Vienna!

After our time in Hungary (see previous post), we sped off to Vienna, Austria!

One of our first stops was to Hotel and Cafe Sacher,

Home of the famous Sacher Torte!

Lest you think this is all we ate, I assure you, we brought plenty of snacks. We needed the energy to help with our planning/map reading!

Close by, was the famous Opera House

where apparently you are not allowed to camp!

We then journeyed to Albertina Platz which houses the original quarters of Duke Albert and his wife.




On one corner of this square is an exhibition about the dangers of power. However, we discovered it was being remodeled.




The Kaisergruft Church was our next stop. The crypt of this church is the final resting place for at least 138 members of the Habsburg family. The tombs vary from the very elaborate




to the more simplistic coffin of Franz Josef.




We then moved on to the gigantic Stephansdom (St Stephen's Cathedral).




Initially constructed in the Middle Ages, it has been considered a spiritual focus of the Viennese people and is considered a symbol of endurance. It has undergone many periods of reconstruction due to damage by the Turks, the Napoleonic French and the Allies.

Inside was an incredible display of Gothic and baroque works!




No visit to Vienna would be complete without a trip to the Hofburg which was the Imperial Palace of the Habsburg dynasty (sorry about the dark picture!).




We toured portions of the Palace, saw the crowns of the Holy Roman Emporers and learned much about the life of Sisi (Emperess Elizabeth). Apparently Sisi did not like the confines of being an Emperess!

After a long day, we relaxed at the Prader Amusement Park! We took a trip on the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel) and enjoyed the sites.




The next morning, we woke bright and early to see the famous Lipizzaner Horses (famous white horses).




Needless to say, Jennie was very happy!

Before we left Vienna, we needed to stop by Parliament,




the Rathaus,




and Wien (Vienna) University where we determined Jackie should go to school. (Good luck footing the bill Mr and Mrs Cain!)




After a whilrwind day and a half tour, we boarded the train and were off to Prague (next)!

Budapest!

The fact that my friend, Lynn, blogged from her hospital room a few hours after giving birth convinced me that it's time for me to actually post about recent events. So here goes!

In March, my sister, Jennie and her friend, Jackie, came to visit me in Germany. We traveled to Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; and Prague, Czech Republic. It was a whirlwind tour!

Our early morning start!

The easiest way to get from place to place was via train. There is a great train system in Europe! Our first trip was on an overnight train from Kaiserslautern to Budapest. I felt like we had crossed over to the Navy based on the submarine sleeping conditions!

When we arrived in Budapest the next morning, we were going to take the tram up to Castle Hill. However, the tram wasn't working.

We got lots of exercise though and beautiful pictures of the Danube River!

Here are some of the amazing sights we saw!

Inside the Matthias Church:

Moving the statues (apparently the statues aren't as stationary as I thought!):

Behind the Church is the Fishermen's Bastion with beautiful views of the Danube and Parliament.

Jennie and Jackie at Parliment!

As it was the week before Easter, we got to learn a bit about Easter eggs of the Croatian tradition (if you enlarge this picture, you can really read it!)

Here is another church we visited, St Stephan's.

I'm constantly amazed at how ornate the churches are!

We had a beautiful view of the sunset by the river! (Yes, that's actually a glass of wine in my hand!)

Before we turned in for the night, we hiked up Gellert Hill passing Independence Monument

to reach the Citadella. The Citadella was a fortress erected to defend Budapest after the 1848 revolution, but it was actually never used for this purpose.

We had a long (and somewhat dirty) hike back down!

All in all it was a great day! And we definitely got our exercise!

Stay tuned...Next up....Vienna!

Travel Tips

This is my top ten list of travel trips. It's developed after my somewhat problematic travel experience to and from the US and Germany over the last week and a half involving one canceled flight, weather problems resulting in diverting to Lexington then back to Cincinnati then one missed flight and a 24 hour stay in Cincinnati (or actually, northern Kentucky).

