I've included Highlights in every blog post thus far, but as I close out this trip, I was thinking all the great things we got to do, and I started writing a list of the most memorable ones, and the list went on and on.  So I thought I would share it in closing.

Final highlights from our trip include:
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​ 
> Watching and hearing glaciers calve in Alaska,
> Walking across glaciers and rappelling into glacial crevasses in Canada
> Going to sleep in a tent to the shrieking sounds of elk mating in Jasper National Park
> Bright milky blue glacial lake vistas in Banff
> Classical music concerts in the original Mozart hall at Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna 
> Getting lost in a hedge maze at the Schonbrunn Zoo in Vienna
> Zooming along the crowded streets of Paris past the Eiffel Tower, Seine river and Louvre Museum on e-scooters
> Gazing in awe at the mighty heights of the Nave roof and stained glass ceiling windows of the Narbonne Cathedral
> spending the afternoon lounging by the pool of a southern France villa, and finishing the evening with an outdoor barbecue, hosted by our dear friends
> Being hosted by wonderful friends in their homes, and seeing local sights, and feeling like guests rather than tourists in Southern France
> Hiking along the stunning limestone ocean cliffs and caves of the Calanques national park
> Visiting one after another more beautiful medieval mountain villages in southern France
> Being part of a mini-miracle piano playing Primary program in Bratislava, Slovakia
> Finding Liszt’s hidden hometown first concert building marker in Sopron, Hungary
> Meeting up with missionaries across Eastern Europe for dinner and fun conversation and sending selfie pictures back home to parents
> Finding and staying in an awesome little Airbnb in heart of the walking district of downtown Llubljana, Slovenia
> Learning about, and then discovering in person the quirky secrets of Skopje’s downtown square, statues, architecture
>  Daytrips into Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania to discover mystical healing property mountainsides, riverside restaurants and ancient castle wall remains, hidden roads, and unbuilt bridges
> A 5 world religion Sunday in Sofia, visiting the sacred meeting houses of Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Muslims in a single Sabbath afternoon stroll
> Making pasta and eating our own dinner in the home-kitchen of a Bologna based chef
> Eating our own many pasta dished in our Airbnbs, and taking along Jacob’s personal creole seasoning stash, and our pumpkin oil bottle, and eating cruise food with our own personal touch
> being inspired by the magnificent glowing mosaic patterns of churches, basilicas and baptistries in Ravenna and Venice, and wandering into multiple cathedrals in Venice, in every quarter and witnessing the worship and devotion of people
> Cruising along the cities and military installations and then endless miles of desert in the Suez Canal.
> Walking along the souks and ancient neighborhoods of Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
> Hiking along the coast to a distant remote beach in Seychelles, and jumping in the water at the edge of white sand beach to cool down
> Accompanying mom multiple times per week to achieve her goal of 50 hikes at beach walks, mountain paths, city strolls and forest ambles
> Scuba diving in the Seychelles and Mauritius amongst Turtles, sharks, coral and reef fish in abundance
> Making new friends on the cruise with Nikki and Rodrigo, and Maja and the Krause family, and getting to know Ori and Monica much better, while out in the Indian Ocean
> Hiking to the top of Table Mountain in Capetown to see the clouds spilling over the mountaintops like molasses oozing off the edges of a stack of pancakes
> Walking amongst penguins by the hundreds congregated at Boulder beach in South Africa
> Bungee-jumping off of the 3rd highest bungee-jump bridge in the world at Bloukrans bridge
> Driving into Lesotho across the border-entry point amongst hundreds of energized Lesothoan’s returning for a local holiday
> Taking a walking safari in the savannah and forest of Swaziland amongst zebra, antelope, corcodiles, and  giraffe and walking ankle deep through muddy ravine trails after the previous day’s rains
> Spotting rhinos hidden in the brush, and waiting patiently as they exited the bushes and lumbered across the road directly in front of our Jeep in Kruger national park
> Hiking down into a Blyde Canyon valley trail, and swimming in multiple waterfall lakes and marveling at the beauty of the magical landscape that exists in south Africa.

We spent our final days in South Africa staying in a wonderful airbnb house in Hazyview, just outside Kruger National Park.  We did a day-long wildlife safari, and the next day we drove north onto the Panorama route to see all the sights of Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd largest canyon complex in the world (who knew?).  Then we drove to Johannesburg for a final visit to the temple, and began the very long journey of flying back to the United States, which was made even longer by a cancelled flight. (see lowlights).  But we made it!

Highlights:
1. Seeing all the African wildlife in Kruger National Park
2. Taking an AWESOME hike through Blyde River Canyon

Lowlights:
1. A long, long delay on our flight back home
​

Highlights:
1. Seeing all the African wildlife in Kruger National Park - A jeep picked us up from our place at about 5:00am, and we headed toward the park (about a 45 minute drive).  Since we were a paid trip, we made it to the front of the line, while others waiting for hours.  Kruger is an open park and so anyone with a car can take the drive.  It was great fun to sit high on the back of the jeep and look out over the wildlife and scenery.  It was definitely fun for a day, and it was a lot of driving, and a pretty long day.  I personally was satisfied with a single day of safari viewing.  I know others go for multiple days at a time.

2. Taking an AWESOME hike through Blyde River Canyon -  This drive had some really wonderful waterfall lookout points, and then the guinea fowl trail we took hiking down into the canyon was a magical wonderland trail.  The weather was perfect, nice and hot to feel cool and refreshed by jumping into the water, but not TOO hot to make hiking miserable.  But there was lots of shade on the hike, and the vines and vegetation and flowers and streams and waterfalls, and swimming holes and trails over roots and rocks and everything.  It was a stunning place of beauty and fun.

Lowlights:
1. A long, long delay on our flight back home - Yuck, our flight home through Paris was cancelled, so they had to put us on another flight through Amsterdam, but it meant we had to spend the night in Johannesburg airport, and then spend another night in the Amsterdam airport, so our arrival home was delayed by a full 24 hours.  It was not what we were planning, but a lost day in the grand scheme of things isn't such a bother, so we made the best of it.​

Itinerary:

Tuesday December 27: Most of the day was taken up by a Kruger Safari.  We saw zebra, giraffe, rhino, water buffalo, hippopotamus, elephants, leopard, tons of antelope, and others.  We missed seeing a lion, unfortunately, but it was a great day.  Our jeep guide seemed genuinely interested in hitting all of the big 5.  We spent about an hour along a crowded road with dozens of jeeps inching along in both directions after a lion was apparently spotted in the area.  But we never saw it.
 
Wednesday December 28: We drove the Panorama route up to Blyde Canyon, which was a highlight of the trip. Lots of viewpoints were stunning, including the 3 Rondavels lookout, Bourne's Luck potholes, Amber Falls, Berlin Falls, and "God's Window", and our final hike from the Blyde Canyon resort was a top 10 world hike. Waterfall, swimming holes, tropical vegetation, magical surroundings.  It was an awesome way to end our trip.
 
