On November 12, Kelly and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Kelly had a training scheduled in Macedonia that weekend so Giuliana and I decided to go along! We headed out on a Thursday afternoon and took our 1st flight to Vienna. We had a 7 hour layover so we took a train into the city and took in the sights. It is a beautiful city! We enjoyed sausages and beer from a street vendor and I had my 1st ever roasted chestnuts. After our tour of Vienna we went back to the airport and caught a midnight flight to Skopje, Macedonia. We arrived at our hotel around 3am and Kelly was up the following morning at 7am for training! Giuliana and I got to sleep in. On our first day in Skopje, G and I walked around the town looking for interesting sights. Well, we ate at McDonalds and went back to the hotel for a nap. I know what you’re thinking….Jennifer’s Tour Guide of Macedonia will be published this fallJ That night, we went out to eat with the group from Kelly’s training. They took us to a traditional Macedonian restaurant. The cuisine consisted of assorted meats and cheeses and some kind of very strong rubbing alcohol they try to pass off as brandy. I had one sip and could not finish my drink, but I bet you can guess who did finish their drink! The beer was much better. We were serenaded by some men dressed in traditional dress. That is how we spent our 5th anniversary. It was a wonderful night!
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| Our train to Vienna city center |
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| Walking around Vienna |
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| Chestnuts! |
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| Yum! |
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| Beer and cheesy sausage! |
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| Vienna |
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| Being Serenaded at our anniversary dinner. |
The next day when Kelly went to training I decided to be a little more adventurous and we ate at the Burger King. Just kidding, I didn’t eat there. G and I took a taxi outside of the city to Lake Matka. The taxi driver drove us on a one way road through little villages and alongside a beautiful river. Lake Matka is supposed to be one of the countries most popular attractions and on the brochure it has pictures of a lively street area and restaurant that overlook the lake. When the taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road in front of a restaurant that was under construction I was a little confused. There was no one around and I wasn’t sure what we would do. So I walked down the side of the hill to the river and took some pictures of Giuliana. I walked around the bend in the river and saw a small restaurant on the side of the mountain so we went there for lunch. After a few glasses of wine, we went exploring some more. We found a monastery and a kayak maneuvering course on the river. Maybe the monks do that for fun?? (Our Sister of the River Sport Monastery. Who is the patron saint of river sports?) After that, I found another small café and I had dessert and another few glasses of wine waiting on the taxi. I never found Lake Matka or the lively street area, but we had fun none the less.
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| Giuliana on the riverbank |
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| Playing in the grass for the 1st time |
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| G hanging out on the steps |
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| playing with grass on the steps |
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| Seconds before she looses her balance and hits her head on the step behind her! |
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| Enjoying Lake Matka? The view of the river at least. |
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| Our feet on the river |
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| Enjoying dessert |
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| This is a pomegranate tree. I have never seen one before. |
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| Monestary |
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| View of Skopje |
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| City Center |
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| Old town bazaar |
That night we went on a city tour of Skopje with Kelly’s group. We ended the tour with a nice Macedonian dinner. We got back to the hotel and were up only a few hours later to catch our 4 am flight back home only to discover at the airport that our flight was booked for the following day with no possible way of getting out any sooner. So, we spent the next day hanging out in our hotel room. (I bet you can’t wait to buy our guide book) We finally made it home Monday afternoon to Vilnius.
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| Fort in Skopje |
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| Old city wall around Skopje |
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