Mark's

Posts

What I Miss About Europe

Dublin: the pubs Belfast: Irish music Edinburgh: old world charm London: the musicals Copenhagen: the lifestyle (hygge) Berlin: WW2 history Prague: the smell (smoked meat) Budapest: the city at night Vienna: St. Stephens Cathedral Munich: the beer-drinking vibe Bern: chilling by the Aare river Paris: the Olympics atmosphere Brussels: the waffles Netherlands: the canals...

60 DAYS OF EUROPE

Wow! The Kress’ did it baby: 60 days, 13 countries, 13k km and we are all still alive…psychologically speaking. Like, what were we thinking? Who, who’s never backpacked before or even been to Europe sets out on one of the stupidest itineraries ever concocted? I would not recommend following in our footsteps and I would never do that again (I would but altered). Seriously, it was a grind at times, and all those travel influencers can go to hell. They...

The Garden of Bern

We found the Garden of Eden in Switzerland! Switzerland has everything we crave on family trips: beautiful landscapes, and architectural charm, all of which are tied together in one environment. It was bliss. Bern and Luzerne (places we visited) are these quaint, small cities that are one among the landscape. Situated on the river Aare or at the base of the Swiss Alps, the Swiss people’s backyard is one you can only dream. Our evenings were the best: slow, relaxed,...

A Jarring Experience in Munich

Dachau: A day I will never forget. Kadyn and I toured the Dachau Concentration Camp through a self-guided audio tour. You had to be 13, so Kinnon had to stay back. At times I had to ask Kadyn if she was doing ok, as the images were graphic. I almost broke down a few times: walking through the “bunker,” basically the jail within the jail where people were placed in standing-only cells, “the firing wall” was their view to the...

Buda-Pesh

Buda-Pesh…still feels weird saying it that way, but do as the Hungarians do, right? I remember Kelly Schwartz, who served here in the past with the Canadian Infantry and called it Buda-Pesh. I asked him finally, “why do you say it like that?” His response, “that’s how you properly say it”… I had no clue what to expect from Budapest. Honesty, I dropped it on the itinerary as we were close to it from a destination we wanted to see,...