Thursday December 29: We drove to the airport in Johannesburg to begin our long series of flights home.  Our initial flight was cancelled, and we were re-routed to another European stopover, which meant we need to spend 2 extra nights in hotels in Africa and Europe before finally arriving home.

Friday December 30: Long day of flight and travel

Saturday December 31: Home sweet home!  And we even made it home in time to do our annual New Year's Eve polar plunge at our neighbors pool.  Keep in mind it was probably 25 degrees F outside at midnight, with snow on the ground and ice in the pool.  Cold!

We left the tourist filled spots along the southern border and turned northeast to drive into the heart of South Africa.  Along the way, we entered Lesotho for lunch and a short day-trip visit to the country.  Then we continued on to Swaziland where we stayed for a few nights in the airbnb home of Tera's cousins Misti and Sbu, and stayed next to Sbu's wonderful large extended family.  We spent Christmas there in Swaziland.

Highlights:
1. Cool trip into Lesotho to see all the roadside pop-up shops and talk to some locals
2. Getting to meet Sbu's family at his airbnb place
3. Walking safari through Milwane sanctuary
4. Fascinating look into Native Eswatini culture and living

​Lowlights:
1. Long days of driving

Highlights:
1. Cool trip into Lesotho to see all the roadside pop-up shops and talk to some locals - We drove towards the border of Lesotho, and it is always fascinating to me to see the busyness and commerce and alive-ness of border crossings.  Many locals were returning home for the Christmas holidays and it was a busy time.  Every border crossing is slightly different, with different requirements for people and cars and one has to be patient and inquisitive to do it right, and risk being turned around if you didn't go to right desk in the right order the first time (as happened to us)

2. Getting to meet Sbu's family at his airbnb place - Tera's cousin Misti met her husband Sbu on a trip to Swaziland, and eventually they married and now have two daughters.  They built a house for themselves in Swaziland next to Sbu's mother's house, and they put it out on airbnb.  It was a wonderful place to stay, and we got to meet his brother and mother and cousins and nieces and nephews, and all the other friends who were staying in the house.

3. Walking safari through Milwane sanctuary - This was a great wildlife sanctuary, with wide open plans full of zebra and antelope and birds.  It had just rained and parts of the trail were pretty wet and muddy, which made for an even more interesting hike experience.  We spent some of the time wading through a river canyon. It was very enjoyable.

4. Fascinating look into Native Eswatini culture and living - We spent an afternoon at the cultural village of the native people, with various huts for the family head, and the children and the first wife, and the 2nd and 3rd wives, and the girlfriends, and the young boys and the older boys, and the younger girls, and the older girls.  Such a different and interesting culture to learn about, and experience through walking in and out the old huts and family compounds.

​Lowlights:
1. Long days of driving - This wasn't an unexpected lowlight, because we had chosen to drive across the country instead of flying, but it is a big country with long distances to drive.  Most of the roads were decent, and google maps led us mostly in the right direction, but we did have to be very careful and slow down in some places because the roads were so full of potholes and damage.  One gets a bit spoiled with well-maintained roads.  Those roads don't exist everywhere.  In fact, in some stretches, we saw women and small boys filling potholes with gravel, probably paid pennies an hour to do some work for the highway company.

​Itinerary:​

Friday December 23: Here we truly began then our drive into the heart of South Africa. We made it into Lesotho for lunch at a soccer training venue (highly recommended on tripadvisor).  We drove more into Lesotho and departed out another exit point and continued on to Warden.  (about 10 hours of driving today)
 
Saturday December 24: We continued east to Swaziland and entered the country about lunchtime.  We toured the Glass factory and checked in to Misti’s Airbnb and went back out to a Cultural Village and dance show. (about 5 hours of driving)
 
Sunday December 25: We woke up to our decorated avocado tree, and exchanged some small gifts before attending church at the Swaziland branch. We spent a lazy Christmas day back at the cottage.
 
Monday December 26: We took a morning walking safari tour at Mlilwane wildlife sanctuary, which was full of zebra, various antelope, alligators, and great savannah and forest scenery.  Then we drove north to Hazyview, the gateway to Kruger National park. (about 4 hours of driving)

​After disembarking from the cruise ship, we stayed for 3 days in Capetown, and toured the area and did some hikes and reveled in the beauty of the setting of Capetown.  We also saw the Robben's Island museum, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades.  Upon departing from Capetown we headed south and east and drove along the famous "Garden Route" stopping in Cape Aghulas, Knysa, Mossel Bay and Aberdeen.  We saw and did much, and had a marvelous time in the beauty and variety of the South African coast.

Highlights:
1. Climbing Plattekip Gorge to the top of Table Mountain
2. Seeing little Penguins on Boulder's beach
3. Hermanus cliff walk coves and beaches
4. Spanish Galleon Museum in Mossel Bay
5. Kingfisher Trail in Knysa
6. Bungee Jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for the kids)

Lowlights:
1. Throwing up after bungee jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for dad)
2. Power outages all along the Garden Route
3. Hotel finding stress in Aberdeen

Highlights:
​
1. Climbing Plattekip Gorge to the top of Table Mountain - After hiking the nearby lion's head peak, we spoke to some hikers who recommended the platteklip gorge for a ascent to Table Mountain.  We took the hike the following day, and it was marvelous.  Steep, green, windy, cold, beautiful, and exiting the trail onto the top of the mountain was awesome.  The views are incredible, and on the way down, we watched the final of the World Cup shoot-out on someone's phone.  

2. Seeing little Penguins on Boulder's beach - These are darn cute little birds, clustered by the hundreds on the beach and all along the rocks.  We were literally walking amongst them, and there is something simply adorable about penguins waddling about in the sand and coming up out of the water.

3. Hermanus cliff walk coves and beaches - This was a beautiful hike along the beaches and coves, and my regret is that we didn't get back into our swimsuits and head out cliff-jumping with the locals into the crashing waves.  It was excellent beach weather.  This is a place to which I would definitely want to return and spend more time if ever I came back.

4. Portuguese Galleon Museum in Mossel Bay - There was a full-scale replica of the boat which sailed to the South African coast for the very first time from Portugal.  The boat actually made the trip on the 200th anniversary and now was housed in the museum.  It was a great hands on museum with nautical history at your fingertips.

5. Kingfisher Trail in Knysa - Another winner of a hiking trail along a river, that was simply a gorgeous hike.  Lots of green, some river wading, waterfalls, etc, etc.  This one was a choice one.

6. Bungee Jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for the kids) - Lots of thrills were had by the kids at this the 3rd highest bungee jumping bridge in the world.  It was a bit of a sausage factory, going out to the bridge and getting suited up and being escorted to the edge as your feet are literally tied together, and being helped/pushed off the platform to keep the schedule.  They loved it, and it's a pretty high adrenalin atmosphere.

Lowlights:

1. Throwing up after bungee jumping off Bloukrans Bridge (for dad) - I had a sure knowledge that the jump would make me sick, and it surely did, and I threw up about 45 minutes later along the highway.  I finally felt better.  This was the last high jumping thing I'll do in my life.  My nausea only is getting worse, and now that I've sky-dived, and bungee jumped, that's it for me.

