Rosslwirt Hotel Kirchberg

... spot, and apparently disturbed a crazy-looking Hungarian bum from his "bum nest" (Ryan's word, not mine). 4. We did NOT find our hotel. Instead, we wandered around an eerily deserted shopping mall that bore the address for the hotel. We walked up, down, and all around while passersby watched us suspiciously. This continued for about 20 minutes. 5. We walked right outside of the mall (to the street where we had been originally), looked left, and were practically slapped in the face ...

Today we met with Milan, a christian worker here, and he set up an appointment for us with a real estate agent. In the afternoon we met with him and it was very encouraging. He suggested a few places and was quite helpful. He was eager to help with the ministry so it was a real blessing to talk with him.

... miraged for some time... only problem... we are living the opposite lifestyle... and are not sure if roots that deep would nourish us... We ended up closing down the place... enjoying being in the quiet countryside... and headed back to Bratislava... went to a new outlet strip near the airport... bought new running shoes for me... good gym shoes for the boys... and a yoghurt shake for Deb... all for a fraction of the price we would have paid in Turkey ...

... the "Venice of the East" (a bit of a stretch), we did enjoy an afternoon of cycling long its many riverside biking trails. We also watched a night-time concert with a Baltic roots band that fell into what we dubbed a new genre of "polka in extremis" - no need to buy the CD. Conclusion: Poland exceeded our expectations. The hiking in Zakopane and the ...

... at the Theresianum. After lunch Katie, Taylor, Craig and I went to Stephansplatz to climb the spire of Stepansdom. It only cost $3.50. Craig counted the stairs up and it was like 360ish. It was of course a narrow spiral staircase the whole way up. Once we reached the top there was like a little gift shop up there and windows to see out over the city. The view was really nice. Stephansdom is in the center ...

... have to go through customs on the way OUT of the country, too. As usual we are asked about guns, icons and drugs. The ride is 17 minutes on a creaky train track that takes you slowly across the Tissa River into Hungary. Finally, LIGHT! The Zahoney train station. We have crossed into the new Europe. Hungary became part of the Schengen border and now from here you can travel all throughout Europe without stopping at any border. Will our train ...

I'm writing this entry sitting in Starbucks on Karntnerstrasse in Vienna (not very culturally correct, I know, but the only place I could find a wireless connection). Believe me I am suffering as the music they play here is terrible. I arrived in Vienna on Monday evening after the plane was delayed by a storm. When I got here I thought for a moment that it was autumn as the leaves on all the trees were brown but then I realised they were scorched. It ...

... and soon we began reaching great heights on the special coach which took us up the winding mountain to the elevator which rises 365 feet to Eagles Nest. Eagles Nest was breathtaking - we could see the snowcapped peaks of the Bavarian Mountains, Salzburg and the smaller towns of Bavaria. It sits at 5000 feet, and served as Hitler's conference centre. After an hour we made our way back down through the mountain in the elevator and back down the winding road in ...

... listened openly and honestly. Despite having a huge advantage over me in term of age and experience, she treated me like an equal. I did not know I could talk to anyone like that, much less a girl who felt the same way about me. Dinner was good, waiter was a jerk. This is where the trip takes on its hollywood-esque form. The two museums are direct replicas of eachother, and lie across from eachother by maybe a few hundred yards. Inbetween are patches ...

... day of snowboarding, followed by an hour in the sauna, we were so tired we could hardly keep our eyes open long enough to eat dinner. Lowlights - The TV. After a few weeks of travelling we were sick of the constant news on BBC World and CNN and watching the same stories over and over again. The only other English channel we could get was MTV which had such great viewing as the Hulk Hogarn reality tv show (following him and his family in ...