a day in vienna

Vienna is the perfect day trip from Bratislava, since it's only about an hour by train or bus and you get the benefit of staying in cheaper Slovakia but experiencing the culture of an Austrian city.

The first thing you see getting out of the underground in central Vienna 

bratislava at christmas

Bratislava is one of those cities you tell people you're going to and they say "oh cool!...where is it?". It definitely doesn't get enough credit, especially since it's cheap and if you go in December it has one of my favourite Christmas Markets. There's also towers to climb, castles to see and a too many cafes and bars to choose from over a 3 night stay. 

Clock tower in Bratislava Old Town Square

dresden by train

Since we had originally planned to take in two cities on Mum's birthday trip, before Ryan Air thwarted our plans, I decided to have a look and see what was near Prague that we might be able to visit.

Such is the beauty of Europe, we could train to another city in another country in 2 hours! Plus Dresden has one of the oldest Christmas Markets in Europe. Tick and tick, we were on our way!

Mum waiting for the train to leave

december in prague

Mum arrived in Edinburgh right before her birthday in December, so we decided to do a trip that would take us to Christmas Markets, since Christmas is one of her favourite things. After a bit of drama with cancelled flights we ended up going to Prague, with a side trip to Dresden in Germany.

Just arrived at our apartment in Prague!

hello Europe...it's nice to finally meet you

On December 14th 2012 I finally landed in Europe. I have been dreaming of coming here for as long as I can remember. It's one of those things where I cant pinpoint the first time I thought it, it just is. Similar to how when I was growing up I always somehow knew I wanted to live in the USA. Not just go on holiday there, and not when I was older, but while I was still at school. I had no idea how this could happen but when I had the opportunity, I jumped. Now here I am in the grasp of another journey like that one.