Not Your Usual Road Trip: the end

We left Vienna and made a small, two hour detour through the suburbs to Shonbrunn, the summer residence of the Hapsburg family (Marie Antoinette lived here). The whole estate was huge!

After a quick lunch (I had the pancake soup! mmm!), we were on the road again.

We drove back across the border into Germany where one cute town followed another.

We passed right by Bamburg, my birth town!

Our last stop was Festung Marienburg, an old fortress high up on a hill with great views.

Before we knew it we were back in the Frankfurt airport saying goodbye to Ross. It was a great last minute trip to see him!

Not your usual road trip: Vienna

Here are some highlights of our time in Vienna:
1. The Lippezaner Horses dancing to Mozart.

2. Walking around the beautiful city enjoying the architecture and ambiance. We also visited an art museum that featured the work of Austrian aritists in the early 1900s, but no pictures were allowed.


3. The food!

4. The drinks! Including Glühwein, a hot spiced wine drink we had while watching iceskaters.


4. Did I mention the architecture? Did I tell you I love Vienna?

A Justin Update

You may be wondering what Justin was up to the whole time I was away having fun (I admit, I have been hogging the blog for the past several posts!). I was pretty curious too, seeing as I did a less than stellar job stocking the fridge before I left. Luckily, I got the full scoop from everyone my first day back at the bookstore. The conversations went like this:
"Yeah, he was a mess! He ate egg rolls from the Chinese restaurant two nights in a row!"
"Every time I saw him he looked so lost without you."
"Did he tell you he lost his water bottle and his student id while you were gone?"
I had no idea so many people kept their eye on him! Rachel and Christina helped too, with cookies and cornbread deliveries.
But he wasn't too distraught with my absence and studied hard. His first test was on Monday, and it went really well. We celebrated by going to the beach with all our friends. The weather has been so nice lately we really enjoyed spending the afternoon in the sun.
On Wednesday, Justin and I went to a little reception for students on the Dean's List from last semester. The past two semesters I've had to work, so this was the first time I've been able to go. It was really nice, a fun reason to dress up, and especially for Justin to be recognized for all the hard work he does.

Not your usual road trip: on the road to Vienna!

After the best breakfast of fresh brochen and fruit salad (hooray for kiwi!), we were on the road again. This time with a destination of Vienna, our main attraction of the whole trip. That is 184 miles or 296 kilometers. But remember the whole point of a road trip is to to see sights along the road. And, in Ross' disaster of a dorm room, we happened to find the travel guide to Austria I bought him before he left. So my role of second navigator/map reader was promoted to guidebook reader and added a little stress to my vacation too, I might add.

We detoured in to St. Florian to see this great Priory/Basilica. Unfortunately the Fire Fighter museun was closed (St. Florian was the patron saint of fire fighters), but we walked through a beautiful graveyard and were allowed into the church too.

After a short stop at a small grocery store, we were stocked up on sandwiches, fresh strawberries, water, and chocolate and back on the road.

We reached Vienna before it got dark and wondered (yes, I'm putting it lightly) around until we found a hotel to stay in. After a quick reference to the guidebook, we found a great place to eat dinner: an old cellar that used to be a pretzel factory and is rumored to be the site where the composer Handel's head was found. Talk about ambiance.

We strolled around the city center of Vienna, which was completely impressive and planned our next day.

Not your usual Road Trip: Switzerland & Leichtenstein

I know you can't see the spedometer, but we were going over 100 miles/hour on the autobahn!

Where were we going so quickly? Well we decided to go to Salzburg via Switzerland and Leichtenstein. This little detour took us south through the black forest, across the border and Lake Constance, and between the Swiss Alps through the small country of (don't blink!) Leichtenstein, and west to Salzburg. If you're exhausted just from reading that, imagine sitting in the back of a small rental car and then add extra long legs to the equation! But we stopped plenty along the way to get out and stretch, refuel/restock the snacks, and see the beautiful countryside.

We drove along Lake Constance on the Switzerland side and found a great hiking trail where we stopped and enjoyed the views.

In Europe, you have to pay to use some of the restrooms at gas stations! You insert money to go through a turnstile. It doesn't tell you how to exit, though, and you can see a small hole to the right of my arm in the picture where a cut-out of a crouching person was made through the partition. For like 30 seconds I stood there trying to figure out if I was really supposed to crouch down and exit through this hole in the wall until someone else came out and walked back through the turnstile. Needless to say I was very relieved! In Europe there are also a lot of McDonalds. We came upon this one on accident in Switzerland and needed to use the parking lot to turn around, so we stopped in for a quick snack (I can't remember the last time I ate McDonald's... definately not in the past year!) and a quick look at the map!

We drove along side the alps and crossed through the tiniest country, Leitchtenstein, on our way into Austria.
Once we arrived in Salzburg, we checked into a hotel and the took a little tour of Ross' teeny tiny dorm room and the University area where he is spending the year. Then he took us to eat delicious italian food in this little hole in the wall restaurant near campus. Yum!

Not Your Usual Road Trip: Heidelburg and Baden-Baden

Our first stop was Heidelberg, a cute town on the Neckar River. We visited the main square with a beautiful church and a small market area. I loved strolling through the narrow streets and looking at the shop windows.

Then we walked up the hill (it was almost as steep as the hill by our house on Banana Trail!) to tour the Castle. Inside one part of the castle, there was a small Apothetke Museum that showed early pharmacists tools and techniques.

Right as we were about to enter the museum, it began to snow. I made Ross try to get my picture in the snow, but you can't see the flakes. Of couse, as soon as we went inside, it really snowed.
We drove all through the black forest, which was beautiful. We stopped along the side of the road to stretch our legs (and, okay, I couldn't resist throwing snowballs at my little brother while I had the chance!) and found a cute little shop that sold cuckoo clocks!

I know I look exhausted in the picture, but remember that this is from the first day of my trip, when I landed in Frankfurt at 7:00a.m. (which is 2 a.m. in Dominica) and I NEVER get up that early! So I treated myself to a little nap in the car on the way back to the Guest House where we were staying in Baden-Baden :) That night we went to the center of Baden-Baden and walked through the streets to find a restaurant for dinner. We found this cute place that had authentic German food:Goulash Soup and Wienersnitzel mit Spatzle. Yum!!!

Not your usual road trip: the beginning of my quick tour of Europe

I know you've been wondering where I've been lately. You're thinking, well she only has a few more months left, surely she's up to something! And you would be right. In fact on January 30, I traded the warm caribbean sun for a 10 day vacation in Germany and Austria! My brother, Ross, is spending his junior year studying German in Salzburg. Who could say no to a mini-vacation in Europe?!?

Of course everything doesn't always go the way you want it. And it is a long story, and I've already cried enough about it, but after spending 5 hours in the Antigua airport waiting for a plane that was "lost," I made it to San Juan as my connecting flight was taking off. Then I spent two horrific hours on the phone with anyone and everyone who could help me (read: buy the $30 insurance on your discounted flight), and finally I resigned myself to beer and sushi at the airport hotel while I waited for my new flight the next morning.

I arrived at 6 a.m. in Frankfurt the next day where my parents and Ross picked me up in their rented Alpha Romeo and we were off on a road trip tour through Germany, Switzerland, Leichtenstein, and Austria.

My dad, the driverMy mom, the navigator (okay, I helped too)

My baby brother, the interpretor

Of course there is on way I can share everything about my trip in one post, so be patient! (don't you love suspense?)