Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
Well, we are back at school and Spring is in the air! The high for today is 62 and I am thrilled. I was getting tired of the cold and snow. The sun is out, the sky is blue and the birds are singing. It's wonderful.

I had a great time over Spring Break. Ducki (aka Laura Homan) flew into Prague. We stayed there a couple of days then moved on to Budapest, Hungary. What a beautiful place. I had the best Italian meal I've had since moving here. We went to the thermal baths on Tuesday with a bunch of ESI teachers who live in Budapest. It was so relaxing. I even enjoyed the peppermint sauna and I don't like saunas very much. There are two outdoor baths which were so warm and cozy. One has a strong current in the middle that carries you around the pool. All the baths were mineral water which is supposed to be good for what ails ya. It was nice visiting with some of the other ESI teachers, too.

Then we headed to Vienna, Austria. We were there about eight hours. It is a gorgeous place. We took a tram around the city to see the sites. Beautiful buildings and gardens were everywhere. We had lunch at this place that claimed it made "the most famous schnitzel in Vienna." Ducki and I split one because they were bigger than the plates they were served on. Then we went to St. Stephen's Cathedral. I love old churches. It was beautiful. We had sacher torte and cafe Vienna at the Sacher Hotel Cafe, where we felt completely underdressed. We walked around and shopped. But my favorite thing was eating hot wings at TGIFriday's! I have been craving them for a long time. The waitress was so sweet. She told me they were really spicy and that most of the customers complained. I told her not to worry, I was from Texas and I wanted spicy hot wings. Then we went back to St. Stephen's and listened to the choir rehearse. It was quite uplifting. We went to the train station and got on an overnight train to Cheb. We had a whole sleeper compartment to ourselves.

We relaxed a bit in Cheb and popped over to Nurnberg one afternoon. The weather was so nice that day. We ate at Burger King. I know it isn't very creative, but I have to get some American food sometimes. Ducki flew home Monday, the 15th. It was great to be able to show someone from home where I live and give them a feel for what I do here. Well I gotta go. Hope you are wearing green so you don't get pinched!