Camp Wonder featured in USA Today

John used to volunteer as a camp counselor at Camp Wonder, a free summer camp for kids with skin diseases. It's a great place for the kids, and provides a place to make friends and have fun, without worrying about whatever medical ailments the kids may have. A full medical staff is on-site to take care of them, and there's always a fantastic group of counselors that complement the camp directors to create an amazing atmosphere. Camp Wonder is being feature on the front page of the USA Today Lifestyle section on April 2, 2008. Pick up a copy and tell your friends!

[Edited 04/02/08] The article got delayed because of technical mix-ups at USA Today. Will update when it is published again. Sorry if anybody had to buy a copy of the paper that they weren't interested in!

We're home - photos posted on-line

Well, we're finally back from our trip and trying to readjust to jetlag...again. It's certainly nice to be back home in our own house, with our own bed and a full closet of fresh clothes. Thanks for following along with our travels, check out our photos that are now posted on-line:
- Vienna
- Prague
- Salzburg

On our way home

We are at the Vienna airport, ready to start the long journey home,
with a brief stopover in amsterdam. It's been a really fun two weeks, we'll have all the pictures up here in a few days.

Finishing our trip in style

Yesterday, we left Salzburg to return to Vienna for a couple of days before we head home. We were pleasantly surprised by the nicest train we've seen yet, we had our own spacious cabin in a brand new car for most of the ride, with soft leather seats, electrical outlets to charge our batteries, and lots of space to stretch out. We're spending our last two nights here at the 5-star Hotel Sacher, an historic landmark in Vienna and reknowned for its world-famous Original Sacher Torte. It's a beautiful hotel and a beautiful room for us to enjoy the perfect ending to our two-week Babymoon through Europe.

Tours around Salzburg

Yesterday we spent some time on organized tours going out and around the Salzburg area. Salzburg in German, literally means "salt castle", and was established as an important economic center in the beginning because of its proximity to salt mines. So in the morning, we went and visited a working salt mine and got to see the tunnels, equipment and underground lakes of the mine. In the picture, we're all suited up in our miner outfits, about to board the train into the mine. Later in the afternoon, we got a chance to visit all the lakes around the area and see the quaint little towns next to them on the "Lakes and Mountains" tour. Was a nice day of sightseeing (despite a brief cloudburst of winter storm) and a welcome break from miles of walking everyday.

First day in Salzburg

Today was our first day in Salzburg and we spent the day wandering around and exploring the city. It is as charming as you would imagine it, beautiful mountains, snowy caps, whimsical alleys with boutique shopping... We paid a visit to the fortress which proudly overlooks the city and saw the history of Austrian military and royalty that have stayed and visited the fortress. We grabbed a light lunch at the farmer's market which, inexplicably, had delicious and fresh berries and figs for sale. This evening, we had the opportunity to enjoy dinner with a concert at the oldest restaurant in Europe. Between (delicious) dinner courses, a string quintet and two talented vocalists entertained us with selections from Mozart's operas. It was extra special because of how intimate the setting was, with the singers freely wandering around the dining room to sing right next to our tables. Very fun and entertaining.

Train ride to Salzburg

This evening, we jumped on a train from Prague to Salzburg and had quite an adventure. This isn't a high traffic route, and it kind of meanders through the mountains, so the only train available to us was a slower, local train. In total the ride was seven hours long, leaving at 5pm, and arriving in Salzburg at midnight. We incorrectly assumed that such a long route would have a dining car, and didn't discover our error until the train had left Prague. Knowing that we wouldn't arrive in Salzburg until very late and that most restaurants would be closed, John took advantage of a 30 minute stop in České Budějovice to try and find some food. Unfortunately, all six food stands and stores in the train station were closed. So was the McDonald's that John found four blocks from the train station. So were the five convenience stores that John ran past. So were the two hot dog stands. John finally found a shopping mall that was still open three blocks away with a snack stand selling nuts and dried fruit, before sprinting back to catch the train just in time. Thankfully that tied us over until we reached Salzburg and found a late night restaurant.

