Budapest

In June we took a trip to Budapest, the capitol of Hungary. It was once actually three cities that occupied both banks of the Danube river - Buda, Obuda and Pest.

Buda castle



The Chain bridge


Hero's Square

Both nights we had ate at dinner boat restaurants on the Danube river. The boats were moored (they looked permanently attached) on the river. Both had very good food and a spectacular view of the castle at sunset.

Columbus Jazzklub and restaurant - we had dinner here our first night in Budapest.


Spoon - the boat - we ate dinner here the second night.


Fisherman's Bastion


Matthias church


Parliament

Gellért Hill Cave - chapel & monastery 1926-1951, used as a field hospital during WWII, in 1951 was raided and sealed up by the State Protection Agency until 1989, the chapel reopened after the Iron Curtain came down.

Vajdahunyad's Castle - Built between I896 and 1908 its various parts illustrate the different styles of Hungarian architecture. It was designed by Ignác Alpár, and derived its name from the wing facing the lake, which is an imitation of the Castle of Vajdahunyad in Transylvania, the family castle of János Hunyadi. This was originally constructed as a temporary exhibit for the Hungarian millennial celebrations, the castle was so popular that it was eventually replaced with an identical permanent structure.

Prague

Friends from Texas came to visit.

In between playing games of Mexican Train (dominoes) we toured Krakow, the Jewish section of Kazimierz, some museums, and many churches. While they were here they went to Wieliczka and Auschwitz.

We all took an overnight train to Prague for the weekend. There was so much to see, we may have to take another trip there sometime. This was Wes' favorite place we have visited so far.


Prague castle


The Charles bridge


Wes & Evie

The cathedral


Windows inside the cathedral


Astronomical clock


Powder tower


Tyn church

Clarks in Poland

Zac, Andrea, Damion and Will flew out for a 2 week visit the end of April.
We took them to see dragons...

and castles, the Krakow zoo, Auschwitz.

Ojców National Park


Went to all the playgrounds Evie could find in Krakow, the botanical gardens, walked to the square and fed the pigeons and went on a tour to a farm/horse ranch.


I think everyone's favorite was the farm, it was much more than a tour. We saw horses, a pig, a cow named Matilda, chickens, a rooster that climbed a tree, ducks, cats, dogs, visited with the owners of the farm (there were some English-speaking people there to help out), and went on a hike and took horse and buggy rides.

Hiking at the farm

Had a great home made lunch with the best szarlotka (Polish apple dessert) ever.

Andrea getting the recipe for the szarlotka ...

On a buggy ride at the farm...

Venice, Italy

We are taking every chance we get to visit new (to us) places in Europe while we are living here. Venice was by far the most romantic city we have been to since we've moved here and the architecture---wow, every where you looked there was something to take a picture of.

San Marco Basilica
Burano Island - makers of lace

Bells near our hotel

Clock tower - San Marco square

Gondolas with San Marco square in the background

Our hotel 3749 Ponte Chiodo named after the bridge it is next to.
Rialto Bridge
Wes at Campo Giovanni Paolo (in the yellow coat)

Evie with Santa Maria della Salute in background

Spring is here!

Wawel castle from the Vistula river

Spring has begun to show itself. I have taken these photos in the past few weeks.

The planty around the centrum of Krakow.


Palm Sunday

The above photos is of Polish "palm" branches - since actual palms were not readily available long ago, other means were used to create palm branches from many types of dried and silk flowers.

Polish dancers at a celebration on Palm Sunday

A 2 story high picture of Pope John Paul II was put up a few days before the anniversary of his death. On April 2nd many people honored his life with the memorial candles seen below.