Berries and Europe

We enjoy living in the city. But we are also thankful that we are only an hour drive to some lovely countryside.

Countryside that grows berries, especially. And not just your run-of-the-mill strawberries. But plump, juicy, sweet blackberries and raspberries. Our two favorite, and what do you know - they grow at the same time of year! We felt like we hit the jackpot last weekend, and I can think of a few foods (actually, none at the moment) that I would rather eat than some yummy hand picked raspberries (Joel's the blackberry lover, although I was converted this year... just never had a sweet one before).

Here I am with the berries... BEFORE.
... and AFTER... one of the tastiest desserts ever- berry shortcake with ice cream!
We also got heavy into the Europe planning this weekend... nailed down an itinerary, determined that we will be renting a car to see the countryside at our leisure, and where we will be staying. I have all the reservations booked except for Vienna. I wish the monks at the Benedictine monastery would get back to me (no, I'm not kidding, you can stay there, right in the middle of town!).
Eventually laying on our bellies looking at the map started to hurt. So we moved to the table. It looks like a travel agency took over our dining room! I'll post some links for the places we reserved, but later... I have to get back to work now.