Austria!

It has been far too long since I've updated this blog. Here are picture highlights from our time in Austria!

Vienna

Salzburg

Public park outside Salzburg, with climbing and bouldering along what we think was part of old fortifications! Routes were labeled and rated, and had bolts and anchors!

Zillertal Valley

Bummed I don't have any other pics on my phone from Zillertal... We did some bouldering and spent the night under the porch of an information hut in a little village... One of those memorable, epic experiences! 

Czech Republic, Poland, And Slovakia!

Randy and I have Ben moving right along on our trip. Here are just a few pics from along the way!

Hostel in Prague. Not a five star facility at all... But quite cheap. It's in a school that's converted to a hostel in the summer to raise money for the school I believe.

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland, was sad place to visit. 

Pierogies in Poland!

Went to a concert at this church in Krakow, Poland. 

Slovakia is a very cool country! We came into it from Poland in the North and got to see the High Tatras, a beautiful mountain range. And the countryside is wonderful with neat little villages, and castles! This was one train station we passed through.

 

A cathedral in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.

The Danube from Devin Castle, outside Bratislava.

Devin Castle. It was a very neat place to visit on the outskirts of Bratislava! Super cool old castle at the meeting of two rivers.

Germany!

After cruising through Netherlands, Denmark, and even a bit of Sweden, it was good to spend a bit more time in one country, though we've still been moving!

We entered Germany via ferry/train - out train went onto a ferry for a 45-minute crossing! That was a new experience.

We took a  "layover" of a bit over an hour in Luebeck. Here is the old gate!

Our first night in Germany was spent with some very kind fellow-Adventists. I had met the son on Facebook, and though he was gone, his mom, brother, an another family that lived in the same home welcomed us into their country home. 

The mom took us to the Schwerin Castle,. A beautiful structure by a beautiful lake!

Train travel in Germany has been wonderful. Both on the high speed trains and the smaller connections, there are views of beautiful German countryside.

Berlin is no countryside, however! We spent sections of two days walking all over Berlin. At first it was confusing. We tried to take the subway, which was a fail... Eventually we found that using our Eurail passes allowed us to go between train stations in the city, and get us within walking distance of where we wanted to go. 

Checkpoint Charlie was very interesting to visit. To think that less than thirty years ago, Berlin was a very different place...

Berlin is a merging of the old and the new. 

Friday afternoon, after seeing museums, the Berlin Wall, and a bombed-out church (though there was renovation going on and we couldn't see much...), we headed out for Wittenburg-Lutherstadt.

Our campsite was a very long walk along a large road and across the River Elbe.

Now, sitting on the street, I'm looking forward to seeing things pertaining to Martain Luther and the Protestant Reformation in the morning. It will be Sabbath soon, and I look forward to a blessing! 

Stay tuned for more!

(A note on photo-quality - these are unedited photos from my phone. I have an SLR with me, but I don't have a way to post them while on the road. Hope you enjoy these pictures, though not the greatest!)

The Europe Adventure Begins!

Greetings from Copenhagen! I am sitting in the train station getting ready to head to Schwerin, Germany. Here's a quick update of what has happened so far! Stay tuned for more updates over the next month!

We flew into Amsterdam, activated our Eurail passes, and headed into the city for a few hours. We'd been here before, but it was good to explore some more!

This former convent in the heart of the city was really neat! You walk in, and suddenly everything is quiet. It's very peaceful an beautiful! Though no longer a convent, today only for women rent homes here. 

At 5:40pm, we caught the night train for Copenhagen! Here one view we saw the next morning!

One place we visited in Copenhagen was the National Museum, which features a very nice exhibit on Vikings!

Our second night in Europe was spent in this tent near Lund, Sweden. We got off the train at a very small stop, and walked through quaint suberbs for a good while before finding a stand of woods where we could pitch our tent. At about 4:30am, a heavy rainstorm hit. And lets just say that our old tent ain't what it used to be... We're going to need to find a way to dry out a lot of stuff. An adventure though, to be sure! 

Stay tuned for more soon! 

Xian, China - July 26-28, 2013

We spent ten days seeing some exceptional cities and sights in China. Our first stop was Xian, China. It has an urban population of over six million people, and was once ancient China's capital. 

In the Xian Forest of Stone Steles Museum is large limestone tablet which describes Nestorian Christian Churches in China. The tablet was carved in the year 781, attesting to very early Christian presence in China.

The renovated/rebuilt walls of old Xian are open to tourists, and we rented bikes for a ride around some of the perimeter.

Taoism has route here, about an hour outside of Xian, where it is said that one of Taoism's holy books was written. 

This pagoda is said to be the oldest Christian church in China, dating from 640. Today it is Buddhist monastery. 

Though the identity of this pagoda as an ancient church is a point of controversy, supposedly there are ancient carvings of both the birth of Jesus and Jonah at the walls of Ninevah on the inside walls.

These Buddhists monks live beside the pagoda. 

As we travelled in China, it wasn't uncommon to be asked to pose for a picture with some locals.

The very busy and very exciting Muslim Quarter. My favorite area of Xian!

The Terracotta Army

The largest tourist destination and definitely one of the most impressive sights in the Xian area is the Terracotta Army. They are part of the ancient burial complex for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of unified China. The army dates from about 200BC. This impressive discovery is sometimes called the eighth wonder of the ancient world. 

We left Xian for Pingyao, China by bus. Full of history and bursting with energy, it made for a great first stop on our family's trip in China. 

Lantau Island - 7/21/2013

We took a family trip on Sunday out to Lantau Island, a large island East of Hong Kong. We took the gondola to the Tian Tan Buddha, and also explored the fishing village of Tai O. It made for a great day trip!

The gondola to the Tian Tan Buddha was gorgeous! It was very long - 5.7km in all!

We rode in a gondola with a glass floor!

Near the base of the Buddha. Some things never change.

A gate near the Big Buddha.

The small fishing village of Tai O. It must have been very quiet at one point, but today it sees many tourists. Still, it was a neat place to visit.

Just a shark.

On our return gondola. Below is the Hong Kong International Airport.