Viennese Beauty

On Saturday, Travis and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Vienna which is about 2 hours South of Prostejov.  I've been wanting to go there for the past 4 months and have been bugging Travis about going every time he has had a day off, but it had just never worked out for one reason or another until now.  I am so glad we were able to go because it was absolutely beautiful.  We were lucky to have perfect sunny weather, so we walked around the city ALL afternoon.

St. John's Cathedral

Every building and park was more beautiful than the next.  I kept telling Travis that we should move to Vienna because I was so amazed at how gorgeous a city it is.  There were cute little outdoor cafes lining the city center streets.  It has a very cute and artsy European feel but with big city bustle, which was very charming.

Vienna City Center

After walking around the city all day, we took a nice break to enjoy some Austrian cake, pastries and coffee at Aida cafe and then went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which was the most beautiful place I may have ever seen.  The pictures don't do it justice.  

The palace ground and gardens were so big that we probably could have spent all day just exploring.  But we were able to see the main parts.  

We trekked it up to the monument at the top of the hill that overlooks the entire city.  It was breathtaking.

And quite romantic

After leaving the Palace we were so incredibly exhausted.  We wandered around trying to find some place to eat, but there was not much around.  The first place we stumbled upon was a Chinese restaurant, so we figured what the heck.  We were hoping to find a typical Austrian restaurant, but there was no way our legs were going to take us any further, so we settled with Chinese.  We were the only people in the restaurant other than the family working and the menu was completely in German.  We ended up just taking a guess on what to order, since no one spoke English or Czech in the place.  

Travis wasn't too happy about it, but I thought it wasn't half bad.  I was just glad we had guessed chicken dishes and not something made from cat!!!  

I'm so glad we were able to experience Vienna, it was definitely a little adventure for us.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Vienna I HIGHLY recommend it!   

Happy Easter

Just to update everyone, I have been back in Czech now for two weeks.  I had an amazing time visiting my family in Franklin and taking a spring break trip to Florida, but now I'm back and trying to enjoy the rest of my time with here with Travis.  I'm not gonna lie, it was definitely hard for me to adjust coming back here after being at home for two weeks.  Not only is it hard to re-adjust to the 8 hr time change, but just getting back to day-to-day life was a bit of a challenge.  Life in general out here is at a much slower pace than back home, and once I got used to being busy and having activities and family and friends around me all the time, it makes life out here seem very dull.  Now that it's been two weeks I can definitely say I'm glad to be back though.  The weather has gotten a bit warmer, so thats a plus, and I'm especially glad to be back with Travis and Niko.  I think Easter is a great time for me to just remember Christ's resurrection and be thankful for all the wonderful blessings he has given us.  

On Friday, Travis' team finished the regular season with a win against Kolin.  They are officially in 2nd place in the Czech league and will start the playoffs next weekend!  I can't believe how close we are to the end of the season.  After the win, Travis was fortunate to have a couple of days off, so we were able to take a little road trip to Bratislava, Slovakia.  It was the first time we have had a chance to travel since the New Year, so we were excited to see a new city.  The weather wasn't great (a little rainy) so we weren't able to see everything we wanted, but we were able to walk around the castle where the President of Slovakia lives.  It's a huge castle up on a hill that overlooks the whole city, which was pretty cool.  We also ate some really good Brazilian food...who woulda thunk Slovakia would have Brazilian?  Here's a few pics from our trip.

Travis and I at the Slovakian Castle

 One of the courtyards at the castle.  We were surprised at how little security there was considering the President lives there.

overlooking the city of Bratislava

The UFO

Super creepy... we saw this outside a house in Bratislava.

We really enjoyed our time in Bratislava and we decided we will have to go back when the weather is nicer and explore some more.

Today we spent time in Prostejov and took a walk down by the river with Niko.  He was a very happy dog!

Even though we weren't able to spend our Easter Sunday with family and friends we still feel very blessed to be together and be where we are.  We wish everyone a Happy Easter!