Skinners' Czech Engagement: A Holiday Vacation or A Vacation Holiday??

Holiday or vacation?-- the terms can get confusing. In the U.S. we consider a holiday as some period associated with a celebratory date, say Easter or Christmas while we use vacation to be the specifically designated timeframe we have away from job or our everyday routine. Here in Europe, the term vacation does not resonate ... and holiday is a more generic term which can be the months of July/August, a particular day, or your defined period away from work/daily routine. Which brings up the quandary of being an American in Europe coping with those terms. Our 'holiday period' effectively began the third week in August when we ceased all our program commitments (although we had scaled back somewhat since the middle of July or so). So now technically we were 'on holiday' -- was the Paris trip then a vacation?? Whew.... life can be tough! So add fuel to the fire with the projected two weeks 'vacation?' with Dan and Renata Popelář and my head is really spinning. But recover I did and no matter what you call it, we were off on the adventure....

Overall plans include an automobile trip - to increase flexibility and aid logistics; four people, four bicycles and lots 'o stuff. Now as fate would have it, Danny was temporarily unable to drive so I became the designated driver... a role I immediately savored since the prospect of driving a straight shift on unknown European roads was a welcome challenge. OK... here we go but please keep in mind the following list defines only the route; we did not necessarily visit all these places; our stay was concentrated in Italy and Croatia. Two weeks along this route interspersed with biking, hiking, touring and bunches of 'Ahhhh-ing'!

Letohrad, CZ - Prague, CZ - Munich, Germany - Innsbruck, Austria - Lago di Garda, Italy - Verona, Italy - Padua, Italy - Venice, Italy - Rovinj, Croatia - Rijeka, Croatia - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Vienna, Austria - Brno, CZ and back to Letohrad.