Slovenia Day 2

Wake up was at 8 this morning so we got to sleep in a bit. Everyone was totally blown away by the amazing scenery! We are surrounded on 3 sides by huge mountains and lake Bohinj on the last side. After a very nice organic breakfast we had a brief meeting and decided to all head up the Gondola to the base of the Vogel Ski Resort. Sondor took us the .5km to the Gondola pick up and we all went up. What a ride! We got a GREAT view of the lake and the surrounding towns. The ride only took around 2 minutes and we were at 4,800 ft overlooking the whole Bohinj Valley... stunning! After about 45 minutes of getting everyones rentals, we were on the slopes.

Totally smooth trails, no trees, totally open and totally gorgeous. The upper lifts were closed due to high winds, but the ones that were open were quite enough. 18 kids and I skied for 5 hours and then met up and went back down the Gondola to the waiting bus. The other 4 kids went with Jurgen, Ms. Cote, and Mrs. Davis to the other side of the lake where they rented cross country skis and walked around in the beatiful surroundings.

We all met back up at the hotel at 5 and hit the indoor pool. Now were off to dinner. Tomorrow we start very early and get the first Gondola up the mountain. Should be a blast.

Slovenia

After 12 hours of transport, we made it to Slovenia. Sondor really is our hero. We took off at 8 am and headed south west along lake Balaton, through Nagkinzha, and over into Croatia. We had a nice lunch before we crossed out of Hungary. Kids got entry passport stamps for Croatia, which they were all prettz excited about. We passed south of Zagreb and then had an hour plus at the Croatian border, which was packed. We eventually got through and traveled past Ljubljana and up into Triglav National park, through Bled, and into Bohinj. After some AMAZING driving by Sondor, we found Hotel Zlatorog. Even in the dark everything here looks stellar, just how I remember it, but covered in snow. We cant wait for the light of tomorrow. Our plan tomorrow is to head up to the mountain as early as possible, and for the nonskiers to hike to a local water fall and to head over to Bled to see the Castle.

Even though the bus ride was very long, the kids were great and stayed really calm. We are very excited for tomorrow. Oh, Im pretty sure this trip has set an Academy record for most countries traveled to on one abroad trip ... 6. Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and now Slovenia.

Budapest

The trip into Budapest went smoothly. We took off at 8 and crossed the border a couple hours later, getting some more passports stamps along the way. We got into Budapest at around 2 and checked into our hotel, which is more of an apartment complex. After getting settled we headed out to Market Hall, which is a massive indoor market in what looks like an old trainstation. The kids had Hungarian fast food and picked up some very nice local trinkets. We then walked up Vaci Ut, a very nice walking street and up to St. Stephen's cathedral where we saw St. Stephen's hand, always a chilling experience. We then headed back to the Hotel by subway and then up to dinner a couple blocks from the hotel. Everyone was pretty tired from all the traveling so we got to bed relatively early.

Yesterday morning we started with a 3 hour city tour from Hosok Ter (Heroes Square) all the way up to Castle Hill and the Citadella. We all took in some great views and a bunch of Hungarian history. Our tour guide was again very effective and friendly. The tour ended at our lunch restaurant, Gundel, the fanciest restaurant in the country. All the kids were very nicely dressed up and we had a fabulous meal. The high point of the meal was when they brought out the suprise piece of cake for Jordan's birthday which was capped off with a HUGE sparking fountain candle thing. It was rather impressive. After the meal most of the kids headed over to the Szchenyi thermal baths, and a couple went to the fine arts museum. We all met back up at the hotel at 5 and Sondor took us to the city center for a quick dinner. After dinner we went directly, by bus, to the Erkel Theatre where we saw the Opera L'elixir d'amor. Even though it was in Hungarian, it was not hard to follow and everyone had a great time. We took the subway back to the Hotel and crashed immediately.

