Green Egyptian Noise: Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, Cesky Krumlov

Introducing our road trip through central Europe...

A) Vienna, Austria

B) Bratislava, Slovakia

C) Prague, Czech Republic

D) Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

E) Salzburg, Austria

F) Munich, Germany

G) Schwangau, Germany

H) Vaduz, Liechtenstein

I) Zelbio and Bellagio, Italy

J) Interlaken, Switzerland

K) Lucerne, Switzerland

L) Zurich, Switzerland

If there was an M, I don't think I would have made it.

Our first day didn't really go as planned. I finished my last teacher workday, ran a million errands, got everything ready for Juvy and the kitties, packed, tried to take a nap and got my nails done (because that's important!). Casey was supposed to fly back from Raleigh, unpack and repack and fly out with me 8 hours later, but his flight to D.C. was canceled. 50% of his flights on this trip were canceled. Stupid United. So, Casey met me in Vienna instead, and all of his American goodies - Q-tips, face wash, a Magic Bullet and Dr. Bronner's soap - made the trip around central Europe with us and actually came in handy.

The trip didn't start out perfectly, but we were still full of energy and pumped up to see new countries, 7 new countries for me and 2 for Casey. Someday I'll catch up with him :)

VIENNA

Vienna was lovely the first day. It was sunny and warm but not hot. The food was delicious. The wine was delicious. The parks were green and filled with people. We loved it. It rained the second day, but after living in the desert for a year, we welcomed it.

One of the one hundred million beautiful churches in Europe.

We lit candles for Shannon's angel babies here.

Mozart! These guys were EVERYWHERE trying to sell concert tickets. This one got really mean and scary after the picture.

Cute little streets.

Our first and best meal of our vacation!

Cute little parks.

Cute little husband :)

The first of 87 beer gardens. If you can't tell by Casey's expression, this was his favorite part of the trip. He's on beer rations in Dubai.

Excuse the greasy hair. I'm still in "training".

Schonbrunn Palace.

It reminded me a lot of Versailles.

The Freud Museum, Dr. Casey's favorite.

My favorite part of any city, the market. Loved this one!

BRATISLAVA

Bratislava is only about 45 minutes away from Vienna. It wasn't originally part of our trip, but it's so close, and when do you get the chance to go to Slovakia? Getting out of Vienna was a NIGHTMARE. The maps were vague and we stopped and asked for directions a couple times but still got lost. Our first purchase in Bratislava was TomTom, our trip BFF. It was a pain in the ars getting it, but once we had it, the rest of the trip was easy peasy.

I fell in love with Bratislava's old town right away. I loved it so much I was ready to pack my bags and move there. It's charming and quaint and has delightful little treasures around every corner.

Like this guy... One of my favorite things about Europe is street performers, but I've never seen anything like this guy. He was crouched down in a tiny, tiny box and moved his fingers in the creepiest witchy way. He creeped me out, but I couldn't stop laughing at him. I love how he posed for this picture holding his hair.

Bratislava as a whole isn't too exciting, but its old town is spectacular. We didn't get to spend as much time as we planned there because of the GPS issues, but I'm glad we went anyway.

PRAGUE

Prague also wasn't in our original plans, but it turned out to be one of my favorite cities.

Our first view of Prague from our hotel room. Already in love!

The Astronomical Clock

Legend has it that Prague thanked the talented clock maker by burning out his eyes with a hot poker so he wouldn't be able to build a replica anywhere else... So glad I live in 2013 and not 1413.

Charles Bridge on the most beautiful day!

My best tourist photo :)

We have no idea the meaning of what we're touching here, but there was a huge line of people waiting to touch a golden pup.

My favorite picture of Prague.

Trdelnik, the BEST cinnamon bread EVER! I got one every chance I could!

I love the roofs!

The Lennon Wall - an ever-changing graffiti wall dedicated to peace.

And our favorite part of Prague, coffee beer. I'm not a big fan of beer, but this coffee beer tasted like caramel. It was pure deliciousness.

Prague was the first place I really loved. Vienna was beautiful, Bratislava was like a little step into the past, but Prague was the real deal. It's full of culture and history and delicious food and beautiful architecture and kind people and coffee beer. L-O-V-E-D it!

CESKY KRUMLOV

One of the reasons we rented a car instead of taking the train was so we could stop in little towns between big cities. Cesky Krumlov was one of those towns. It was so perfect it seemed as though it was plucked from the set of a romantic Christmas movie.