Category Archives: Travel

Bratislava

By | June 3, 2006

Bratislava is a nice change of pace from Budapest and Prague. Therefore, it would have been better for us if we could have stopped in Bratislava after Prague and Budapest, but you can’t just go rearranging the geography to suit your itinerary. Bratislava is between Budapest and Prague on the train line, so that’s the… Read More »

Budapest Day 2

By | June 1, 2006

So far, the weather had been cloudy and cool. Today we had a nice change with a bit of sun and warmth. Unfortunately, this was to be a rare combination over the next week or so. The first week of June was surprisingly cold in central Europe. Most days, the temperature didn’t cross 15 degrees… Read More »

Travel Journal Writer’s Block

By | June 1, 2006

I should have known that if I didn’t immediately start writing blog posts about the trip, I would fall woefully behind. Now, it’s actually July 23rd and I’m nearly two months behind on backdating posts from our trip to more or less correspond when the events actually happened. Well, I’ll give it another try.

Budapest

By | May 31, 2006

Treat the taxi drivers at the Budapest train station like a bad mariachi band in a Mexican restaurant. Avoid eye contact at all times and pretend you can’t hear them. All the guide books warn you about these “hyenas” (the guidebook’s term, not mine). One was particularly aggressive towards us. He came up to me… Read More »

Vienna

By | May 30, 2006

Why is there a horrible food product sold in the States that is called Vienna Sausages? Tiny, tasteless (unless you consider tin-flavored sawdust mixed with lard to be tasteful) sausage-like items stacked like vertical sardines in a can bear no relation to the sausages served in Vienna. So, after arriving in Vienna in the evening,… Read More »

Oakland nach Vienna

By | May 29, 2006

After waking up around 5 am, we got a ten minute ride to a BART stop with a friend. About an hour later, we were at the BART stop at SFO for our first flight to Chicago. After a 4 hour flight and a 3 hour layover, we boarded a flight to Frankfurt. Fortunately, by using a big… Read More »

World Cup 2006 Tickets

By | May 7, 2006

We now have our tickets for the 3 first round matches in which the US national team will play at World Cup 2006 in Germany this summer. Woohoo!! We leave for Europe near the end of May, two weeks before the games begin. Our current itinerary has us heading first to Vienna, next to Budapest,… Read More »

Vacation in Ireland

By | September 18, 2005

I’m back after spending just over a week on vacation in Ireland. My wife and I met up with thirteen other family members and spouses connected to the McGuire side of the family. We stayed at McKeever’s Mill near Nobber, which is about an hour from Dublin. The mill was a great place to stay… Read More »

Tasmania

By | January 30, 2005

Last week the San Francisco Chronicle had a nice article on traveling to Tasmania. Sandra and I spent a wonderful week a few years ago driving around the coast of Tasmania and through parts of the interior. I’ve had some photos from that memorable trip posted on this website practically from the day I first… Read More »