Glücklicher Jahrestag

Scott and I are currently in Vienna, Austria, after exploring Budapest, Zagreb, the island of Hvar, Split, Ljubljana, and random parts of Austria with our best friends Adam and Sully. We're about to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and it seems that some schnitzel and wine are in order.

Our trip with Adam and Sarah was an experience we will not soon forget. It was so great to see friends again- we'd been sorely missing everyone at home, and it was so much fun to catch up and have someone (else) to talk to. We haven't laughed so hard in ages. Consider this snapshot of one day of our trip together:

We're driving together from Ljubljana to Austria, no hotels booked, no real idea of where to go other than a vague notion of a quaint B&B, possibly with a roaring fire as it was pouring rain. I mean really really pouring. Like so much that the rivers were flooding. Poor Adam was driving for hours as we searched for a fun place and explored the countryside. After making our way into Austria, we decided to pull off the freeway as a certain sign for Schloss Seggau caught our attention. It looked like a big castle or similar and it looked like fun. We wound our way through the lush hills of the Austrian countryside in the growing darkness and finally came upon a large medieval looking building on the top of a hill. We were unsure at this point what Schloss Seggau actually was. Scott and I run inside to see if: 1) this place is a hotel 2) If so, do they have rooms available and 3) why is it so creepy?. As we run in, a large streak of lightning slices the sky and illuminates the castle(?). We walk in to the dimly lit room and notice that there is no one behind the reception desk. Except, there is one man alone waiting in the room: a priest, of course. We wait for a while, no one shows up and we leave with the mystery of Schloss Seggau still intact.


Jump ahead a few hours and a few fruitless searches for hotels. We think we may have stumbled upon the Austrian wine country in the middle of harvest season. Anyway, we're getting hungry and restaurants close early here. So, we see the sign for McDonalds. We enter the drive through, pull up and Adam asks "Sprechen zie English?". "Nien" says the tinny voice from the speaker. Scott, with a deep aversion for over-mayonnaising of food is con viced that he will receive a hamburger covered in mayo, especially if there is a language gap. So, Adam says to the drive through attendant: "danke!" and we pull forward, intending to screech through at a high speed and avoid the drive through window after our awkward exchange. However, there are now 2 cars ahead of us and we have to wait in line to leave. We are all inanely giggling and somewhat embarrassed and still hungry. As we finally approach the window, we quickly drive pass and sigh with relief.

Now, we're still hungry, so we decide to park and walk in. This is somewhat embarrassing as we'll have to face the employees inside who know that we're the Americans from the drive through. We walk up, and begin ordering in broken English/German and it's immediately apparent that they know who we are by their giggling and pointing. Sarah orders the Austrian favorite: A Mr Fantastico! When the McDonald's girl says "Eine McFantastic?" Sarah exclaims "Si!". Again, more laughter. Adam also orders what he believes to be a 6 piece chicken Mcnugget. However, when we open the bags of food at the counter, we realize we've received: most of our order, and an additional 6 McChicken sandwiches, plus 3 extra fries! At this point, we're all crying with laughter, along with the girls behind the counter. Eventually, the girl adds a free apple pie and shrugs. We leave immediately to avoid further awkward exchanges.

We had such an amazing time with Adam and Sarah and they really did an amazing job of showing us the sights in Budapest. We also got to see Adam's parents and meet their family friend, Tommy. We miss all of them already and it's only been one day!