This update comes a few days after the events, so hold on as we take you through Belgium and the last few days in London!
We arrived in Belgium after the night train, which was fairly good nights sleep. We were not sure where we were staying, so after visiting the information desk in the train station and getting a list of the local hostels we were ready to call them for open rooms. Luckily, the first one we called had rooms, and after a few minutes we were on our way. We decided to again tackle mass transit using the metro, and after a few stumbles we arrived at our destination. We were early for check in time, so our luggage was “securely” stored in a large storage room in the basement.
We spent the day exploring the city, tasting chocolates, eating waffles (delightfully different than expected) and planning where we would eat for the evening. We visited the main square, which is a large open place in the city, with cobblestones covering the ground and 5 story older homes all around. You feel like you are in a hidden space in the city, even though it is a huge open square. In the middle of the square there is a large flower market, as well as local artists selling their paintings. Tim and Michelle bought three small prints for their walls, and they are hoping the prints will survive the trip home.
Dinner was eaten at a local restaurant, where Michelle decided to get adventurous with her meal. Since Brussels is known for their seafood, we found a whole street full of restaurants that sold mainly seafood. She ordered a mixed seafood platter with a variety of seafood on it, only two of which she had ever eaten before (crab and lobster). She ate her way through a huge bowl of clams, muscles and calamari, and actually enjoyed it. A surprising choice, since Michelle is not known to be adventurous in her meals! (Michelle is the one writing this post, by the way, just so you don’t think others are being critical of her culinary choices!).
After dinner we went back to the main square where many locals were now laying down in small groups and looking up at the stars. It was a beautiful night. We headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before the train ride to London.
An early morning trip back to the train station, and we were easily able to find out train and board. Since we were crossing the border into the UK we had to go through a longer checkpoint prior to boarding. We were all happy that we decided to get to the train station early for this trip.
The ride over was good, and once we arrived at the train station we split up. Duane and Brandon headed over to the Scout camp location and Michelle and Tim headed to the hotel. Since Michelle is writing this, she will let Duane and Brandon update their day in another post.
Michelle and Tim obtained a map and determine that it did not look like too great a distance to walk to their hotel. Unfortunately, the map was a basic one, without most of the minor streets on it. The major streets were there, but the scale was off from previous maps we had used. So we began a 1.5 hour walk through Westchester to the hotel. Ugh. We were both ready to set down our packs the moment we arrived. Unfortunately check in was not for another 45 minutes, so we had lunch instead at a local restaurant and then headed in. After unpacking and showers, we were ready to hit the town.
We walked around for the majority of the rest of the day, exploring China Town, the British Museum (seeing the Rosetta Stone) and the different shops there. We had dinner at a little pan-Asian restaurant, which was very good! After dinner, we saw the play “Spamalot” which is a play devoted to the Monty Python movies. A very funny play if you ever get the chance to see it. We had sore stomachs after laughing so hard. After the play, we walked back to the room and caught up with Brandon and Duane, who had arrived about an hour earlier. A good nights sleep was on the agenda, and well enjoyed.
The next morning we bought tickets for a hop-on, hop-off bus tour company, where you could listen to their audio or live tours of London, and if you wanted to get off the bus at any point to explore the area further, you could. Then you could get back on the bus at a later time or stop, and continue with it. We hopped off the bus around Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. It was an amazing scene, with hundreds and hundreds of people there. There were three groups of guards there for the changing scene: the old guards being replaced, the new replacement guards and the band that accompanied the new guards coming to the palace and the old guards leaving the palace. The entire ceremony lasted 45 minutes, and during the ceremony the band played some interesting songs. We recognized Bob Marley (No woman no cry), and the theme songs to the A-Team (a tv show that Tim loved) and Pirates of the Caribbean. An odd thing to hear a very formal band playing these types of songs!
After the ceremony, we thought about catching a tour of the palace, since the queen is not in residence during August and September, but we were not able to get tickets. Instead we went to get some lunch (fish and chips, yum!) and then headed over to the Tower of London, where some of the crown jewels are kept. We arrived 15 minutes before the last admission time, and had about 45 minutes to explore the tower and its history before the tower closed. The tower is an old city, that was founded in the time of the Romans (so you can still see some of the old Roman walls) and it was also used as a prison. A very interesting history to read if you ever have a chance!
