Sunday, September 23, 2012
Ghent, Belgium, July 2012
From Amsterdam we took the train to Ghent, Belgium, where we stayed for 3 nights. We chose Ghent because it is in between Bruges, Antwerp and Brussels. We had also heard that it is less touristy than Bruges and since it has a university, a but more lively. We loved Ghent! It was one of our favorite places in Belgium. The canal, the buildings, all the great beer, the awesome vegetarian meal we had, our wonderful hostess, sharing it with our friends from San Jose....we would go back in a heartbeat!
Amsterdam, July 2012
Our big summer vacation this year was a week in the Netherlands and Belgium. We started in Amsterdam. I had been once when I was in college for a weekend but Eric had never been. Highlights of our trip included seeing our friends from San Jose, a bike tour outside Amsterdam and just strolling through the streets shopping and snacking. Amsterdam is so much more beautiful and romantic than I remembered! No Heineken brewery, Anne Frank House or Van Gogh Museum for us this time, it was all about soaking it all in!
Wachau valley winetasting, Austria, June 2012
We spend a lot of time in Vienna since it's an hour from Bratislava. We wanted to explore the region outside of Vienna and decided on a Wachau valley winetasting bike tour. We love bike tours because we can see more than on foot and we can get (some) exercise out of it. We left Vienna by train, headed for Krems. In Krems, we got bikes and started our ride. It's a beautiful valley with the Danube running through it. We had lunch in Durnstein, an adorable Austrian village. Not only did we sample wines throughout the day, but we also had some apricot scnapps and chocolates from the region.
Plitvice, Croatia, May 2012
I had heard first about Plitvice National Park in Croatia from a friend. who mentioned that her sister insisted on going there while in Bratislava for a visit. I heard it mentioned again by some expat friends in Bratislava. We decided to take a 3-day weekend to check it out for ourselves. It is about 2 hours outside of Zagreb, which is 4 hours from Bratislava.
I cannot believe we had not heard more it before. To put it simply, it is AMAZING! I'm so glad we were there in the spring before the summer hoardes descend upon it. For the most part, you walk through on boardwalks or trails, so it can be slow-going if there are large groups in front of you. It rained the day before and after we were there but we were lucky enough to have a dry, albeit coudy, day.
I cannot believe we had not heard more it before. To put it simply, it is AMAZING! I'm so glad we were there in the spring before the summer hoardes descend upon it. For the most part, you walk through on boardwalks or trails, so it can be slow-going if there are large groups in front of you. It rained the day before and after we were there but we were lucky enough to have a dry, albeit coudy, day.
Jasper, Texas, April 2012
I had to be in Texas for work in late April so Eric and I stopped by Jasper in East Texas to visit my brother. I hadn't seen him in over 10 years (and never met his wife)! So glad we were able to see them, it was great catching up, especially since I had just been to our father's hometown a few weeks before.
Szeged and Pecs, Hungary, April 2012
On our way to and from Serbia (it's about a 4 hour drive from Bratislava to Serbia), we stopped in two towns in southern Hungary, Szeged on the way down and Pecs on the way back home. We're glad we were able to see more of Hungary. Budapest is one of our favorite places anyway but these two place are also worth the visit!
Serbia, April 2012
In April, we finally made it down to Serbia. It's something that has long been on our list of places to go, mainly because my father is Serbian and I have always wanted to see his country and his birthplace. My father was born in Subotica, a beautiful art-deco town in northern Serbia, almost more Hungarian than it is Serbian. It is less than 30 minutes from the Hungarian border and all signs are both in Serbian and Hungarian.
It was great to be in Subotica itself, since I had heard so much about it, but what I really wanted was to find the home where my father grew up. I had a photograph of him standing in front of it from 1986, but that was over 25 years ago, and I had no idea what condition it would be in (if it still existed) and really no idea where to look for it. On the back was written "Villa Zlatibor, Lake Palic" and that's it.
Luckily, Lake Palic is a well known recreational area just outside Subotica. We showed the photo to the lady at the tourist office in Subotica and she seemed pretty certain that it was on the Palic Zoo grounds. I was very skeptical but with little other leads, figured I'd give it a shot. Eric and I went to the zoo and asked the lady at the ticket counter if the building looked familiar. She said no but we bought tickets and wandered around inside anyway. It seemed funny that my search had led me here, walking from the bison corral to the lion cages and over to the monkey exhibit.
Eric ducked into the bathroom and I walked farther ahead along the path. All of a sudden, the rooftops of a bulding began to appear. As I kept walking, it started to look familiar, although I was trying not to get too excited and get my hopes up. I held up the picture to compare the building's features. The structure was the same, the bushes more overgrown, the roof tiles had been updated, but that was it, I was sure. I couldn't believe our luck! We had travelled all the way there with just one picture and a one line description and had found it on our first day trying! It was amazing standing in the same spot my dad had, back in 1986.
The groundskeeper told us it was now an administration building. It has a small front porch but a bigger back veranda. It's not in the best condition but good enough that people are still using it. He couldn't tell us much more about it (and besides, we were communicating in Serbian/Slovak so the mutual comprehension levels were not so high). I left my card at the front desk in case anyone there could give me more information (it was Sunday so no one was working from the back office). I picked up a few zoo brochures as souvenirs for myself and my brother and sister who did not make the trip with me. What do you know, the house is right on the front cover! Sometimes the things you are most looking for are right in front of you!
It was great to be in Subotica itself, since I had heard so much about it, but what I really wanted was to find the home where my father grew up. I had a photograph of him standing in front of it from 1986, but that was over 25 years ago, and I had no idea what condition it would be in (if it still existed) and really no idea where to look for it. On the back was written "Villa Zlatibor, Lake Palic" and that's it.
Luckily, Lake Palic is a well known recreational area just outside Subotica. We showed the photo to the lady at the tourist office in Subotica and she seemed pretty certain that it was on the Palic Zoo grounds. I was very skeptical but with little other leads, figured I'd give it a shot. Eric and I went to the zoo and asked the lady at the ticket counter if the building looked familiar. She said no but we bought tickets and wandered around inside anyway. It seemed funny that my search had led me here, walking from the bison corral to the lion cages and over to the monkey exhibit.
Eric ducked into the bathroom and I walked farther ahead along the path. All of a sudden, the rooftops of a bulding began to appear. As I kept walking, it started to look familiar, although I was trying not to get too excited and get my hopes up. I held up the picture to compare the building's features. The structure was the same, the bushes more overgrown, the roof tiles had been updated, but that was it, I was sure. I couldn't believe our luck! We had travelled all the way there with just one picture and a one line description and had found it on our first day trying! It was amazing standing in the same spot my dad had, back in 1986.
The groundskeeper told us it was now an administration building. It has a small front porch but a bigger back veranda. It's not in the best condition but good enough that people are still using it. He couldn't tell us much more about it (and besides, we were communicating in Serbian/Slovak so the mutual comprehension levels were not so high). I left my card at the front desk in case anyone there could give me more information (it was Sunday so no one was working from the back office). I picked up a few zoo brochures as souvenirs for myself and my brother and sister who did not make the trip with me. What do you know, the house is right on the front cover! Sometimes the things you are most looking for are right in front of you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)