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin, one of the strangest hotels in the world.

Propeller Island is the brain child of Lars Storschen, a weird German modern artist. Each room is unique, ranging from slightly odd to completely wacky. When you book your room, you can choose which of the 30 rooms you would like to stay in, depending on your tolerance for the bizarre. Each room is also equipped with its own soundtrack that plays over speakers.

We opted for the “Space-Cube” room, were the main feature is a bright, lit-up divider between the bed that glows and can be raised or lowered with a crank. There is also a metallic propeller above the bed, blue glass windows in the bathroom and a light-up chair. It is a bit hard to describe, but you can see the room in the pictures below.

We had the chance to sneak peeks at some of the other rooms as well. One is the “upside down” room, where all the furniture is on the ceiling and the floor is completely empty. The real furniture that you would actually use is hidden in compartments under the floor.  Another room features hundreds of mirrors displayed in different angles around the room. One of the rooms has a bed suspended in the air by giant logs. 

Some of the rooms really push the boundaries of one's comfort zone:such as one with beds in two suspended lion cages, the one that has a 1-way mirror to the room next door that you can choose to let your neighbor peer into your room and the one where you sleep in coffins! But don't get too excited, there is a big sign next tot he coffin that says “no sex in the coffins!”

Despite an overall eerie feeling, we enjoyed our one night in the weird (but not too weird) room that gave us an experience a bit different then a typical AirBnB. Somehow a hotel like this in Berlin, with it's distinctive culture, seems to fit just right.  If you want to see the rest of the rooms, you can find pictures and descriptions of all of them on their website: http://www.propeller-island.de/rooms_neu/room_detail/11/index.php And if you are interested in going, hurry up as they are only open for 1 more year!

1. The Pergamon museum: 

If you are into archaeology or antiquities (I am), then this museum is a gold mine. Even if you are not, I would venture it's hard not to be into antiquities when in this museum containing some of the biggest archaeological finds ever transported and reconstructed within a museum. The Ishtar Gates and processional way from 6th century BC Babylon are breathtaking with its sheer size and beautiful blue and yellow tiles. From ancient Greece, the Pergamon Altar from 160 BC is rebuilt to show its elaborate reliefs and mosaics. We were fortunate enough to get into this museum a few weeks before it closes for 5 years(!) for renovations.  One thing that makes Berlin's museums so fantastic is that all the major ones include an audio guide with the ticket price. Helpful since my German is limited to "Guten morgen!" and "Danke!"

2. The Prenzlauer Berg flea market: 

One of the reasons we chose to stay in a non-tourist neighborhood was its proximity to the biggest/best flea market in the city held every Sunday.
Do you need antique furniture, cheap sunglasses, or a mini-mixer to deejay from your i-phone? You can get it here. Or maybe like us you just want some good people watching, window shopping and a paleta (popsicle). Done. 

There was so much we wanted to do and didn't get to hampered by limited time and a doozy of a cold.  Hopefully when we return we'll be able to get to the famous Deustches History Museum and a Berlin club or two (as long as we're not too old).

We were looking forward to exploring some caves for a change of scenery,but  we were unaware of just how spectacular they would be.  There are two sections you can explore, one of which requires you to go on a guided tour.  We weren't sure why this was required, but once we got inside we understood.  The caves were dark, wet and absolutely massive.  Although there is a fence, if there were hordes of people wandering aimless around, you could easily see a disaster waiting to happen.  

This is one of those sites that is hard to describe with words, and even pictures can't come close to doing it justice, but we were in awe of these enormous underground caverns.  In sections, it is as big as 400 feet wide and 500 feet tall!  At one point, you have to cross a tiny metal bridge that is suspended hundreds of feet in the air.  Not good for my fear of heights. Although I like to use our own pics, unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside the main cave (which didn't stop one Italian tourist who was yelled at 3 times and was chewed out in front of the whole group). Thus, here are some photos of the main cave stolen from other people on the internet who either got permission or snuck in a few shots (click to enlarge): 

Our last stop in Slovenia was Lake Bled.  Unfortunately, it was either rainy or overcast during our couple of days there.  We still got in a nice hike, up a pretty torrential path full of steep, muddy hills and broken trees.   Despite very dirty clothes and realistic fear of tree limbs landing on our heads, the view at the top was definitely worth it.  

While most people do Plitvice in a day, we added a second day to amble along the wooden walkways that crisscross the lakes and climb on top of the waterfalls. I think we covered every inch of hiking trail in the park. And it was well worth it. The hoards of (often rude, inconsiderate) tourists obsessed with getting pictures were frustrating, especially since it's nearly impossible to take a bad picture at this place. There is no swimming permitted, but we were able to rent a row boat to get a perspective from the middle of one of the larger lakes. Unfortunately, I'm not coordinated enough to row a boat so Jed graciously did most of the work.  



Click on any of the pictures below to bring up a larger gallery you can click through:

It would surprise no one that every year when the NYT publishes its “41 Places to See in 2014” (or whatever year it is), that I am always very excited to read it and commence travel-fantasizing. I think this is where I first read about Croatia as a “hot spot” of beautiful beaches where the celebs go to escape the overexposure of other amazing Mediterranean oases like Ibiza or Capri. Intrigued by a country I only knew of because of wars and refugees now considered a hot spot, I added Croatia to my mental list.

