Time to cut - too much to see in Europe

The truth is out there.

I have found that I too must search and find the truth. I found the truth that I didn't have several years to spend travelling around Europe. Thus, I couldn't see all the great places that danced in my head.

Budapest would have been great. London is worth a whole visit itself.
Ireland would absolutely be a joy. Slovakia would be quiet interesting.
Sweden could show me all of its beauty. on and on....

The places are identified. The major attractions marked.
The general travel between have been sketched out.

I was a bummed that so many great places couldn't make the list.

The list was slimmed down to only four locations.

Land in Paris. Spend 3 days around Paris.
Travel to Interlaken - three days in Beautiful Switzerland.
A full travel day to Prague. 3 great days in a wonderful city.
Another full travel day - reaching Amsterdam. 3 days in Amsterdam.
A plane ride home will end my 2 week swift journey

That's the plan. Time to get documents in order.
Reservations on the books. Then only time will stand in between me and the journey.

Rake has entered a dream.

The Planning Begins

I have sketched out about 15 day trip to Europe.
The trip moves me through both Western and Eastern Europe via Eurail.

I did find this photo of Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland.

#Awesome



Starts in Paris for a couple of days. (Maybe Plug In Hostel)

Moves over to Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland for a few days in the mountains. (maybe Valley Hostel)

Next is to travel south to Venice. (looking at hostels: Venice Fish or Venice Museum)

North is the next direction all the way to Amsterdam. (Hostel: Durty Nellys or Flying Pig Downtown)

After a few days in Amsterdam the plan is to travel to Prague in the Czech Republic. (Hostels: Old Prague Hostel or Hostel Elf are on the list)

Leaving Prague moving on to Budapest, Hungary. (Hostels:Big Fish or Downtown Oasis)

Moving back east to Cinque Terre, Italy. (Hostels: Le Sirene or AltraVista Culturale)

Ending the trip in Rome, Italy. (Hostels: Eurorooms or Funny Place hostel)


Please comment if you have suggestions or advise. This is subject to all kind of changes based on my preference.

Do tell of your European travels. Point me to interesting sites. Useful sites.
Teach me to read a Eurail train schedule.

Looking forward to European Culture.

Oh by the way, I received a preliminary ok today from Boss. (yeah!)

Backpacking Europe - 2012

I have the okay from the wife.
Next up - scheduling and get approval from work (should be okay).

Since this will be a solo trip, I am leaning towards making this an Eastern Europe trip. I find the culture and places of Eastern Europe more attractive than those of Western Europe. Also, it leaves the newness of going to Western Europe if the wife and daughter ever want to go.

I have long desired to visit Prague. That is a definite on my list. Combine that with limited time - tells me I need to stick to Eastern Europe.

My first pass at a possible route with more cities/places than I can visit is:

Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Zuric, Bratislave, Belgrade, Budapest, Venice, Rome. I would need 30+ days to slowly enjoy those places. I will probably be limited to 16 days. So, that list will probably be limit in a big way.

I need suggestions people......

Good Hostels (clean)
Excellent small pubs/diners
local spots that shows off the areas culture


Soon.... Rakethetable will leave the continent.

It's time to have a little fun

Let's Go Stallions

Hello, from the back side of another weekend.

Here we sit at the tail end of yet another weekend. My beautiful wife is in the kitchen cooking us some Sunday chicken. Little One is off doing her thing somewhere in the house. She comes by every few moments whining about wanting to go to the pool. Maybe we can go after lunch. It is a beautiful day today and pretty dog-gone warm!

So, here dad sits hammering out another blog for the world (or family and few friends). I was teasing the family on the way home form church today that we are going to have so much fun on our getaway to the mountains. I still haven't told them where we are going. My wife would know if she ever read my blog. But, that doesn't hardly ever happen.

Saturday night. We did go see friends and had a wonderful time with them and their baby. Cloe is 8 months old and has the biggest and brightest eyes. We arrived late afternoon. Cloe's dad had not yet returned from his hunting camp cleaning day. He arrived later. As my wife and child played with Cloe in the floor, I watched Oregon whoop up on Michigan. I couldn't be happier. There are some schools that carry an arrogance about them - they no humility. Well, Michigan is learning some humility these days. Next up - Southern California. I watches the whole game. It was awesome. Dixon is a real threat. He has some talent around him. We will see how far the ducks can go this year.

I was embarrassed by the bulldogs play. I am really re-thinking this Bobo calling the plays thing that Coach Richt established this year. Bobo wasn't all that great of a quarterback while playing at Georgia. I don't think he can handle the pressures of the SEC competition. Good game South Carolina. You played well on defense.

The dinner was a success. We had Bacon, Sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy and hash browns. That is a good meal. After dinner, Little One and I headed across the street to a small park. There was a geocache over there I wanted to try. However, it was getting dark and showed over 400 feet from the trail. We skipped it and headed over to the play ground.

I will leave you with a few pictures of the family with Cloe. Have a great week.


Little One with Cloe:



Cloe and her mom:


My amazing wife:


Me smiling at the camera:


Cloe and her dad:


Little One being all crazy with a scoobie doo mask:



Little One stiking a pose:



Little One showing off her flipping skills:

Swooosh!!

Wow! Did you see that week go by?
It was so quick. In that, I have nothing to report.
Tuesday ~ Friday not much of anything happened - work.

Friday night my wife and I finished up our date we started
two weeks ago. Jason Bourne Rocks!

Today, my wife is at church for a board meeting.
Little One and I are being lazy around the house.

Tonight, We will head over to McDonough, GA.
We are heading over to a friends house to visit.
They have a baby and I am sure my wife and Little One can't wait
to get their hands on her.

We are going to cook a breakfast dinner and visit for a while.
It should be relaxing.

I have no new pictures to share. I have everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Adios.

A whirl of Photo's - Try and Keep up

Little One with extended cousins from Birmingham


















Geocaching at Fort McClellan
Pet Cemetery


















By far the most interesting geocache - I called it the bazooka
















That is my truck and not a toy truck.
Oh, what we see when out geocaching.