Statues?!?!?!

Ok... we were just wandering around Salzburg (we do that a lot) and came across some funny looking statues... I don't want to say that we each related best to the ones that we posed by... but... whatever you want to think ;)

These are kind of just random pix because we are staying in a hostel in Budapest with free wireless internet in the lobby area!!! It's wonderful!!!!

We are all having a blast... time is flying for me... I don't want to come home, Bethany doesn't have to for another month after we leave, and I think that Mark will be very ready :) (if I didn't have to get home for camp I would seriously think about staying longer...) k... that's all for now... I better go before my battery runs out on my laptop... ciao.

A few more photos . . . just because we can!

Greetings from Budapest, Hungary! After having little or no Internet access for the past week, we're now staying at a hostel with free wireless, so I'll post a few photos from our most recent adventures . . .
The first is the view from our room at the hostel in the Swiss Alps.
The next two were taken on a "Barefoot Walk" that Katie and I (Mark opted out) took in the Swiss countryside. (Going barefoot wasn't just our idea . . . it's actually meant to be done that way.)
The next photo is from inside Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria and the following is an outside shot of the same.
Next, we have a shot overlooking Salzburg from a cannon hole inside the fortress that sits on a hill above the city.
Next, a photo inside the library of the famous (and enormous) abbey in Melk, Austria.
Lastly, here's a shot from inside the Vienna state opera house. It's not very good, but you get the idea. We were way up in the standing-room-only nosebleed section, but our tickets were only 2 Euro, so we can't complain a bit. OK, that's all for now because my laptop battery is about to die.

AUSTRIA

ok... this is kind of a random post... with pictures of our hike in Austria. We stayed at a little bed and breakfast in Ramsau, Austria. We dicided that a nice little hike might be fun... Mark's friend Jordan told us about a lake that was up on this hill (mountain) that we should go look for.

One of these picture has an arrow that shows where are car was located... after we dropped over the other side of the mountain we found a lot of snow!!! and Bethany was wearing sandals!!!! We finally found a frozen over lake... and decided to take a break... build a little fire, and dry out our shoes and socks!!!! The scenery was amazing!!!! But the brush was a little much... Can you find Bethany in the bushes????? It was an exhausting but fun hike!!!! We left Ramsau, and spent the night in Melk... saw the abbey, and headed on to Vienna... where we are right at the moment... tomorrow we drive to Budapest.... I know... not on our original itinerary... but I'm excited!!!!! k... internet is running out... and it's a little spendy here... so I better go... keep checking!!!! After Budapest it's on to Cech Republic to see Prague... so stay tuned for more!!!!!

Salzburg

Our foursome has shrunk to a trio. Jamie´s three weeks with us ran out on Sunday and she flew back home to Washington. After dropping Jamie off in Zurich, we headed into Germany. We spent two nights in a small Bavarian town and toured crazy King Ludwig II´s three castles in the area (including the famous Neuschwanstein, which inspired the Disneyland castle). We had planned to spend the next two nights in Munich, but all of the lodging was booked solid due to some sort of convention going on in the city. Instead, we opted to head into Austria and will hit Munich on our way back through Germany. We´ve got lots more to tell, but the Internet cafe I´m typing from is closing, so this quick update will have to do for now. Ciao!

Katie the Groupie

This comes from the mouth of Mark. After reading the most recent blog written by Katie, he noticed one problem with the Rick Steves' story. It was mostly true until the part where she said that the rest of the group ''was not brave enough to go talk to him''. Actually, if you look real close to the writing she put about ten exclamation marks after everything she said, meaning she was head over heals over this ''superhero." To be honest, none of us really cared, we thought neat but no big deal - he's just another human, but inside Katie's little head she started to turn weird, which most of us would call ''starstruck'' and she started mumbling and foaming at the mouth. Well anyways, to make a long story short, she had to think of something to say to break the ice so she says to him ,''We are staying at a neat place that you could put in your book," with her eyes open wide, a blank stare and mouth open as if spotting a gelatto stand - and that's wide if you have not witnessed it. The response was ''Well, what is the name of the place?'' Her response was "Uhh...,uhhh...., the one around the corner," and for those who don't know, Venice is nothing but corners,at least she pointed in the direction of it though, and it only got worse because Rick Steves was going to charge her 5 dollars for the photo and she came back with ''fifty is a bargain'',so he realized her state of mind and felt bad for her and said,''OK,its free for you'',and from that day on we hear more about him than she eats Nutella and for those of you who don't how much that is...,well let's just say there aren't enough waterfalls where we are staying to compare it to. Well, The End.

Meeting Rick Steves!!!!!

Yes, this is the real Rick Steves... and yes we were really there with him!!!! For those of you who don't know... Rick Steves has become very popular in the traveling world. He spends a few months of every year in Europe doing research and shows etc... he has numerous books published every year (we have like 10 of them in the back of the car, because Bethany's cousin works for him) and what are the chances that between his schedule and ours that we would actually meet him???? Amazing!!!!!

ok... so here's the scoop... While sight seeing in Venice we were walking along in a piazza, and I walked by a guy just sitting in the square... and I thought "hey, that guy looks like Rick Steves" but then passed it off thinking "yeah right... I mean what are the chances" and of course didn't mention it to my traveling mates (they love to make fun of me any chance they get). Well, that evening we met a couple from the states traveling around Europe much like us... and they happened to mention that they ran into Rick Steves last night in Venice... then of course I told my story and what do you know... no one believed me.... big surprise!!!! A few moments later the couple we were talking to says "oh look... there he is" and sure enough there he was... the man himself... pretty much taking a picture of us!!!!!!! Well, I was the only one brave enough to go talk to him and get my picture taken... at first... then we got to talk to him a little and everyone thought that it would be a good idea to have a group picture taken to post on the blog!!!! Soooo... to make a short story long.... that's my version of it ;) I still can't get over it..... I mean... RICK STEVES!!!!!! Pretty cool!!!!!

Venezia, Italia

Here's a few Venice photos for your viewing pleasure, although pictures just don't allow you to be "lost in the magic" like when you're there in person (you'll be hearing more about that soon, but that's mostly Katie's story, so I'll let her tell). We actually left Venice today and are now in the breathtakingly beautiful Swiss Alps. It's a drastic change to go from Venice, where most of the greenery comes from planted window boxes and an occasional tree, to the cow-dotted hills, snow-capped mountains and waterfalls of the Alps. But for now, here's Venice . . .