We spent about 17 days in Croatia, and we honestly could have spent much more time there; it blew us away with its natural beauty and history. At the bottom tip of over 4,000 kilometers of coastline, is Dubrovnik. An absolutely beautiful city on the sea, where the best vantage point may have been from up the hill in our (otherwise really crummy) hostel. The blue water and sky are nearly the same shade on a clear day. You really don't mind the drunk German teenagers blasting American country music when you can wake up to that view. Its perhaps the biggest tourist attraction in Croatia, beloved by Croatians and international travelers for good reason. 

The main thing to do in Dubrovnik is visit the Old Town which is surrounded by walls 25 m high and 6 m wide in places. The walls have been used as a fortress to protect the people inside since the 13th century, and even in the most recent war in 1991. We were surprised that during the 1991 Yugoslavian war, 68% of the Old Town houses, with their picturesque, matching red roofs, were destroyed or were damaged by shelling. Most of the roofs were repaired since then and it was hard to imagine such destruction and tragedy happened so recently, as thousands of tourists move through the city every day admiring the palaces, churches and cafes. Dubrovnik has so much history to spare that one of the old forts has a dance club in it at night. 

Having heard a lot of people rave about Croatia, we were a bit skeptical about how great this place really could be. It was beyond all expectations and one of the most beautiful countries we have visited. We imagined an up-and-coming, but struggling post-war nation and indeed, the recent and historic conflicts are still fresh for Croatians, who are often reluctant to discuss it. However, the areas we saw are built-up with clean streets and super trendy bars and restaurants that could belong in Miami or Paris. As it has become a vibrant tourist destination, the prices have gone up too and it is definitely no longer a bargain vacation. The number of people visiting Croatia in August was unbelievable, but not hard to comprehend once we saw how beautiful it is. I guess I'm not the only one who has her finger on the World's Hot Spots. ;-)


Here are some pictures from Dubrovnik, Split and Hvar (Click to enlarge):

Cobblestones, church spires and cafes galore! We embarked on our newest continent in mid-July: Europe. We were sad to leave Africa, but the familiarity of Stockholm, Sweden was a welcome back to our usual comforts. At first, we were still skeptical of luxuries like tap water and continued to sterilize it, which is laughable considering their tap water is probably cleaner than ours in Chicago. Our bus from the airport had faster wifi than nearly anywhere we had been in Africa. Talk about culture shock.

Stockholm was our first European stop and we included it mainly because a high school friend of mine, Ben, and his fiance Val, have been living there for the last two years. We were fortunate enough to benefit from their Stockholm tips and tricks and we had a blast reminiscing and learning about life in Sweden. Stockholm is a city of islands connected by bridges and scattered with beautiful parks. I started to wonder if “picnic” was a Swedish word because everyone seemed to be enjoying wine and snacks in the parks on blankets. We did our best Swedish impression and had a picnic ourselves (i.e. an American cookout) with Ben and Val and a few others. They introduced us to a Swedish game, Kuub, played on the lawn, and is like bowling or cornhole, but much more complicated (those Swedes are sophisticated right down to their lawn games!).

Between the extensive public transport and renting bikes, we covered a lot of ground in Stockholm, opting for exploring the city on our own instead of doing many touristy things. I missed the famed Vassa musuem, but that only leaves me an excuse to go back. Our favorite spots in Stockholm were the hip Sodermalm neighborhood, Djurgarden, a large park with bike paths and beaches and the quaint Grona Lund amusement park. Stockholm was lovely and while it saw the demise of Jed's attempt at facial hair (RIP JedBeard) it was a great kickoff to our Europe leg. Thanks to Ben and Val, our wonderful hosts, who made us Swedish pancakes with lingonberries for the train ride to Copenhagen. What an amazing treat!

Our other scandanavian stop was Copenhagen, which was a bit of a homecoming for me; I spent a semester abroad there in law school. I had come to view Copenhagen as a great place to live, but not necessarily a great place to be a tourist since I did not think there were a ton of touristy things to do. Turns out when you squeeze a bunch of sites and activities into a few days instead of a few months, it definitely feel like there is a lot more to do!

While the “Little Mermaid” statute, one of Copenhagen's most well-known tourist attractions still disappointed 5 years later (it is literally smaller than I am), I really enjoyed the rest Copenhagen had to offer. There were some of the old favorites, including Nyhavn (a picturesque street by the port with multi-colored, historic houses), Stroget (the pedestrian only shopping street) and Christiana (a weird, squatter-run section of town that has declared itself an independent land). There were also some new areas that I had not been to in the past, such as a very cool 17h century church (Church of our Saviour) which has a spiral staircase on the outside of its towering steeple, and the lovely Norreboro neighborhood by the water.

We were also treated to a lovely evening and home-cooked meal from my local Danish friend, Gunilla and her family. It was amazing to get a home-cooked meal, as it had been many months. It's really nice to get a true local taste of a country and have a more authentic local experience. I hope we can get to do more authentic experiences like this on the rest of our travels.

All in all, I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed my return. Copenhagen, like Stockholm, is a very modern, quaint, clean and enjoyable Scandanavian city. A number of things had changed, but a lot has also stayed the same, including my favorite cheap meal, 7-11 Chicken sticks (I know it sounds gross, but people actually eat the food at the 7-11s here because they are much nicer...and everything here in Copenhagen is so expensive!). Looking forward to returning again sometime soon...