A favourite of mine

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - a few years ago

Revisiting once travelled locals if not in body but spirit with the aid of a captured image, the experience can be relived. Our minds are such powerful vessels. Enjoy the journey!

Travel Update

Scott and I are still in Chicago, due to bad weather here yesterday our flight to Austin was cancelled. We are now waiting to board a flight that is suppose to leave at 945am. Hopefully we will be heading for Austin soon.

Austin bound today!!!

If all goes well we should be landing in Austin, Texas just after 11pm local time.

Budapest, Hungary

The weekend in Budapest was wonderful! What a beautiful place and such an enormous city. We barely scraped the surface with our visit. Friday evening was spent travelling by train to our destination; we were checked into our hotel by 11pm. Saturday morning we woke to a city blanketed in a fine layer of snow, with the white stuff still falling. Bundled up nice and warm we set forth on our exploration of a city steeped in history and splendor. There was so much to see, we walked about wondering what we might find around the next corner, at the end of the street or across the river. The Parliament buildings are incredible, situated along the Danube River, they are quite a sight! The city's architecture is phenomenal and one can not help but marvel at the longevity of these buildings. After spending upwards of six hours on our walking tour, we headed back to the hotel for a rest. That evening we walked back to an outdoor skating rink we had found, only to discover they were closing for the evening. It was still a pretty sight, a caste lit up in the background and the Zamboni resurfacing the ice. It was a cold and blustery evening and we fortunately were able to happen upon a quaint little restaurant, where we enjoyed a wonderful meal together. Sunday morning we packed up our things, checked out of the hotel and made our way to the train station. We were back in Bratislava just as the sun was setting, the colours in the sky were gorgeous, a terrific close to a memorable weekend.



On Thursday there will be new photos uploaded to our flickr account. Until then you can enjoy a new scrapblog entitled Budapest (see links to the right). Please be aware that the scrapblogs are a bit cumbersome and if you do not have a high speed Internet connection it may be less frustrating if you wait until Thursday to view them at the flickr site.

Hope the weekend was an enjoyable one for everyone.

Enjoy the journey!!!!

Recent Fancies

Been out and about today, walking here and there, purchasing train tickets (we are off to Budapest, Hungary this weekend), discovered the Slavin Monument which has a beautiful view of the city (will be going back with the camera next week), picked up a few groceries and am now back at the hotel enjoying a sit down and my daily hello to each of you.

Thought I would provide a few links to things I have recently taken a fancy to.

I adore this photographer's work.
Lotta Jansdotter is a gifted designer and I love her creations.
I learned about 3191, by way of this blog post. A daily photo inspiration.
This flickr image just makes me giggle, more image favs here!

Enjoy the journey!!!

Salzburg

As promised we have a few photographs to share with you today. You will find eight photographs taken during our holiday in Salzburg, with more to come, as well as various Bratislava photos many of you have already seen in the various scrapblogs (see links on the right). I will provide a link (see below and to the right) which will take you to our account with Flickr! a wonderful site designed for storing, sharing and organizing your photographs. I will be working on a scrapblog of Salzburg but for now please enjoy the photos.

Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturtleandadragon/"

Salzburg was amazing. Scott and I fell in love with the area. We were so fortunate with our hotel selection; we weren't directly in the city but up one of the mountains. A description of the hotel found on a travel site puts it this way: The Romantik Hotel Gersberg Alm offers a rare combination of a world famous city and easy access to pure nature. The guests [live] above the rooftops of Salzburg just far enough away from the noise of the traffic and bustle, but close enough to the magic of the city. The views from the hotel down into the city and of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking!

Top of the Morning to You!!!!!

This past Friday morning I headed up to the train station (about a 20 minute walk one way) to purchase the tickets for our holiday travel. We will be spending a week in Salzburg, Austria, we leave the 23rd and return on the 30th. Scott and I are very excited about spending Christmas in Salzburg. We will be sure to share photos and stories in the new year. On the walk back from the train station I discovered a public park located on the grounds of the Presidential Palace, a very beautiful area and so relaxing.

Scott and I had a terrific weekend. Although quite low key it was very relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to explore some more of this fair city, Bratislava. Strolling down towards the waterfront we discovered a wonderful walking/cycling trail. The weather was phenomenally balmy for this time of the year and the sun was shining in a beautiful blue sky. Walking along the river we discovered we were not the only ones out enjoying the gorgeous weather. There were fellow walkers, cyclists and roller bladers galore. It is quite remarkable the amount of construction, development and revitalization, that is going on here. Scott mentioned that Bratislava will be a very different city in 10 or 20 years time. In the Old Town, there are a number of older buildings that are being gutted and their exteriors maintained. It can hardly be an easy or inexpensive venture for the investors of these projects. Bratislava is certainly a city of contrasts. The facades of many buildings in Old Town hold the old world charm that locals and travelers alike adore, it is part of the charm that draws so many to Europe. One can not help but recognize the deterioration that is so rampant and inevitable in cities that indeed have such history. It can be quite disconcerting at times, as you walk down a street admiring the fair beauty and architectural skill that went into creating such a fine building, on turning the corner you are confronted by a dilapidated, almost derelict building.

Above is a photo of a beautiful church we walk by each morning.

It is quite refreshing to find a city that is conducive to walking about in. As many of you might recall, in Bill Bryson's book, A Walk in the Woods, he points out the disheartening fact that so many cities in the United States of America are not pedestrian friendly; some are exceedingly dangerous actually for anyone who ventures out on foot. If you haven't had a chance to read this book, by all means add it to your Christmas reading list. I found it quite entertaining and enlightening, there were parts that were laugh out loud hysterical.