This morning we headed off in 3 groups -- a couple kids went to Jewish services at the very large Synagogue, a bunch went back to Market Hall, and I took a bunch of kids to Margaret Island to walk, see some ruins and play some Ultimate. Everyone had a blast -- the kids who played Ultimate had a 5 on 5 game in the middle of the island and managed to get pretty muddy. We saw some 500 year old ruins then walked to the meeting point, a fountain at the large mall in central Pest. All three groups met up about an hour ago and now the kids are enjoying some time in the mall eating, shopping, and exploring. We're going to meet up in an hour and then head off to the Fine Arts Museum, and hopefully to Ice Skate at the huge rink next to Hosok Ter. We also might have an hour long cruise on the Danube tonight, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. Should be a fun evening.

We take off at 8am tomorrow morning for Slovenia -- should take the whole day. Turns out everyone in the group is able to enter Croatia, so we'll be taking the road that dips into the country -- so 5 countries total on this trip! The kids are very excited to see some of Croatia and to get to Vogel.

Hope all is well back in the states!

The First Update

Hello everyone! Mr. Seamon here. Sorry about the lack of an update thus far -- we have been kept very busy! Our busride down to NYC was very smooth. There was very little traffic even when we got close to the city. Getting throughthe ticket line and security was also incredibly smooth -- we ended up at our gate 2 hours before boarding time. The flight took a total of 7 hours 10 mins and was also wonderful. Lufthansa is great! We landed in Frantfurt, had a 2 hour layover then took an 1hour 15min flight into Prague. We landed in light fog and managed to get through customs and findour bags quickly. We then found Jurgen, our tour director, who has proven to be wonderful. We took our coach businto Prague. (Our drivers name is Sondor) The bus is very comfortable. On the way into the city all the kids were really starting to get excited. We then checked into our hotel, Merlin, (nice dorm style rooms) then headed out fora tour of the Jewish Quarter. We saw three synagogues, all of which were stunning, especially that had its walls covered in the names of all the Prague Holocaust vistims. We also saw lots of down town Prague including the Old TownSquare, astronomical clock, and surrounding areas. We had lunch in the city then that evening attended a performance of the Czech Philharmonic Choir... which was in the gorgeous Rudolfinum. The kids were very tired at this point but the show was stellar none the less. We got back to our hotel at around 9 and the kids crashed immediately.

Day 2 began with a very nice breakfast of cereal, cheese, meats, and toast at the hotel. We then had a guided tour ofthe city from the Prague Castle all the way down to the old town square. Our guide had 20 years of experience andneedless to say the tour was educational. Jurgen then took us to a traditional Czech restaurant were lots of the kidsgot to try Goulash, something they will indeed try in Budapest once we get there. After lunch we broke up into 2 groups.I took one group to the very very large Jewish Cemetary on the outskirts of the city, and Jurgen took the other halfback to the city center. The Cemetary was very a unique experience. We saw Kafkas grave as well as thousands of others.We then met up with the other half of the group at Vyesgrad, a large fortefied monestary. We walked the very high wall, saw the church cemetary. (Oh, we took the metro around the city in the afternoon... great metro!). We then had an hour offree time in Wensleslas square, then another solid dinner.

On Day 3 we left early for Terezin, the concentration camp. This was not originally planned but Jurgen suggested it. Took aboutan hour by bus to get there. We first saw the prison of Terezin. We had a guided tour and saw the cell blocks, showers, andother living facilities. (Terezin was used a holding facility. No gas chambers but many thousands were sent off todeath camps. Over 100,000 people died at Terezin during and after the war when Typhiod ripped through the Ghetto)The entire experience was very intense. We then headed to the town that was the Terezin Ghetto where we got to seetwo Ghetto museums which showed artwork and drawings done by people held in the prison and Ghetto. We were all totallzfloored. After Terezin we headed back to the city where the kids had 3 hours to explore and shop. We had dinner wayup on the Prague Castle hill at a wonderful place called Maly Budha, and got to see Prague at night from high up.

