Just catching up

Let's be honest, I've been a slacker as far as blogging goes. Girls went back to school this week and I got my camera back from the shop, so it's time to get back on my game! 

A few weeks ago, Laura and I visited the Gardens at Schwetzingen Castle, which actually served as a hunting lodge. Acres of ornate gardens overwhelm the building itself. 

I was a complete fatty at brunch, but it was oh, so good!

Two of my personal favorite pictures.

Everyone loves a good weeping willow
(They always remind me of Pocahontas) 

Enjoying the not so wild life.

 This is the same shot a few hundred yards apart

Laura and I experienced our first Kerve in Gauangelloch, a German initiation of sorts.
We sang on tables and took jello shots from syringes.

Any other pictures from this evening should probably be destroyed. 

We also hiked a path through Konigstuhl, where several carvings made from the trees of the forest and various activities lead the way.

It's all Greek to me

Laura, the girls, Laura's friend Julie, her two girls and I all made our way to Crete for ten days of relaxing, sunshine and reading. The first few days we enjoyed the three saltwater pools, buffets, and nightly shows put on by the awesome Animation staff. After dinner, we went to the "mini disco" so all 4 girls could shake their tail feathers. Although, skeptical at first they all knew every dance by the last night, I think we had just as much fun watching as they did dancing. I ended doing some dancing of my own to remixes of all sorts including the Macarena, the dance that crosses all kinds of language barriers.

Sack lunches in hand, we headed to Knossos, ruins of an ancient palace dating back before 1380 BC. Several areas of the ruins had been partially reconstructed to show how it may have been. The murals and paintings had all been replaced with duplicates, however we ventured to the museum afterwards to see the originals plus some. Its amazing to see how civilizations over 3000 years had various technologies including running water and their ability to make beautiful jewelry.

In honor of Shark Week's 25th birthday, I went diving in the Mediterranean Sea (home to 47 species of shark, 15 of which are potentially fatal to humans.) Although our dive was shark-less, the dive master I went with spotted an octopus den on the sea floor. After carefully removing the rocks and debris from the entrance he pulled the dark purple octopus out in an inky fit. The little guy soon realized we weren't there to hurt him but, just in case, he changed into a more fleshy color as we held him and he swam from diver to diver. The wrapping of his little suction-cupped tentacles around my finger was an absolute awesome and unprecedented sensation, one I will not soon, if ever, forget. We returned him to his humble abode and replaced the rocks before drifting to the reef. The next morning, the 7 of us went to the Kretaquarium. It was interesting to be able to put a name to all the creatures I had seen. 

Laura, Julie and I went down into Hersonissos for some shopping and stumbled upon a fish spa. We soon had our feet in individual tanks filled with little garra rufa fish. I laughed the entire 20 minutes as they sucked the grime and dead skin off our feet. It was more of a tickle-fest but our feet evolved into the sexiest in the city, just as the man had promised!

Maps!

Driving to Budapest, we discovered the gps lacked the maps to Eastern Europe. We downloaded them and thought nothing more of it. However, in the process, my brilliancy managed to delete the maps of Western Europe. Two maps, a redbull, and a Dramamine later we navigated our way back towards home.  To the joy of the girls we stayed at a youth hostel, in Salzburg, Austria for a few nights. The next morning we ventured to Liechtensteinklamm gorge, one of the deepest and longest in the Alps. After we took a lift up to "haunted" Geisterberg, a small ghostly theme park with friendly ghosts Spuki and Gspensti to lead the way. 

Can you see the lion's face?

We enjoyed our fresh caught fish at the restaurant across the street accompanied by the gorgeous sunset and a scrumptious banana split! 

Budapest

We arrived in Budapest Monday evening. (Budapest is actually composed of Buda on the western side of the Danube river and Pest on the east.) Unable to pass up marine life, we visited the local aquarium on Tuesday and meandered the streets for coffee, shopping, and ice-cream. After visiting Vilmany, we went to check out the scenery of Pest and its historic buildings. It was evening so some of the pictures didn't come out quite as I would have liked. Thursday morning we stopped for brunch and ventured into the castle district of Buda.

As a side note, I was also introduced to two pretty intoxicating bands, check them out!

Outbox – Waking Up the Dense          Luc and the Lovingtons – You Make Me Feel Quiet

 Cheyenna and Jasmine in front of the shark tank

My obsession. Nom Nom Nom. 

Tropical fishies



We like to get crazy...

... it runs somewhere in our family.

Castle at sunset

Momma and her babies swimming in the moat.

Grilled salmon with cucumbers and  potatoes for dinner

Castle after dinner

Heroes Square

The girls and I up on the monument.

Museum of Fine Arts

Square surrounding Matthias Church

View of the Parliament Building  from the above tower 

Matthias Church