Goodbye Salz.

Its finally time to say goodbye to Salzburg and head back to Atlanta for good. Our 18 months has come and gone and its time for us to return home… i’ts been a wild ride, I wouldn’t change a minute…

I don’t even know what to say, besides its been one hell of an adventure. There were days that it was terrible and days that will easily be some of the best of my life. It was challenging, life changing, amazing, and sometimes difficult.

I sit here sad to leave, but happy to be going home. Upset about leaving our friends, but so thankful we got the opportunity to meet them. So many memories of trips, weekends in salz, girls nights, and runs by the river. So since I am lacking the words to fully express just how I feel, I’ll go with pictures from some of my favorite moments.

Thank you to all of our visitors–Alex, Matt, Travis, Nicole, Peter, Sam, Eubanks, and Bri. We are so thankful that you guys came to visit us, it really means a lot to Joey and I. To everyone back in Atlanta, thanks for making sure that we still felt loved 5,000 miles away. I thought it would be hard to stay in touch, but you guys made sure not to forget about us and we love you for it.

To everyone here in Salzburg, thanks for the girls nights, weekend adventures, boot camps, bar crawls, and making Salzburg home. We wouldn’t have made it here without ya’ll. You guys are all such amazing people, and will certainly be what we miss most about living here.

we love you guys and can’t wait for many more parties and crazy times all around the world.

Fall in Salz

I’m working on picking this blog back up. So quick recap of the end of summer/fall:

• Girls Trip with Esther to Lake Bled, Slovenia and Pula Croatia. Went canyoning (which is AWESOME) and tanned/drank on the croatian coast. doesn’t get much better.
• Met Joey in SE Asia to check out Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Loved the warm weather and yummy asian food.
• Took a week long beach vacation in Phuket, Thailand. Tanned and drank and ate Pad Thai. I was in heaven.
• Went back to Lake Bled with Joey and Dan since they didn’t get to go to the first time and all of us wanted to go canyoning again.
• Met up with Caroline Eubanks for a few days in Munich at the start of her Germany/Austria trip. Drank liters from Hofbrauhaus and checked out the surfers in the Englischer garden.
• Drank beers at Oktoberfest on the opening weekend. Crazy time.
• Caroline came to Salzburg for a visit.
• Went to London because I had to leave the EU for visa reasons. Enjoyed Chipotle, Stella Artois, the British Museum, hearing English, shopping, and Ben’s Cookies.
• Went back to Oktoberfest with Bri.
• Went to Prague with Bri and Joey. Went to the Budweiser Budvar Brewery in the Czech Republic
• Showed Bri around Salzburg. Saw a castle, walked in the rain a lot, drank beer.
• Went to Munich with Bri. Drank more beer and went to Dachau concentration camp.

So I think that sums up August, September, and October. A pretty fantastic 2.5 months. It’s starting to get cold here in Salzburg and I am hoping that we can get out of here before the snow starts this year. It didn’t snow till after Christmas last year so I have hope I can escape it this year. Maybe I’ll be able to do a better job blogging since we are staying put for a few weeks. But I make not promises. Hulu doesn’t watch itself so I’m a pretty busy person.

A Salzburg Summer

After London, we went back to the US for a few weeks for some fabulous weddings (yay Daniel and Sara and Matt and Christy!). We enjoyed plenty of Mexican food, nights out with friends, family time, and whatever else we do while we are back in Atlanta.

I came back to Salz on July 1st and stayed here the whole month. While a month in Salz doesn’t seem like that long, its the longest I’ve consecutively been here. See we don’t always travel! So what do we do while we are actually staying here? Well we had wonderful visitors the first weekend in July. Sam and Peter came over and we did some Salzburg stuff, drank plenty of steigl, and hung out at O’Mally’s (our local bar).

I purchased a pool season pass and have gotten to use it 7 times now. The thing is that I’ve been every day its been sunny. So that tells you a little something about the weather here this summer. I’ve also been attempting to find a few new shows to add to my hulu list since most of my favorites aren’t back on till the fall (any and all suggestions are welcome).

I haven’t killed any tourists (yet…). We live in the center of town, and Salzburg has a big festival at the end of July and August. I wouldn’t mind except it causes the amount of tourists to sky rocket. I try to remind myself that the tourists are just trying to enjoy their visit, but jesus to they walk slow. And they stop right in the middle of the street. HELLO! move to the side people.

I just got back from a great trip with my friend Esther to Slovenia and Croatia and am headed off to Asia for the rest of August tomorrow. Guess my summer in Salz is pretty much over. Can’t wait till fall and all the good stuff we have planned!

 

A Lovely Week in Londontown

A few months ago we went to London. And it was awesome.

I’ve always heard London weather sucks–raining and cold. But the Weather Gods were on our side and we saw the sunny side of London for the whole 8 days we were there. Probably just a sign we should pack up and move there. The weather alone was a nice break from the cold, rainy June in Salzburg, but add in English speaking people, a big city, and actual food options, I was in heaven. We also came at an excellent time because it was the week before The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee so there were some extra special events going on and the city was full of British pride.

This is what it looks like when its sunny in London

We were actually in London so Joey could go to a work thing, but added a few days on the front end so he could enjoy the sites before working 9-5 all week. Thankfully for me, my lack of a job really allows me to have a flexible work schedule so I had to the whole 8 days to explore the city and see as many sights as I could. Since neither of us had been to London before (I know, how had I never been there!?!) we had plenty of “must-see” sights on our list. In fact, we had so many sights on that list that I didn’t even see them all! We ended up purchasing the London Pass, which was perfect for us as first time tourists since it ends up saving a ton of money if you are going to all the sights anyways. We made it to all the biggest sights–Westminster Abby, St. Pauls, The British Museum, the Tower of London, Churchill’s War Rooms, The Tate Modern, Wimbledon, and the British Library. We walked across Abby Road, we saw Big Ben and the Tower Bridge, we strolled along the South Bank, watched the guards change, and ate fish and chips followed by a few pints of beer. I fell in love with multiple different neighborhoods, begged Joey to get transferred to London at least 25 times, shopped till my wallet was empty, spent time enjoying the weather in different parks, and enjoyed my week in one hell of a city.

