Upon entering the house we were greeted graciously by Marko's parents Tomo and Danica, two of the sweetest people you will ever meet. We sat down in there living room and where immediately attended to offered vino, pivo(beer), lemonade and grappa. No, was not an answer that was listened to and we could observe that from the first moment. They were so happy we were there and so generous we were a bit overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity it was truly special. After a short time we went to the lower house and put our things in our respective rooms and relaxed for a little bit before dinner. The lower house has a large deck on the 2nd floor with great views of the water, a pleasant place to sit and relax. After, taking a little rest we headed to the main house for dinner. Sasha, Marko's brother had arrived and we all sat down for a meal. We were immediately bombarded with Tomo's homemade grappa and platters of prosciutto and cheese, followed by other platters of olives, pickles, peppers followed by hot meats and potatoes. Danica, always encouraging us to eat more. If she saw we liked something you would get two more on your plate. Ciara was very sly and moved most of her 2nd-5th helpings onto my plate (mostly the meat), leaving me to take one for the team and eat more than imaginable. Tomo's homemade wine was delicious, and after every sip, your glass was refilled. After the dinner came the dessert apple strudel, torte and a cake. The hospitality and generosity was like no other. With our bellies full of dinner dessert and wine we went to bed eager to adventure the next day. We woke up the next day to another gorgeous day, walking out on to the deck and smelling the fresh sea air. Once we had all gotten up and ready we headed up to breakfast at the main house where we were again continuously spoiled and stuffed. Many hvalas (thank yous) where given due to the overwhelming hospitality and all Danica would say is "Ne hvala" meaning that we didn't need to thank her. Such a sweet woman, it was hard not to squeeze her. And you could tell by her affection that she was so happy to have her family visiting her in her home. Each morning after we said our goodbyes to Tomo, Danica and Sasha we headed out into Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia.

In Montenegro we visited Risan (an old Roman town), Perast (where Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas have a home), Kotor (an old town with city walls and medieval architecture), Sveti Stefan (an old fishing village built on an island peninsula that is now filled with villas and luxury hotels-to open again soon), and Budva (another old city within walls along the coast). Montenegro is filled with natural beauty- gorgeous water, dramatic mountains, and from the mountain tops, we looked down on deep valleys and across to Croatia to the north, Albania to the south, and on a clear day, Italy to the west. We have a feeling that Montenegro is going to come from the shadows of years of unrest and take on the appreciation and beauty it holds.

Twice, we took a day trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia-one of our new favorite places in the world. We were awe-struck by it's presence- a fortified town along saphire waters. From it's beginning in the 7th century and since the rebuilding of what it looks like today after an earthquake in 1667, it's hard to believe the city was heavily bombed during the war from 1991-1992. It was mind-blowing to enjoy a pristine and unique city knowing the hardships and distruction that occurred here a short while ago. We walked along the city walls and couldn't help but take a picture of everything we saw. We spent much of our time eating and drinking while staring out into the Adriatic horizon.

(continued.... on next blog page)

The following day, we did a day trip to Trebinje, Bosnia to visit an orthodox monastery. No matter what country we went to that was formally part of Yugoslavia, this trip was particularly special because it allowed the family to visit our Serbian roots. We visited the villages, houses, churches and a school and cemetery that our former generations call home. It was an emotional experience for all of us in different ways and it was truly a blessing to share this experience with everyone.

At the end of the week, it was time to say goodbye to Marko, Tomo, Danica, and Sasha. Such an amazing time had come to an end. Without our driver, we headed north to Croatia, Bosnia, Croatia again, and headed to Slovenia. We missed Marko and all the funny things he would say, so we found ourselves quoting and mimicking him the entire way. We filled our 7-hour drive playing games like Loaded Questions and used our IPODS to play trivia and 20 Questions against the computer-a freaky thing considering it guessed our item most of the time.

We made it to Lake Bled, Slovenia. What a perfect place to spend our last day of vacation,

at least for Ciara's October break and our road trip. It was magical. The small town surrounded a lake

about 3 miles around-everything about it was picturesque. Autumn was a perfect time to be there,

the weather was crisp and the leaves were bright hughes of red, and orange. We stayed in a very nice

hotel-thanks to Baba Lu for treating us. We got to spend this time relaxing from the hours we spent

in the car and before we headed back to Vienna. What a vacation this turned out to be, we could not

have asked for a more perfect time and are so blessed to have such an amazing family.

