Ye Olde Bull & Bush
Europe Trip '08

As a lot of you may know, Nick, Glenn & Julie Stuart and Jim Whatley went on a 10 day tour of the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary in March and April. We all had a great time visiting Prague (Praha), Vienna (Wien) and Budapest respectively. These first shots are of us at D/FW airport, ready for departure on March 23rd. The rest are just a sampling of the 1,000 + photos that we took over the course of the trip. Enjoy !

These shots are from our stay in Prague (Praha). We did a walking tour with lunch on the Charles River the first day. The weather was downright COLD. As you can see from pictures 7 - 9, we were snowed on several times, then the sun would come out, then more snow and then more sun. It was just like being home in North Texas.
Pictures 14 - 16 are from a great little pub that we found about a block from our hotel. The local beer was great and the food was good. (If you want to know about the plate of food in picture 17, ask Julie) The last 3 shots are of our hotel, Hotel Bílý Lev. It was a great place and had the best breakfast of all our hotels.

The first 10 shots are from a GREAT place in Vienna called the Mozart-Stube. It was highly recommeded by Jonesy and he was right. We had such a great time we went there 2 of the 3 nights we were in town. It reminded us a lot of our pub with its "down home" atmosphere, good beer and lots of fun. The 10th shot shows us with Edeltraud (who really runs the place with a little help from husband Karl and their 2 daughters). We still haven't figured out why, but after the first night, she started really smiling at Jim and calling him "Papa". If you're ever in Vienna, we strongly urge you to go. Their place is well worth the trip. We also urge you to check out the Mozart-Stube web site.  Have a look in their  Photo Gallery  and at the bottom of this particular page you just might see some familiar faces.
The next 2 shots are from our final lunch in Vienna, at of all places, McDonald's. Even though we were trying to stay out of an anti-EU rally that was going on outside (and hopefully out of jail), Nick, Glenn and Jim were so embarrassed, that's why they're not looking at the camera and covering their drink cups. The last shot is our hotel, the Donauwalzer.

These shots are from our last stop, Budapest Hungary. We had heard of a local place, called of all things, Paris Texas, so we just had to find it. And find it we did (pictures 1 - 4). It was a nice place, but we still can't figure out what the connection is with the Lone Star State. Julie talked a local violinist into playing for Jim in Heros Square (pictures 17 - 18). We had lunch along the Danube (pictures 22 - 24) where Jim ended up with a sunburn (after almost freezing to death in Prague). But after 10 days of walking (and walking and walking), we were all getting a little silly and were ready for home.

All in all, we had a GREAT time, but were ready to come home to see family and friends (and to get back to OUR pub). Glenn and Julie made a side trip to Paris France which they both said was fabulous (but, that's another story).