Welcome to Eastern Europe!

How Exciting!

Slovak Flag

Juliette just joined us last week here in Bratislava.
Bratislava is the capital of the country called Slovakia.  We have to write "Slovak Republic" on our mail so that it does not get confused and sent to other countries - like Slovenia.  This country is located next to Austria and was behind the "Iron Curtain" not too long ago.

Europe

Here is a map of Europe and one of Slovakia so you can see where Juliette is.  We are the Sapp Family and are from Denver, but we are living here for 2 years.  Owen (9) and Hayden (7) go to an American School here with many international students from around the world.  Some of their classmates are from Korea, China, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Russia, the USA and many others.  Owen and Hayden are getting to learn new languages, learn about new cultures, and see many wonderful and historical cities.

Slovakia has several castles.  This picture is of part of the town of Bratislava with the castle on top of the hill.  Kings and Queens used to be crowned there.

There are many castles still in the hills all over Europe.  Most are just ruins now.  Here is one that we hiked up a very giant hill to see.  After climbing to the top, you realize why the castles were built up so high - it would have been very hard for enemies to get to.  Now, the walls are crumbling and trees are growing in the middle of the castle.  It is great to be able to be in the middle of such old history.

UFO Bridge

There are several interesting bridges in Bratislava.  This one is called the UFO bridge.  At the top, in the circular UFO part, there is a restaurant.  We will try to eat there before we move.  You can see the whole city and it is supposed to be beautiful at night.

To get around in Bratislava, we ride Trams.  Because the city is so old, there are not very many big parking lots, so taking the tram is much easier than parking and it is fun!

In Europe, we use money called the Euro.  The 1 euro and 2 euro are coins.  Paper euros start at 5.  They are all different sizes - not like US Paper money!

Our last adventure with Juliette while she was visiting was to a Chocolate Factory across the border in Austria.  Hayden's class got to go, so Juliette tagged along!  In Austria, which is only 15 minutes away, they speak German language.  Imagine if each state in the US spoke its own language!

Here is Juliette at the beginning of the tour.  This sign says "Entrance" and "Factory Tour" in 3 languages - German, Hungarian, and Slovak!

This is Juliette with the class watching a lady wrap small chocolate bunnies in foil.

These are some of the items that the company makes.  They make chocolate Santas, Bunnies, and many other goodies.  These treats are shipped all over the world!

Thank you very much Flat Juliette for visiting us!

We know you will enjoy your adventures through more of Europe and all over the world!

Safe Travels!

Greetings from WDW!

I believe the author must have been coining a new idea for his spectacular stories when he said that Flat Juliette was with him for Thanksgiving because, Flat Juliette, was indeed with the Fritzler family in Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving week!  Unless she was taking the red-eye back and forth?  Who knows!  Flat Juliette is a world traveler!  We're late in sharing our pictures but certain you'll enjoy this!  There's the Cinderella Castle!!!!!  It's beautiful!

Most of you know Shawna and Morgan from school and how much we love everything Disney!  Flat Juliette came along and experienced the magic with our family and we were absolutely delighted to experience our first trip to WDW with her!  The castle was beautiful, especially at night with the snow and ice (of course, that was created with Disney magic in Florida - we sure didn't need our coats!)  Morgan and Flat Juliette had a great time dancing to the music at night, especially in Hollywood Studios!

Flat Juliette especially enjoyed the dinner we had at Tony's at Magic Kingdom - it was beautiful and reminded us of Lady & the Tramp!  Such a wonderful movie!!!  We even had this wonderful pumpkin cheesecake with a cinnamon decoration of Lady & the Tramp!  Can all Girl Scouts make such lovely decorations out of something so simple?  We should try it! 

Morgan loves dogs so they talked about them a lot (in between talk of rollercoasters and the amazing Splash Mountain, which Flat Juliette also adored!  She was walking in line in the picture above!)  Flat Juliette kept talking about Justin's dog, Tootsie...Batman - not sure what the name was?  We were so caught up in Disney magic that we got confused but ended up talking about all the amazing dogs that Disney has brought into our homes.

On our trip, we also visited Epcot and Morgan was doing research for her class geography project.  Then we all ran into Donald Duck in Mexico!  He was so silly!  One boy walked up to him with an autograph book and the little boy had Mickey Mouse's picture in it; Donald actually crossed out Mickey's picture!!!  Morgan decided to keep Flat Juliette away from him, concerned that he might get jealous and cross her out...

We took the ferry boat back to another park and while we were waiting for our ride, we got to watch a skywriter!  You just HAVE to see these pictures!  Flat Juliette loved it and we did too- usually you only see these kinds of thing on a postcard somewhere, but she lived it with us!

That's really what it's all about, right?  Fun, friends, love, and God. 

So when we went to the airport, we met another lovely family with a little girl named Carissa.  She was Morgan's age and they had a great time talking and playing games together while we waited for our flights.  Flat Juliette decided to go along with Carissa for another adventure and we agreed, knowing that she was in good hands.

 
We had a great time with you Flat Juliette; thanks for coming along!  We can't wait to read about your next adventure!

Girl Scouts - we hope this finds you all enjoying many friends, new experiences, and creating things you didn't think were possible.