Off to Italy

Sitting here waiting for the ferry to Bari, Italy. A real dump according to the Lonely Planet but is the only way to get to Italy from Dubrovnik,Croatia.
We've had a great time in Croatia and had some good laughs in Dubrovnik. We bought a painting from this guy on the street and talked to him for about half a hour then he volunteered to help us look for this Bosnian coffee grinder that Brooke had seen in Split,Croatia. We walked all over Dubrovnik and along the way our tour guide/street painter would point out little things, like the watermelon size creaters in the sides of buildings from bombs that had gone off in the city walls. And also how many of the roofs around the city had also been replaced from the bombing.


A pretty amazing little town with lots of fun places to eat along the little streets.


This bar was built right into the sides of a cliff and after your drink you could jump off the cliffs into the water for a swim.





Ok off to Italy!!!

Korcula, Croatia

This is the view out our window. To the right you can see the town of Korcula, which is this amazing medieval walled town.






Our first day here and we ate at this little pizzera. This was pretty hilarious because this restaurant was actually two completly different restaurants sharing the same space. There was this line of demarcation where one side had blue table clothes while the other had red ones. This was explained to us by the maître d. "This is big problem, yes big problem" he said while we decided in which place we were going to eat.


Good stuff. And a liter of wine. Oh boy!

Croatia

Here is Split, Croatia. Hot as hell and a bit of a tourist trap as all the big cruise ships dock here. The locals smile and say their price, then frown when you say "too much". Brooke and I have been enjoying learning some of the language and people tend to be a bit more accepting when you at least try.

We got a nice place just back from town and had a great night listening to the local little kids play on their bikes outside. Getting the most out of their Sunday before school on Monday.




Having some tasty wine before we get on the ferry to the little island of korcula. Supposed to be amazing.





Oh and no peeing on this street, but it seems that many other streets are fair game because everyone seems to do it since bathrooms are rare.

Budapest

Spent the day here, marvelling at the architecture and enjoying the abundance of street performers playing music. I had thought we would spend the day basking in the thermal baths - on arrival, I thought of the empty thermal baths at our hotel back in tata. For the same price of basic entry we could have thermal baths, sauna and an hour massage - so we checked out the amazing building of the baths and high tailed it back to tata!

More tata

As promised by wikepedia, tata did deliver on lakes, golf course, lakeside castle - less than an hour from Budapest. I think we were still a little too close to Austria to see any full blown gypsies and Huns in action - but the day is youngish, as we head south.


Oh yeah, tata was also the site of the crime I committed - mangling andy's beard. Attempting to trim with just scissors... I don't recommend this.

Tata

Or "todo" to the locals as we now learn the correct pronunciation as we leave! Tata, Hungary that is. Why tata? We got this question a lot, didn't seem to be on any touring rador - which both appealed ... And scared us a little!! We wanted to be somewhere a little rural, but within daytrip distance from Budapest - a little country air after Prague, and of course, a golf course.




To add a little more suspense, we arrive into tata at 8:15pm- no hotel reservation - but our saving grace, a scribbled name and address of a possible hotel - one of the only few I found during my research!
After 3 nights here, we give tata the big thumbs up!! Two thumbs up to all tata bus drivers! Of course we arrive and have no idea where town is, or how to get to it - no lonely planet map to refer to .... Only info the lonely planet could provide was that Hungary's uniqueness didn't stop at it's incomprehensible tongue - yikes!! Well after a fun exchange of communication with the first bus driver - me, smiling with lots of large arm gestures and pointing - bus driver with lots of pensive looks, chin rubbing and a few phone calls - we were on our way! We were ushered onto two different buses and given directional instructions with more emphatic arm gestures. A cinch! Crucial first word we learnt was "thankyou" in hungarian. Great people as the warm hospitality didn't stop with the bus drivers and their free rides, extending to the cleanest laundry ever, and we both enjoyed the therapeutic touch from peter, the local massage whiz!

Czech happy snaps

Lots of amazing castles and chateaux to serve as lovely backgrounds while sampling the many fine brews Czech had to offer. Cesky krumlov -

That's enough riding for us!

Just kidding!! We had an awesome and enriching experience - what a way to see a country. Now we are back to team castor, sad to have parted ways with those riding maniacs, Shannon and Taylor.


We head south in search of a sea breeze, Shannon and Taylor follow the Elbe river along to krakow.

Off to Hungary

Back on the train again after spending 3 nights in Prague. Had a wonderful time in the Czech republic. The 8 day bike ride was more amazing than we could have imagined and full of adventure and breath taking towns and vistas.








All the people we met were extremly kind and helpful. And the beer was amazing! Budweiser (the original Bud, before we stole the name for our own beer) was some of the best.


That's it for now. Off to Hungary for some more adventure.

Day 7 czech bike ride

Last day of the bike ride is tomorrow. Pretty damn fun



Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Day 3 Czech bike ride

We did almost a 100 k's today and are feeling pretty beat again today. The country has been beautiful and the food and people have been really good as well.



The yellow from the canola fields look like it is right out of a painting. The yellow is so amazingly bright.





This was pretty spectacular as well. The last remains of the iron curtain. The Austria/Czech border. At the top of the photo you might be able to see the watch tower. Beyond this fence was a 100 meters of land mines and before that the Czechs had poisoined the land. Making it almost impossibe to breach or escape. They said the number of people killed here has never been published.




This is where we are staying tonight. Great little town called Telck.




Here is just a funny message for Jason and Alison from Switzerland. Get over here!!

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

First day on Czech bike ride

We are beat. This bike ride is pretty hard core. But very fun. Here are some photos and some from Switzerland which was amaZing.







Switzerland











You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

My New Roomate in Switzerland

This is what 112 bucks gets you in Switzerland! No wonder I never met anyone who went here. A bowl of noddles cost us 50 bucks, well it was pretty good though.



Andy and Brooke

A day in the life of the castor's ...

You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

En Bruges

Mr castor was quite dissappointed to learn that the medieval city of bruges is certainly no secret on the tourist trail. Alas, it was still quite a treat, we blended in nicely - with the fellow tourists eating waffles and drinking beer. Andy left feeling a little empty that there were no midgets to party with.





You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Test run on the bikes

As many of you know, soon we will be catching up with friends Shannon and Taylor for a bike riding adventure from Vienna, to Prague, over 8 days. Shannon and Taylor have actually ridden their bikes from Belgium to meet us in Austria for this little novelty stretch of a ride! In an effort to be a little better prepared, we rented bikes yesterday in Luxembourg and enjoyed a 60km ride between villages along a picturesque river nestled amongst fairytale like forests. We survived, yah! Phewf! With only minor saddle injuries, I'm sure we'll toughen up! Of course we were pretty proud of ourselves and toasted this feat on our little picque-nique!! As the photos show - parents be proud, sun smart, and safety first, euro fashion falls in last place...!!!





You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke

Diekirch, Luxembourg

This is quite possibly the greatest statue I have ever seen. This is in the town center of diekirch. Just look at the whimsical expression on the boys face, as if to say " Mother Look!!! We are saved!".
Brooke and I were the only ones to find this funny as we saw many others pose for pictures and they always had serious face or a pleasent smile. If they would laugh it was always at how THEY looked in the photo. Are You Kidding Me? There is a donkey shitting gold coins behind you!!!
As you can see this provided hours of amusement for me an the wife.


You can always get a hold of us on skype. Just add brookecastor as your friend. If you don't get a hold of us just leave a text message and we'll call you from the next wifi spot. If it's not too late there.

Miss you all

Andy and Brooke