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Some highlights from Budapest, a long bus ride, and learning about wine making and enjoying a wine tasting in Romania.

Today, Steve and I are starting a new adventure, a 13-day journey, a group trip. We will be traveling with 12 more people. Starting in Budapest, Hungary, our Eastern European route through Romania and Bulgaria will take us to Istanbul, Turkey.

For our last day in Paris, we didn’t plan too much. We wanted to take it easy and fully enjoy what we could fit into the day. Of course, there was walking again, but only 10.3 km.

We visited two very characteristic Parisian arrondissements today on the Right Bank of the Seine. Both Montmartre, also known as the bohemian village on the hill, and The Marais, the most authentic district of the city, can be experienced best on foot. We made a walking record of  21.3 km. Soon, we will be in incredible shape.

Today we took a day trip from Paris to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Versailles. Located 20 km from Paris, it was easy to get there. Lots of walking again (a total of 17.9 km); the majority of it in a gorgeous garden.

If you are in a museum, you can walk quite a lot there. That’s what happened to us on this day. Out of the many museums of Paris we checked out two famous ones, plus walked along the vibrant Champ-Élysées. A total of 19.7 km. At times, we felt exhausted.

You will be tired in the end of the day, said my friend Shelley, when I showed her the plan for our first full day in Paris. We walked 15.6 km on this day and accomplished even more than we had originally planned. Overall, it was a very fulfilling day.

We are very excited about this summer’s adventures! We will be visiting 13 European countries: France, Hungary. Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Austria.

My husband, Steve, and I love to take walks in our Seattle neighborhood. It can be a morning, afternoon, or even an evening walk. We take our walks in every season – rain or shine – while noticing the changes in the neighborhood and appreciating the details we see.

After a few months of rest, we were ready again for new adventures. This time, away from home for 36 consecutive days, visiting 8 European countries.