June 16th, Lazelberger to Salzburg

Wednesday, June 16
Lazelberger, Austria to Salzburg

We awoke this morning to rain and cooler temperatures once again. Thank
you, Lord! The only concern I have with the weather is that Lonnie is
now driving on the Autobahn and it is difficult to see. There are a
lot more cars on the road now than when we started driving in 1998.
They still seem to obey the laws better here, and I am wondering if
there is a law against doing anything while you are driving (other than
driving), or if the people are just smarter here. While everyone has a
cell phone, we have not seen anyone talking on one while driving (and,
trust me, I have been watching in every country). We have also not seen
anyone eating while driving, putting on make-up, or shaving, or reading
a newspaper while driving (as we have in the States). The trucks have a
lower speed limit, and can only drive in certain lanes (and they
actually obey those laws, from what we have observed). Some of the
roads are a little worse this year, but apparently that has to do with
the winter they just had.

We finally arrived in the Salzkammergut area aound noon. Since Mondsee
was on the way, I had Lonnie stop there. We walked around the area,
went inside the church where they filmed the wedding scene in "The Sound
of Music", then did some shopping and ate pizza! It was so cold there
that we had to pull out the winter coats, hats and gloves. It was also
misting some. After pizza, we drove down to the "See" and took some
pictures of the boats, and mountains. Then drove on to Salzburg. There
was a bridge that I wanted to take a picture of, but I knew that with
Lonnie driving 100mph, it would be difficult to do. And, would you
believe, they were doing road work on the Autobahn just past that
bridge, so the traffic came to a virtual stand-still at that very spot.
Isn't God good? Not only can He move mountains, but He can stop traffic
on the Autobahn at will. Immediately after passing under the bridge,
traffic resumed it's normal speed.

We had called ahead,so we knew where we would be spending the night. It
should have been such a simple thing. Lonnie got off at the correct
exit, and while trying to find the right road, ended up back on the
Autobahn. We drove to the next exit, turned around and came back. Once
again, we ended up on the Autobahn going a different direction. Yes, we
went to Germany (yet, again!!!). We were on the right road the first
time, so it should have been so simple. We finally arrived at our hotel
later than planned, and checked in for two nights instead of one. By the
time that we got downtown in Salzburg, everything was closed. :( On
our way into town, we had to stop by the Cineplex to see what was
playing. Lonnie wanted to go and see a movie. We walked around
Salzburg for a little bit to get our bearings, then headed out to the
movie theater to see Iron Man 2. Lonnie had seen it several times
already, so he knew what was going on. I had never seen it, so I
understood only a handful of words (all was in German, of course). I
guess the good guys won at the end.

We got back to the hotel around 11PM, I did some research about where to
go and what to see, and then crashed for the night. Now I am ready to
go to breakfast, and get started on my Salzburg Adventure.

June 15th, Rajeca Teplice, Slovakia to Lazelberger, Austria

Tuesday, June 15th
Rajeca Teplice to Lazelberger, Austria

It is 5:40PM and we just got on a highway heading toward the west.
Obviously we are not going to make it to Salzburg tonight as planned.
It has been a very long, frustrating driving day! We left the Hotel at
Rajeca Teplice at 11AM and were supposed to get to the Vampire Castle
around noon. In case you haven't guessed by now, Lonnie loves to just
drive. Ever since we have been married, his idea of fun has always
been to just get on the road and drive (weekend drives, afternoon
drives, etc.) It never mattered where, just drive. He told me that he
drove a little slower this morning because he wanted to enjoy the
mountains. We finally arrived at the Vampire Castle around 3:30PM or
so. In addition to Lonnie enjoying the mountains, the GPS lady was
taking us all over the place. In the last major town before Cachtice
(where the castle ruins are), we drove around for over an hour trying to
find our way out of it. The GPS lady took us down back alleys and roads
to nowhere. It should have taken us straight down a two-lane highway
and we would have been there. It was so very frustrating! I think that
even Lonnie is a little tired of the driving today (or at least tired of
the frustration of not being able to get out of that city!) No offense
to anyone from Slovakia, but I will be so thankful to finally get out of
this country! It has not felt right to me ever since we got into it.