The crown jewels were wonderful, and huge, especially the crowns that are on display. I am sure that these are not all of the royal jewels, but even these are overwhelming. Jewels that are bigger than a softball. Just amazing. Of course Michelle was more impressed with all of this than the guys, but they hung in there.
After the Tower of London we headed back into the city and tried to catch the Thames river cruise, but we were about an hour too late. We headed back into the central London area, and were able to catch a showing of Les Miserables. Michelle was ecstatic, as this is her favorite play, and reading the book in Junior High is what sparked her interest in the French language. It was a good performance, and again, the guys endured it quite well. :)
After the play it was a quick trip home for Michelle and Tim to pack and get ready for the plane ride home the next day. A great last day in Europe!
On the following day (Wednesday morning) the alarm went off at 5:45AM. Tim, Michelle and Duane headed over to the tube station to see how they could get out to Heathrow airport. Once directions were established a quick prayer was said for safe travels and we were off leaving Duane to go back to bed. The tube ride took a full hour to get out to the airport, which was good, since we had heard it took a while and factored that into our timetable. We arrived on time, and were about to check into the plane without too many troubles. The only real issue was that Heathrow only allows you to take 1 carry on bag per person, which is different than the two that are allowed from US airports. Since we were planning on bringing many of our fragile items on the plane as carry on bags, we were frantically trying to make 4 bags into 2. We also did not allow enough time to comfortably get on the plane because of this. Instead of being there 2 hours before, I would suggest at least 3, which means (Duane) you need to leave 4 hours before your flight for the airport. Ah, the joys of airplane travel.
The first flight was uneventful, although we will say that if you ever have the chance to fly on Air Canada, do it, as their staff is wonderful, they give you actual food on the planes and the leg room allowance was perfect. Especially if you have to fly for 13 hours, Air Canada is the company to do it with.
Our second flight had a bit more drama to it. We had 2 hours to get off the plane in Montreal, get through the Canadian customs, collect all of our checked baggage, stand in line to get through US customs, check the bags in again for the second flight, and make it to our gate. Yes, only 2 hours! We were doing fine on time until we arrived at the US customs area. We went through the first long line and the usual customs interview. Then, because we had been in the UK (with all of the disease scares going on) we had to have another interview by security personnel, not to mention another line to get to the interview. Once this was finished, we had 15 minutes to check our bags and get to the gate. We ran, as fast as our poor tired feet could carry us, all the way to the gate. Now mind you, we had been carrying our backpacks on our back for about 1.5 hours, and they were not light in the least. So when I say our poor tired feet, this is an understatement. I am sure that the people in the airport had a good chuckle at our attempt to run. But when we arrived at the gate and saw that the plane was still there, we were overjoyed.
Another plane flight, which was fine, and a quick pick up by Tim’s parents at the airport brought us to their house and an wonderful home cooked meal. At 8 we headed home, bone tired but desperately wanting to sleep in our own bed. We arrived home at 9:45, unloaded our bag from the car, and dropped into bed. A great ending to a wonderful adventure. Ahhhhh.
Some things that we are excited about upon our return to the US:
At restaurants - Bottomless drinks, not paying for condiments, water, and the seat you sit in for dinner.
At home – our washer/dryer, our own bed, and our kitty Lizzy, who was very excited to see us when we came home,
In general – not having a language barrier, knowing what to expect wherever you go, being able to read the local newspaper, getting life back to normal
Some things we will miss from Europe:
All of the great food, and the adventure at trying something new when you have no clue what it is and what it is made out of.
Meeting numerous helpful people who go out of their way to make sure you are on the right path.
Experiencing different cultures and seeing different trends - like the grandmothers with the purple and pink hair.
The sense of time and history that comes with just being in the different cities, since they are all so much older and sometimes grander than places in the US.
Duane and Brandon are continuing their adventure, and will come home in another couple of days. They have access to the site, and we hope that they will continue to update it as they are able. Thank you to all who have been reading this so far. It was a great trip, and one we hope to repeat someday, although with a bit more time taken in each city. This was definitely an whirlwind adventure!