1. Put a change of underwear in your carry-on. Wearing the same underwear for 48 hours is not fun!
2. Don't finish your only book on the short domestic flight leaving you nothing to read for the rest of the time.
3. There are no direct flights from Lexington to Frankfurt, Germany (this wasn't much of a surprise for me).
4. If you just went to a wedding and have hundreds of pictures to download to your computer, remember the computer, camera AND the cord that connects the two!
5. Refer to comment one but insert "socks" instead.
6. If your cell phone doesn't work in the US, always remember to have a calling card (This I did thankfully have).
7. Be sure to always have money/credit card with you. The airlines are nice enough to pay for part of your hotel, but not the entire hotel and likely you'll want to eat at some point.
8. Delta gives a really cut overnight kit, complete w/ an XL t-shirt, so you don't need to sleep in your clothes. However, wearing the t-shirt on your next flight is probably poor form!
9. Make friends, even if temporarily, with others in the same situation as you (especially if you're walking across a dark street to a gas station to get food).
10. Be nice to the employees trying to help you: it's not their fault and they can't fly the plane!

Back to the US (part 1)!

After one delayed flight, one canceled flight, 2 trips to Starbucks, and 6 hours trying to sleep in JFK airport, I made it from Frankfurt to the Reagan National Airport. I have never been so thankful to see my sister!

I relaxed w/ my sister, her fiancé Mike, and their two dogs, Copper and Filson, Sunday morning; frantically searched for silver high heels Sunday afternoon; and then was off to visit my friends, Pat, Lynn and Adeline. As my sister was driving me to my friends’ house, it started to snow…and it continued for the next 12 hours! Surprisingly, we don’t get much snow in Germany, so it was nice to see (even if the prospect of another canceled flight loomed on the horizon!).

Poor Pat had to go to work on Monday morning, despite the snow, and ended up being the only one there seeing everyone’s patients for several hours. I know it was painful, but thanks for your sense of duty and responsibility, Pat! Thankfully, he made it home by late morning to play in the snow!

We tried to make snowmen w/ Adeline, but the snow wouldn’t cooperate. Pat settled for placing Adeline in a deep snow drift and throwing snowballs at me (okay, I threw a few at him too!) We headed inside when Adeline had decided she’d had enough w/ the snow and stated “All done, snow!”

I have to say, I’m very jealous of Adeline’s toys! She has a bouncy castle that I would have loved as a child!

She’s much bigger than when I last saw her about seven months ago. Now she’s coloring…

Doing puzzles….

And helping Mommy cook!

One other secret about Lynn, she’s a mean ping pong player! At seven months pregnant, she beat me easily. She was bending and twisting in ways I did know were possible!

After visiting Pat, Lynn and Adeline, it was back to the airport (thankfully my flight was NOT canceled, only delayed) to fly to my parents’. I was thankful to relax w/ my parents for two days. I was able to play chess w/ my dad (and lost twice!), go to a movie w/ my mom (He’s Not That into You-cute!), go on a walk and just enjoy being w/ my parents. It was great getting to see them!

Next it’s off to Charlotte for my friend’s wedding. More to come!

Optic Neuritis

So, as a doctor, you think you're prepared for lots of medical problems. However, when you suddenly lose vision in your left eye, it takes you by shock. I was diagnosed with optic neurotis (see http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/optic-neuritis/DS00882 or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_neuritis) and one brain MRI, two ophthalmology appointments, two optometry appointments and one neurology appointment later everything is fine. Or not. They still don't know what caused it but I don't have mutiple sclerosis (thank goodness) or cat cratch disease (can't blame my cats). And my vision's back to normal, so I'm very thankful for that.

Through this experience, I:

1. Have been strengthened in my belief in God (I had to go immediately back to work after my MRI (which was looking for signs of multiple sclerosis) but my first three patients no-showed, allowing me more time to relax and breathe)

2. Found out that being in medicine allows you to get appointments faster but that some medical professions lack compassion when one of their one is sick/injured

3. And learned how valuable depth perception is (The first couple days, I couldn't figure out why I kept missing the small test tube when I was trying to place a swab in it!)

I'm very glad to have my vision back now. The only thing I still notice is that my vision gets hazy when I excercise (see below; just an example of what it looks like to me. Despite the label, I don't have MS).

I am actually somewhat thankful to have been able to see (or not see :) ) what my patients go thru, but I hope not to have to be a patient again anytime soon!

You know you're a military spouse if....

I saw this t-shirt in the BX the other day. It's funny because of how true, and crazy, it is (back me up on this one Lynn and Kristin!)

Who, other than members and families of the military, would consider this normal?!

Hide and Seek!

Yet again, Thea has found a new hiding place. While the B's were visiting, I realized I hadn't seen Thea for a while. I searched for her in all her normal hiding places and couldn't find her. Finally, after almost giving up, I saw her here.











When I first found her, her head was down and eyes were closed, so I had to shake her to make sure she was still alive.



Thea, you will never cease to amaze me!