When we arrived at Cachtice, we weren't sure where the castle ruins
were. Knowing that they are always on top of a mountain, and seeing a
sign that indicated they might be up the road, Lonnie took off up the
mountain on a narrow one-lane road. I figured we would be the only car
up there (the road was little more than a trail), but when we arrived,
there were several cars there. I love castle ruins. You can imagine so
many things that might have gone on in them! This one has an especially
interesting past. We had to hike up a mountain to see the ruins. I
went up to the inside of the lower part of the castle ruins, and Lonnie
went to the upstairs part of the castle ruins. But, back to the
interesting past. This castle had a Countess who lived there who
killed hundreds of young girls so that she could drink their blood in
hopes of staying young. A real lady vampire! I don't remember the
rest of the story right now (I have it at home), but it was interesting.

Side note: Praise the Lord! We are finally back in Austria!! Now we
are headed toward Vienna as we travel on toward Salzburg. Actually,
looking at the map, it looks like we may bypass Vienna. Just as well,
because it is not a city that you can effectively tour in a day, and we
are running short on time. I have decided that I want to spend a couple
of days in the Swiss Alps before flying home next Thursday. Much of
what we have seen in the past week or so could have been seen in the
Smokies, but the Swiss Alps are not something you see every day in the
States! I can't wait!

June 14th, Tatranska Javorina to Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia

Monday, June 14
Tatranska Javorina to Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia

Today was another long, long driving day across Slovakia. The day
started early with sunlight streaming through the window way before it
should have. Lonnie got up and adjusted the curtains (but I guess he
also looked at the mountains at the same time - I didn't), then went
back to bed. Later we were awakened by some of the loudest thunder and
whistling wind. It was raining and the mountains were socked in, so I
still didn't see them. It was so peaceful there, that I didn't want to
get up and leave. We had a leisurely breakfast in the glassed in area
so that we could see the mountains and the rain - and the lightning.
Lonnie kept saying "Wow!" every time there was a lightning strike. The
people at the next table kept staring at us. They probably wondered if
Lonnie had never seen lightning before. By the time that we actually
got ready to leave, I was able to see the snow-capped mountains in the
distance. Then we began a long drive through the mountains. Lonnie had
planned the drive so that we could see the mountains all day -
unfortunately, what we saw was mainly clouds. We drove through the
mountains and then on to another town that is supposed to be famous for
their painted houses - Cicmany. I have to say that they were
interesting. We met the couple who run the gift shop - it's not open
yet - and they spoke English. She rounded up her toddler, then opened
the gift shop so we could have a look. It was definitely to her
advantage, as we bought several things there. Now, if we can only get
them home without breaking them!

As we drove through the mountains, we passed into Poland again just for
a brief time. I have to say, I think that we found the Gatlinburg of
Poland! There may have even been more hotels there than at Gatlinburg.
There were only a couple of gift shops though. They are really missing
out on a good opportunity! And, Curtis, we have found the place for you
and Josie to come. The big thing over here is Water Park Hotels! We
filmed one of the smaller ones for you to see. Apparently there is a
huge Water Park Hotel in a nearby city. The other big thing is
"Wellness" or "Spa" hotels. We have stayed in several of those. The
Lord blessed us with another fantastic hotel tonight. If we had not met
the couple that spoke English, we would not have known where to go to
find a hotel. It was getting late, and we were literally in the middle
of nowhere!! There were no hotels in the town with the painted houses,
and we knew there were no other towns nearby. There are a few little
villages scattered here and there, but they didn't have hotels either.
The tourist season doesn't start here until June 26th, so a lot of
places are not open yet. After talking to the girl at the gift shop, we
found that the direction we had planned to travel would have nothing
(and did I say that it was getting very late), so we went to the town
that she told us to go to (even though it was the opposite direction).
The hotel that the Lord sent us to tonight is another "wellness hotel" -
and I told Lonnie that I think it is the first hotel I have stayed in
that provided a robe and slippers for it's guests to wear. The view
from our balcony is a great one - mountains, again. And, the food was
absolutely delicious! I had Pork with grilled vegetables and garlic
rosti. Lonnie had the "Thief's Skewer" which was grilled meats. He
said it was excellent, also!