Tastes of home

As much fun as it is to travel around Europe, seeing new things and trying new foods, it's always nice to get a small taste of home. We stayed up (really) late to watch the Super Bowl, but wanted to catch it live if it was possible. Was nice to see some American football, but have to admit that it was a little underwhelming to see history not happen. And since we were watching a satellite feed, we didn't get to watch any of the commercials. Had to catch them today on the internet (love the E-trade baby ads, hilarious!) after the fact. Carrie also found a Haagen-Dazs stand to get some familiar ice cream taste. Off to Salzburg later today...

Traditional Prague

Today we partook in some key traditional Prague experiences. The one pictured is the traditional supper of roast pork, boiled cabbage, potato and bread dumplings. Accompanied by the traditional Czech beer, Pilsner Urquel. The food was surprisingly tasty, despite what it might look like. We spent the day visiting New Town Prague, Old Town Square, and Wenceslas Square. The original city limits of Prague were built up around Old Town and walled in to protect the city. New Town is the area that was built up outside the city as it expanded, and Wenceslas Square is the famous boulevard in central Prague in front of the main museum. Wenceslas Square is famous for being the hub of demonstrations and protests through the years, and gained worldwide notoriety when a protester set himself on fire.

Prague's Marquee Sites

Prague is famous for its extraordinarily well preserved historic buildings, having for the most part been spared significant damage in the major World Wars. Today we visited the Prague Castle, St. Vitus' Cathedral and St. Charles' Bridge. St. Vitus' was definitely the highlight of the day. It is the largest church in Prague, and is the home of the Archdiocese. It's a magnificent example of Gothic architecture that took some 600 years to complete, beginning in the 1344 when the archbishopric was founded. The cathedral is up on the hill in the background of this picture taken from the St. Charles' Bridge.

We have arrived in Prague!

After a fun train ride through the Eastern European countryside, we have arrived in Prague. We're staying at the Hotel Josef, a very modern, high-design hotel. Our room has a glass bathroom! The train ride was per European expectations, and was very nice. John even had a chance to try the famous European version of Budweiser, a light Czech beer, that has no association with the US version of Budweiser.

Finishing up the major sights

Today is our last day in Vienna for a while, so we took it relatively easy and hit the remaining major sights that we had on our list. We headed out of town to Grinzing, famous for its plethora of wine taverns, where we strolled around the city and had a very traditional Austrian lunch. In the afternoon, we continued up the hill to Wienerwald, the forests of Vienna. Contrary to how it sounds, it is not a theme park filled with hot dogs, sadly. But the views were magnificent, and an added bonus...far from all the crowds. This evening's entertainment has been people watching, as tonight is the Vienna Opera Ball, the culminating event to Ball Season here in Vienna. The high society folks are out in force, dressed to the nines. The Opera Ball is a white tie event where all the men are in tuxes with white ties and tails, and the women are all in gorgeous floor length ball gowns. Ticket prices start at about $1,500 per person, so you can imagine the types about town tonight. Good people watching. Tomorrow we are off to Prague!

Things we've had just about enough of

Walking and art museums. We've been walking several miles a day, just getting to places and then walking the palace grounds and museum floors. Frankly, our feet kind of hurt. And as beautiful as the museums are, we think we've seen just about enough art. Whew, does Vienna have a lot! Today's itinerary: Schokocroissant breakfast, House of Music museum, Subway lunch, Belvedere art museum, Österreicher im MAK dinner, Salonorchester "Alt Wien" concert. Highlights from the day... The Belvedere was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy and is most famous today for housing the two most famous Gustav Klimts, "The Kiss" and "Country Garden with Sunflowers". We have prints of both of these at home, so it was a thrill to see the originals up close in person, as well as stroll the magnificent palace grounds (where Carrie is pictured). The Österreicher at the MAK museum was recently featured in the New York Times and pointed out to us by our friend Brian Forster, so we managed to sneak in to the posh and ultra-happening dinner spot without a reservation, yum! And finally, to finish our day, we got great tickets to a Strauss and Mozart chamber music concert, complete with operatic soloists and ballet waltzers. Quite the quintessential Vienna experience.