2. Power outages all along the Garden Route - South Africa really can't get it together, and they publish their rolling black-out schedule weeks in advance.  Power was in no way assured in the restaurants, shops, houses, etc.  It was crazy how an economy can continue to function with un reliable power.

3. Hotel finding stress in Aberdeen - We were in high season for South Africa, and there are no chain hotels in the small towns internally, only small guesthouses and bed and breakfasts.  Nor is airbnb a thing there yet in the rural towns.  I had to call around to all sorts of home-stays, and get more than a dozen denials, and ask for some recommendations and other phone numbers, and finally after about and hour of calling around find an open place to stay. 

4. Terrible check-in at the Capetown Airbnb - Our Airbnb check-in instructions are normally pretty good, but for our Capetown check-in, the directions were simply wrong, and it took me almost an hour of walking around the block, and asking around to finally figure out how to get into our place.  The host was non-responsive and it was very frustrating.  But eventually we made it in, and the stay was decent thereafter.

Itinerary:

Friday December 16: Capetown, South Africa – We disembarked from our home for the last 30 days, the MSC Divina. Erik left early to go to the airport to get the rental car.  He picked up Tera and the kids and they drove south for a rainy scenic drive to Cape Point, stopping along the way at: Hout Bay, driving the Chapman’s Peak drive, Kommetje, Cape Point National park to climb up the lighthouse, Boulders beach for penguin watching, and then Muizenberg to walk the boardwalk while Erik stayed with the car in the sketchy parking space. We returned to the city to attempt the terrible check-in at the Airbnb, and eventually successfully opened the door to the apartment for the evening supper of pasta.
 
Saturday December 17: Capetown, South Africa – We started the day going to the Robben Island tour, which is the island prison where all the apartheid prisoners were held, including the Nelson Mandela. Thereafter, we went on an Apartheid walking tour of downtown Capetown.  We stopped at an Indian street food restaurant, then drove to the Lion’s Head sunset hiking spot, and hiked to the top and back.  On the way back home, we drove through the colorful Bo Kapp part of the city.
 
Sunday December 18: Capetown, South Africa - We attended both hours of church in the Capetown building, then came home for lunch.  We headed back out in the afternoon to tour the Kirstenbosch gardens, and walk on the canopy trail, and play a bridge game on the lawn.  Then we drove to the Capetown Table mountain and hiked the Platteklip Gorge to the top, and meandered at the top and had some meat pies and took the cable car back down.
 
Monday December 19: We departed Capetown and began our drive along the Southern coast of South Africa – the Garden route.  Our first stop Stellenbosch,with it’s old plantations and wineries, then we continued on Hermanus for a cliff walk along the beach and cliffs.  These beaches and coves were totally worth returning to.  Then we drove to the southern tip of Africa with the Cape Aghulas lighthouse and shipwreck and monument. (about 4 hours of driving today)
 
Tuesday December 20: We spent the morning at the Struisbaai beach (to fulfill Megan’s desire for a chill beach morning), which is a lovely place. Then it was in the car with a stop at the Bartabok Game Reserve, with a driving safari through the park (underwhelming).  We did see some Bartabok antelope in the first 3 minutes of the drive, and rest was rather blase, then on to Mossel Bay, with a hike along the St. Blaize hiking trail.  We ran into a homeless guy who was really excited to show us his cliff cave.  We stayed in Mossel Bay at a golf course condo. (about 4 hours of driving distance)
 
Wednesday December 21: We started the morning with a cave of origin tour (not worth recommending), Then we went to Diaz museum in town, with a full scale replica of the original Spanish galleon that had been the first boat to round the cape.  It was an awesome museum to visit. We continued our drive Knysa, and hiked the Kingfisher trail in the afternoon, which was a delightful highly recommended trail along the river.
 
Thursday December 22: We drove to some viewpoints in the morning, and then took a tour of one of the local black townships.  It was incredibly interesting to learn about some of the race and apartheid history of the place, and the creation of townships for the negroes, to visit and walk through a township. We drove on to Bloukrans for our bungee-jumping adventure (I threw up, to no one’s surprise) but Megan and Jacob really enjoyed the thrill).  Then we drove to Aberdeen, which was somewhat stressful, because I didn’t have a hotel reservation, and the reservations were hard to come by at high season, in little po-dunk towns in central South Africa.  I was on the phone for a hour before I found us a place to stay.

After departing Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, we had multiple days at sea, and then a series of stops in island nations of the Indian Ocean, namely Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion Island.  Thereafter we continued south towards South Africa and had a stop in Durban, then continued to our last port of Capetown.

Highlights:
1. Overnight stops in Seychelles and Mauritius
2. Scuba Diving in Seychelles and Mauritius
3. Bridge Class during the at sea days
4. Hikes aplenty at each of the ports
5. Family Learning hours - with new friends joining

Lowlights:
​1. Thick and dense cloud cover at the Maido overlook in Reunion
​2. Unmet expectations in Durban

Highlights:
1. Overnight stops in Seychelles and Mauritius - the cruise ship stopped overnight in Seychelles and Mauritius, which a really great idea.  Stopping overnight gives you that much more time to get out and about in the place, and see and do more.  In each location, we took a day of sightseeing and hiking, and then the 2nd day for Scuba Diving.  We're glad we did both things in both places.  

2. Scuba Diving in Seychelles and Mauritius - Both places were great dive spots.  In Mauritius, we even invited Monica and Ori along, neither of whom were certified, but both took to the water and to diving like pros.  Niki and Rodrigo also came along, with Rodrigo diving, and Niki snorkelling.

3. Bridge Class during the at sea days - MSC provided some bridge experts, who taught bridge classes each day while at sea.  It was good fun to learn to play bridge with the kids.  I'm not sure I like it all that much, and we haven't played a lot since the cruise, but it was an enjoyable activity while on the ship, and it's nice to at least know the basics of the game now.

4. Hikes aplenty at each of the ports - We hiked along the ocean to a secluded Anse Major beach in the Seychelles, up a steep mountain of Le Morne Brabant in Mauritius, along a old volcanic ridge at the Maido viewpoint in Reunion, and along the boardwalk in Durban.  We were willing (most of time companions) to keep going towards Tera's 50-hike goal.

5. Family Learning hours, with new friends joining us - Ori and Monica have been joining, and Maya (Megan's friend) and also Nikki and Rodrigo join on occasion.  Our family learning hour is growing in scope and popularity.
​
Lowlights:
​1. Thick and dense cloud cover at the Maido overlook in Reunion - We did get a nice hike along the volcanic rock, but what we really wanted, and were DENIED was the view into the valley from the Maido overlook.  The clouds were like pea soup, and we didn't see a single thing during the entire hike (expect for a 3 second glimpse into the verdant valley at one point when the clouds parted)

​2. Unmet expectations in Durban - We had hoped to rent a car in Durban, but nothing on Google Maps lined up with reality, so we walked along the beach.  The Wakanda movie was uninspiring, and upon departing, we realized that we hadn't even thought about a trip to the Durban temple.  It was disappointing all around.  This doesn't happen very often.

