Greetings from Poland!

Hello, all.

It's just after midnight here in beautiful Krakow, Poland. Brandy and Jamie have gone to bed, and I'm sitting at the very nice computer in the Hotel Globtroter. It's been a bit of a struggle finding convenient (and free) Internet access in Europe thus far, but this place rules.

It is really weird seeing all the Blogger prompts and instructions in Polish, though.

I'll have a longer update for you all at some point; I'll start writing out the posts on the laptop and just cut-and-paste the entries when I get the chance.

A short recap of the trip thus far...

Amsterdam was nice. That's about it. It was a little expensive, and we had a couple issues with bicyclists. The Red Light District is a bit depressing (at least during the day), and I had the best Heineken I've ever tasted (and it wasn't at the Heineken Experience, either).

Budapest was awesome. I highly recommend that everyone go visit. The same holds true for Eger and Tokaj (and I'm sure the rest of Hungary) as well. Miskolc is a bit industrial and run down, but still not too bad. Hungary's public baths are wonderful, and the next time we're back, we'll be spending whole days there. Also, the women are preternaturally good-looking. Not that I noticed, since I was in the company of my blindingly beautiful wife. But I would definitely advise any young, single men to spend a few months learning Hungarian then spend a few months in Hungary.

Krakow, however, might be our favorite city thus far. Big and cosmopolitan enough to have vibrant nightlife, Krakow still feels charming and Old World. Of course, when all the buildings are several hundred years old, atmosphere is a little easier to come by. We've still got another whole day here, so I'll tell you more about it later.

Hopefully, I'll figure out a way to post a couple of pictures from the 350+ I've taken thus far...

The Time Is Now

Happy midnight, all.

Brandy and I are in the midst of our final preparations and packing arguments. In less than eight hours, we'll be on a plane headed for... well, a layover in Chicago first. But after that, we'll be headed for Amsterdam to begin our five-week, whirlwind tour of Europe.

Despite our historically bad timing (the currency exchange rate), we're really looking forward to this trip. There will be lots of wine (and beer and liquor and fatty foods), so I'll try to keep a running blog of the trip, complete with pictures if I can find fast enough Internet access.

So keep on checking the site, and maybe you'll be able to bear witness to the Wine Tour of Europe...