Vienna in summertime

At Prater amusement park

Schoenbrunn zoo

Monkey family

"Cheeeeeeese!"

Another picture at Schoenbrunn Palace

We spent three nights in Vienna. Since the last time we were there was in December, we wanted to visit several outdoor sights that are better suited to summertime sightseeing.

The first day we went to Prater, an amusement park on the east side of the Danube. JR really liked this car ride. He specifically requested the car that looked like Fin McMissile. The next day we went to the zoo at Schönbrunnen -- the oldest zoo in the world, so they say, founded in 1752. And very pretty to boot, being located on the imperial palace grounds and all. The last two pictures are also from Schönbrunnen, the summer residence of the Hapsburgs. It's as big as the principality of Monaco. How 'bout that fun fact?

Salzburg (aka, The Sound of Music tour)

The lake where the scenes behind the house were shot

The gazebo from the movie

In Mirabellgarten -- the steps from do-ray-mi

Another movie location in Mirabellgarten

And another movie location..  You get the idea.  :)

So, I survived. It wasn't as bad as I had feared. I don't think there'll be any long term psychological damage..

Of course I'm talking about the Sound of Music tour. Four hours on a bus with 60 other people singing "Do-re-mi". Every fighter pilot's worst nightmare, right?

In all seriousness, Salzburg was fun. And the Tour we took was a good tour. Here are some pictures from the locations that were in the movie. Captions will follow later. Enjoy!

Lake Bled

At the castle overlooking Lake Bled

Rowing out to the island in Lake Bled

The navigators

Getting around at Lake Bled

The beautifully manicured grounds that surround the lake

Continuing on, we drove back north from Croatia to Ljubljana, and left the car at our friends', Scott and Carolyn's house while Scott drove us up to Lake Bled. We're doing the Lake Bled and Austria parts by rail now. One, 'cause it's fun, and two, because, well, we're waiting on getting the brakes fixed on the car. Big adventure, right?

Lake Bled might be the most beautiful place on the face of the Earth. I haven't been to all the lakes in the world, but so far this is number one in my book. Sorry, Higgins Lake..

We rented bikes to get around, which worked out great except for getting up that first hill between our pension and the lake. I made it up the first day, but after that it was walking up..

At the lake, we biked around on the trail that circles the lake, we rowed out to the island in the middle of the lake one day, and we hiked up to the castle overlooking the lake another day. The weather was rainy one day so we spent the morning at an indoor pool in one of the big hotels on the lake. All in all it worked out great. Thank you, Slovenia, and thank you again, General Olmsted!

Punat, Croatia

Seafood dinner (for two)

Can you spot our car?

Swimming in the Adriatic -- it was pretty warm in the bay

All suited up

Sunset in Punat

The next stop on our trip was the small seaside village of Punat on the Croatian island of Krk. The seafood was great and the people were very nice.

There were a lot of German tourists there, probably spending six weeks there by the look of them. Lobster red being the look. We were spoken to in German about as often as English. Good practice!

The beaches were typical for Croatia -- pebbly and/or a concrete slab. No white sandy beaches like Florida. But, on the plus side the water was crystal clear and the surrounding hillsides just stunning. The best part of the apartment we rented was its balcony, which overlooked the water. Oh, and it was right next door to a gelato shop. What a place!

Ljubljana

Looking out from the castle in Ljubljana

Postojna caves

After taking the rail into the caves, we had a 45 min walking tour

The Pot -- a memorial trail marking where the occupying Italian Fascists fenced off the city from the countryside during WWII

After Budapest we spent two nights in Ljubljana, Slovenia, staying with our friends the Johnson's, fellow Olmsteders. They were cool enough to give us a tour of the city, including the lovely old town and the castle.

Slovenia is a beautiful country. We highly recommend it. Ljubljana is a relatively small city (quarter million or so), but is very pretty. And, like the rest of Slovenia that we've seen, it seems to be nestled in amongst scenic hills and mountains. On our way from Ljubljana to Croatia we visited the Postojna caves -- very cool. It has 5km of caves that you can tour, via a rail and on foot. A huge win -- thanks to Paweł, one of my Polish friends, for the suggestion.

Budapest

We rented a "special bike" for a trip around Margit Island

At the Mattais Church, with its Gothic styling and tiled roof

At the Fisherman's Bastion -- an eleven year old black eagle

This was cool -- a children's railroad.  It's a 16km long, narrow-gauge rail that was built in the 1950's.  It runs through the wooded hills on the Buda side of the river, so it was a good way to avoid the heat.

The city authorities were no-kidding distributing water packs it was so hot!

Next on our trip we visited Budapest. We stayed at our friends', the Bushes, apartment, on the Pest side of the city. Like us, they were off traveling during their summer vacation. (But, wiser than us, they were in the Alps where it was cool instead of in the city where it was Africa hot.).

Anyway, one of the (many) cool aspects of the Olmsted program is you have colleagues in different cities you can stay with. And this time, as an added bonus, the Bushes arranged for us to use their babysitter. Twice. Wow, a two date nights in a row! We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.

Bratislava

The St. Elisabeth Church (aka, Blue Church) -- art nouveau 

Jill was pretty pleased that JR was dressed to match..

JR liked how his voice echoed here in Bratislava Castle, which was recently restored

We took a boat trip on the Danube to this location, Devin Castle

Saying hello to one of the interesting statues in Bratislava, "The Watcher"

We spent two days of our trip in Bratislava. That was just about enough when it comes to sightseeing. There were some interesting sights though, and the old city is pretty.

Travels with JR, July 2012 ed.

An ice cream break makes the drive more manageable 

Boat trip on the Danube

Our route, working clockwise from the upper right

We're on a big adventure!

After Tom's exams we left Krakow on a 19-day road trip. The map shows our route and stops. We're stopping in several different places on this trip -- and nowhere longer than four days. Europeans think this is strange, but there's so much we want to see, this is how we Americans do it, I suppose.