Itinerary:

​Monday – Friday – Days at sea.  Lots of reading and family games and morning exercising and sauna sweating and eating.  We’ve also begun to learn to play bridge, with the organized bridge classes onboard.  There are also a number of educational presentations, which are hit or miss.
 
Saturday December 3: Seychelles – We arrived late into port, and only had the afternoon. We rented a car from the dock and we drove over to Anse Major (3.7 miles, 708 ft gain) to hike along the coast, out to a beautiful white-sand beach. It was a well-marked trail, and swimming in at the beach was a welcome relief to a hot sweaty walk.  We then drove south to check out some other beaches.
 
Sunday December 4: Seychelles – We went Scuba Diving with Pro Divers with two great coral dives.  Then we drove around the north side of the island, then headed south hoping for a sunset beach.  We ended up stopping at a nice mountain overlook for sunset.

Monday - Tuesday December 5/6 - At sea
 
Wednesday December 7: Mauritius – We rented a car and Tera helped the Martin’s with their car (Tera drove), and we took a car sightseeing day.  We saw the Grand Bassin temple, a hindu temple complex with a lake supposedly directly mystically connected with the Ganges river.  We saw the Alexandra falls, and the Gorges viewpoint.  Then we tackled the Le Morne Brabant hike. (4.3 miles, 1627 ft). It was a hot day, and after negotiating with the guard to allow us in after closing, it was a beautiful walk to the first viewpoint. The last few hundred feet to the second viewpoint were closer to a vertical climb/scramble.  Jacob and Ori and I went up the final steep canyon, while the others waited below.
 
Thursday December 8: Mauritius – We all went diving in the morning with Ori and Monica and our new friends Rodrigo and Nikki.  Tera and I dove a deep wreck for the first dive and Jacob and Megan stayed back on the shallower reef.  Then we all dove together for the second dive.  Thereafter, we drove north to check-out some local beaches for another swim at Perrybere beach.
 
Friday December 9: Reunion – We rented another car and with a number of scenic drives and overlooks to choose from, we drove to the Maido viewpoint.  On arrival, we discovered we were looking directly into a cloud, with no view whatsoever (reminiscent of our Glacier National park view).  So we decided to hike along the caldera ridge instead towards the Glaciere’ endpoint. (4.0 miles).  The hike directly along the ridge on the return across volcanic remains was a great hike, and the mists cleared for about 5 seconds at one point to glimpse a view of the caldera.  We returned via a lame stop at a geranium oil distillery (the perfect example of a manufactured cruise shore excursion destination) and after seeing the traffic building up, we returned to the boat a little early.

Saturday - Monday December 10-12 - ​At sea
 
Tuesday December 13: Durban, South Africa – Our attempt to rent a car around the port fell flat (companies did not exist in their googlemaps identified locations), so we walked along the beach boardwalk all the way to the Mall and back (4 miles).  The beach was long and there were lots of people out, and it was also filled with trash at the high tide watermark, and swimming was confined to places where sharknetting was placed.  At out mall midway point, we played some cards and watched the new Wakanda movie, then walked back to the boat.
 
Wed-Thu Dec 14/15: Our last days on the ship, last days to play bridge, see shows, eat in the dining room, and sun ourselves on deck.  Goodbye MSC Sinfonia.  You’ve been good to us.

We boarded the cruise ship in Venice, ready to embark on a 30-day cruising adventure from Venice to Capetown.  This first half of the cruise included ports in Croatia, Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and 8 days at sea between ports.

Highlights:
1. Family Learning Hour each evening before dinner
2. Cruise dining options
3. Learning to play bridge
4. Visits to new countries for Erik, Greece and Saudi Arabia

Lowlights:
1. Lack of all-you-can-eat soft-serve ice cream
2. Single-use internet option

(click below-right to read more)

Itinerary:

Wednesday November 16: This morning we checked out of the Airbnb and caught the water bus to the cruise terminal and after multiple long-lines, and covid-tests and more long lines, in the cruise terminal and then even more long lines inside the boat, we arrived on board the MSC Sinfonia (4 ½ hours from leaving our Airbnb)!  Our first day mostly involved some eating and exploring the ship and an evening welcome show and unpacking in the room.
 
Thursday November 17: Our first stop was in Split, Croatia.  We disembarked and walked to the city center to catch the Free walking tour (which we were very impressed with, our best tour so far).  Diocletian’s Palace was a highlight, as was the old city surrounding the palace.  We hiked over the Marjan overlook, and continued on to Peak 1 and 2, in order to fulfill Tera’s requirement for a 4-mile hike.  We did some shopping thereafter and returned to the cruise ship.
 
Friday November 18: Our first at-sea day.  Some things we think we’ll enjoy are the Bridge classes, the Calligraphy classes and informative lectures (offered by unpaid – comped cruise fellow passengers).  The entertainment crew includes some Russian acrobats and a great salsa couple.  It is like any other cruise, with buffet and restaurant dining options, and pool and games and trivia and dance classes.  MSC is much more of a multi-lingual boat, with all announcements being broadcast in at least 6 languages.  
 
Saturday November 19: Our stop in Katakolon, Greece began with our family and the Martin’s finding a rental van to all go out to the ruins of Olympia together (45 minute drive).  We walked the ruins, and played a game of sardines with the German family, and got shushed and whistled at by the guard and tour group.  Then we stopped by the Magna Grecia olive oil farm for a brief tour and olive oil tasting, and stopped by a mediocre beach – Agios Andreas, for some toe-dipping, then returned to the ship.
 
Sunday November 20: Day at sea

Monday November 21: We spent the day traversing alongside the Sinai peninsula via the Suez Canal.  We passed under bridges and past floating army bridge sections at the ready to cross the canal, and rowboat fisherman and cities and villages and lots and lots of desert wilderness.
 
Tuesday November 22: Day at sea

Wednesday November 23: We stopped at the Ain Sokhna port for cruise guests to make a visit to Cairo. We chose to stay on the boat.
 
Thursday November 24: Our next stop in Egypt was Sharm el Sheikh.  We walked off the boat and stopped in at a beach resort.  We chose to take a speed boat for an hour out around the bend in the bay for a snorkeling trip.  It was beautiful coral and an amazing 40 minutes of snorkeling in the Red Sea.  After a little more walking, we met up with Monica, Ori, Rodrigo and Nikki and we hired a taxi to drive us to the Ras Mohammed National park.  The 40 minute drive took us on an amazing new 4 lane highway (which was practically empty) and past numerous checkpoints.  We stopped by a hidden blue bay, and did some more snorkeling with lots of wind, and returned to Sharm.  We found a little Koshary place (the serving was less than $1) and had a small meal, and another massive mango and returned to the boat.
 
Friday November 25: Safaga, Egypt was the next stop, and Tera took advantage of an extra seat with Ori and Monica to take a private taxi to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, Colussus of Memnon, and Medinat Habu (Ramses II temple). The kids and I stayed on the boat, and relaxed and had a hilarious dinner.

