#34--Slovakia

We took a late train from Budapest to Bratislava, Slovakia. Our hotel reminded us of an old Vegas casino where mob deals went down. The rooms were huge, the view amazing and breakfast was fantastic.

In the morning we wandered the city looking for a Slovakian copy of "The Little Prince" (which we found in a nearly empty book store). Then we wandered the old town of the city and got some authentic food before taking the hour-long bus to Vienna.

#33--Hungary...Beautiful Budapest

On Sunday night we flew into Budapest. It was absolutely gorgeous. We spent the night wandering the stunningly lit city. The next morning at 5:00 am we woke up and went to the Bath Complex. It was really like swimming in a bunch of palace fountains. There were over 20 pools over varying temperatures...from freezing (there was a snow machine producing the ice) to hot tubs. We also sat in many different saunas, the hottest being from 80-100 degrees celcius...which is rougly 200 degrees farenheit. Yikes!!



The rest of the day we spent on a Hop on Hop Off tour that tooks us to the Castle, Opera House, and over-look points. We also made sure to stop for some authentic Hungarian Goulosh and pastries.

Paris

 

I picked up Liz and Shannon in Paris on Wednesday. We took a great boat tour of the city and then spent Thursday at Disney Paris. It was amazing! We got into the park for free thanks to Liz's cast member discount and were totally surprised by how intense the rides were. Space Mountain pretty much should have required helmets.

#32 -- Luxembourg

 

Today I visited country #32...Luxembourg. We drove to Luxembourg city and took a fun (and highly dramatized)tourist train through the old city walls. Then we walked around the down town shops. That really was all there was to do in Luxembourg. The country is only 5 minutes away from Tim's house, so they always go there to buy gas, coffee and other things that are way cheaper than in Germany. Luxembourg city was about a 40 minute drive from Trier. After we had toured around I took a 3 hour train from Luxembourg City to Brussels.

#31 -- Germany

On Saturday I drove to Germany with Harry, Lucy, Steffi and Tim. We really had the royal treatment...amazing food, super nice car and house...everything we could dream of. Germany is the 31st country I have visited. We were in Trier...a beautiful town of about 100,000 people situated right along a river in the tall hills, forests and vineyards. It was so beautiful. I could have stayed forever.

I also had a very popular dish: spaghetti icecream...which is really just icecream put through a pasta maker and topped with strawberry sauce to look like spaghetti. We ate an amazing meal at Steffi's house...spaetzel, Hungarian meat, some other kind of skewered meat, potatoes, mousse, pudding, coca light, herbal tea...the works.

At Tim's house, the best part was breakfast each morning...a huge assortment of fresh breads, cheeses, jams, meats, etc.



The picture is hard to read, but it says "255 km/hour" which is roughly 159 miles per hour. We reached this speed on the German Autoban like it was nothing.

GPs in Brussels

 

On Friday the GPs (German People) came to visit Brussels. My cousin Harry, his wife Lucy, and their two German friends, Steffi and Tim, drove from Trier for the weekend. We all camped out at my cat apartment. Our first order of business was to visit Maison Antoine...the shack boasting the acclaimed title of "Home of the World's Best French Fries." Steffi and Tim had seen a TV show on the world's best food a few months ago, and this place showed up for the #1 French Fry place. And, truly, they were amazing! We wandered around Brussels, ate waffles, fries and kebaps...saw the Grand Place and Manekin Pis, had a cat sleepover, french toatst for breakfast...then we visited the Atonium and left for Germany. Brussels in 20 hours!!!

So you think you want to go to Russia?

Number of Trips to the Russian Consulate: 4
Number of Different Documents Needed: 5
Number of Hours Standing in Line: 9
Number of Hours Spent on Public Transportation: 10.5
Number of Days for the entire proccess: 24
Number of Dollars spent: $158

Obtaining a 10-day Tourist Visa for Russia: Priceless.


Monday, July 4:
We had the day off of work so I decided to go to the Consulate to apply for my Russian visa. I knew it was a process, so I had spent the previous week gathering all of the required documents including: application form, photos, official invitation obtained from tourist agency, copies of train tickets into Russia, copies of flight plans out of Russia, and certification of health insurance. I got the consulate to find a mob of people outside the door. There were no directions, signs, or anything organizing the mob. Just a mob. Every five minutes or so a large Russian guard would open the door up a sliver and stick his head out, and in Russian he would say, "Who is here for a visa?" The whole mob began jumping up in down and waving there documents. The guard let one person in. This repeated for the next two hours. I made my way to the front of the line, but after 2 hours the guard stuck his head out again and said, "that is all." We all went home.

Monday, July 11, 2011:
I returned to consulate better prepared this time. I arrived at 8:00 am (the door doesn't open till 9:00am). By the time I arrived there were already 10 people in line. Within 20 minutes there were another 20 behind me. The same process began. The guard would open the door to the mob, take one person, then shut the door again. I stood in line for 5 hours before being let in. I was the 10th and last person they allowed in for a visa...the other 40 behind me were all sent home. Getting inside was a Christmas Miracle! Once I was in I was sent to a kiosk with my paperwork. Good thing I speak Russian. However, I was told that because I was an American, this Consulate could not issue me a visa, and I would need to obtain one from a Russian consulate on American soil. I said that wasn't posssible and pulled out my State Department and NATO badge and said that I needed a visa. When they found out I was with the embassy they said that they might be able to help me if I could get an official letter from the US Embassy stating that I was working with them in Brussels...and I would need to come back again. So, I left to get my letter.

Wednesday, July 14, 2011:
I obtained my official letter from the U.S. Embassy and made my way back to the Russian Consulate. This time I didn't show up till 10:30 am and made my way straight to the closed dooor and knocked. The guard answered and let me in, by passing the 50 people waiting in mob. The kiosk girl looked over my documents and said that they would probably work and that I needed to pay. So, I went over to the cashier to pay...but they only accepted European bank cards...no cash, no credit cards. Well, I was in a jam, because all I had was cash and American credit cards. The stern looking woman at the window had little sympathy for me, so I stood by the cashier and started asking people if they would pay for my visa on their credit card and I would give them the cash. Unfortunately, my American visa was a lot more money than their European ones, and the first two people I approached didn't have enough money on their cards to cover it. Keep in mind that there aren't a whole lot of people to ask, since very few are actually let in. I asked a couple of people who were there with tourist agencies doing multiple visas, but they couldn't help me either. I finally asked this very nice young woman, in Russian, and she said she would be happy to help me. Wahoo! So we went to the window together to pay...and they wouldn't accept her credit card. So now we were both in the same bind. Luckily, another very nice woman overheard our distressed situation and offered to pay for both of ours if we gave her cash. The first woman who offered to help me didn't have cash, but I had enough to cover both visas, so I gladly made the deal. Once we were paid for, the first woman and I left together, and we drove to an ATM and she got cash and paid me back. We had a great time and became good friends. She is actually from Moscow and had also lived in the States. Anyway, the consulate told me I now needed to wait 2 weeks, and then I could come back and get my visa.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011:
I returned to the Russian consulate for the fourth time, and was eventually let in to collect my visa. They warned me over and over to double check everything before I left the room because once I was gone it was out of their hands. I was so afraid they were not going to issue me the visa...I nearly cried when she handed my passport back to me and I found a clean, perfect Russian Tourist Visa glued inside. A true Christmas Miracle!!

By the way:
I considered paying a courier or agency to do this work for me, but because I was an American they wanted to charge me 4 times as much as they charge Belgians...a whopping $150 just for the service. Boo.