Arrivederci, Ciao, Na shledanou, Auf Wiedersehen, Dag, Au revoir, Cheers, Goodbye!!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Ah Paris, Paris, Je t'adore! (I love you)
So we have finished with Paris, which seems so crazy since we were only there for 2 days. We came in on Friday morning after a tearful good by from Marnia, her mom Renata and her sister Bettina. We are sure we have just misspelled their names, but since we misspelled Michelle sisters name already with the different keyboards we have been using, please forgive us! We took a night train from Munich to Germany, which was a good trip. In contrast to our night train from Prague to Munich, there were only 4 of us in the sleeper car, which gave us an added feeling of security. We were able to use the door lock, which was good as at some point during the night the door was opened. We think it was from the 5-6 high school students that were on their holiday and who had been messing around all evening. But we arrived safe and with all of our possessions. Since the packs are beginning to get heavy now, I am sure we would have been willing to part with some of our lesser used items! Next time, we come with 1/2 the things we have now!
In Paris we checked our bags into our room, and met the owner, Mr. Moreau, who spoke a bit of English, but preferred French. It was not until the last day we were there that he began to smile, and when we left he said that Michelle's French was good. Michelle knows that he was being VERY kind, as it has been 8 years since she has studied, and many of the words and verb conjugations are forgotten. But she was flattered all the same.
We left our things in the hotel and headed out. But not to any ordinary destination, no we headed straight over to the Louvre. We waited in a short line, as we were there at 8:30 and it opened at 9:00. Once the tickets were purchased, we went to visit HER. Yes, the Mona Lisa, which is smaller than you would think, and now has an entire security wall with protective glass devoted to her. When Michelle was here 13 years ago, she was on a plain wall with other art pieces, and you could not take any pictures of her as the flash and exposure over time would wear away at the painting. Now only 3 guards kept watch over her, and none stopped the 50 or so people snapping pictures. She is quite a sight to behold.
We spent the next 3 hours strolling through most of the gallery, specifically the paintings from the Itailian, Duch and French masters. We all wished we had payed a bit more attention in our art history classes, because there is so much to see and so many nuances that we could have picked up from each painting. There was an audioguide for the Louvre, but we knew that there was no way we could sit through all that information, so we did not even try. There is one thing to say for the managers of the gallery, they have chairs everywhere! This is something we all have been thinking would be a good idea, because no matter how many paintings you have, if your guests feet hurt, they won't stay to see them and they might not even pay to go in. It was a relief on all our feet.
We left the Louve, with the intent of returning after lunch and officially checking into our room. We had lunch at a little cafe near the Louvre. Since Jenifer requested to know some of the food things we are eating, here goes! Michelle had a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with spicy mustard, Brandon had an omelet to eat with fries and a salad (an interesting combination!), Tim tried a mixed sandwich, with ham and cheese on a baguette and Duane had his first crepe. The crepe was less than good for Duane, as he was expecting a dessert crepe and this was more of a breakfast one, that was completely cooked brown and crispy on the outside. We made a note to add in more crepes while we were there.
We walked the distance back to our room, unpacked a bit and took showers, then met up again to finish the Louvre. For the second visit we focused on the lower floors with the various statues, and tablets, plus other artifacts from antiquity. It was amazing to see how detailed the design work was on some of the statues, bowls and goblets. We also saw the crown jewels from the last French king and queen. Such beautiful jewelry, and the case that was guarding it was like a fortress. If it was disturbed, the entire case would descend to the floor to protect it. Amazing!
After the Louvre we decided to hit as many of the other sights as we could, beginning with the Notre Dame. We walked through it and saw all of the amazing stained glass. Again, another church where you think, how can you build so high, and have such beautiful art pieces and stained glass in a church that is hundreds of years old. How can you get all that stone on top of the church without a huge industrial sized crane!
After the Notre Dame we walked over to l'Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top of it. After 253 stairs you were rewarded with the most beautiful view of the city. Since the day was clear, we were able to take pictures from every angle. The Arc is at the center of a large roundabout, and there are 6-8 streets that all originate from the monument and span out into the city. So you have a great view from all directions.
We realized that it was about 10:30 pm at this time, and if we hurried we might be able to get into the Eiffel Tower before it closed at 12:00 (last ticket given at 11:00). We hustled over there, to find the line for the elevator impossibly long. We decided to go to the line for the stairs. No one counted how many we went up, but we reached a height of 668, which we assume means 668 feet, but we are not sure. It was a long walk, trust us! But again, the view was worth it, especially at night. We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures and admiring the view. We descended and waited in a nearby park because at 12:00 the lights would go on all over the tower. There were many other parisians in the park, and they had brought along their wine, cheese, candles and blankets to sit in the park and enjoy the evening. This is something we must do if we are ever back, as to sit and relax would have been so nice after a long day!