Saturday November 26: ​Day at sea
 
Sunday November 27: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – this was the first city in which we paid for a shore excursion from the boat.  The effort to get the Saudi Visa was a bit nerve-wracking, with our visas only being approved in the late evening before the port visit.  Our bus tour took us to the old city of Jeddah, which was actually fully under renovation, with construction crews working on seemingly every building.  Apparently the entire place will be a walking, living museum in the future.  We got to see the construction though.  We went into a little coffee house for some local cardamom coffee samplers and dates,  Then we went to more shopping district, and we chose to use our 45 minutes to visit a small local house museum.  The bus drove along the Corniche, Jeddah’s boardwalk, and returned to the boat.

Highlights:
1. Family Learning Hour each evening before dinner - When we have the time, we like to have our family learning hour, in which we spend an hour teaching each other about various topics (passion project, Ted talk, Language/culture, Scripture, Current events, Music/literature).  On the ship, we've designated the hour before dinner, and we're joined each day by the Martins.  A cruise is a nice time to be consistent with this family tradition.

2. Cruise dining options - One of my favorite things about a cruise is the evening restaurant dining.  I love sitting down to the table each night and being handed a menu and choosing from the appetizer, main course and dessert, or maybe two of each, or usually at least two of each.

3. Learning to play bridge - There is a bridge class being taught on board, and we're enjoying learning to play bridge as a family.  We still like spades a little better, but we're also still learning.

4. Visits to new countries for Erik, Greece and Saudi Arabia - so far, 2 of the six new countries have been checked off the list for me.  

Lowlights:
1. Lack of all-you-can-eat soft-serve ice cream - Yes, I know its whiney, but we've always had soft-serve ice cream at our fingertips on cruises in the past.  MSC leaves this out of the options for some reason.

2. Single-use internet option - The internet on board is only good for a single device, rather than a single device at a time.  This means that rather than being able to use all our phones and computers in sequence for our internet time, we can only use one computer and share it between everyone to get internet time.  It is much more inconvenient than other ships we've been on.

Back in 1995 when Tera and I were dating, we took a summer trip with Tera's family to Europe and on the way north driving from Italy to Austria, we took a short detour into Slovenia.  We spent about 30 minutes in the country (much to Tera's mothers dismay, since she feared for our safety due to the ongoing war in Bosnia).  We wanted a fuller experience, so we returned to Slovenia for a few days, before going to Venice prior to our cruise adventure.

Highlights:
1. Piran seaside town in Slovenia - 
2. Beautiful Slovenian countryside views
3. Skocjan caves
4. Venice in all its glory
5. Dinner with an old friend

Lowlights:
1. Construction noise in the airbnb in Venice

​(click below-right to read more)
​

Itinerary:

Wednesday November 9: We awoke early in Bologna and took a train to Venice Mestre station.  I left the wife and kids at a café and travelled to the airport by bus to get the rental car.  Then I returned to the train square and picked up the family and luggage and we began our drive to Slovenia.  We drove through Trieste to Piran (2 hr) and walked around the seaside city.  We had lunch and walked to the main square and then up to the castle.  Then we returned to the car and drove to Ljubljana (2 hr) to check-in to the Airbnb in the old town.
 
Thursday November 10: It was a rainy, drizzly day and we slept in and did some work in the apartment until the free walking tour at 11:00am.  After the tour, we had a late lunch at a local place, rich stews in bread bowls.  We spent some time continuing to visit the sights of the city, including the Ljubljana Castle and main cathedral. It gets dark at 5:00 here, so we turned in to more office work and seminary and dinner at the apartment.
 
Friday November 11: We drove north to the Vintgar gorge ( 1 hr), which was unfortunately closed for the season.  But we drove back to Lake Bled and hiked up to the surrounding viewpoints – Ostrica Bluff.  Then we drove to the Bled castle for cream cake and museum visits.  Our next stop was Bohinj Lake for a short hike up to the Savica waterfall (more impressive than the pictures).  Then we drove back to Ljubljana and our comfortable Airbnb.
 
Saturday November 12: We took a morning drive to Kranj village and walked around downtown.  It was election season, so there were lots of people and political parties out and campaigning on the streets.  We drove next to Skofja Loka, and walked up to the castle, which happened to be closed for renovations.  We walked around the gardens of the castle, and then old town for a bit, and then got back into the car to drive to our hike, Polhograjska Grmada.  We drove through numerous old villages and then hiked to the local peak (3.5 miles – Polhograjska Grmada).  We had about a 45-minute drive back to Ljubljana, and then had dinner with the missionaries at a Slovenian taco shop.
 
Sunday November 13: We went to the Ljubljana branch and had a wonderful church meeting. After the meeting, some young women came up and asked Megan to stay for the 2nd hour, so we all stayed.  After church, we drove to Predjama castle, and walked around the outside without going in.  Then we stopped for lunch at a burger joint in the countryside, then travelled to Skocjan caves, which were glorious to behold.  Thereafter, we drove to Venice (2 hr) and I dropped Tera and the kids off at the train station to take a train into Venice to go to the Airbnb.  I drove back to the airport to drop off the car, then I took the water bus to the island, and walked in the pouring rain to the Airbnb to reunite with the family.
 
Monday November 14: We awoke to jackhammers on the wall, ridiculously loud noise.  We headed down to the streets of Venice to have breakfast, and walk on to Piazza San Marco where we met up with the Martins.  We toured all aspects of the Basilica di San Marco, with its stunning mosaics.  Then we went up to the top of the clock tower for views of the city.  We stopped in at the Chiesa di San Zaccaria, which housed the corpse of Zaccheus, father of John the Baptist and descended into the crypt.  We lunched together at a local trattoria, when took a gondola ride, and walked together to the Rialto bridge and parted ways back to our separate airbnb’s.
 
Tuesday November 15: More jackhammering this morning. We took the water taxi out to the Murano, looking for some live glass-blowing demonstrations.  Alas, it was not to be.  Murano was a bit of a downer, with every shop pointing us in a different direction of where to see glass blowing.  We returned to the main island to catch the free walking tour, but decided not to go and sat for a leisurely lunch instead.  We returned to the Airbnb, and I later caught the train to go to Vicenza to meet my old missionary companion Sergio Giolitto for dinner.  Tera and the kids went to a concert that evening.

Highlights:
1. Piran seaside town in Slovenia - Venturing into Europe one will discover more than a few old narrow cobble streets downtowns, and Slovenia was no exception.  This little gem of a town sat directly on the sea, with an old fort above, and rocky beaches and ancient brick buildings below.

2. Beautiful Slovenian countryside views - with Lake Bled and Bohinj Lake and Predjama Castle and Vintgar gorge, and little farming villages and mountains venturing north to the Alps, Slovenia was not short of beautiful views and country hikes.  We took full advantage and visited as many nearby places as we could.  The snow-covered alpine mountains in the distance were indeed beautiful.

