BALMERS HOSTEL We booked a two-night stay at Balmers Hostel, a ginormous campus with capacity to house over 200. We have lodged in many hostels over the years, but in our experience, a hostel is typically a lower-end hotel room on the 15th floor (exaggerating). Well, let me assure you, […]

Ten hours, and 4 train transfers later we arrived at the Interlaken, Switzerland station. We made our trek towards the hostel where we had made reservations (more on that later), hoping (praying) we would amble past some food establishment as we had not eaten all day and were famished!–and we […]

ST. STEPHEN’S CATHEDRAL We arrived in Vienna around 9pm, much too late to do much exploring. The next day, we got coffee and set out. We walked briskly (it was cold and rainy) through the city square where we window-shopped (gawked ) at the exclusive and upcoming vogue displays. The […]

I have been trying to write this post on and off all day. No words seem to be weighty enough to describe yesterday’s visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau nor evidence of the events related to this atrocity.  Everything I have written at the very least, seems shallow, and weak. Sadly,  […]

After eight plus hours via train, in the late afternoon, we arrived in Krakow, got settled in our mansion (over statement) hey–we have a sink and a little ice box. You might be asking yourself, “Why would these crazies choose Krakow to visit?” The answer is simple (not simple). We […]

Fortunately, the designated seats on our ride to Prague had large, picturesque windows for viewing the countryside while heading into the city. The landscape evidenced the abundance of rain, and perhaps even snow,  in the rolling green hills, forests of deep green trees, and the Elbe River coursing  through the […]

After reading a number of raving reviews about the Chocolate Museum in Cologne, we purchased tickets before we left the states. And it turns out, the reviews were accurate! There are three levels to the museum and the tour began with introduction to the cocoa bean with detailed, well-sourced, framework.  […]

From Monschau, Germany, we boarded two buses and one train to get us to Cologne, Germany. We expected a hussle-bussling city on the move. And it is. We pre-selected some tourist areas of interest prior to Cologne arrival and The EL DE, was at the top of our list.   […]

I am so mad that I did not take a picture–of  all things–our breakfast. Boy do we have ALOT to learn from Europeans, guys.  Breakfast was set for 9am, by our illustrious host, Wolfgang. He owns the home where we are staying but lives in another. We heard a “Good […]

OH, MY! After our glorious run, we set out to find the best waffles in town as our mantra has been to sample items which the locals consume. We found a waffle cart that delivered a crisp-on-the-outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, waffle which was doused in Nutella. Not […]