July 17-19: Vienna, Austria
Vienna is a beautiful city, filled with impressive architecture and famous for its composers (Mozart, Beethoven, etc.), opera, symphony, the Waltz, and of course the Wiener Schnitzel. Laura's friend Karen and her boyfriend, Matt, joined us for the weekend and it was lots of fun to have them along with us. We got in Thursday night and immediately found some Wiener Schnitzel for dinner, and then hung out at a festival by the town hall. After it stopped raining Thursday night, the weather was perfect the rest of the weekend. On Friday, we did a bike tour and then walked around the city. We also saw the famous white Lipizzaner horses, and in the evening went to a very touristy, but fun, Austrian Dinner Show.
Saturday morning, we took a hydrofoil boat 5.5 hours along the Danube River to Budapest, travelling through the Austrian, Slovakian, and Hungarian countryside.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7erdewy.7wgilhwi&x=0&y=ompjum&localeid=en_US
July 19-20: Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is another great city. I don't think it is on the major European travel route, but it should be. It was once part of the Eastern Bloc, so things are still relatively cheap compared to Western Europe, but still has a lot to offer. It also seems like they suffered less damage than some other cities during WWII and the Communist era. After we arrived Saturday, we just wandered around the Pest side (Buda and Pest are separated by the Danube), went up the tower of the Roman Catholic church for a great view of the city, and stumbled upon a festival on the Chain Bridge. Sunday we did another bike tour, which was surprisingly a really good one. Then, after parting ways with Matt and Karen (their flight was earlier than ours), we went out to the Széchenyi Baths - Hungary is known for their hot springs - for a little relaxation before heading back for our last week in Germany. 
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7erdewy.acqusq5e&x=0&y=w35lmi&localeid=en_US
July 22: Hiking Tegelberg Mountain in Schwangau, Germany
Ever since I visited the Neuschwanstein Castle in May, I have been wanting to do a hike in this area that I discovered when we were there. I've been postponing it all this time, with the hope that somebody would come to visit and I'd take them. Just when I thought my only choice was to do it alone, Kevin (from Zurich) told me he was very interested. Only problem is that we have been gone every weekend so I had to do it during a weekday morning. It worked out for him and his girlfriend, Carole, to come up this week though. So they stayed with us Monday night, and the three of us did the hike on Tuesday (Laura had to work). Although the weather was not so nice, it was great to have them along and it was a very nice hike. On the way up, we stopped for the castle tour since they had never been, and then continued up to the peak of Tegelberg Mountain. It was beautiful, but because of the cold/rainy conditions we couldn't see nearly as much as we would have been able to on a clear day. Just days before it was sunny and 80 degrees, but we had 40's, wind, and off and on rain all day....in late July! Anyway, it was a nice hike and attached are my pictures as well as theirs.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7erdewy.bun0ttea&x=0&y=-wmzaf3&localeid=en_US