3. Skocjan caves - this place was utterly amazing.  The truly massive scale of the cave was wonderous, with an underground river and river canyon that would have felt large anywhere, but to think it was fully underground was awesome.  They told stories of the original cave explorers and the decades that went by before the full extent of the cave was discovered.  There were remnants of old underground flood levels, and sheer cliffs that needed to be scaled by the early spelunkers to find hidden rooms. There may still be nooks and crannies and maybe massive caverns that we haven't even found yet! 

4. Venice in all its glory - Venice is simply a singular city in the entire world.  There is no other place like it that I've ever been, with it's canals and walking streets and boat transportation culture.  It is an awesome place to visit to soak in the atmosphere and vibe.  We more time in the main parts of the city, and less time getting lost in back-alleyways.  I walked the streets so much that I felt like a really knew where I was in the city this time.

5. Dinner with an old friend - I reached out to an old missionary companion and we connected up for dinner.  It was so good to see him, and hear about his life, for good and for ill.

Lowlights:
1. Construction noise in the airbnb in Venice - The hammering and construction noise was almost unbearable, with no warning from the Airbnb host.  He offered no compensation, which was dissappointing.  It was a good thing we spent most of the day away from the apartment.

We returned from Eastern Europe and spent 5 nights in Bologna, Italy, without a rented car.  It was public transportation on the efficient and effective trains of Italy for our next few days of Bologna sightseeing and Italian day-trips.

Highlights:
1. Visiting the city-state of San Marino
2. Pasta-making class in Bologna
3. Walking the pilgrimage trek of San Luca
4. Seeing the mosiacs of Ravenna
5. Airbnb within a 2-minute walk of the train station

Lowlights:
1. Free (not worth it) walking tour of Bologna
2. Last-minute change of Evgeny Kissin concert program

(click below-right to read more)

Itinerary:

​Friday November 4: This was long travel day, driving 3 hours to Skopje, turn in the rental car, to catch a 2-hr flight to Vienna, with a 4 hour layover, and then a 90 minute flight to Bologna, and a train ride into the city central.  Luckily our Airbnb was just a 2-minute walk from the train station, and we crashed.
 
Saturday November 5: We caught a 2 hr train to Rimini, then waited for the 50-minute bus up to the top of the hill of San Marino.  It started to rain, and we ducked into a restaurant for lunch (very bad idea, it was an awful microwave your pre-prepared plate place).  We continued our walk up to the citadel and spent a wonderful 3 hours meandering in the city and it’s castle and museums.  It is a very picturesque place.  Then we reversed our travel course with the bus and train.  After a quick dinner, we walked to the Teatro Manzoni (which is tucked away at a graffiti filled corner of the city, not a great first impression) and listened to the Bologna Symphony play with Mozart #33 piano concerto with Evgeny Kissin.  (Not our selected Rach #3, after a hand strain, but beautiful nonetheless).  After 10 curtain calls and 4 encores, we listened to the Dvorak #8.  It was a wonderful evening of incredible music.
 
Sunday November 6: We walked about 30 minutes to church and had a lovely testimony meeting with the local members.  We took an Uber taxi to the meeting point of the Free Bologna Walking Tour and joined in.  It was totally forgettable experience, with a guide who took no notice for communicating herself clearly.  We drifted away after an hour or so, and continued our walk to the primary sights of the city, the two towers, the San Pietro Basilica, the San Petronino Basilica, the Piazza Neptune and Piazza Maggiore and wandered the backstreets to return to the apartment for naps then an early dinner and some computer work.
 
Monday November 7: We walked back into the city to see the San Francisco cathedral and climb the steps of le Due Torri, the highest remaining tower in the city (of the original 180 towers that existed).  It was a 15-minute climb up steep steeps to reach the 320 ft high lookout tower, with a beautiful view of the city and surrounding countryside.  We returned to earth to begin our trek of the pilgrimage route of the Porticos of San Luca, a 4-mile roundtrip walk under a covered walkway through the city and up the hill to the Basilica di San Luca.  We stopped for lunch and gelato along the way, and continued to the top, and then took the steps to cupola for another stair climb and view. We returned to the city and went to a little apartment for a 3-hr pasta making cooking class, making the pasta dough, three fillings, and tortelloni, ravioli, agnelotti, penne and tagliatelle.  We also tasted 5 types of parmeggiano and prosciutto crudo.  It was a fun night.
 
Tuesday November 8: We awoke and hopped on a train to go to Ravenna to visit the world-famous mosaics.  We toured the mausoleum of Galla Placida (Theodosian family tombs), basilica of Saint Vitale, battistero Neoniano, capella di Sant Andrea, basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. We also ordered some Ravenna sandwiches and ate a lot of ice cream.  It was a delightful day with some incredible ancient artwork.

Highlights:
1. Visiting the city-state of San Marino - In all my years in Italy, I had never visited the independent city-state of San Marino.  It has the population of American Fork, Utah, and it blows my mind that it is an independent state.  But it is on my list of countries (according to the Been app) so I needed to make a visit. We took a train-ride to Rimini, then a bus ride up the mountain to the walled city centre.  It was a great worthwhile day to the various museums and the tower and wall, and lookout points.  1-day was certainly enough though. 

2. Pasta-making class in Bologna - We signed up for a visit to a guy's apartment kitchen to learn how to make pasta the old-fashioned Italian way.  He had been doing the class for many years, and he was a bit jaded and automatic in his presentation.  But it was still fun to start with egg and flour and finish with ravioli and tortellini and linguini, which we ate for our final meal of the day in his kitchen,.

3. Walking the Pilgrimage trek of San Luca - Bologna is a city of porticos (overhanging building columned walkways) and there is a particular 2-mile walk of porticos that goes all the way from the city center to the Basilicia of San Luca on the hill outside of town.  There are some relics that get brought down to the city for a annual festival, and the covered walkway was built to protect the procession from the elements. It was a long-hot walk, but a nice church at the end, and it nailed one of Tera's 50 hikes for the year.

4. Seeing the Mosiacs of Ravenna - We took another train day-trip to the smallish town of Ravenna to see the glorious mosiacs from the 4th century.  They decorated various monastary baptistries and cathedrals, and were full of gold and color and light.  We sought to identify the bible stories told in the pictures of the glass squares on each wall and ceiling.

5. Airbnb within a 2-minute walk of the train station - Our airbnb (though a small studio) was situated within a 2-minute walk of the train station, and about a 20 minute walk to the downtown area, so it was pretty convenient.

Lowlights:
1. Free (not worth it) walking tour of Bologna - We have mostly been impressed until now with the Free Walking Tours we've taken in various cities.  But the tour in Bologna was pretty awful, and we left after about an hour.  It wasn't really worth the $0 we paid to participate.

2. Last-minute change of Evgeny Kissin concert program - We had planned our entire Europe trip around the date of November 5th to return to Bologna to see Evgeny Kissin perform the Rachmaninoff piano concerto #3.  We were excited, and then, on the train ride home from San Marino, I got an email stating the concert had been changed to the Mozart #33 concerto.  Seriously!? We flew to Bologna specifically to see the Rach #3!  But there was no ticket refunds or changes.  So we watched the Mozart.  It was still a lovely evening of wonderful music, but a little bitter taste remains of the program change.