Tomorrow we will hopefully find our way out of Slovakia. I still don't
feel as comfortable here as I have in other places. I do feel better
about where we are tonight, tho, and I felt good at another town where
we stopped at the mall. That was pretty funny! In most countries we
are able to converse in English, or use our smattering of Deutsch to
communicate. Well, in Slovakia, most people don't know either
language. I was trying to figure out if a dish at the mall was chicken
or shrimp. It is hard to tell from the pictures sometimes. We were
getting absolutely nowhere in determining that. Finally Lonnie started
clucking like a chicken and I flapped my wings. The girl understood
and told me which dishes had chicken on them. It was pretty funny,but I
got chicken to eat!

We have seen some "Gypsy" trailers here and there since we crossed into
Slovakia (but no one in them). They are just parked out in the fields,
awaiting better weather or vacation time, I guess. And Lonnie told me
to let you know that we were on some cow-paths yesterday, because he saw
the "cow patties". Today it was still narrow roads winding up and down
mountain-sides. Lord willing, tomorrow we will find the castle where a
true "vampire" lived, then travel on Westward into Austria - and "The
Sound of Music" country (my favorite movie!)

June 13th, Tarnow, Poland to Tatranska Javorina, Slovakia

June 13
Tarnow, Poland to Tatranska Javorina, Slovakia

Today was another long, long driving day. I hate long driving days.
We were in search of wooden churches and mountains. We found a few
wooden churches here and there, but only one that seemed original. We
saw a few more storks in their nests, and a couple of storks just
standing around on the ground. The GPS lady went crazy today, and sent
us down a few dead end roads, cow-paths, and who knows where else. The
police stopped us in one town - did not speak English - but asked the
other officer in his car what the word was that he wanted to tell us.
Then he said "Lights" - so Lonnie turned the lights on and the policeman
was happy and went on his way. We saw lots and lots of trees, one-lane
roads, and 4-wheel drive trails (we did not rent a 4-wheel drive). We
stopped by a creek and had a picnic lunch when we determined that we
were not going to be anywhere near someplace to eat! We drove through
lots of little villages, and found the areas where Poland was flooded
last month. Roads have caved in, houses were ruined, part of a hill
came down that a house was sitting beside. Some of the towns still have
their sandbags in place in case it rains again. It was misting this
morning, but the sun came out pretty quickly. I was so thankful to God
for the respite from the heat!

It was somewhat surprising to me that the farther East in Poland that we
went, the better things seemed. More new construction, beautiful homes,
large farms - everything seemed to get better and better except the
roads. There are new malls that have sprung up, lots of grocery stores
(some like Aldi's and some like the super Wal-Marts) and everything
looks bright and fresh! I really expected it to be the other way around
as we got closer to Ukraine. Poland has some beautiful countryside, and
seems to be doing well.

Things did look different when we crossed into Slovakia, though. I was
really surprised at that, since Slovakia is already on the Euro. The
areas we have been through so far seemed dirty and unkempt, and very
poor. I know this may sound strange to some of you, but when we passed
through one village, it felt like pure evil. I was so thankful to get
away from there. If I was in Star Wars, I would have said "The evil is
strong in this one".

I was starting to get a little concerned about where we would stay for
the night. Things weren't looking too promising. I know that the Lord
has taken care of us every step of the way, and I knew that he would
provide for us tonight, also. We are once again in mountains, this time
the Tatras in Slovakia. So far they are more like the Smokies than the
Alps, but Lonnie keeps promising me that they will be taller tomorrow.
(another long driving day). When we got to the border between Poland and
Slovakia again, we saw a sign for a wellness hotel at the top of the
mountain (always a good sign). The hotel is magnificent in an
absolutely gorgeous setting!! It would be the perfect place for a
Women's Retreat (anyone game??). When you walk into the lobby, they
have a two or three story glassed in opening that gives a spectacular
view of the mountains. The rooms have large balconies and a wall of
glass so that you can look out at the mountains, as well. They have a
pool, fitness room, oxygen room, floating tubs, saunas, squash, bowling,
and several other things. The restaurant is on our floor. The Lord
provided a gorgeous hotel in a wonderful setting. I am so thankful!!

