So many places...

Long time no write. The blog is not really set up to pull pictures from numerous Picasa accounts so I'm just frustrated at this point and going to give a quick recap of where we have went until I get pull pics in again....

Trevi Fountain

Lake Garda Sunset

Katie and Cathy in Monterosso

July- We went to Italy. Katie (my old roommate) was in the country with some friends for a wedding so what better time to meet up with her! Brian and I flew to Rome and saw all the sites, except the ones that were on strike i.e. Colosseum. Then Brian had to fly back and go to work :-( I headed with Katie, Aaron, and Paul to Cinque Terre, a beautiful place. We had some interesting moments, getting off trains too early, rental cars, German tourists, Italian waiters, sangria, etc. All in all we couldn't of asked for a better time, a beach day and a hiking day and an adventurous car ride to Lake Garda. We got to Lake Garda in time to see Jesse and Nicole before their rehearsal dinner. They were glowing and excited for the next days events. Lake Garda was a beautiful area but in an effort to to overstay my welcome I tried to leave before the wedding. Italy was trying to stop me but I dodged the strikes and took a cab and made my train and plane, safe and sound! While Italy is a beautiful country the best part was catching up with an old friend and meeting a couple new ones.

We also took a quick trip to Brussels. It was basically an eating/drinking extravaganza, Belgium beer and waffles mmmmmm sooo good. They also had the best coffee like drink ever (minus the coffee) it was at this fantastic gay coffee shop, if only I could remember the name of it.

August- We stayed in town and tried to avoid the European traffic jams. We did get caught in a couple of them, the longest on the way home from an exciting ropes course near the Swiss border. Who could forget the weindorf (winefest) in Stuttgart, fun was had by all, even if they can't remember it!

Sommerfest

Look at all the ropes courses!

mmmmmm just what you need at Weindorf

Sept.... I think I have pics of these so these will be future blogs.

We made a split for Split, Croatia

Barely back from NY and we were right back at the European "to see" list.  If you have to spend the 4th of July away from American soil, there's no place better to enjoy freedom and relaxation than Croatia (now that their war for independence is over of course).  Brian had an extra day off from work so we figured it was wise not to waste it.  Time to head to the beach for a 3 day weekend.  Thanks to German Wings we ended up on the Adriatic Coast in Split, Croatia.

What a blast!  The first day we arrived before our room was ready so we hiked up to an awe inspiring overlook that pictures do not do justice.  The contrast of crystal clear blue water, to white marble, to green trees and rugged mountains made for incredible views.

As we continued up into the park on our hike we came across this old church, built in the 1400's. 

To accommodate all this travel, we make sure to book cheap airfare and cheap lodging.  Since Croatia is not yet on the Euro (they're on their local Kuna) we managed a nice budget friendly "bungalow" just a couple blocks from the beach.  It was not beach time yet though!  It was time to explore the town, enjoy the Riva (waterfront promenade) and people/boat watch.

Next it was on to explore the ruins of the old city palace and find some food!  And food we found!

After a few drinks we stumbled upon a traditional Croatian wedding celebration. It was quite cute!  The bride and groom were the last to exit the church into the street where they were greeted by their guests.  Out on the street their guests awaited them with singing and prompted the couple to break out in full dance while the crowd sang and clapped around them!  Adding to the celebration were sparklers, flares and accordions...making this quite the scene!

In the middle of the city palace was this amazing cathedral, surrounded by old "remnants" (they were very much intact) of the Roman Empire.  There were columns, arches, and large squares around every corner.  The night brought even more enchantment with these features lit up, and live acoustic bands playing tunes.  It was the place to be, and couples were dancing the night away in the square.  Oh, and we're not talking about club dancing, we're talking about moves!  We saw the Tango, the Meringue, the Two Step, some Swing, you name it.  What a night!

The next day it was time for some sun on the beach. Split has both rocky beaches and sandy beaches as our hotel manager had told us, in his thick Russian sounding accent.  We made for the rock ledges and clear blue water.

In the shallow water of the sandy beach you could see groups of men playing handball!  Between 3 and 6 men stood in a circle about 20 feet apart, using their hand to slap a racket ball sized ball up into the air, passing it back and forth.  They seem to get the most enjoyment out of running for a pass and diving through the air to bat the ball back up into play, making quite the splash on the way down! 

After we soaked up some sun it was time to explore the depths of Split's Dalmatian Palace!

Who can be that close to the ocean without getting on boat?  NOT CATHY!  Don't worry we found a champagne sunset cruise and floated along the Croatian coast in the deep blue Adriatic Sea.

Back to shore for some delicious dinner, and of course a lot of wandered around the narrow pedestrian only streets, taking some pretty cool pictures.

On our last morning in Split we spent more time at the beach for one last swim, and then it was back to the airport for our flight home to Deutschland.  However, we made a promise to ourselves that we will be back to Croatia for more!