Nonetheless, we made the LONG walk back home. To give you a sense of it, the walk from the Eiffel Tower began at 12:15, and we arrived back in the room around 1:45. A long walk to be sure. If you measure activity by counting your daily steps taken, 10,000 steps will replace 30 minutes of exercise. On this day, we walked 46,000 steps. So yes, a long full day, but we were all excited to have seen all that we did.
The next morning we awoke early to catch the train to Versailles, which was a palace of the kings and queens of France. We needed to take the urban metro to the suburban RER trains, which was a bit interesting. We finally arrived at 11:00, along with the rest of the world (no joke!) and tried to determine which of the 5 lines we needed to get into. At 11:30 we had our tickets, and were off. We opted for the full pass, which gave us access to every room that was open, as well as the gardens, Marie Antoinettes estate and audio guides for the buildings. It was an amazing sight to see, so much opulence and grandeur. It was nice to have the audio guides, as all of the descriptions were in French, and Michelle's French is only good for questions and answers with real people! We saw the main apartments of the kings and queens, then the apartments for the dauphan (the future king) and his family, as well as the apartments for the current kings children. It is a huge building, but when you think of the number of people who could have actually live there, it seems a bit more realistic. Because for all of the royal family that would live there, you also needed to house the servants and the royal guards.
We toured the gardens and ate panini's in the park while we watched the water show in the small amount of shade we could find. It was a relaxing time after all that walking. The $5 small coke we bought was refreshing to the body, but not to the pocketbook!
We left the castle and returned on the RER train. It was surprisingly easier the second time around to get back to the city center. Since we were back early, we toured the Rodin gardens, and Brandon and Duane managed to get into the temporary and private exhibits for free as they are a student and a teacher. Michelle and Tim settled with peeking in through the windows.
After the Rodin gardens we decided to make an early night of it by taking the Metro (read into this, our feet hurt so bad we were willing to spend $1.5 each to ride back home!) and we found a place selling crepes along the way. Michelle had one with sugar (YUM!) Tim tried one with bananas (would have been better with bananas and sugar), Brandon had one with Nutella (which he is seriously addicted to now!) and Duane had one with a few different toppings. No one is exactly sure what it was, but they were all very good and cooked to order.
Dinner was eaten at a restaurant called Page 35, which served meals with a fixed price (i.e. there were three tiers, you could choose one item from each tier). The waiter spoke a bit of english, and we all managed to find something that we liked. Duane and Michelle had a beef stew, which was tender and yummy. Brandon had the most awesome chicken you could ever imagine. This makes up for the nasty pesto he had in Florence. Tim had a steak, which originally came out still mooing. He likes them medium rare, but this steak looked like it was lightly seared on each side, instead of fully cooked. Deserts were also enjoyed, and we headed home for an "early" night. I think we all got to bed around 1 am.
We took an early morning train to Belgium, which is where we are writing this update. Tomorrow we head up in the morning to England via the chunnel, where Tim and Michelle will spend their last 2 days and Brandon and Duane will spend their last 5. Belgium has been the land of chocolate for us so far, with us indulging at a few different places and relaxing after a stressful Paris. We will try to continue updating the blog once we are at London, but know that we are safe and still having a blast exploring this part of the world.
Hugs and kisses to all.
In Paris we checked our bags into our room, and met the owner, Mr. Moreau, who spoke a bit of English, but preferred French. It was not until the last day we were there that he began to smile, and when we left he said that Michelle's French was good. Michelle knows that he was being VERY kind, as it has been 8 years since she has studied, and many of the words and verb conjugations are forgotten. But she was flattered all the same.
We left our things in the hotel and headed out. But not to any ordinary destination, no we headed straight over to the Louvre. We waited in a short line, as we were there at 8:30 and it opened at 9:00. Once the tickets were purchased, we went to visit HER. Yes, the Mona Lisa, which is smaller than you would think, and now has an entire security wall with protective glass devoted to her. When Michelle was here 13 years ago, she was on a plain wall with other art pieces, and you could not take any pictures of her as the flash and exposure over time would wear away at the painting. Now only 3 guards kept watch over her, and none stopped the 50 or so people snapping pictures. She is quite a sight to behold.