Don’t worry London, I’ll be back.

Catch Up

So I suck at updates.

I know its been awhile, and all 4 of you readers are probably wondering what we have been up to. Well last post was about our Euro trip back in May and our first stop to Lucerene, Switzerland. The road trip continued with a rainy day at Lake Como, Italy. This stop consisted of mostly eating and drinking and staying dry at the hostel.

Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como, Italy

We continued south to try to find the sun and spent 3 wonderful days in Nice, France. We sipped on Champagne along the coast of the Cote d’Azur, spent hours soaking up the sun on the pebble beaches, gawked at expensive cars in Monaco, and enjoyed delicious beers at some of the local bars.

Nice, France

Nice, France

After filling ourselves with cream sauces, croissants, and champagne, we headed back to Italy for more pasta and gelato. We traveled along the coast, through the mountains, and ended up in the Cinque Terre region of Italy. The ride in was an adventure on its own–gravel washed out roads over mountains and along the cliffs. We each needed a strong drink to relax, and with the proximity of each of the 5 towns spent the rest of the afternoon training between towns to see how special they each are. The next few days were spent eating our weight in pasta/pizza, hiking the coast, and enjoying one of the most beautiful places we’ve been lucky enough to see.

Vernazza, Italy

Manarola, Italy

It was such a fun trip and we got to see so many different spots in 3 very unique countries and had wonderful travel partners to see them with. Can’t wait for another European road trip.

Our group in Vernazza, Italy

Lucerene, Switzerland

Joey’s friend from work and his wife were coming over for a trip to Europe, so we decided to meet up with them and do a week long road trip through Switzerland, Northern Italy, and the South of France. I was excited for a week long vacation and all the spots we were visiting were places where enjoying life and good food are more important than running through a list of must-see sights.

We picked up our friends in Munich and after enjoying a Hofbrauhaus beer we headed over to Lucerene, Switzerland for a few days of lakes and mountains. The drive was gorgeous, taking us through the mountains and around lakes and waterfalls. We arrived at our hostel in Lucerene with plenty of time left in the day to check out the city and enjoy a pre-dinner drink or two. We headed into town but were taken aback when it was the center of a running race that had thousands of people in the small and narrow streets. We tried to figure out a way around the race course but kept getting trapped and turned around unable to cross into the middle of the old town. Finally we gave up and decided to just grab some dinner and enjoy the view. It wasn’t the best first impression of the city, but we wrote it off and figured tomorrow would another day.

Before leaving on our trip, I had looked up the weather and it had projected rain for every single day of the vacation. Fortunately, the forecast was wrong, and we wound up with a perfect day to enjoy the outdoor sights Switzerland has to offer. We walked back into the old part of the city to see it while there wasn’t a race running through it and enjoy the views of the Alps and lakes around the area. As we were wandering around we noticed that people were up on the top of the city hill in the old city wall so we decided to go explore to get some better views of the Alps and the city from the top.

After our hike we walked back through the town to check out the Lion of Lucerene statue and walk across the old bridge before laying by the lake to enjoy the sun and nice weather.

We enjoyed our time in Switzerland, but I don’t think I’ll be getting Joey back anytime soon. Switzerland is extremely expensive and therefore not one of Joey’s favorite places. It also offered many similar things that the area around Salzburg offers, so it wasn’t one of my favorite places we’ve visited either. I won’t deny it was absolutely beautiful and the Alps in that area are more drastic than around us, it wasn’t different enough to spend the extra money when we have similar things outside our doorstep.

Washington, D.C.

It took 9 months of living here, but we finally figured out a way for me to get a visa. The only trouble was that we had to fly to Washington DC to go to the Austrian embassy to get it. Not a problem for me though, I love DC and I love America so a little paperwork was a perfect excuse for a trip.

Skip forward 1 week and we were on our usual flight out of Munich to Atlanta for a 4 hour layover in Hartsfield Jackson and a quick flight back up the coast to our nations capital. We got in late, passed out by 9pm and woke up the next morning ready to check out the sights. Since Joey hadn’t been to DC, we headed into the city for a visit to the Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, all the war memorials, and the White House. It was quite a busy day. We enjoyed some Qdoba for lunch, English speakers, and a day full of American history. Jet lag and laziness took their toll around 4pm and after a quick rest at the hotel we were back out to enjoy the sunset and cherry blossoms by the tidal basin and Jefferson memorial.

Washington Monument

Georgia Love at the WWII Monument

Jefferson Memorial

We figured our Monday would be spent at the embassy for a few hours so we tried to not plan too much for the afternoon in case we had to run around town getting unexpected items for the visa. Of course Joey had read through the paperwork instructions a hundred times and had everything all ready to go for them. So ready in fact we were at the embassy a total of 10 minutes. Literally had to fly from Salz to DC to had them a packet of paperwork. I would complain, but I love DC and any excuse for a visit home works for me. Since we were done with the visa process hours earlier than we expected, we celebrated our good luck and went to the National Zoo. After the zoo we headed over to Georgetown to enjoy a few beers and some shopping before meeting a friend of Joey’s for dinner.

Georgetown

It was a great few days spent in DC and we even got to spend a few in Atlanta too. Glad we had a surprise trip back to America and was lucky to get to see a few friends before June.