HIghs and Lows

The destination of this weekend's mystery road trip... Death Valley. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was beautiful. Vast swaths of nothingness between two mountain ranges, salt flats, sand dunes and some amazing sunsets. Saturday we drove up along the east side of the Sierras and hit the high point of the journey: Mt. Whitney, highest point in the lower 48:We camped in Death Valley that night and then next morning explored sand dunes:

Played on the salt flats:
And hit the journey's low point: Badwater Basin, lowest point in North America and 282 feet below sea level:

Road trips are exhausting, so I'm off to bed. I'll post the rest of the pictures tomorrow after I've had time to look at them all and make sure no one is doing anything obscene in them.

Losing Your Passport 101

Losing your passport in a foreign country, even one as welcoming as Austria, can be an upsetting experience--especially when travelling alone. So allow me to share with you my new gained knowledge regarding what to do when this happens to you:
1. Try to do this in a country where you speak the language. It can be very helpful when you are at the police station trying to tell them that you lost your passport, but no one there speaks English. Although there was a very nice elderly lady who was there as well, and did her best to help. The police officer would tell me something in German, I would say I didn't understand, and the very nice lady would look at me, and say *exactly the same thing* in the hopes that I would somehow understand it from her. I didn't, but it was sweet.
2. Try not to lose your passport at 4pm. Everything closes at 5pm. It makes for a very long night during which you can do very little to fix the situation.
3. Know how to contact the embassy. And then know that you probably need to go to the consulate, not the embassy. That way you don't waste your time going all the way across town to the embassy (which is a very scary, intimidating looking building) when you really need to be at the consulate, which is on the opposite side of town (and in the Marriott Hotel, a much more welcoming place).
4. In fact, call the consulate before going there. Hopefully someone will have found your passport, have called the consulate, and they will be able to tell you where it is. Saving you about 2 hours on public transportation.
4. Have a photocopy of your passport. It was very helpful in multiple steps of this process.
5. Don't panic. People are very nice. And is it really that bad being stuck on vacation for a few extra days?

So after 4 hours and a trip to the lost and found office, the embassy, the consulate, the Imperial Apartments and finally Schoenbrunn Park, I was reunited with my passport. I think I may turn into one of those dorky Americans who travel with their passport in a pouch around their necks. For details of my journey, please see the map below:

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Adventures in Austria

I'm back, and going back to work yesterday really wasn't too bad. I even got some sleep on call last night, and tomorrow is my day off. So I have time today to sort through the ridiculous pile of mail, do laundry, and update my blog with a lengthy report on my Vienna adventures.

After 3 days in East Tyrol (having a wonderful, relaxing time), I set off on my solo adventure to Vienna for a few days. Mom had helped me to find a cheap hotel in Vienna, which is no easy task! Thanks to Vienna's wonderful public transportation system, I found my way out to the Gasometer neighborhood and settled into my cheap, but clean and safe, hotel. First order of business--dinner. I went to the nearby Gasometer Center and decided to eat at the Bierometer. I sat at the bar, ordered a beer and "Bierometer toast" which ended up effectively being a deep fried ham and cheese sandwich. First Vienna mishap--the waiter made a mistake when charging my Visa, and instead of charging me 11 euros, he charged me 1,111 euros. I'm still working on getting that fixed, but hopefully Visa will take care of it.

Next day: lots of Vienna sights, and lots of Japanese tourists. Luckily I got to Schoenbrunn (the summer home of the Hapsburgs) early, so only had to wait 30 minutes to get in. It is a well-orchestrated affair. They time your entry to the minute, and give you audio guides, so they know how long it should take everyone to get through. It would be very nice, if it weren't for the damn tour groups. So many of them, they would fill an entire room. I eventually worked my way around them, and after walking through the park, I hopped on the subway and headed downtown. There I went to the Hapsburg's winter home, the Imperial Apartments and the Treasury. Vienna mishap number two: when I went to pay for my admission to the Treasury, I noticed I was missing 50 euros. Which given today's lousy exchange rate, was the equivalent of $70. I think I lost it at lunch, when I was trying to pay for my little sandwiches and I was being hurried along by the gentleman behind me, so I didn't have time to return all of my money to my purse. Alas, no souvenirs for me as I was on a strict budget. I was tired of walking at this point, and decided to stop for a coffee and apple strudel. While enjoying my coffee, I became aware of Vienna mishap #3--when I had gone through my bag at the Treasury, looking for my $50, I didn't recall seeing my passport. I believe I must have left it in my room at the hotel when cleaning out my bag the night before, so I scrap my plans to visit St. Stephen's cathedral and head back to the hotel.

And when I got there... no passport. It was gone. Have you ever found yourself in a foreign country without your passport? It is a very disconcerting feeling. And led to a significant change of plans on my part. Which I will tell you about later. I need to go take a nap. Here are the rest of my pictures from Austria. Enjoy!

Climb every mountain!

Lots of time in the mountains the past two days. Yesterday we drove up to Grossglockner, the tallest mountain in Austria. It was a very nice drive, and a wonderful overlook up at the top. Today we hiked around Hochstein, the local ski area where they have the women's world cup skiing. There are many, many hiking trails around here (the Austrians love to hike!) and some amazing views from up top.

I'll post the complete album once I'm back in San Diego. Ok, probably sometime after I'm back in San Diego since the day after I get home, I start on-call in the ICU. I really won't be much fun for the next month.

Vacation Continues

Greetings from Lienz! After a very uneventful 18 hours of travel, I have arrived at my mom's home in Lienz, Austria. This was perhaps the most pleasant flying experience I've had in a long time. Perhaps Adam is right, and Alaska is the problem, not the entire airline industry, because I had a lovely United flight. Somehow I got an "executive coach" seat, which meant lots of leg room! And they had a very nice snack. I had a 3 hour layover in DC, but that was ok because they had a Potbelly Sandwich place in the airport, so I happily ate my sandwich and waited comfortably for my next flight. And the flight to Munich? I *love* European airlines. They were so polite, and gave us lots of food and wine. And more wine. I also managed to get some sleep thanks to the neck pillow, eye mask and ear plugs I brought along with me.

And now, I'm in Austria. It's beautiful here. Hopefully the weather will hold, tomorrow we are planning on going to the mountains: Heiligenblut (Holy Blood) and Grossglockner (big bell clapper). We took the dogs for a walk this evening, so I leave you with pictures from that:

The valley where Lienz, my mom's village, lies