Schönbrunn Palace

Today's excursion was to the Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the imperial family back in the day of Franz Joseph. Today, the grounds are a magnificent public park and the whole estate is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. We got to tour the beautifully preserved imperial apartments, and stroll the gardens up to the Glorietta. There's a labyrinth that we were excited to see, but is unfortunately closed in the winter. To fill out our day, we cruised the trendy shopping mile of the Mariahilfer Strasse and hit up the Bermuda Triangle district of bars and clubs after dinner.

When in Wien, eat their schnitzel

Wiener schnitzel (from German Wiener Schnitzel, meaning Viennese cutlet) is a traditional Austrian dish and popular part of Viennese and Austrian cuisine, consisting of a thin slice of veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried. We're on a mission to experience all of the amazing food that Vienna has to offer. Yesterday we hit up the hot dog vendors for the quintessential street experience for lunch, followed by wiener schnitzel and beer for dinner at a brew pub. Doesn't get any more traditional than that!

Kasekrainers!!!

Over the years, John has heard many stories about Carrie's time in Austria, and kasekrainers were one of the top things that we were looking forward to on this trip. Manhattan hot dog stands ain't got nothin' on these Austrian delights. These are, in short, hot dogs perfected. Take a freshly baked french roll, drill a hole in the middle and fill with ketchup and mustard. Then, take a bratwurst infused with cheese, grill to perfection, and then stuff into the roll. All the delicious goodness of street vendor hot dogs, with none of the inconvenient drippiness. Yum!

Early to jet lag, early to rise

With a pretty extreme case of jetlag, we were both up pretty early this morning (after going to bed at 6pm, haha). The first thing we did was find a bakery to grab a couple schokocroissants (chocolate filled croissants), and stroll through the Naschmarkt (open air produce/farmer's market). One, because the pastries are delicious, and two, because those are the only things open at 6am. Afterwards, we spent some time on the Hofburg Imperial Palace grounds, where we visited the Museum of Natural History, and the Albertina Museum, which was showing a special exhibition on modern art progressing from Monet to Picasso.

We've arrived!

After a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam, a quick connection, then a 90 minute flight into a very windy Vienna, we have arrived! We were able to catch some sleep on the plane, so it almost feels like we're on local time. The hotel is beautiful, it feels like we're staying in a palace. Our room has high ceilings, a beautiful chandelier, and two balconies that overlook the Kärntner Straße pedestrian mall. Serendipitously, it is also less than half a block from the school that Carrie studied at when she was here in college. More posts and pictures to come later...

And we're off!

It's an overcast day at SFO, but at least the torrential rains have
ceased for the day for us to get an on time departure. The picture is
of out baby blue KLM Boeing 777 that will whisk us away to Amsterdam,
final destination: Vienna.

European Babymoon

Tomorrow we jump on a plane to fly to Europe, where we'll be spending two weeks in Austria and the Czech Republic. Carrie had spent a semester studying abroad in Vienna and has always wanted to go back, so John surprised her with a babymoon for her 30th birthday! This is our itinerary:

- Saturday 01/26/08: Travel from San Francisco to Vienna, via Amsterdam on KLM
- Sunday 01/27/08: Arrive in Vienna, stay at the Ambassador Hotel
- Friday 02/01/08: Travel to Prague, stay at the Hotel Josef
- Monday 02/04/08: Travel to Salzburg, stay at the Hotel Wolf-Dietrich
- Thursday 02/07/08: Travel to Vienna, stay at the Hotel Sacher Wien
- Saturday 02/09/08: Travel from Vienna to San Francisco, via Amsterdam on KLM

We're very excited about the trip and will be blogging our way through Europe as internet access allows.