Graz

Last weekend we ran a race in Graz, Austria's 2nd largest city. It is adorable in deed, and why wouldn't it be when, Arnold, the govenator of California, is from a town 2K from Graz. We spent the 2-hour train ride having breakfast mimosas with Lisa and Bridget, 2 friends from school. In Graz we met up with two more friends, Stephanie and Anika and explored the darling town. The city is rich in Art and great shopping. That evening we enjoyed dinner at a Greek restaurant for over 3 hours. In Austria, you're never rushed to leave your table, so it felt nice to take our time and get carried away in conversation.

The race had a marathon, and half-marathon, but we decided to do the 10.5K. The weather was gorgeous and perfect for running. After we finished, we waited for Lisa and Stephanie to finish the half marathon race. Everyone had a great run and we have some fast friends!

That afternoon we headed home. With so many people trying to get out of the city that day, the buses were PACKED! With backpacks on, we crammed into a crowded bus headed to the train station. Every turn, I felt like I was crushing the children next to me. At the stops, it was impossible to let people on or off the bus. Even when a nun got on, people groaned, but she pushed her way in.

Once on the train, by choice, we had a cozy ride home. The trains were busy and in our quest to have all 6 of us sit in one cabin, we ended up squeezing 8 of us in, along with an older Austrian man and woman. They really had a great sense of humor toward our dominating way about us. We continued to share stories and talk over a couple bottles of wine all the way back to Vienna. Once back home, we didn't want the weekend to end, so we all decided to go out for pizza.

It was a fun weekend mixed with good people, and a little exercise.

The latest....

Last week we took a weekend off from traveling and enjoyed time around Vienna. We enjoyed delicious food and time with some new friends. We went to a couple dinner parties and went to watch a fellow co-worker's band play at a bar. We had to get ourselves all rested up for this past weekend... Oktoberfest.

We know now, the next time we go to Oktoberfest we will plan far enough in advance to stay a little longer in Munich. By the time we got around to looking into accommodations, they were minimal and pricey. So, we decided to take a day trip to Munich- which is about 4 hours away on the train. To make it worth our while we booked a 6:15 train putting us at Munich Haupbanof at 10:30. This time, we recruited Bridget, a friend and teacher from AIS, to join us. The train ride there was a spectacle in of itself, even we didn't think it was right to be that crazy before 9:00AM. There was no need to find directions to "The Fest" from the train station, we just followed the parade of people. Once we arrived we found ourselves in quite a scene. Wearing jeans and t-shirts, we were the minorities to those wearing Drindles and Lederhosen. I (Ciara) think they are SO adorable and will be purchasing one as soon as it works out in the ol' budget. Andrew says that he refuses to wear one, but if he receives a Laderhosen as a gift, he'd have to wear it,-right? And I bet you money that you will see him in one...some day. We were in the middle of the biggest county fair of beer you will ever see. The grounds were strewn with what I thought were buildings, but were actually the "beer" tents, each one holding up to 5,000 people. Beer is served in Steins (1 liter servings), and are quite heavy. The servers carrying 5+ at a time were pretty amazing. The streets along the festival were lined with booths serving oxen sandwiches, rotisserie chicken, bratwurst, gigantic pretzels, and white cotton candy. The amusement park had all rides imaginable-not such a good idea if you've had a couple steins, I'm sure. We did go on one ride, a slow-moving carousel that served the festive beverage.

Lessons we learned this time around:

Show up EARLY, like at the crack of dawn, if you want to get into the tents. They open at 9:00 AM and apparently, showing up at 11:00AM at any one of the 14 enormous tents, doesn't guarantee entry. We spent our time in the courtyard of the tents and did some amazing people watching. Songs were being chanted in not-so-perfect pitch and although people came from all over the world, we were all speaking the same common language-BEER.