June 12th, Oswiecim to Zalipie to Tarnow

Saturday, June 12
Oswiecim to Zalipie to Tarnow

Today we woke up to roosters crowing. I was wondering why they didn't
crow before 8AM, since it was daylight by around 3:30 or 4AM. It was
extremely hot in the room, but we didn't dare open the windows last
night because of the mosquitoes. (they were huge). We got up and had a
wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, egg salad, tomatoes,
etc., then we took some pics around the hotel and traveled on. They are
adding on to the hotel, and the new rooms are supposed to have AC. Too
bad they weren't finished already! The heat wave continues in Poland.

I told Lonnie that I wanted to check out the flea market, but as we
drove through it, I realized they were selling only new goods. What fun
is that! Next we went to Auschwitz I so that I could buy some DVD's.
Nearly everyone is selling DVDs this year. Even though some of them are
PAL format, Lonnie thinks they will work on the computer. I certainly
hope so! We drove past Auschwitz a couple of times, then drove on to
Auschwitz II- Birkenau. They are both huge camps. We didn't get out at
Birkenau because we have already been there. I just wanted to see it
again. If it had not been so hot, I probably would have taken the tour
of both camps again. Maybe in the winter. . .I have always thought
something didn't look right about the tracks inside Birkenau. I know
they are the ones used in all of the movies, but they didn't look like
the ones I had seen pictures of and read about when I did reports on the
camps in Junior High. As we were driving to Birkenau, I saw a sign that
said something about a "Juden" memorial. I told Lonnie that I wanted to
drive down that road and see what it was. It turned out to be the
original tracks that were used until May, 1944. Those were the ones
that I had known about. They didn't start taking the Jews directly
into the camp by train until after that. On those tracks, they had a
couple of the boxcars that had been used to transport Jews to the
camps. It was very moving.

After that, we drove across Poland (still traveling East) to see some
painted houses that I had heard about. Now, while they were very nice,
and I love painted houses, I probably would not have driven across
Arkansas to see them, much less across Poland. If we had not done the
trip across Poland, I would have missed something else that I had never
seen before, though. One of the highlights of the long day's drive was
the fact that we saw three storks in their nests feeding their young.
It was amazing! I have never seen such large nests! Unbelievable!

The last highlights of the day came after we finally found a hotel! We
drove and drove around the town of Tarnow looking for a place to stay.
We gave up on the first one when we could not find any parking. The
Lord had something better in mind for us. The GPS lady was trying to
lead us who knows where, so we missed the second hotel several times
before I finally just took over the map and told Lonnie how to get
there!! That GPS lady has a terrible time in towns this year!! She did
much better in towns three years ago. It is a very nice hotel, and we
were given our choice of a room without air conditioning for one price,
or a room with air conditioning for a little more. Guess which one we took!

After checking in, I told Lonnie that I wanted to walk around a little
and look at a cathedral that was next to us. As we were walking past,
we heard singing coming from inside the cathedral, then lots of
clapping. We were trying to decide if it was a boys' choir or not, so
when they started singing again, I snuck in the side door to check it
out. It turned out to be a girls' choir and the singing was
incredible! Add to that the large cathedral organ, and the fantastic
acoustics, and it sounded terrific! We stayed for one song, then left.

The next highlight of the day came when we crashed a Polish wedding
reception - well, not exactly, but I would have liked to (especially
when they started doing the 'Chicken Dance'). The reception was in the
next room at the Hotel's restaurant, so we were able to see the bride
and groom part of the time - and could listen to the music all of the
time. It was great! (side note: for dinner I had a Greek Salad and
Polish White Borscht - Lonnie had a flaming sword trio of meats - he
shared a little tiny bit with me - Yum!)

