Was it a dream?

Lightly working on Spring Cleaning at my house and was thinking of our trip while taking a break.

In hindsight, it is almost like a dream.

London, 5+ days to eat delicious Fish~n~Chips, Indian food, Scones, Biscuits, Sticky Toffee Pudding and full English Breakfasts. Have afternoon tea then walk a couple blocks to see Buckingham Palace or Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Parliament and Trafalgar Square. Take a tour to see much more such as St. Pauls, Tower Bridge and Tower of London.

Dover for a day: toured the castle, Tim drove a standard transmission car on the opposite side of the road for the first time.

Oxford for 6 days: walks along the Thames, Christ Church Cathedral and College, so many colleges, Fish~n~Chips, Pubs, Eagle and Child, Stonehenge, oh my!

Scotland for 5+days: Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile shopping and sightseeing, cathedrals and other fabulous architecture, the highlands, B&B's, distilleries, scenery you wouldn't believe without seeing it for yourself, spectacular drives, scary drives, mountains, lakes, valleys, high-dessert, islands, amazing fresh smoked salmon, scones, haggis, whisky fudge, and full Scottish breakfast complete with blood sausage.

Night and morning in Paris: Eiffel Tower, Crepes, shopping, macarons, pastries, bread, cheese, chocolates.

Eurorail high-speed train and connection in Munich, Germany. It was akin to a homecoming. We love Munich and have fond memories of time spent at the Haptbahnhof train station. Hot chocolate, bratwurst, pretzel - mmmm.

Budapest, Hungary for 6 days: church and fellowship, amazing food including Chicken Paprikash, Roast Pork Knuckle, Chimney Cake, Kremes, Dobos Cake, Stuffed Cabbage, Goulash, Chicken Crepes, Cheese Noodles, Fried Cheese, Flodni, and so much more. Shopping at the City Market, and along all the roads surrounding the hotel. Sightseeing: Parliament, Castle, Fishermans Bastian, Cathedrals and Churches, Parks, Monuments and Memorials, Hillside Monastery, Danube boar ride, Easter Market, sidewalk cafes and more.

When I think of all the new things I've seen and tried just in those four weeks, it boggles my mind. Most people don't get these experiences in their lifetime, let alone a four-week period.

This is all made possible by the work my husband does. He travels, a lot, for his work. This means that he is building up airline miles, hotel reward points and car rental points. We get to use these for me to travel with him sometimes and to make vacations more affordable. When you don't have to pay for hotel or rental car, and get your airfare for a small fraction of the cost, this kind of thing is possible.

I don't take it for granted. Probably because I don't enjoy when my husband is traveling away from me. He doesn't like being separated when he has to travel. It's just something we deal with because it is his job. I'm glad that he likes to travel and that he likes teaching and coaching, because it makes it easier to accept this lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Just setting the record straight. Since this is the type of work he does, we use the benefits the best we can, including organizing a nice vacation once in a while.

What a life! I thank the Lord for it.

Just pictures.... Tower of London (Tim)

We didn't get to spend very much time at the Tower of London.

Now, I'm an American, and we aren't very good with geography, foreign language, and European history. Sometimes we just don't know things that are obvious to others, especially about famous landmarks.

The tower of London? A huge medieval castle. Huge. Impressive. Monstrous. Gorgeous. 

We didn't have the time to go inside and check things out before our River Thames tour, but we walked around it and took pix from the outside.

So, forgive (or enjoy) my ignorance, and enjoy these pictures...

"I'm kind of homesick, for a country..."

If you know this lyric, you know the next part is "to which I've never been before." Well, unlike in the song referring to heaven, I'm referring to the U.S. and I've been there, but it's been awhile. And I struggled with that this week.

Today is our last full day Budapest and I find myself feeling a little sad. As much as I want to get home, to my house, my bed, my family, my friends and my church, now that it's time to actually start packing up to go, I want to stay.

Earlier this week was a bit of a struggle for me to get out and see this beautiful city. On Tuesday, I didn't go out at all until supper time with Tim. I was just exhausted and wanted to go home. Four countries in four weeks is a lot!

