Budapest / Sweden / Slovenia

Finally, we had our first vacation since arriving in Doha over six months ago. We spent two weeks in Hungary and one in Sweden. Tonight, we are off to Munich for a week. This will end our month-long vacation.

It's been great fun so far. Here's a quick run-down of what we did (and yes, pictures will be posted soon!):

Hungary
We met our nephew for the first time. He is very cute, and a lot of fun. He is trying to push forward right now, but I think he will walk before he crawls.

We also enjoyed our time with Peter's family, and had great meals (both at home and out).

Even though I paid for it with my allergies, it was worth going to Hungary in the Spring. Living in Qatar, I very much miss greens and blooms. It was really nice to absorb the lush greenery of Springtime in Hungary.

Our Dutch friends, Edwin & Elselina, came down to visit from Holland during our first week in Hungary. We took them around Budapest and Szentendre, went on a full-day hiking trip in the lush forests at Pilisvorosvar, and enjoyed some great meals together.

For the second part of our trip in Hungary, our friend Yoko from Los Angeles visited us. We also took her around Budapest and Szentendre and spent some time in Pomaz (where Peter's parents live) with her as well. It was wonderful having friends visit us while we were on vacation :)

Slovenia
We went to Llublijana and Lake Bohinj in Slovenia over our second weekend in Hungary. Yoko has a cousin that lives in Llublijana, and he introduced us to Lake Bohinj, for which we owe him a great deal. The lake has a river running into it, mountains surrounding it (it's the other side of the Alps), and beautiful hiking areas. Star-gazing at night was also wonderful. We really enjoyed our time at Lake Bohinj (even though we had to cross some water during our hike, which made my feet go numb).

Sweden
We spent a week in Sweden. It was my first time in Scandinavia, and I have to say, it is a beautiful part of the world. The city is easy to explore on foot. We enjoyed the Modern Art Museum. It was also really nice to walk around Gjurgarden, which is an island full of parks.

I was surprised at how diverse/international Stockholm is; because of this, the food is very international. The best food, of course, is the seafood - GREAT salmon and shellfish. We also discovered a really nice tea house (Chaikhana), a wonderful espresso bar and a great Spanish tapas place.

For our cultural experience, we went to a philharmonic concert at the Konserthus. They played music by Mahler very well. It was very enjoyable and relaxing.

My conference was on the island of Sandham in the archipelago. We had to travel by boat for 2 hours to get there. The area was quite beautiful, but only Peter got to enjoy the beach while I attended the conference.

Pictures from the trip to come soon, as well as a narrative on our trip to Munich.