Not sure where we will end up tomorrow. I'm in search of some wooden
churches that are only found in a certain area. We'll see.

June 11th, Velke Losiny to Oswiecim (Auschwitz)

Friday, June 11
Velke Losiny to Oswiecim (Auschwitz)


Well, after being awakened early by the hot sun shining on us, we headed out in search of our Zamek again.   We finally found it in a little town about 6 km from Velke Losiny.  Little had been done to the castle, but they had built a building to tell about it (not open yet), fenced it all in, and totally cleaned up the grounds and little lakes to make it into beautiful gardens.  Once they are finished, it will be really something to see! 

After that, we spent most of the day on the road, traveling backroads to Auschwitz, where we are staying at the same hotel we stayed at 3 years ago.  It is very nice,but no air conditioning and lots of mosquitos this time.  I am sure that it is from the recent flooding.  The hotel was not flooded, but the girl who works here said that some of the other workers'  houses were flooded.  Auschwitz Concentration Camp is once again open, but I will probably not go through it again.  I am hoping for a flea market, tho :-) .  We'll see.

I forgot to tell you that I had my best Polish dish so far.  It was their "Old Recipe Polish Borscht" (white borscht).  We had it last time - and it was just as delicious this time!  Now I just need to find a recipe . . .

June 10th, Pardubice to Chrudim to Velke Losiny

Thursday, June 10th
Pardubice to Chrudim to Velke Losiny

Today we were in search of Marionettes, and found them at the top of another mountain!  It is still extremely hot!  I almost didn't want to climb the mountain because of it!  It was a good thing that I looked it up on the Internet and wrote it down before we headed out.  No one spoke English in Chrudim!  And the Marionette Museum was actually called "Loutkarskych Muzeum".  I showed my piece of paper to a lady at the bottom of the hill, and she walked out of her shop and up the street with me to show me that I had to go to the top of the hill to find the museum.   She seemed excited to know that I was looking for their museum.  After I got to the top of the hill, I had to ask in another shop.  That person pointed me in the right direction on top of the hill.  If I had not had my piece of paper, we would have walked right past the museum without ever knowing it.  I would not have known that the sign on the door meant Marionette Museum!  It was pretty interesting, and Lonnie and I tried our hands at working with a Marionette on a big stage like they had in "The Sound of Music".  It was fun!  (But a tough climb up the flights of stairs in the hot museum).  The Museum closed at noon for lunch, so by the time we were finished going through it, the doors to the gift shop were locked.  We were going to leave town, but saw a Pizzeria and decided to get something to eat.  We ordered a Pepperoni Pizza (yes, Peyton, you know what is coming) - knowing that it really meant green peppers, not pepperoni, as we know it,  and found that we had ordered the hottest pepper pizza.  I finally ordered a Hawaiian Pizza (ham and pineapple) then walked back up the hill to purchase some souvenirs at the Museum before traveling on.   The woman was so excited to see that I had come back.  I picked some things out, then was looking at the books to see if any had English.  I didn't ask because we had already established the fact that we could not communicate (even in German!).   All of a sudden the woman realized that I was looking intently at the books and shouted (I could see the light bulb go on in her head) "English"!  She ran over to her cabinet and brought out a book in English!  You could tell that all of the time I had been there she had been trying to figure out what language I was speaking.  Because we do not have a Northeastern accent, most people cannot tell where we are from, and do not usually consider the US.  I have to say, sometimes that is helpful that they don't know where we are from.  So many Americans come over here and act like total jerks that I prefer not to be placed in that category.  My opinion has always been that if you are visiting a foreign country, then expect it to be different!!  Don't expect them to act like Americans and cater to your every whim!  Okay, so much for my preaching!

Next we drove to Velke Losiny in search of a Zamek (castle/chateau) that we stumbled across three years ago when we were here.  They had been working on it and I wanted to see what they had accomplished!  It turns out that it is not in Velke Losiny after all.   We did manage to get a room at the Hotel Diana Spa Hotel, there, tho.  Unfortunately, it stayed light until around 11PM - then was light again by 4AM, so we didn't get much sleep.