Bronzans On The Loose!

Author:  Tiffany (Mom) We are getting ready to leave Budapest, Hungary and go to our last destination before heading back to London to fly home.  I feel like Brandon and I have the sense of the end hanging over our heads.  We both enjoyed our experience and are not quite ready to come back to reality, even though I know both kids are ready for California again.  Our flight is late this afternoon, so we have some time to kill before we leave for the airport.  Luke and Brandon decided to go and see if they can get their haircut before we take off (Update:  they were unsuccessful). Olivia is reading in the other room, for what I think is the 3rd time through the Rick Riordan series.  She told me she just opens the book to a random part and reads from there.  Yesterday we decided to take a walk to the Vajdahunyad Castle.  It was really pretty with an amazing church, but we discovered that you cannot go inside the castle.  We enjoyed wa...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) Time for a blog!  It's Saturday (as if days of the week matter to me...) and we're about halfway through our stay in Budapest, Hungary.  We elected to take a little down time back at the apartment this afternoon, so let's get you up to date. By the way, the title of this blog doesn't refer to anything other than the name of a movie by my favorite director, Wes Anderson.  The movie isn't even set in Budapest. OK, after arriving at the central station in Budapest in the early afternoon, we were met by a local driver who dropped us off at our apartment.  Quick geography lesson:  Budapest is divided into two areas, Buda on the west of the Danube and Pest on the East.  We are in Pest, maybe a quarter mile or so from the river bank. The apartment is very nice and updated.  It has some of those floating stairs that lead to a loft area where the kids are sleeping.  Luke is up there right now listen to the Croatian socce...

Livi made a movie trailer and she hopes you all like it!

Author: Brandon (Dad) Well, our time in Vienna has come to an end. After a frantic search for seats, we’re all resting comfortably on board our two and a half hour train ride to Budapest, Hungary. This allows me the opportunity to report on our final two days in Austria. On Tuesday we found our way to the subway and headed out to Schönbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Habsburgs. It’s the kind of summer home we’ll probably get in the future. We explored acres upon acres of the garden, hiking up to Gloriette, which afforded us a sweeping view of the palace and the city. Nice, but their landscaping bill must be enormous. A nice lunch in the garden café was enjoyed after our hike. We’ve found that cafes or restaurants attached to tourist destinations, national parks, etc., are far better here than in the U.S. Plus, everywhere offers beer which can’t be a bad thing. In the afternoon we took the “Grand Tour” of the palace and, along with the audio guide, it was fant...

Author:  Tiffany (Mom) Brandon planned out the next couple of destinations after Slovenia.  When he suggested Vienna, I thought, hey, why not.... I know nothing about it, but people seem to love it.  (Several Croatians told us, skip Slovenia, but go to Austria).  I immediately (because sometimes words get mixed up in my head) called Austria "Australia", which got a laugh out of Brandon and the kids.  Brandon said that is why he is in charge of booking the plane and train tickets. The first afternoon we were here Luke wasn't feeling so good.  He fell asleep immediately when we got to the apartment, with his shoes on and everything.  I decided to stay home with Luke while Olivia and Brandon went out to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Afterwards we watched "The Sound of Music" as a family.  I loved that movie when I was a kid, but hadn't seen it in a long time.  Olivia loved it and is now signing the songs.  I really hope I did not ...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) Our stay in Slovenia was short, but very sweet.  Following our adventure to Ljubljana Castle (Friday), we decided to head out of the city and enjoy  the "#1 tourist attraction in Slovenia".  Of course I'm talking of Postojna Cave.  The bus trip out was fairly uneventful, but it was great to get outside the city and see some of the beautiful nature that Slovenia is known for. Upon arrival at the cave, we grabbed a quick lunch (a burger with a black bun, colored by cuttlefish ink), then jumped on our tour of the cave.  There were many people visiting, but you wouldn't really notice it as everything was well-planned and efficient.  We were warned that temperatures are very low inside the cave and advised to dress warmly, so we grabbed our sweatshirts (that we haven't needed...well, this entire trip, really...).  Turns out, it was about 50 °.   In San Francisco they call that summer.  I loved it. The cave wa...

Author: Tiffany (Mom) I wrote this blog after our first full day in Slovenia. However, it took me awhile to upload the photos.  Yesterday (Day 2) we went to the caves and an incredible castle.  A different post will be done on that adventure. Ok I confess, we decided to go to Slovenia because the person sitting next to me on the plane to London said I had to go.  After some research from Rick Steves (Brandon’s hero), I decided this should be our next destination.  I think everyone thought I was crazy, including Croatians and my Mom. I didn’t really know what to expect, I thought it would be a lot like Croatia.  I was wrong, it’s more like Spain. I suggested that we write about our impressions of the castle at lunch and Olivia decided to take charge of that post. The entire family heard the story at the castle of why dragons are the symbol of Ljublijana.  You see dragons everywhere and it's fun to capture them in photos.  Ljublijana also have fo...

Author: Livi Bronzan (10) Question: What was your favorite part and what did you think of the Ljubljana castle? This is Daddy Bronzan telling us his opinion! Mommy decided to type hers out.  This is her story...... The Ljubljana Castle was much different than I thought.  It was a castle but served as a fortress too.  Then When Austria was in control of Slovenia it was turned into a prison.  All of the furnishings were thrown out.  What a shame! I learned a lot of history of Ljubljana and Slovenia during our visit to the castle.  We decided to go on the guided tour with different actors and actresses telling us the history of the castle.  That was very cool.  My favorite was the knight who killed the dragon.  They explained why dragons were the symbols of the city. We also saw a well that was thousands of years old.  However, in the 18th century, they created a human wheel that prisoners had to walk blindfolded to...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) "Love For Croatia" We all knew this day would come.  It's our last full day in Croatia and while we are excited for the next leg of our journey, we're all sad to bid farewell to this special place.  We're just lounging around a bit this morning, so I thought I'd take a couple minutes to share some anecdotes from the last few days... While the World Cup final didn't go the way we hoped, it was still an incredible ride.  Amazing to see the support and pride that has followed this group around.  Following the semifinal win in England, there was an enthusiastic attempt to buy plane tickets to Moscow for the final.  Of course, we had the same idea as many, many Croatians and the sites were crashing.  My cousin Ivan, the one who had been in Russia earlier, kept whispering something to me throughout  the England the game.  "You, me, we go (indecipherable)".   I thought he meant, after we win, we'll go out...

Author:  Olivia Bronzan (10)   Croatia has been my favorite country so far on this trip and I am really disappointed  we will have to leave in a few days but for now we can explore more of it.  So far one of the highlights in Croatia was when we got to go on a kayak. It was really fun and I would like to do it again. I also enjoyed other stuff like exploring new areas and trying new foods (although every restaurant in Croatia is exactly the same.)  I love this country and my parents love it too, we keep joking around we will come back here in 4 years so we can watch the next world cup here. It was very funny, the people who rented the house in Cilipi after us was from France and Croatia played France in the finals yesterday. They seem really nice and they have a girl my age (but I tried talking to her and she only speaks french.)  The place we rented in Cavtat has an awesome view and I like it because now I don't have to sleep on a couch. I...