We flew down to make North Macedonia and Bulgaria our base for 11 days of travelling through countries of south-eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia.  We visited North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania.  We enjoyed them all, and would definitely return to this area of the world in future travels.
 
Highlights:
1. City of Skopje, with all it’s countless statues and colorful old bazaar and ecletic mix of architecture.
2. Multi-church going day in Sofia, Bulgaria
3. (3) Hikes in new places
4. (5) New countries to tick off our list
 
Lowlights:
​1. Getting car towed in Sofia
2. Following google maps to our doom

(Click below-right for more)

Itinerary - 

Tuesday October 25: Today was Tera’s 49th birthday. We finally checked into our Airbnb at 2:30am and got to sleep about 3:00am.  We woke up around noon and went downstairs to the main square and walked around the city and went to the Macedonian struggle museum (pretty bad).  Then we met a tour guide at 3:00 for a free Skopje walking tour, and thereafter visited the main Skopje mosque and the walled fort on the hill.  We returned home and left Megan and Jacob with pasta for dinner, and Tera and I went out for a traditional birthday Macedonian dinner and a Hammam Spa massage experience.
 
Wednesday October 26: We dropped off Megan’s phone for screen repair (60 euro v 100-150 euro) and drove north to the Kosovo border.  Our intent was to drive to Prizren, through the Sharr National Forest, see the city and then return by way of Pristina, along the motorway.  We drove through the forest, through little Kosovar towns, and stopped at Prevalla, where we saw people out on the green slope taking in the sun.  We stopped there for lunch, and then Jacob convinced us to begin Tera’s 50-hike goal with a straight up mountain climb.  We reached our goal of 1000 vertical elevation gain, and the kids continued to the unseen summit.  We returned to the car after the 2.5 mile 2.5 hour hike at about 4:30pm, and abandoned the goal of  Prizren and returned home towards Macedonia.  We stopped at a little restaurant overlooking the canyon and enjoyed the sunset and the incredibly cheap and plentiful food, then returned to the apartment for another lymph drainage massage and then a few games of spades and sleep.
 
Thursday October 27: We drove to Matka Canyon, and took a boat ride up the canyon, then hiked along the canyon trail (5 miles) out to the Vrelo Cave. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the river, so we couldn’t make it across.  We returned home and the Tera and the kids went out for a reflexology massage.
 
Friday October 28: We drove across the northern border into Serbia and visited Nis.  We started walking in the park of the Nis fortress, and came upon some missionaries, who we took out to lunch.  Then we went to the Red Cross concentration camp museum, then visited the Tower of Skulls, and finally walked up to Bubanj, the hill where 10,000 Jewish and other war prisoners were shot and killed. We returned to Skopje to have dinner with the sister missionaries.
 
Saturday October 29: We checked out of the Airbnb, and began our drive to Sofia, Bulgaria. (4 hours) We got pulled over to the side of the road for 30 minutes in order to let the President of Bulgaria pass in the opposite direction with his Black SUV entourage.  We checked into our new Airbnb, and went out walking to the park, and then took the 6:00pm 2 hour free Sofia walking tour, and met the Sofia missionaries for dinner and came back home.  Erik went back out to check on the car to find that it had been towed away.  Oh Joy.      
 
Sunday October 30: We walked to church and attended a wonderful meeting of Saints in Sofia.  Then I walked to the tow lot to pick up the car, and Tera and the kids walked back towards home.  I met them at the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, a magnificent Easter Orthodox church.  Then we continued walking around town and visited the St Sofia cathedral as well.  We toured the archeological park (roman ruins discovered then they were building the metro) and went into the Muslim mosque.  Then we passed through security to enter the Jewish synagogue and round out our day of worship, we went into the Catholic church.  6 churches of 5 different religions in one Sabbath morning.
 
Monday October 31: We awoke and drove south to the Rila National park and hiked the Rila 7 lakes hike (6 miles).  Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that we needed to take the ski lift up to the trailhead, and we took a googlemaps inspired road until we could drive no further and we hiked another 2.5 miles to get to the START of the trail.  We modified our hike and only climbed to 3 of the 7 lakes. And felt satisfied.
 
Tuesday November 1: We checked out of the Airbnb, and bought some KFC to use up our Hungarian lev, and drove 6 hours to Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia.  After checking in to our new Airbnb, we walked out to see a the church of St. Sofia basilica and the paper museum, and a wood carving shop and the lakeshore.
 
Wednesday November 2: We drove north around the lake to Struga, then crossed the border into Albania where we first went to the Golik bridge, a rather underwhelming  bridge from a few centuries ago.  Then we continued on to the south side of the lake, but did so along a terrible dirt road that stretched for some 20km.  I kept hoping it would get better, and once it finally did turn onto a wonderful 4 lane highway, we realized that highway was still under construction, with large gaps between the bridge and the road which we literally flew over in the car.  We finally found someone who we could follow, to take us the rest of the way down the dirt road to Pogradec, another lovely Lake Ohrid seaside town.  We had a fish lunch from the local tavern, and had a completely useless stop at the Drilon national park, crossed the border back into Macedonia, and stopped at the St. Naum monastery tourist trap, and then the bay of bones museum (which was already closed) and finally made it home.
 
Thursday November 3: We drove to the Galicica National park and hiked to the Magaro Peak, (8 km round trip, 2250 elevation gain) with a beautiful view of Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid, looking into three countries, North Macedonia, Greece and Albania.  We also stopped at the Bay of Bones museum, a re-creation of a 1000 BC over-the-water settlement on the shores of the Lake.  After returning to the apartment, we went to dinner with the Ohrid missionaries.
 
Highlights:

1. City of Skopje, with all it’s countless statues and colorful old bazaar and eclectic mix of architecture – This is an extremely cool city.  It was basically leveled by an earthquake back in the 1960’s, and has been rebuilt since then.  Much of that rebuilding was in communist-era “brutalism”, but then in the early 2010’s the city began a major façade upgrade and so the entire downtown is a mix of old and classic and modern.  They steal from the arch in Paris, and the monuments of Berlin, and the buses of London.  The walking center of the city is full of people at all hours, living their lives as best they can.  And the prices here were dirt cheap (compare 2.5 euro per scoop in France to 40 cents per scoop in Skopje).  I really enjoyed it here.

2. Multi-church going day in Sofia, Bulgaria – while in Sofia, we spent a Sunday going to an Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting, then wandered the town in the afternoon, visiting 5 more churchs in 4 more religions; Eastern Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic.  It was definitely a day of worship amongst other believers.  And I am so impressed by the history and tradition and deep symbolism of the buildings of other faiths.  I know the building doesn’t provide salvation, but there is something intensely satifysing and awe-inspiring about walking into the Alexander Nevsky cathedral built in the late 1800’s, or some other Catholic basilica from the 1200’s  that the sterile rented office space LDS church building simply doesn’t provide.
 
