Salzburg, Austria ... July 28 - 29, 2006

On Friday morning we packed up all of our things from our apartment at Hotel Corinthia and had it stored there while we went on a quick trip to Salzburg… because when we got back we were going to be able to move into our house.
We arrived very late on Friday and checked into the Renaissance and went right to sleep. The next morning when we looked out the window we realized we were going to have our first rainy day. We’d been lucky all summer and had experienced great weather for all of our trips, but today we were not so lucky! We bought umbrellas for the girls on the way to the bus...the quality was fabulous, as they were broken and served better as weapons with the wires protruding in every direction within an hour after we purchased them. The Salzburg Festival was still going on, although we didn’t buy tickets to anything because it would have been too difficult with the girls. The bus let us off right outside Mozart’s house (not his birth place), where we went on a self-guided tour with head phones and walked through every room. We saw some of his old pianos and other personal effects, and learned more about his life and family. The rain had let up a little and was only a little drizzly at this point, so we walked across the bridge to the old town and explored the streets and shops there. High on a cliff above the old town was a castle, and on the other side at the base of a cliff, was a large church. We also found Mozart’s birthplace and took a tour through this house, which, like his other house that he lived in as an adult, is now a museum. For obvious reasons, Mozart is everywhere in this town, and Katie loved to yell, “Mozart!” every time we saw a picture of him (and still does). We had some of the chocolates with pistachio centers named for him, Mozartkugeln, and also grabbed some hot dogs on our way out of town. Salzburg was a beautiful town, and the rain didn’t deter us from having a great day there. We would love to go back and go on a Sound of Music tour, when the kids are a little older and could handle tours better. Until then, we’re happy doing our own thing. And Katie continues to point out "Mozart!" whenever she sees a picture or a statue of someone with a powedered whig and 17th century royal clothing, whether it is actually Mozart or not!

Prague and Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic ... July 14 - 16, 2006

We drove to Prague, through Bratislava, on a Friday evening and went right to the Courtyard Marriott (about a five 1/2 hour drive from Budapest). We rested up to ensure we had the energy for the full day we spent on Saturday around what has to be the most beautiful city in Europe (for sure top 5!). We took a subway from the hotel to get to Prague Castle, which is, of course, on a hill. We went up A LOT of stairs (carrying the stroller) to get up to the castle district, where Katie had to point out Cinderella’s bedroom. The castle district was large and charming, as was the gothic St. Vitus cathedral, which we didn’t go into because the line was so long. It was high tourist season in Prague, so there were a lot of people, which kind of pilfered a little bit of the ambiance. The view of Prague and the Vltava (Moldau) River was breathtaking. From the castle we walked down a hill that led to the Charles Bridge, which was named for King Charles IV during the 14th century glory days. Even the view from the bridge of the beautiful architecture up the hill to the castle is remarkable. 36 Baroque Saints line the bridge’s sixteen-arched crossing. On the other side of the bridge we walked to the beautiful green Estates Theater, where Don Giovanni was performing. And a highlight of the day in Prague was the Old Town Square. There are tons of outdoor cafes, musicians, mimes, and beautiful stores (many selling amber and crystal). Heather and Katie climbed to the top of the 200-ft clock tower, in the middle of Old Town Square, which had an amazing view of the “City of One Hundred Spires”! Then we met up with them again downstairs on the outside of the clock tower, where every hour on the hour the 600 year old astronomical clock has a procession of apostles and allegorical figures. We missed the end of it because an elderly lady in front of us fainted and kept grabbing Heather’s leg, speaking to her in some language she didn’t understand (fortunately she didn’t need to understand it because the woman had family there with her who helped her). It was a full day for us in Prague, but the day wasn’t over. We got in our car and drove to a little Czech town three hours south (thanks to our GPS) called Cesky Krumlov. We didn’t have a hotel reservation here, because there were no chain hotels in this romantic little town. It was here I finally decided in my head that the chains, although nice for a last resort and comfort, don't provide the same European experience the pensions/bed&breakfasts do. We found a room in a pension that had four beds and was quite large. It was getting later in the evening, but we went out and ate dinner in a Chinese restaurant before going to bed. Going to bed was tricky in our room because there were no curtains on the windows, and it was light outside until 9:00 so the girls would not settle down. There was also no air-conditioning so we had to leave the windows open, which would have been fine if there wasn’t a discotec next door that had music blaring until 2AM! Other than a bad night’s sleep, we loved this town! Cesky Krumlov is this fabulous fairy-tale river town. The Vltava River meanders through the town, and the castle sits up on the hill. Krumlov (Schwartzenberg) Castle is the second largest castle in the Czech Republic, after Prague’s. For 300 years it was the residence of the Rozenberk Dynasty, which was the powerful noble family that ruled southern Bohemia from 1316 to the 16th century. We spent all day exploring the castle grounds and gardens, and walking through the twisting cobblestone streets of the village. It was an easier drive back as we just kept driving South in Czech Republic before running right into Linz, Austria, which put us back on the motorway all the way back to Budapest (via Vienna, this time). It was a very, very fun weekend.

Salt Lake City, UT (Kara and Luke's Wedding) ... June 28 - Jul 2, 2006

We flew to Utah from Budapest on a MISERABLE flight (that we promised we’d never do again!) for a really quick weekend for Kara and Luke’s wedding. The girls only slept for 30 minutes of the 10 hours we were on the plane to JFK, and were whining and cranky the other 9 ½. Then we spent our full 2 hour layover getting through customs, re-checking our luggage, and running to our Salt Lake flight. We were dreading our next flight, and were so tired that we had given up caring about keeping the girls under control and quiet for the benefit of the other passengers, until we saw that one of my old GE friends was also on the flight! Ross Kurz and I started as FMPs in Louisville together and hadn’t seen each other in a few years. Fortunately the girls slept most of the way and all was well.
We packed very lightly because we knew we’d do a lot of shopping in Salt Lake. We spent 2 hours in Target, and the rest of the day in and out of other stores, stocking up on things we can’t buy in Budapest. The rest of my family arrived Thursday evening and we all stayed in the Shilo Inn in downtown Salt Lake. Our room connected with my parents', whose connected with Kendra and John's. The girls fell asleep early and woke up early, since they were on Budapest time (8 hours ahead). So we were tired most of the trip, but we had a great time with the family.
Katie and Ashley stayed with all of their cousins at the hotel with babysitters on Friday while we went to an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple, then Kara and Luke’s sealing. The kids came to the temple for pictures, then back to the hotel while we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a family dinner.
The next morning Heather went to breakfast with her friends Amy (Spencer) Groll, Amy (Gardner) Reading, and Jen Rowe. Then we drove up to Logan to see Grandma Lee, who was very sick and not expected to live much longer.
From Logan we drove to the wedding reception at Luke’s parent’s house in Weber Canyon, which was in the most picturesque area… it was so beautiful there. The reception was in the backyard, but we spent most of our time inside with the girls, who never stopped eating grapes. Katie, Ashley and cousin Elise had the most beautiful little matching “flower girl” dresses on, also with matching bows and shoes! They looked darling!
We left early the next morning (Sunday) to fly back to Budapest…. a flight we had been dreading for days, but fortunately it was mostly at night so the girls slept most of the time. It was a long way to go for such a short time, but it was worth it and so fun to be with the family and to witness the wedding.