This morning (Day 4), we left for Vienna at 8am. We stopped a couple times on the way for various breaks (gas stations in the Czech Republic proved to be vastly entertaining to the kids) and crossed the boarder into Austria smoothly. All the kidseven got to have their passports stamped. We got into Vienna and had a bus tour of the city wall road and an excellent lunch at an impressive buffet.Everywhere you turn there is something else to marvel at. Jurgen started our walking tour behind the Opera and we saw the Hofburg,the HUGE Habsburg Castle, as well as down town Vienna and the Stephendom, the HUGE Cathedral. Everyone got a chanceto go inside the cathedral. Gorgeous. Vienna is amazing! We then walked down to the Fine Arts Museum, one of the largest collections of art in Europe. We spent 2 hours at the Museum seeing many Rubens, Carravagios, Titians, and lots more.We also saw the Egypt exhibit which was down right staggering. We could have spent DAYS there exploring. After the MuseumJurgen took us to dinner, and then to our hotel, the NH. The Prague hotel was a nice dorm style facility. This one is a 4 star hotel! Needless to saw everyone loves it.

Overall everything has been fantastic. Jurgen is very professional, interacts well with the kids, and loved what he does.Sondor, the bus driver, has been VERY helpful picking us up in the city and dealing with all the unloading and loading.Oh, we have already celebrated two birthdays... Russells and Zachs. They both had cakes and a good round of happy birthday.And we even have one left for tomorrow!

Tomorrow we take off at 8 for Budapest where we will have more touring, exploring, lunch at Gundel (the fancies trestaurant in the country), a trip to the Opera, and many other fun activities. 3 nights there and then we head over to the Julian Alps of Slovenia for 3 days of skiing, hiking, swimming, and sledding.

Hope all is well back in the States!

ps. Sorry about the poor grammar and spelling. This German keyboard is killing me!

The night before

In 10 hours we'll be on the road! Hope everyone is getting to sleep early tonight! :) Cya at 7!

Meeting Notes - 2/12/05

1) $55 CASH and a signed slip must be brought to me on Monday.

2) You MUST talk to all of your teachers about missing school on 3/2 – 3/4

3) International Trip meeting on Tuesday and Thursday at 3:15 in the Colwell Center.
You MUST attend one of these meetings. The meeting should last about 15 minutes.

4) Bring at least $50 cash with you in case we can’t get to an exchange or atm immediately.

5) We will be going to the Opera and to lunch at Gundel in Budapest. Hockey in Prague is almost guaranteed. (Issues with the phones)

6) New trip departure time: Arrive in front of Morse at 7am on Saturday 2/19.

7) Make sure you have a SAFE place to carry your passport.

8) Sending information home – Should we use a blog or an email list?

9) Phone list and hotel information.

10) Today’s weather in Bohinj, Slovenia: -5 to 0 Celcius. They have a snow board park. Our hotel is 1km from a lift to the base of the mountain. Skis, boots, poles, and helmet for 3 days – 62 Euros ($80) www.vogel.si

11) Room lists

12) Jobs – Passports, Wakeup, and?

13) Call your credit card company and/or bank to make sure your card will work in Europe – Notify them you will be using it in Europe so it’s not deactivated due to suspected fraudulent use.

14) Be prepared for long bus rides.

15) Be flexible.

New Info

If you haven't already come by my room in the last week to pick up the important new materials, please do so asap.

Here we go

Anyone going on the St. Johnsbury Academy trip to Eastern Europe will be able to post to this blog. That way friends and family members will be able to read all about our experiences as they're happening, in one convenient location.

I'll also be posting trip updates here as well. The most recent updates are:

1) Everyone needs to pick up important new information from me any time after school in Severance 21.

2) Our next meeting is Saturday, February 12th from 6 - 8pm in the Colwell Center.

3) We have confirmed reservations at Gundel, the super fancy restaurant in Budapest, as well as tickets to the Opera. Hockey tickets go on sale on the 10th.

4) If anyone would like to start posting to this blog, give me an email at jseamon@stjacademy.org.


- Mr. Seamon