3. (4) Hikes in new places – We’re well on our way to walking alongside Tera to start her goal of 100 hikes in her 50th year.  We ticked off four different hikes in our 11 days, the first an improvised hill climb in Prevalla, Kosovo led by Jacob.  The 2nd was a hike along the boardwalk and path of the beautiful Matka canyon in Skopje.  The 3rd was a trip to the Rila Lakes of the Rila National park in Bulgaria.  These were beautiful alpin lakes set within a massive cirque of the mountains that formed the boundary between the north and south water drainage basins of southern Europe.  In our somewhat improvised hike, we made it to 3 of the 7 lakes on trail.  The last was hiking to Magaro peak in the Galicica national park near Lake Ohrid, where we had a view of Macedonia, Greece and Albania, with two lakes to boot.
 
4. (5) New countries to tick off our list – My goal of visiting 100 countries before my 50th birthday also continues, and this part of the trip was a boon for country collecting.  We decided our happy place for new country visits is a day-trip to the country, which includes some activity, and some meal within the borders.  North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania all received at-least this level of attention.  Tera has determined that a new standard for visiting primary cities could also include a 4-5 night stay, including two full days for exploring where we are, and 2 full days for day trips.  Skopje fit this bill perfectly.
 
Lowlights:

1. Getting car towed in Sofia – Our car got towed in Sofia, which is always unpleasant.  Luckily, the two lot was easy to find online, the distance was walkable from church, they spoke English, and it only cost me $60 to retrieve the car.  All in all, not too terribly inconvenient.
 
2. Following google maps to our doom – in two instances, we following google maps without doing the supplementary research required to confirm their suggestion.  In the first place, our trip to Rila lakes SHOULD have been to the bottom of the ski lift, which would have taken us up to the start of the trailhead.  Instead, we typed “Rila Lakes” into googlemaps, and it took us to a dirt road from which we eventually ditched the car 2 ½ miles from the trailhead.  Thus our missing of the full 7 lakes experience.  Later, we followed google maps in Albania, in what I thought would be paved roads through little villages, but what actually ended up being terrible, awful dirt roads amongst the mountains and hills.  It was a long, unpleasant ride.

Itinerary:

​Tuesday October 18: We began our day in Paris with a metro ride to the Eiffel Tower and a walk around the gardens. We rented electric scooters and rode along the Seine and to Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees and to the Louvre and gardens. We dropped off the scooters and took the metro back to our Airbnb to check and switch to a new place (thanks to the national train strike and our changed travel plans).  After our accommodation switch, we went to the Musee d’Orsay where we spent a few hours with Monet and van Gogh. After the Musee d’Orsay, we stopped at Angelina’s café for some most delicious liquid mud hot chocolate then called it a day.
 
Wednesday October 19: We headed to the airport and took our flight to Vienna. Upon arriving in Vienna, we arrived at our Airbnb, and decided to forgo any more sightseeing.  We went to the grocery store and then spent the afternoon/evening in the apartment working on seminary and work.
 
Thursday October 20: We woke up with our Vienna city passes in hand and walked down to the Schonbrunn Palace where we spent most of the day visiting the main palace, the garden maze, the zoo, taking the train, climbing the Gloriette viewpoint, watching the Apfelstrudel show, and enjoying the overall grandeur of the place.  We took the hop-on hop-off bus into the city and walked to the St Peter’s cathedral and then St. Stephens Cathedral and took the elevator to the north tower. We ate some street food, and then returned home to watch “Amadeus.”
 
Friday October 21: We headed straight into town and toured the upper Belvedere museum. Then we toured both the Natural History Museum and the Fine Art Museum.  We dipped into the Museumkwartier, and walked over to the Bonhoff Palace to see the Welt museum and then the Sisi museum and finally the Mozarthaus museum.  After dinner back at the apartment, we returned to Schonbrunn for an evening music recital of Mozart, Haydn, Strauss and other Vienna music masters.
 
Saturday October 22: I woke up early to go to the airport to pick up the rental car, then came back into town to pick up the family and drive 2 ½ hrs south to Graz where we met up with our great friends the Pimentels, who are there on a sabbatical year.  We ate at a great local restaurant, then walked up to the Schlossberg mountaintop fort.  We entered a few different mini-museums at the top, then Tera and the kids slid down the tunnel slide and we got some ice cream, then bid them goodbye and drove home.
 
Sunday October 23: We drove to Bratislava, about an hour from Vienna, leaving about 7:30am to attend the 9:30 church meeting.  We got there early and walked around, not being able to find the church building, until we saw a pair of missionaries walking up the street.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at a nearby grocery store then attended sacrament meeting.  Tera was an answer to prayer to play the piano for the children’s primary program.  After church we drove to the Devin castle, then we drove to the Slavin WWII Russia memorial.  We went into the old city and joined a free 2 hr Bratislava walking tour and learned about 20th Century Slovakia.  Thereafter, we met the missionaries for a local Slovakian fare dinner at the "Bratislava Flagship" restaurant.
 
Monday October 24: We checked out of the apartment and drove to Sopron, Hungary.  We walked around the medieval downtown, had some desserts in a café, admired the building where Liszt gave his first performance at age 9, then drove up to a hilltop state park where we took an outdoor stroll to Varhely Kilato, a large lookout tower.  We drove along the iron curtain trail through a Hungary/Austria border town that still had a replica of the barbed wire fence that originally bordered the country.  We drove to the Forchtenstein Castle, and then to the Esterhazy Palace, both about an hour outside of Vienna. Then we were finished with our trip in this area, and we drove to the Vienna airport to prepare for our red-eye flight to Skopje, North Macedonia.

Highlights:
1. Paris Musee d'Orsay and kid's excitement to be there - It was fun to be with both Megan and Jacob in Paris.  Both had been there before, but neither had much of a memory about it.  Jacob was very excited to see the Eiffel Tower, and Megan was excited for it all.  Everything we did and saw was new and exciting.
​
2. Schobrunn Zoo - I'm typically not much of a zoo fan, but this was a really cool place.  Tera had been to see the cheetahs in Africa, from afar, but here in the zoo, we were sitting inches away from them behind the glass.  Ditto for the hippos and lions and extremely cool stick insects.  We enjoyed our visit a great deal.  It was a fun zoo.

3. Vienna Museums - We made a museum blitz of 6 of the dozens of museums.  Some were incredibly cool (Belvedere, Natural history, fine art) and others were so-so (Welt Museum and Sisi museum) and others were dissappointing (Mozarthaus).  Though is interesting to note that the order of seeing the museums directly correlated with how much we enjoyed them. (First museums were the best, last visited museums were the worst).

4. Church meeting in Bratislava - We had a wonderful visit to the branch, and it happened to be their primary program day.  One of the American mothers confided to us that the pianist wasn't available so they would have to wing it.  Tera volunteered to play, to the great appreciation of the mother.  After the meeting, the mother confided in us that she had been praying all week for a solution to the piano, and even that morning had been putting it in the hands of the Lord.  And we arrived! It was nice to be part of little miracle for that branch on that morning.

​5. Hungary iron curtain info - We passed by a section of the iron curtain barbed wire fence in Hungary, and it was sobering and informative to learn more about the history of the cold war and the countries that were involved.