A little taste of home

As luck would have it Brian finally saved up enough vacation time to take a few days off...just in time to make it to a close friends wedding! This trip had us going back to New York to watch Karen and Iain tie the knot. Back across the pond we flew! We had a pretty full itinerary and rest was not on the agenda. Our first stop; dinner in Rochester with some of Brian's college friends. Or so we thought. A combination of weather and Continental Airlines found us delayed in New Jersey and running to the rental car companies to make a late night drive from New Jersey to Syracuse. Dinner was not in the cards. Fortunately, Brian's sister was gracious enough to meet us at the airport to return the car and give us a bed to crash in for a few hours. First thing Saturday morning we were back out the door racing to Buffalo to get to the wedding!

Alas we made it. It was a gorgeous day, the wedding was beautiful, the bride looked amazing in her dress, and we finally got to meet up with some of my closest friends. Not to mention we got to eat authentic Buffalo wings, drink Labbatt's Blue, dance and of course eat more food! It was a great time in Buffalo! There is something about hanging out with good friends that makes all your troubles worth it!

Since we missed some friends in Rochester on the way to Buffalo, we met up with them for lunch on the way back to Boonville. Again we had good company and good food. Then it was on to Boonville for a good ole' fashion family BBQ for Father's Day. It was YUMMY! Kabobs, steak, chicken, fruit, potatoes mmmm mmmmm good! The eating continued into the next day which was Brian's brother Geoff's Birthday. What a perfect occasion to spend some time at the lake! Another beautiful day in NY with family and friends! (below is Brian and his best bud, the illustrious Kevin Coe)

The next couple days we visited my grandparents and caught up on the happenings around town in the North Country. No trip to Hermon is complete without a ride thru the trails on Grandpa's buggy...we even spotted a couple of deer!

The end of the week found us up in the Adirondacks, camping at Cranberry Lake. Of course, if you let Mother Nature in on your plans, she's going to rain on your parade! We tried to wait out the rain but it was very persistent. In between showers we did all we could to get in a hike up Bear Mountain, kayak around the lake calling for loons, paddle the canoe out for some sparkler fun, and hang out around the campfire making smores and Jiffy Pop! Mother Nature can't stop the Mihalko family! We made it back to Boonville with a little time to hang out at Boonville's local watering hole, the Hulbert House. Good times were had by all!

The next day we got lunch with an old friend and her beautiful kids before we were off to Syracuse. We enjoyed the warm summer night out to dinner on the river with Casey and Mackenzie, and retired back to the Ostrander's...just weeks before baby Amelia came into the world. At the time we were there the happy couple was ready and simply waiting for the baby! Unfortunately we couldn't stay and wait with them, so we reluctantly made our way back to the airport to catch our plane.

All in all it was quick but it was great seeing everyone!! Thank you for having us!

Checking out Czech!

With Brian's company being an American company we still get to celebrate American holidays. BBQing in our apartment is a little rough so this year we decided to go to Prague and hang out with a couple friends from RIT.  We were trying to get an early start to the weekend but the powers that be didn't like that idea, so we got a late start and ended up going directly to bed upon arrival on Friday night.

After a good nights sleep (anyone that knows us knows we are not early risers) we met up with Derek and Terese, a couple of former RIT classmates.  We saw all the sites, stopping for refreshments here and there to keep us hydrated.

 

A Czech beer with some yummy Hungarian Goulash!

 

Terese, Derek and their daughter Gabby on the Charles Bridge. 

 Charles Bridge with Cathy and Brian. 

St. Vitus's Cathedral inside the Royal Palace Grounds

 

The beautiful stained glass window inside the church.

We found a wine festival, YUMMY!

 

Next we caught some ham and found a beer in the Old Town Square. While we were there we happened to catch the trumpet player playing the hourly tune.

Then it was off for some pizza and then off to see the ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK. We didn't catch the hourly show.  We will have to come back to see the show on Sunday.

Our camera takes great night shots!  This is the National Museum.

Sunday led us back to the square and off to see some sights we missed on Saturday.

This is the panoramic picture from the top of the Clock Tower, the building in the center is the Church of Our Lady.

Some other cool structure around town.  They were all over the place!

 We read about the Jewish Cemetery in our guide book.  It sounded amazing.  We went and you had to buy package tickets with a couple of Synagoges and other museums. It was a little more than what we wanted to do so instead of waiting in line for the cemetery we walked around and peeked thru the gates.  There are more than 10,000 headstones and there is questimated to be up to 120,000 bodies, some buried up to 12 people deep.  Crazy!  For 300 years it was the only place Jewish people could be buried!

Of course there were more churches and beer to drink!

This was an awesome beer garden!  It is called U Fleku, it has been around brewing their own beer since 1499!  And yes Cathy drank the beer, and the shot they brought!

 Then there was this cool Dancing Building!

It turned out to be a wonderful weekend, with the exception of a 10 min shower, it was warm and beautiful in Prague.

It was a rough second choice to BBQing but we made it work! ;-)