We left that evening for the train where more Oktoberfesting continued and we eventually decided to nap. Leaving that night prevented a major degree of debauchery to occur and allowed us to wake up in our own happy bed the next morning.

Our adventure was another one for the memory book, and although it was just a day, it felt like we had made the entire weekend out of it. It was nice to still have Sunday to enjoy brunch outside, walk around town, go to a Spanish Tapas restaurant for dinner, and end with seeing the Hangover at an English movie theater. Perfect way to end the weekend, with a large tub of popcorn.

Now, we have a chili cook-off to go to this weekend and Andrew is going to take his shot at making his pot of goodness. To be continued...

This past weekend we continued our travel theme and headed to Bratislava for the day on Saturday. There is a great deal with the train system since Bratislava is so close to Vienna, they do a thing called the EU Regio Excursion ticket. It is 14 Euro and you get round trip ticket between Vienna and Bratislava along with a day pass for the local transit in Bratislava. Not a bad deal for a day trip especially considering that we are 45 minutes to an hour away from the Slovakian capital.

So we got up in the morning and headed to Sudbahnof to head out. Unfortunately we showed up as the train was pulling away, however the trains run every half hour so we got a coffee and a pastry and waited on the next one. Once in route we settled into the train and the time passed pretty quickly, it was quite a short trip the border. Once we got there, the excitement began. How do we get to Old town? On the way there, we read about the historical buildings and the narrow streets. We did our best to get lost which I have always felt is the best way to get to know a place. However, with minimal difficulty, we made it to the area we were looking for. The outskirts of Bratislava are some what industrial, it is situated on the Danube River and there are quite a few bridges. Te old town was as advertised. small and quaint, with several old historic buildings that were quite beautiful. Being a Saturday, we saw about 6 weddings going on where we witnessed photo shoots and observed part of ceremonies in and outside the church. We wandered around the small cobblestone streets for a while and then decided to sit down for lunch and enjoyed our meal outside. There are a lot of trendy bars, restaurants, and shops in the center of town. The city is on the up-swing of catering to tourists and making its way into the scene. After lunch we set out to Bratislava castle. It was up on the hill and was quite an imposing structure. We strolled up there enjoying the walk, the ascent up to the castle made for ever increasing views of the city and the river. On a clear day from the top, you can see Hungary and Austria from this viewpoint. We got quite a view, but wasn't sure if we saw over country lines. We took this time to relax and enjoy the day in the sun. Once back into town we decided to do a little shopping. I especially loved the cheese shop we found. The man who helped us was determined to let us try as many types of cheese we wanted-needless to say, we could have stayed there forever. After purchasing a few different cheeses, a few house plants, and a bottle of something Slovakian, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the train station.

It was interesting to visit both the Czech Republic and then Slovakia within a couple weeks and see the differences between the two. Prague is amazing and Bratislava is quaint and still has a small-town feel.

In the latest addition of the Ciara and Andrew Blog we have weekend trip to report that was quite epic. We did some camping Austrian style.

It started on Friday I tried my best to pack up the gear that Ciara had set aside and I continued to try and pack everything else we needed trying not to omit any glaring items. Packed up some snacks and our gear in a pack and headed to Philadelpiabruke to meet David (Stacey a teacher at AIS's husband). We caught a train out to a spot several kilometers from where we were set to start the hike. The plan was that Ciara and three of her co-workers, Stacey, Bridget, and Shoena, were to pick us up at the train station an take us to the starting point of the hike. We got on the train with no trouble and the ride went smoothly. We got there earlier than anticipated and the rain was coming down. So we found a little trailer set up out side the train station that had some cover and beers for sale, and waited. Unfortunately the girls ran into some pretty heavy traffic, but David and I just chatted and passed the time. Once they arrived we piled into Shoena's Volvo and headed up to the jump-off point. At this point it had started to get a little late and the rain was coming down pretty steady. We decided however when we reached the parking lot to the park that we would brave it to the first hut and trek through the elements. We all we a sense of purpose headed up the trail determined to reach the first shelter. Unfortunately, the elements were a bit too much to bear. We were braving the rain but it began to get dark. We decided to head back about 45 minutes into the hike. Once we reached the bottom Shoena called a guest house that was close by and we headed to shelter.