We spent the next 3 hours strolling through most of the gallery, specifically the paintings from the Itailian, Duch and French masters. We all wished we had payed a bit more attention in our art history classes, because there is so much to see and so many nuances that we could have picked up from each painting. There was an audioguide for the Louvre, but we knew that there was no way we could sit through all that information, so we did not even try. There is one thing to say for the managers of the gallery, they have chairs everywhere! This is something we all have been thinking would be a good idea, because no matter how many paintings you have, if your guests feet hurt, they won't stay to see them and they might not even pay to go in. It was a relief on all our feet.
We left the Louve, with the intent of returning after lunch and officially checking into our room. We had lunch at a little cafe near the Louvre. Since Jenifer requested to know some of the food things we are eating, here goes! Michelle had a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with spicy mustard, Brandon had an omelet to eat with fries and a salad (an interesting combination!), Tim tried a mixed sandwich, with ham and cheese on a baguette and Duane had his first crepe. The crepe was less than good for Duane, as he was expecting a dessert crepe and this was more of a breakfast one, that was completely cooked brown and crispy on the outside. We made a note to add in more crepes while we were there.
We walked the distance back to our room, unpacked a bit and took showers, then met up again to finish the Louvre. For the second visit we focused on the lower floors with the various statues, and tablets, plus other artifacts from antiquity. It was amazing to see how detailed the design work was on some of the statues, bowls and goblets. We also saw the crown jewels from the last French king and queen. Such beautiful jewelry, and the case that was guarding it was like a fortress. If it was disturbed, the entire case would descend to the floor to protect it. Amazing!
After the Louvre we decided to hit as many of the other sights as we could, beginning with the Notre Dame. We walked through it and saw all of the amazing stained glass. Again, another church where you think, how can you build so high, and have such beautiful art pieces and stained glass in a church that is hundreds of years old. How can you get all that stone on top of the church without a huge industrial sized crane!
After the Notre Dame we walked over to l'Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top of it. After 253 stairs you were rewarded with the most beautiful view of the city. Since the day was clear, we were able to take pictures from every angle. The Arc is at the center of a large roundabout, and there are 6-8 streets that all originate from the monument and span out into the city. So you have a great view from all directions.
We realized that it was about 10:30 pm at this time, and if we hurried we might be able to get into the Eiffel Tower before it closed at 12:00 (last ticket given at 11:00). We hustled over there, to find the line for the elevator impossibly long. We decided to go to the line for the stairs. No one counted how many we went up, but we reached a height of 668, which we assume means 668 feet, but we are not sure. It was a long walk, trust us! But again, the view was worth it, especially at night. We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures and admiring the view. We descended and waited in a nearby park because at 12:00 the lights would go on all over the tower. There were many other parisians in the park, and they had brought along their wine, cheese, candles and blankets to sit in the park and enjoy the evening. This is something we must do if we are ever back, as to sit and relax would have been so nice after a long day!
Nonetheless, we made the LONG walk back home. To give you a sense of it, the walk from the Eiffel Tower began at 12:15, and we arrived back in the room around 1:45. A long walk to be sure. If you measure activity by counting your daily steps taken, 10,000 steps will replace 30 minutes of exercise. On this day, we walked 46,000 steps. So yes, a long full day, but we were all excited to have seen all that we did.
The next morning we awoke early to catch the train to Versailles, which was a palace of the kings and queens of France. We needed to take the urban metro to the suburban RER trains, which was a bit interesting. We finally arrived at 11:00, along with the rest of the world (no joke!) and tried to determine which of the 5 lines we needed to get into. At 11:30 we had our tickets, and were off. We opted for the full pass, which gave us access to every room that was open, as well as the gardens, Marie Antoinettes estate and audio guides for the buildings. It was an amazing sight to see, so much opulence and grandeur. It was nice to have the audio guides, as all of the descriptions were in French, and Michelle's French is only good for questions and answers with real people! We saw the main apartments of the kings and queens, then the apartments for the dauphan (the future king) and his family, as well as the apartments for the current kings children. It is a huge building, but when you think of the number of people who could have actually live there, it seems a bit more realistic. Because for all of the royal family that would live there, you also needed to house the servants and the royal guards.
We toured the gardens and ate panini's in the park while we watched the water show in the small amount of shade we could find. It was a relaxing time after all that walking. The $5 small coke we bought was refreshing to the body, but not to the pocketbook!
We left the castle and returned on the RER train. It was surprisingly easier the second time around to get back to the city center. Since we were back early, we toured the Rodin gardens, and Brandon and Duane managed to get into the temporary and private exhibits for free as they are a student and a teacher. Michelle and Tim settled with peeking in through the windows.
