Whirlwind?

My parents are in Europe with us.  After nearly two weeks, they leave on Monday. 

It's been a whirlwind trip.

And why does it seem that I always use that word to describe my family's events?  Why can't we have leisurely stroll.  Or a drawn-out holiday?  Or lazy-hazy-days-of-summer kinda thing?

'Cause that's not how we do things 'round here.  We pack it to the gills and then ask for a take-out bag to make sure we didn't miss one iota.  Gotta tell ya'... my feet hurt.  And in fact we ran 'em so hard, the parents took Saturday and Sunday off to recoup.  (Although Mom & Charles did do some shopping and a little marionette theater, but that was like a nap in comparison.)  At the end of one day, I casually mentioned, purely tongue-in-cheek, that we had another hour of walking to do before going home.  Mom collapsed against a wall and cried out, "One MORE HOUR!?!"  I took it to mean she was done for the day.  But, hey, it's a walking city and you gotta move to see it.

Since they arrived last Wednesday, we've covered a lot of ground in Prague and spent three nights in Vienna.  It's been a bit hair-raising, but we got the job done, and they've seen some of Europe.