Upon reaching the pension, we were pleased to see a quaint mountain house with rooms and a family style eating area downstairs. Quite an experience we enjoyed a wonderful meal and headed to bed a little wiped out and hoping we could get the hike going the next day.

In the morning the weather appeared much better so after breakfast we decided on going and catching a gondola ride to the hike (to make up the ground from our failed hike the day prior) and make our way to the Habsburghaus the hut we had planned on staying in the second night. So we packed up and headed out.

After a beautifully scenic gondola ride we headed up the trail. The scenery was amazing! We hiked up and over ridges up in altitude ever step getting a new and amazing view. I can't say enough about how beautiful and green everything was. We hiked for about 5 hours stopping for a snack along the way and to take some pictures at some impressive vistas. Then it happened... we took a turn and there it was, the Habsburghaus. A welcomed sight, perched on the top of the mountain with nothing but mountains around it for as far as the eye could see. There were cattle grazing just below it picturesque to say the least.

Once we got settled at the hut we sat down and had some beverages and conversation, played games and had a hot meal. Quite an amazing experience in Austrian camping-the mountains come equipped with huts with meals and beds, no need to pack a tent or a grocery store amount of food. We played (semi) competitive card games and eventually it reached the hour to retire so we went upstairs and snuggled into our bunks and tried to sleep. Which became tough due to the howling wind.

When day broke we had breakfast, put on our warm socks and jackets that we had hanging by the fire, and headed out. After the invigorating trek back to the gondola we headed down into the town of Payerbach. Which by chance was having a celebration. So we sat by the river and had lunch amongst the locals, enjoyed a beverage and a brautwurst that were delightful. After that we headed home making it to our flat by 4 p.m.

I can't say enough about how enjoyable it was to get out in the wilderness and experience camping in a true Austrian manner. Truly taking advantage of the weather that we have been having. Experiencing the rural and mountain life. It couldn't have been better! To check out some photos of the trek just go to our "me gallery"at:

http://gallery.me.com/ciara.andrew#gallery

We hope life is treating everyone well! We would love to hear what is going on with all of you.

Until the next segment, take care.

Ciara & Andrew

So I need to get better at this whole blog thing, I know. But here is my next attempt. Since I last posted, Ciara and I went to Prague. It was quite a good time. To begin, we left our flat in Vienna at about 5:45 on Saturday and it was pouring down rain- negative thing number one. On our way to Sudbahnhof, the station you take to got to Prague, I turned to Ciara and said " aside from the rain, everything seems to be going smoothly."Way to jinx it Andrew! Of course we got off at the metro stop and got on the bus going the wrong way. Resulting in us getting off and walking around for ten minutes in the rain that was coming down much more intensely. Luckily we got a cab and soon were on the train to Prague soaked, but we made it. Once we made it to Prague the sun was shining and everything was great our hotel was right under Prague castle, a great location. We soaked in the sights and a few beverages, enjoyed some food, and basically enjoyed a beautiful city. Different than both of us remembered in terms of cost and amount of tourists but amazing all the same.

Moving forward, this week we had the opportunity to go to the Vienna Opera house for a promotional deal where we could walk through-out the venue and go into the boxes, go back stage, and watch special effects. There was also a performance, showing a little history of the Opera house and how things worked back stage. It was pretty impressive, I have to say we were impressed by the scale and the beauty of the venue, a truly unique experience.

Th other notable event is that we FINALLY received our shipment, which made for a long day for us today. I was expecting to cart our belongings up the 4 flights of stairs to our flat, as we do not have a lift. But I didn't expect to have to break down a pallet into pieces with a flat head screwdriver and a plumber's wrench. Quite an experience. If anyone needs advice if presented with this situation, I now have some for you. I spent about 45 minutes-an hour performing the task. But in the end we have our stuff and everything worked out. It was tough for Ciara though because she had to come home from school to a house that looked like we just moved in. Like the trooper she is, she started to work and organized the place and got things looking like a home again. We're off to go hiking and camping this weekend and will check in again next week.

For a look at some Vienna pictures up to this point and our Prague trip check out this

link:

http://gallery.me.com/ciara.andrew#gallery