After the Rodin gardens we decided to make an early night of it by taking the Metro (read into this, our feet hurt so bad we were willing to spend $1.5 each to ride back home!) and we found a place selling crepes along the way. Michelle had one with sugar (YUM!) Tim tried one with bananas (would have been better with bananas and sugar), Brandon had one with Nutella (which he is seriously addicted to now!) and Duane had one with a few different toppings. No one is exactly sure what it was, but they were all very good and cooked to order.
Dinner was eaten at a restaurant called Page 35, which served meals with a fixed price (i.e. there were three tiers, you could choose one item from each tier). The waiter spoke a bit of english, and we all managed to find something that we liked. Duane and Michelle had a beef stew, which was tender and yummy. Brandon had the most awesome chicken you could ever imagine. This makes up for the nasty pesto he had in Florence. Tim had a steak, which originally came out still mooing. He likes them medium rare, but this steak looked like it was lightly seared on each side, instead of fully cooked. Deserts were also enjoyed, and we headed home for an "early" night. I think we all got to bed around 1 am.
We took an early morning train to Belgium, which is where we are writing this update. Tomorrow we head up in the morning to England via the chunnel, where Tim and Michelle will spend their last 2 days and Brandon and Duane will spend their last 5. Belgium has been the land of chocolate for us so far, with us indulging at a few different places and relaxing after a stressful Paris. We will try to continue updating the blog once we are at London, but know that we are safe and still having a blast exploring this part of the world.
Hugs and kisses to all.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
A quick update!
We have all spent a great 4 days in Munich with Marina and her family. It has been so lovely that we have all seriously considered moving to Munich. Then we realized that we speak very poor German, and that we cannot stay with the Schwabs for ever, else they get sick and tired of their new American friends. So tonight we are off to the train station yet again to catch a night train to Paris. So let´s update you on the Munich leg of our trip.
Yesterday we were off to Dachau to see the concentration camp and the memorial sight there. It was an amazing experience that none of us are soon to forget. We arranged for a tour of the site, and the tour guide spoke great English. It was wonderful to hear the story of the camp, what it was originally intended for and how it turned out over the course of WWII.
On the way back Brandon, Duane and Marina stopped over at a corn maze, while Tim and Michelle went to the grocery store. We all met up at the Schwab house for some amazing BBQ. The highlights were seeing how Germans start their BBQs. Their coal is not fast acting, or at least the coal we had, so there were some starter logs involved and then, the piece de resistance, a haridryer. Yes a hairdryer to push the air into the coals. The BBQ was enjoyed by all and we had great conversation over candlelight in the back yard garden.
Today we spent the day touring the rest of Munich and picking up some gifts for our loved ones. All in all it was a restful and relaxing day.
Well, we will need to regail you with more stories once we get to France. We are off to catch a train. Running as always!
Yesterday we were off to Dachau to see the concentration camp and the memorial sight there. It was an amazing experience that none of us are soon to forget. We arranged for a tour of the site, and the tour guide spoke great English. It was wonderful to hear the story of the camp, what it was originally intended for and how it turned out over the course of WWII.
On the way back Brandon, Duane and Marina stopped over at a corn maze, while Tim and Michelle went to the grocery store. We all met up at the Schwab house for some amazing BBQ. The highlights were seeing how Germans start their BBQs. Their coal is not fast acting, or at least the coal we had, so there were some starter logs involved and then, the piece de resistance, a haridryer. Yes a hairdryer to push the air into the coals. The BBQ was enjoyed by all and we had great conversation over candlelight in the back yard garden.
Today we spent the day touring the rest of Munich and picking up some gifts for our loved ones. All in all it was a restful and relaxing day.
Well, we will need to regail you with more stories once we get to France. We are off to catch a train. Running as always!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
German Royalty - from welcome German homes to Palaces
Let me start off by saying a big IM SORRY to my sister Jenifer for mis-spelling her name in the last post, and a thank you to my sister Lindsay for the warning on the last post. :). Typing on a German keyboard is a little difficult because the letters are not in the same place, so it takes 3 times longer to get anything written, much less spelled well. We are sorry Jay!
Well, we are back, with an update on our third (and last) day in Prague, as well as our first two days in Munich. This will be a long post as we will catch you up on 3 days of travels. On our last day in Prague we needed to find a place to leave our luggage. The previous day we had checked out the luggage lockers at the train station, which were less than encouraging. In three different travel books they had recommended to use the manual baggage check (where you leave your bags with an actual person ) versus the locker checks. When we went to the train station we discovered that there was no more manual baggage check, only the lockers. And in contrast with the lockers in Vienna, these had an actual key that could have been duplicated by any person who wanted to pull the key out for a moment, have it duplicated and return it to the same locker. So there could be hundreds of people with thousands of keys for each locker. Needless to say, we would have carried the bags on our backs from 11:00am -8:00pm rather than leave them in these lockers.
Luckily Jan, the man who rented us the room, said we could keep the bags in the main kitchen area for free until 6:00. Somehow Tim worked out a "gentlemens agreement" with him, after he wanted to charge us 25 euros for the late checkout if we decided to keep them in the room. This was such a blessing to us, and though we were slightly skeptical, we decided it was the best of all of the options. We locked all of our bags together, and were off for the rest of the day. After lunch at a restaurant called "the two cats" we decided to spend time in the last of the things we wanted to see and do on our last day. We looked at the main square again, and went into some of the souvenir shops. We also went to a few glass stores, as Tim and Michelle wanted to pick up a piece of Czech glass, and we were able to find one that we liked. We also went to a black light show, which is a play that includes elements of black light reflecting on the white parts of the clothing of the actors. It was an . . . interesting show, called Aspects of Alice, which was loosely associated with the Alice in Wonderland story. And by loosely, I mean loosely.
It was a great day of walking around, talking, and making one last visit to the grocery store before we headed over to the train station. We picked up our bags and made the 15-20 minute trek to the train station. By this time it had started to sprinkle, which made the trip a bit harder. The streets in Prague are beautiful, with different colored stones making simple mosaics on the side walks, but once they get wet, they are very slippery. So you add a 25 lb pack on your back and walk for a mile, and it is a bit . . . precarious.
We finally made it to the station and had about 1.5 hours to wait for the train. This was the hardest train station to be in, as the interior is not designed to be aesthetically beautiful, and has little by the way of creature comforts. It may have been more beautiful at one time, but has since fallen into a bit of disrepair. This is not a station that we would choose to spend much time in. The nice thing is, the police presence is felt, and that is a great comfort as we were there for a while. We finally boarded the train, and after a while Duane and Brandon were able to switch rooms to Michelle and Tims. We were alone for about 30 minutes when two other men joined us. They were from Long Beach California and were pretty nice guys. They were also traveling around Europe, and since they were on the young side, we were able to share travel stories and suggestions. They were supposed to have tickets on this train, but their travel agent reserved their tickets for September, even though their Eurorail tickets ended in the middle of August. So the train personnel were very nice and did not fine them for traveling on the train without tickets, but our two extra beds were the only ones on the train that were open for the night. So there were 6 of us on one very small room. It was not the best nights sleep for any of us, but we managed.
When the train came to the train station we were excited to see Marina and her mom already there waiting for us. It was a beautiful sight to see people we already knew there. We were warmly welcomed, and we soon came to love Marnias mom. Her name is Renata, and she speaks English very well. We made introductions and made our way to the ticket agent to make reservations for our way out of Munich. It turns out that the German schools began their vacations on the day we arrived, and the first train we could get out of Munich was a day later than we planned because all of the previous trains were full with vacationing students . Renata was nice enough to allow us to stay for 4 days instead of 3. We are so blessed to be able to have such great friends.
We then left the ticket agent and Renata bought us our first pretzels with butter on them, which was a great treat since we had not eaten anything since lunch the previous day. We hopped on the S-Bahn train and made the 20 minute train ride out towards Marinas house. It is a beautiful house with three stories (3 on top, one basement). The first story (ground floor) is the kitchen, dinning room and living room, the second story is Renata's room as well as the office and Marinas room is a large on on the very top. It is about as big as Tim and Michelle's first apartment. WOW! Renata has given Tim and Michelle her room, and Duane and Brandon are sharing the office nearby. It is wonderful to have such accommodations after the smaller quarters we have had so far.
We had a great breakfast full of pretzels, butter, jam, and bread with tea and coffee. After showers and a small nap break we were off to explore the sights of downtown Munich. We looked in on two different churches, one of which was built into the surrounding buildings that you could almost miss it as you walked down the street. They were both so beautiful In one we climbed to the top of the bell tower, and Marina and Renata gave us a tour of the surrounding areas. We also walked in the square and into a few gourmet shops selling pastries and lunch type meals. We bought some pastries and ate them in front of the Opera house, which was a great view to see. We then went in front of the main clock to watch the glochenspeil (the parts of the clock that move at each hour). Unfortunately only 1/3 of the glockenspeil was working as the rest was not operating due to renovations. It seems that many of the sights that we have seen have had some form of restoration, which has limited the amount that we could see and experience. Sad, but at least we were able to see some of it.
