Fun in Europe by Merrillee Whren

My husband and I recently took a vacation in Europe. We visited Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. We flew into Munich where we spent two days. One of the highlights in Munich was hearing the Glockenspiel and watching the carved figures move around in the giant clock.

Notice the sounds of foreign languages mixing with the sound of the Glockenspiel. 

From Munich we took a train to Passau, Germany, where we started out river cruise on the Danube. We did a lot of traveling by train, and most of the time it was a good experience, but the second leg of our trip to Passau was on a train without A/C. It was hot. We were expecting a relief from the hot Arizona temperatures, but the joke was on us as we encountered a heat wave. For the first dozen days of our trip, the temperatures ranged from 95 degrees to 102 degrees. The Cathedreal in Passau was my favorite church, and we saw a lot of churches.

Next we sailed from Passau to Linz, Austria. From there we took a bus tour to Salzburg, where we saw the place where Mozart once lived. 

From there we stopped in two small towns along the river, Melk and Dürnstein. Melk has a beautiful Abbey that you see in the photo below.

Our next stop was Vienna. We were disappointed not to be able to go to an opera, even though I'm not a big opera fan, but we did tour the Opera House, that doesn't have performances in August.

Bratislava was next on our itinerary. It is the capital of Slovakia. Our guide gave us a very thought-provoking talk about the differences in life there after the fall of the Soviet Union. Here is an very interesting photo I took there. People actually got down on the ground to have their picture taken with this. Not me.

The last stop on our cruise was Budapest, my favorite city on our trip. We sailed in at night and had this spectacular view of the buildings all lit up. Here's a photo of the Parliament.

After the river cruise, we spent another week traveling on our own. We took the train from Budapest back to Vienna, where we spent another day checking out the things we missed. The heat wave finally broke, and we had a pleasant day. Here was an interesting sculpture that was right outside our hotel.

The next day we took a train to Prague. We spent two days in the rain there. It was not fun trying to sight see in the rain. St. Vitus church had magnificent stained glass windows. This is only one of the dozen photos I took there.

After two rain-soaked days in Prague, we made our way to sunny Berlin. We were there a day and a half. It's a big city and not nearly as interesting as the other places we visited, but it does have a few remains of the Berlin Wall, the most fascinating thing, for me, in the tour of the city. You can see there were actually two parts of the wall with a no-man's land in between.

Our final stop before heading back to Munich and our flight home was Fussen, Germany. The Neuschwanstein Castle is located near there. It is said to be the model for the castle at Disney World. What do you think?

The only disappointment was not being able to take photos inside. It has some beautiful painting on the walls and ceiling, and the woodwork was spectacular.

These photos are only a few of the over seven hundred that I took. We had an amazing trip. If you would like to look at more of my photos, you can see them on my Facebook page.

If you could take a trip to any place in the world, where would you go?

I'll be giving away a copy of my latest book, Nursing a Soldier's Heart,  to one person who leaves a comment and an email address.

Planning Ahead

Terri Reed here, so my husband and I are planning a big European trip for next spring. This was supposed to be our 30th Anniversary trip but then we decided we didn't want to wait another three years. We're not getting any younger so we're taking the plunge.  This past spring at my son's high school auction I won a week stay in an apartment in Munich, Germany.  This wasn't on our list of places we wanted to go but the more I have researched Munich and Bavaria the more excited I'm getting to visit this part of the world. We've purchased our plane tickets now I'm in the process of securing accommodations. 

Our trip will start Amsterdam where we'll hop a flight to  Prague for a night and then we'll move on to Munich. I'm planning on taking a journey to Neuschwanstein Castle which is an hour and half from Munich. In case you don't know this castle is the inspiration behind Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. 

We're also planning to visit the BMW museum and headquarters. My husband is a huge BMW fanatic.  I'm also hoping to take a day trip to Salzburg Austria where Sound of Music was filmed.  I also plan to journey to the walled town of Rothenburg. This German town is like stepping back in to medieval times.  

After our stay in Munich we're heading to Italy. We're debating a stay in Venice or Florence before heading to the Cinque Terre for four days of relaxing and hiking. 

Then on to Rome for a couple of days before heading to Paris and then home. 

I plan to write a bit while in Europe but mostly I plan to absorb the culture and find inspiration for more stories. Who knows I might write a European set romantic suspense.  

Do you plan your vacations this far ahead? This is a first for me. We're usually more the seat of the pants type vacationers. 

Oh and by the way, JOINT INVESTIGATION  is on sale now!

LONE AGENT 

Under other circumstances, FBI agent Samantha Bennett might welcome a bit of backup—but not from an overprotective Mountie. She's been on the trail of a serial killer for six months and no one has ever taken the case seriously…until now. When Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspector Drew Kelley saves her life, he decides that the hunt for "Birdman" is his problem, too. Together they begin a cross-continent chase to stop the madman before he strikes again. However, Samantha fears her growing feelings for the lawman may weaken her focus, or worse—put Drew directly in the killer's sights… 

Northern Border Patrol: Keeping the U.S.–Canadian border safe