Yesterday, however, I got up and went out walking. Expanding the area I had been walking in (when I did go out) and even took a riverboat tour. It was a wonderful day that renewed that sense of adventure and excitement at seeing new things in a place I'd never been before.

Today, I will be going on a full-city tour via bus and walking. I'm really looking forward to it.

I still want to go home. I still miss my family and friends and want to get back to church at our church. I still want the luxury of our own washer and dryer and sleeping in our own bed. I am a little homesick, but not as much as on Monday and Tuesday. This will be a good way to say goodbye to Budapest tomorrow. A friend has often said, "tough goodbyes are the best ones", and he's right. This goodbye isn't to a person, but I'm glad that leaving Budapest won't be without the longing to see it again.

Budapest - Libby's View

Budapest was the place I was most apprehensive about visiting. Would it be a safe place for me to walk around by myself to sightsee? Is it safe, period? Things like this.

I feel safe here. That doesn't mean I'm careless, but I don't feel that underlying threat you can often experience when traveling.

The city (cities) is beautiful! The Danube separates the Buda and Pest (pronounced pesht) sides. The Buda side has more French and Vienna architecture influences while the Pest side has more Slavic Baroque influences. If you like architecture at all, this is the place to be. Even their markets are beautiful buildings.

We've seen little bits of it around our hotel each day since we arrived, but today, I really went walking to see more. And, I also enjoyed a riverboat sightseeing tour that provided so much information, there's no way I can remember it all.

I would be able to generically categorize the people as friendly, but they aren't unfriendly either. They're just.... there. They don't make way when passing on the sidewalks, you do. They seldom make eye contact and if they do and you smile, they might, only might slightly grin back. I don't take this as unfriendly, but rather a little sad. They're very reserved. Unless they're out partying in the evenings. Then they get a little raucous.

We've had fabulous food here, whether it be at an outdoor stand or a high-end sit-down restaurant, the food tastes great. All of it. At least, what we've had so far. We've tried the Chicken Paprikash, Goulash, Veal Stew, Savory Crepes, Dobos Cake, Kremes, Stuffed Cabbage, Goose Liver, Strudels, Cheese Noodles, Fried Cheese with Blueberry Jam, Sausages, Trotters, Sourkraut, Red Cabbage and Pizza. Nothing was disappointing.

Last night we stopped for gelato. We can get gelato in the states, no problem. But, this place, it's special. Gelarto Rosa offers a variety of gelato flavors and your choices are small (2 flavors), medium (3 flavors) or large (4 flavors) on a cone. Tim had the Coffee and the Pitachio - yummy. I had the Chocolate and the Panna Cotta with Salted Butter Caramel - to die for good! The flavors are terrific, the texture is perfect, but the presentation is over-the-top fantastic! They form each cone of gelato into a rose. If you're ever in Budapest, you must give them a try!

Well enough from me, here's some pics. I hope you enjoy Budapest from my view.

Paris - Libby's View

Imagine this: it's late on a Thursday, 11:30p when the train pulls into the Paris Nord station and you take your first step in this "city of love" and "city of lights". You smell the air, and it smells like a train station. You walk to the main building and are welcomed by a gentleman offering taxi service. He walks you away from the other taxis, you get suspicious. You were right. They wanted to charge double the going rate for taxi service.

You say no and walk away, wondering what's going to happen.

Well, that's what happened to us on Thursday night when we arrived in Paris. It was a little tense, but other than getting irritated that we caught on to their con, nothing bad happened. Then we found a taxi in the taxi line and got a ride to our hotel, no problem.

The hotel was great and the room lovely. Of course, we're not there for more than a few hours, but it was a good place for some sleep.

We woke a little late on Friday, but got ready and took the bus into the heart of the city to the Eiffel Tower. Thanks to reception for the recommendation to use the bus, we saved a lot of transportation money. Her statement, "it has the same traffic, but cost only 2euros per person."

The weather was gray, but not rainy. A little chilly, but I didn't need a coat. The Eiffel Tower, was taller than I expected and yet, at the same time not as large as I expected it to be. We walked around, took some pictures, ate a Nutella and Strawberry Crepe, crossed a bridge (twice) and did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and get a taxi to the train station.

