Stepping back in Hungarian Time

My parents aren't ready to give up on car trips, even when traveling in Europe. While Ian & I are full fledged fans of train travel and have a growing love for cheapo plane trips (yes- even Ryanair & EasyJet), we have to admit seeing Europe by car is an entirely different experience.

Bellatrix Badou

Who is this Bella I speak of? The moronic heroine of a teen series? A visiting dignitary? A foreign princess? NO!

This is Miss Bellatrix. (Doesn't your cat have a full name?)

Buda Love

Once again, we have decided to rate the cities we are visiting with the parental units. The first leg of our mini- central European tour, we start with breath-taking Budapest.

Ian's Sick Again

Gardens in the Rain: Berlin's Botanical Garden

I had a dilemma. My parents were visiting, but Ian worked during the week. What to do that wasn't going to make him crazy jealous, but entertain them. I got it - Berlin's Botanical Gardens!

Unfortunately, there was a hitch. It was raining. A lot. We're from Seattle, but c'mon Berlin. Good sports that they are, they accompanied on my fools errand and we got very, very wet. Trying to keep up our spirits, we tromped though the soggy grounds. I apologized. A lot.

Yeah, those are raindrops

Quilt of Love

As the weather turns cooler, I snuggle under our new quilt. An instant heirloom, my mum gave it to me on their recent trip to visit us in Berlin. Lovingly crafted with my aunt, it is composed of the ribbons I won showing horses. It's amazing.

If you are unfortunate enough not to have a million ribbons from your childhood, a basic ribbon looks like this: