February 2025 – How To Wow Now

Florida in February…a retiree’s dream, right? Lucky me, I have friends who have made their permanent residence there and there is always an open door.

My friend Julie had gone to a place that she said was a photographer’s dream and she just HAD TO take me there. She was right! It is called Boneyard Beach. It is in Big Talbot Island National Park in Jacksonville Florida. The trees fell from the bluff. The salt water and sun bleach the trees white and bone-like. It is so artistic! It is about 1/2 mile walk through the woods to reach the beach. Loved this and as promised it was a photo shoot waiting to happen.

In addition to this there was walking on the beach, shopping, dinners everywhere and spending time with longtime friends Maria and Rosy. It used to be great when Tom was here. Al and Tom would entertain themselves while the four of us spent quality “girl” time together. Unfortunately, our time together has to be well planned now since we are in 3 different states. Al was fine entertaining himself, but as always, we missed Tom. We all had a great time getting together with Maria and Julie’s Florida friends as well as squeezing in a dinner with Gloria and Doug from St Louis who were visiting a friend in St Augustine while we were there.

The Full Snow Moon on 2/12/25 was another highlight for me and my camera!

The weather was beautiful and there are no words for spending quality time with forever friends.

In December 2024 I took a spectacular trip to the Christmas Markets in Eastern Europe. I had thought about this trip for quite awhile and it did not disappoint.

I traveled with two friends on an EF Go Ahead Tour. When I saw a write up of tours for this company it spoke to me! My initials, followed by “Go Ahead”. I felt like the universe was sending me a message to check this out! The tour started in Budapest went on to Vienna and ended in Prague. All three locations have been on my list. In fact, Tom and I planned to go to this area in 2021 and “waltz in Vienna”. Obviously, we did not get to go on that trip, and I felt certain that Tom would be telling me to do it now. So, I recruited some interested friends and the planning began.

EF Go Ahead Tours did a wonderful job. They cater to solo travel and accommodate single supplements for hotels. The groups are small. Most I think are a max of 30 something travelers and the ages are quite varied. On my tour, ages ran from late 20’s to 80! And it was a great bunch of people. There were single travelers as well as couples. We had a fabulous guide who we met at the hotel in Budapest and she was with us in each city. The best part of this tour was the itinerary. The plan was 3 days in each city. In each city they included one day that was a tour on a motorcoach. It was not just passing by points of interest. We stopped and did some tours. After that, the rest of your time in that city was for whatever you wanted to do. Each day a great breakfast was included at the hotel and one night in each city there was also a group dinner planned in a local restaurant. It was perfect!

Let me tell you about each hotel that we stayed at. I would recommend each of them. The first one in Budapest was The Novotel Budapest Centrum. It was in a great location, it was a classy looking place, nice restaurant and a small cozy bar. The room was a good size with a large bathroom. Only comment on the bathroom was there was a very deep tub that you had to step in to and the shower was overhead. Could have used an extra handrail but it was all ok! The second hotel was Hampton by Hilton Vienna City West. Nice hotel, modern. No real restaurant but it used open areas for the breakfast buffet each morning. There was a bar for a cocktail. My room was not on the same floor as my friends’ rooms. I took the elevator to my floor and the doors opened to a VERY dimly lit hallway. I felt uncomfortable for a minute but as I stepped off the elevator my presence triggered all the hallway lighting. That was a relief! And what a great way to conserve power. The room was great. Nice size and the bathroom had a no-step shower which was perfect after having to climb into the last hotel’s bathtub. And the bonus was a few TV stations with english speaking news. The last hotel was NH Collection Prague. This was a very interesting hotel. There were two separate buildings that connected with a funicular. That was quite a ride. One got a beautiful view looking northeast over the western part of the city. The first ride up was not comfortable for me since I have vertigo but then I adjusted so that I could enjoy the ride (which was brief!). The rooms here were very spacious as was the bathroom. They had a fabulous restaurant that was open for meals in addition to breakfast and there was a really nice bar and a talented bartender.

In each city we had really wonderful tours given by local well-versed guides. In Budapest we toured the opera house, went to Hero’s Square and Matthias Church, Budai Varnegyed, Buda Castle, Fishermens Bastion, and our first Christmas market at Buda Castle . The next day on our own we toured St Stephens and hit the Christmas Market there. We went to see The Danube Promenade Memorial- Shoes on the Danube. That was so moving. It’s a memorial for Jews massacred by fascists who shot them in the back and let them fall into the Danube. We also took a night cruise to see all of the beautiful bridges and the Parliament lit up at night. After that we had dinner. As luck would have it, I have a Hungarian acquaintance through my friend Susana who recommended a restaurant for dinner-Simaliba- delicious Hungarian food!

From Budapest we went on for a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. This stop was on the way to Vienna. I am so glad we got to see this beautiful city on the Danube. We took a walking tour here and had a wonderful lunch on own and we shopped in adorable shops and their Christmas Market.

Next stop was Vienna. Vienna exceeded all of my expectations. I loved everything about Vienna. Saw the best graffiti, ” Note to self-RELAX”. I think that was scribbled for me!! In Vienna we had a group dinner at K&K. It was a wonderful dinner but the best part is that part of the restaurant is a hat museum. And, boy do I love hats!!! In Vienna we went to Belvedere Palace and saw a magnificent collection of Gustav Klimt’s work. The Kiss is truly amazing. From there we went on to the Hundertwasser promenade in a crazy little neighborhood called WeiBgerviertel. Everything was colors and artsy! Talk about looking at a street that opens your eyes and makes you exclaim “OH!!!” From there we went on to the City Hall Christmas Market. That same day I had a recommendation for another restaurant from Susana from her trip to Vienna. The Griechenbeisl was another great find! This restaurant has been around since 1447. It has had many notable visitors who include Schubert, Strauss, Mark Twain and now us! As you would expect, the food was great, and the decor rated a 10. Would have to be a 10 if its been around since 1447, right? The next day was truly a day for the markets. We went to three markets that day and stopped at a few shops. I was so excited when I stepped into NEXTART. I just LOVE finding artist pieces when I’m traveling and when its jewelry, I am really happy. Found two pieces that came home with me. That night we went to a concert at the Schonbrunn Palace. Absolutely fabulous. Orchestra and two voices. The music was Mozart and Strauss. Hearing a Strauss waltz played in Vienna made me think of how Tom and I had planned on waltzing in Vienna.

From Vienna we went on to Prague-The city of 100 Spires. The architecture on this trip was just spectacular. Here we went to the Prague Castle, and St Vitus Church (which is at the castle). There were so many confessional booths in this church that I am assuming a lot of confessing went on back in the day! We walked the Golden Lane which is now many shops in the row of 16 small homes from the 16th century. The damp cobblestone streets were certainly interesting to navigate and make sure you stayed upright! Next we moved on to The Charles Bridge. I wish it had been a clear sunny day so that the bridge could be seen for all its beauty. It is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vitava river. The bridge is the connection between Prague Castle and the city’s Old Town. The bridge is decorated with a continuous run of 30 statues and statuaries. The statues were mostly Baroque statues erected between 1683 and 1714. Since 1965 all of the statues have been replaced by replicas and the originals are exhibited in the Lapidarium of the National Museum. After crossing the Charles Bridge, we went to Old Town. It was time to see the Astronomical Clock. This was incredible to see. The clock has three main components. The astronomical dial represents the position of the sun and moon, statues of various Catholic saints are on either side of the clock and “the walk of the apostles” takes place hourly moving the Apostle figures and other sculptures and there is a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. Every hour people gather to see the display. It is amazing!! In Old Town there is another Christmas Market. This one was quite good, and I got several things here including wooden painted spinning tops for my grandchildren and beautiful Christmas ornaments for gifts for my daughters-in-law. (I had already picked up Paprika for my three stepsons who are all great chefs and would appreciate (I hope) one of Hungary’s special treasures). Every building you look at has some points of architectural interest and colors! Another “must see” is The Dancing House. This is known as “deconstructivist architecture” due to its unusual shape. A nick name for this building is Ginger and Fred. The building resembles two people dancing.

This trip will be stored in my memory bank as one of my BEST TRIPS EVER. This year was a really good year for travel for me. In 2024 I visited 7 countries, 5 of them were for the first time. I would recommend a trip to these cities. There is so much to see and do. I will wrap up this blog with some photos from each of the 4 countries I was in for this trip. I took so many photos that I put together a Shutterfly book which has 357 photos!

BUDAPEST