Opatija, Croatia...Easter!...then back to Slovenia.

And off to Croatia!.....We were supposed to be arriving at Opatija at 3 in the afternoon....but unfortunately missed our train stop. After that, it went down hill. We waited around for the bus...only to get off at the wrong stop. We luckily found a great tourist office that did us absolutely no good. We did however find a taxi that promised to take us to our hotel for 5 euros but ended up saying we owed him 50 once we arrived. Jess and I were all arms...and talked him down to 10. The hotel was really nice and right by the beach. Opatija is gorgeous but mostly filled with older couples traveling. We walked into breakfast on Easter morning and were by far the youngest people there!

On the coast

We saw this dog just taking a ride. He is wearing sunglasses if you look closely!

Me on the Adriatic Sea.

Our hotel view.

It was only a short visit to the coast before it was back to Slovenia to experience my first white Easter ever!

Ljubljana, Slovenia (I'm still having to use spell check!)

Our walk back in the snow!

First time trying lamb.

They kept on telling us..."Green Christmas=White Easter"....I'm assuming they had a really Green Christmas!

The day after Easter, Jess wanted to see Lake Bled. So we jumped on a bus to the small village surrounding the lake.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

The vegan restaurant that we ate at had this hanging....I thought it was pretty cool.

The walking path around the lake. So beautiful!

The trip was amazing! An awesome way to spend my first Easter away from home!

Ljbul....Ljublijana, Slovenia. March 20

Everytime I told someone where I was off to, the initial response was "What?" Jessica and I took the overnight train into Ljublijana, which took me forever to remember how to spell. We met our friends, Megan and Lacey, on the same train, which turned out to be so much fun.

Jess and I went to the Postonja caves which was really beautiful. We hung out around the caves and took the bus back to the city...slept and got up the next day for Croatia!.....

Vienna, Austria...February 22-24, 2008

Vienna was AMAZING. I got there on a Friday night and was sick on the plane...first time ever. I think I was stressed out because of my Visa....or I ate bad vegetables. I went with three other Au pairs and stayed ten minutes from the city. It was TONS of fun and a good welcome trip into my adventures. Jessica, one of the Au pairs, had studied in Vienna before and knew a friend through church...so we stayed at his house. They were terrific tour guides....we didn't have to look at the Shoestring book once! I recommend this city to anyone who is into history and buildings. Seeing where Hitler made a speech to the Viennese at the Habsburg Palace was quite an experience. All in all, it was a GREAT trip!


The girls and I at Stephansdom.


We met up with one of my friends friends. He met her on his mission but she is originally from Austria. Fun, fun!

The Schloss Schonbrunn. The Hasburgs' summer palace....Mozart played for the king in one of the rooms here.

On the Metro. I was still a little sick at this point.

Lucerne, Switzerland...Carnival!

In February, the Catholic religion has something called "Carnival" (or "Fasnacht" in Swiss German) which is celebrated right before the beginning of Lent. Mostly, people just dress up and walk around the streets listening to bands play. For my first Swiss experience, I went to Lucerne to see what was going on. It was really fun to see all of the different, crazy costumes. Plus, the city is really beautiful. Before I left, my Mom told me not to take my costume mask...she didn't think I would need it. I was only here two weeks before I had to pull it back out of the shelf for Carnival!

On our way to Chapel Bridge...

On Chapel Bridge with the lovely Au pairs. I have grown really close to Carson, the one with the hat.

In the old town.

A hot air balloon. One of my favorite costumes.

Ninja Turtle!

We didn't get home until super late that night. But seeing as we got to experience Carnival, we weren't too upset! On the following Monday, Basel has a celebration of lanterns that begins at 4 in the morning. They start by turning all of the lights off in the city...and then a huge band comes in! I had to work this year, but I will be back for this event in the future!