europe in pictures (ok, and a few words)

hello, my lovelies! alyssa and i are back from europe - and actually have been since saturday, whoops - but i've been lounging around in a post-travel haze for the past week. between recovering from the trip and recovering from pbandtuna, there's been a lot of recovering to do. at least i didn't catch the pbandtuna plague. (SO FAR.)

i always do this when i get back from trips: i want to put off posting until i've compiled all my photos, except that always takes me about 38475 years, because i want to edit the photos, sort the photos, caption the photos... and next thing i know, it's 6 months later, and i never posted about the trip. so while i'm sure no one really wants an in-depth recap of what i've been up to, i'll just post a few dozen photos to give a glimpse of how awesome this trip was...

we started in Prague, which i immediately fell in love with.

it was my birthday, which meant this super-complicated astrological clock they're famous for over there was showing info specifically for me - my zodiac sign, saint day, etc. :-)

we had a lovely dinner at Allegro that night - the only Michelin starred restaurant in Eastern Europe! - and when the waiter found out it was my birthday, he brought this out:

..which says "Happy Birthday" in Czech in chocolate around the edge :-)

we saw.. well, a lot, in Prague. the Castle Quarter,

the Jewish Quarter,

the Market..

..and.. well.. a ton more.

[all the pictures from prague are here.]

next was Český Krumlov, which was just adorable. unfortunately, it was overcast for most of the day, but it pretty much looks like a fake town from a fairy tale.

[Český Krumlov photos here.]

and then! Budapest! so awesome, aside from the weather forecast of 55ish, vs. the ACTUAL weather of "42F, but feels like 34F, overcast, with 40mph wind gusts," which made things a little.. numb. still full of gorgeousness, though.

St. Istvan's Basilica:

the Chain Bridge:

the Great Synagogue:

goulash!! very important, when it's that effing cold outside:

and the fun Memento Park, where they've relocated a bunch of huge Communist statues that used to grace downtown Budapest, which are now fun to pose with:

the best part of Budapest, though, was the baths. oh man. after chattering and shivering around the city for 10 hours, slipping into basically an enormous hot tub for the evening? DIVINE. not my photo, but this is what it looks like there:

ahhhhhh. i highly recommend installing some hot springs in your home town.

[Budapest photos: here.]

and finally: Dubrovnik, OH MY GOD. what a phenominal place to finish off the trip.

this is the door to our hotel. note the street, which is made up entirely of stairs.

[um, still working on this photo set. stand by.]

it was an amazing trip. i recommend starting an eastern europe fund for yourselves asap.