Dublin

We flew to Ireland via Ryan Air late Tuesday night. The weather was dreary, around 52 degrees and rainy the whole time we were there, but we managed to have a great time regardless. We took a train to the country side (think Laura is missing the country?!) and got an amazing view of the ocean and mountains. We chowed down on some hearty Irish food to keep warm, and spent time with some locals. We toured the Guinness factory and enjoyed the amazing view of the city from the high 360 degree glass floor. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, and heard a choir from Alabama singing while we admired all the wonders of this old Cathedral.

Laura and Kelly

Munich

We spent 2 nights in Munich. While we were there we took a train out into the country to visit Schloss Neuschwanstein (the famous Disney castle). Words cannot express how amazing it was to see the castle, mountains, and just the view! We spent one whole day in travels to and from the castle and touring the castle and nearby bridge. The next day in Munich we toured the BMW museum, the Olympic arena, and Marienplatz filled with high end shops (we decided not to buy the €1300 purse though we were tempted!).

Kelly and Laura

Bamberg/Templesgreuth

We spent Father's Day weekend with Andi & Julia and Michael Kormann in Tempelsgreuth Germany. We had a great time in the country with them. They were extremely hospitable, and we enjoyed seeing the country side and getting out of the city for a while. Their farm was very nice, and they also showed us around Bamberg and we toured a castle in a nearby town. We were sad to leave, as we really felt this showed us the true Germany and loved spending time with such wonderful people!

Laura and Kelly

PS Much thanks to Andi for all of the translation over the weekend!

Frankfurt

We spent one night in Frankfurt and enjoyed walking along the Main waterfront, visiting Old Town, and enjoying the German cuisine. Frankfurt is a financial district, full of business people and to a lesser degree tourists. We enjoyed our night there and experienced all Frankfurt had to offer.

Kelly and Laura

Berlin

We took a night train to Berlin. We departed at 20:07 and arrived in Berlin at 7:30. It was pretty interesting, and not terribly uncomfortable. Once in Berlin we checked in to our Hostel, Bax Pax around 9am and were very glad to take showers and relax a bit! We then met up with Kelly's friend from church in Joplin, Terrence. He was kind enough to give us a walking tour of Berlin. We learned so much about the history or Berlin! It was absolutely amazing and we can't thank him enough!!

We saw so many things I don't even know where to begin! We saw the Hotel Adlon (where Michael Jackson dangled a baby), the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburger Tor, BebelPltz, the Fernsehturm, and many other things I can't recall at the moment!! We stood over the bunker where Hitler committed suicide, and learned of much of the histroy of this amazing city. We went to the Pergamon Museum and the Sony Center as well as walking around the KaDeVe department store, which was outrageous!!!

We enjoyed traditional German food, and must admit the cuisine here is remarkable!!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures and following along on our journey!

Kelly and Laura

PS We encourage you to make comments on the blog so we can know who is checking it and what everyone things about our travels!

Krakow

We arrived in Krakow Saturday night from a long day on the train. We settled in at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and walked toward the square to find something to eat. The food was delicious (pizza) and the view was amazing! The next morning we took a bus tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This tour was extremely interesting and informative. We saw many belongings of the victims and the places that they were forced to live. We got to stand in one of the gas chambers, which was such an intense experience. In Krakow, we got to taste some Polish cuisine at a restuarant that was right on the square. An orchestra was playing in the middle for the Wreath festival. The view was awesome and the food was delicious! We ended our last night in Krakow hanging out with some friends that we met from Liverpool. Beer is cheaper than water! Other sites that we visited included St. Mary´s Cathedral, Old Town, and the Castle of Wawel.

Kelly and Laura

On a personal note, we have discovered how to make our straightener work with the electrical system here and are very excited to again have non frizzy hair!!

Budapest

We enjoyed 3 nights in Budapest at the lovely Boomerang Hostel. We were able to do our laundry finally!! We had an amazing time at the Gellert Bath house, walking around Margaret Island, climbing Buda Mountain, Chain Bridge, Buda Palace, Dunabe river, Fisherman`s Bastian, St. Matthias Cathedrail, Hero Square, City Park (where there was a wine vestival going on), enjoyed amazing Hungarian food, and wondered down Andrassz ut. We are having a great time, and seeing many many interesting things!!


Kelly and Laura

Vienna

We spent two nights in Vienna at Do Step Inn. We had a fabulous traditional dinner the first night at a local grill. Then we jumped on the U-bahn at Westbahnhof to Club Excess. We enjoyed ourselves and met several locals there. On Tuesday we toured St. Stephan's Cathedral, Parlament, Hoher Market, and Stephansdom. We sat and took in the view of the massive Cathedral while Laura sipped strong coffee from a local cafe. For dinner we sat outside underneath umbrellas, which Vienna is famous for. The meal was magnificent, and the weather was perfect. We plan to visit the Schönßrunn Palace and take in the view from St. Stephan's Cathedral tower tomorrow morning before catching a train to Budapest.

Laura and Kelly

PS our room in Vienna wasn't the greatest, and our we miss our straight hair because our straightener doesn't work with the electrical system here!!

Prague

We spent our first 2 nights in Europe in Prague after our 6 hour flight. While there we enjoyed seeing the famous Prague Castle, Old Town, Charles Bridge, and Saint Mesto area. We saw a famous Czech Republic Black Light Show which was quite interesting! The architecture throughout the city was breathtaking, and we walked through the cobblestone streets taking in all of the culture. Our room was beautiful, spacious, with fresh flowers and a nice view on the 4th floor above a restaurant.

Laura and Kelly

NYC

We finished up our pre-trip in NYC by visiting the famous Seinfeld coffee shop, Central Park and the Imagine-John Lennon memorial, the Empire State Building (at night, wow what a view!), and the Museum of Natural History. It was definetly an amazing experience and we had a blast!! We headed to JFK at 4pm on Friday for our evening flight to Prague.


Laura and Kelly