It may have been a short trip, but it was certainly long enough for us to learn a few things. Paris is called the 'city of love' and when you're standing on a bridge over the Seine with the one you love admiring, I can understand it. There were other people milling about and young men trying to sell souvenirs, but we were just there, the two of us, enjoying the sights and sounds together. I can only imagine if you were on a bridge away from all the hustle and bustle it would be even more romantic.

Paris is also called the 'city of lights' (though personally I'm sure Vegas has them beat). It was interesting to see the Eiffel Tower lit up on our taxi ride to the hotel on Thursday night, and it even had a search light at the top of it. The remainder of the city was lit, like any large city would be, but not to the extent you would expect for a place called the city of lights. Where you will see many lights, even that late at night, is on the roadway. There was so much traffic in Paris at midnight. My thought at the time was, "if it's this busy this late, I hate to think what it's like at rush times!"

Something else we learned: we would return, for a short trip, but unlike other places we've been, we couldn't see ourselves staying there for a longer length of time. Well, unless we ate fresh breads, cheese, and macarons every day. :)

Scotland: Isle of Skye, Loch Lomond and Glasgow - Libby's View

I've fallen behind a little bit due to poor internet connection. But, believe me when I tell you: I could live in Scotland. Easily.

Not only because of the beautiful countryside, or the fascinating history, or the delicious food. But, also because of the lovely people. Yes, they have a strong accent and it take a few seconds sometimes to parse what they're saying, but they are patient and helpful and the pace in most of Scotland is laid back and easy going. Except in their driving, but that's a different post too.

Loch Ness - we did not see Nessie

Driving to the Isle of Skye was breathtaking. At one point, I likened it to our time in New Zealand, "around every bend and over every little hill in the road, the landscape just keep getting more beautiful!" Isle of Skye was like this too, but in a different way. It wasn't all snow-capped mountains with beautiful lakes. It was also high-desert like, then large expanses of evergreens, then snow-capped mountains with beautiful lakes, back to high-desert like areas with very rugged terrain.




And like the rest of Scotland and England, we would somewhat regularly see a castle or the ruins of one. If we could live here for a year or two, we just might get to take it all in...but somehow, I doubt it could really be done even in that amount of time.

Loch Cluanie

We fulfilled another dream by visiting Scotland and unlike the usual fulfilling of a dream where it will wane a little and move on to the next one, I think the dream to see Scotland has taken root and isn't going to let go until we've returned and experienced even more of it.

Eilean Donan Castle

View from our B&B in Balmacara on Loch Alsh

Loch Hourn and Kyle Rhea waters meet

Ruins along Loch Hourn

When we left Isle of Skye, we drove to Glasgow by way of Loch Lomond. We have dear friends in Mundelein, IL who live in a community called Loch Lomond and if work had cooperated, we would have loved having them with us on this trip. So, we really wanted to see and get pics of Loch Lomond to share with them. We barely made it with any light to take pictures, but we did get some and even in low light, it didn't disappoint. It's an absolutely beautiful lake and I can understand why it's called by some, the most scenic in Scotland and is included in songs.

First view of Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond at dusk

Loch Lomond at dusk

Our arrival to Glasgow was a bit of a shocker. It's very much a modern city that's always busy. We were not upset that we didn't have time to sightsee here. We didn't want this modern-ness to mar the beautifully slow-paced vacation we're just ending. Our hotel was on the south side of Glasgow, so when we left the next morning, we weren't in the middle of the heavy traffic and the scenic drive was a lovely way to end our vacation in Scotland.

Even arriving back in the busy-ness of London wasn't bad, even though traffic was. It was a far cry different than the day we'd driven out of the city almost 2 weeks earlier! After returning our rental car, we settled in to the pace of the train station, had a hot meal that was quite tasty before boarding our train for Paris, France.

We may be saying goodbye to the U.K., but I hope it's only a temporary one. Something more like, "until next time" seems appropriate. We loved it there. It doesn't matter which road we take, high or low, as long as we can get back to the "bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond" or other lovely vistas.