Once we were finished with the glockenspeil we made our way to the Hofbrauhous. This is one of the most famous beer halls, which has wall to wall tables and beer flowing everywhere. They do serve food as well, and our party ordered both. Tim had something called a Radler, which is 1/2 Sprite and 1/2 dark beer. It has a sweeter taste to it, which was good. Michelle and Duane had the lighter beer, which was also very good. They were all 1 litter beers, which looked so big, and the steins were so heavy that Michelle had to lift hers with both hands. The food was good as well, and we enjoyed looking at all of the other people in the hall that had a bit too much to drink. We were there early, and were able to find a table, but by the time we left the place was very full. Others were happy to get our table.
After dinner we continued walking the town and had some ice cream. We walked a bit more, then headed home on the S-bahn. We tucked ourselves into bed and enjoyed a good nights sleep. It was a great day, and we were glad to share it with good friends.
In the morning we again enjoyed a great breakfast, this time full of cheese, meat and more tasty bread, as well as Nutella and jelly. Brandon has now realized that he loves Nutella, and it was hard to pull the container away from him! He was very excited to learn that you can buy Nutella in the states!
After breakfast we loaded into the rental van that Renata had rented for the 6 of us to take us to Neuenschwanstein Castle, which is the one that Disney modeled their castle out of. It was a 1.5 hour trip out to the castle, for which we had reservations already established. We also had a surprise, in that we were picking up Pia along the way to the castle. Marina and Pia were both exchange students with Tim and Michelle two years ago, and they had not seen her in two years. It was a great treat, and we were excited to see her. The seven of us headed up to the castle.
Once there, we learned that our reservations were not fully completed, but the kind counter lady allowed us to join the next English speaking tour, which was 2 hours away. This was fine, as we had a 45 minute hike up to the castle itself, from the ticketing area we were in. We slowly made our way up the hill, and enjoyed a small bit of lunch once we were there. The castle tour was great, and the castle itself was beautiful. If Renata had not rented a car for us, I don't know how we would have made it over there, as it was not close to town at all. Thank you Renata! We all enjoyed our time, and Duane bought a book on the history of the castle that Michelle is excited to read about when she can get her hands on it. :)
After the castle we all loaded into the van, and promptly fell asleep. Once we dropped Pia off at her Vespa so she could go home, we made a scenic tour back to Marinas home by stopping off at a different town for coffee and pastries. We visited an old church with original stained glass windows that were beautiful and took some great pictures. Renata gave us a history of the town and the walls surrounding it, and we visited one of the walls just outside the city. We then headed home. On our way we stopped off at a German grocery store, which was enjoyed by all. So many great things we have never seen, especially the great cheese and meats at the deli counter.
Once at home Marinas sister had homemade lasagna and appetizers waiting for us, as well as red and white wine. It was a great meal, and I think we all ate way too much. Marinas sister is named Bettina, and she is a urologist in a local town. So after a hard days work and some complicated surgeries, she came to Marinas house to cook us a meal. What an amazing person, and since she speaks wonderful English she is a great addition to dinner conversation. After dinner we had lemon ice cream with lemoncello liquor over it. With all of the days happenings we are feeling like royalty. It was one of our best meals of our trip, and it is nice to feel like you can let down your guard and be at home. It will be hard to leave in another two days!
That is all for now. Tomorrow we are off to the Dachau concentration camp, which should be a somber experience. We will make a day of it, by sleeping in a bit, finishing laundry and making our way over to the camp. Renata is concerned that we don't do this as our last thing, so that our last memory is not the camp. It will be an enlightening experience, if nothing else.
More to come . . .
Well, we are back, with an update on our third (and last) day in Prague, as well as our first two days in Munich. This will be a long post as we will catch you up on 3 days of travels. On our last day in Prague we needed to find a place to leave our luggage. The previous day we had checked out the luggage lockers at the train station, which were less than encouraging. In three different travel books they had recommended to use the manual baggage check (where you leave your bags with an actual person ) versus the locker checks. When we went to the train station we discovered that there was no more manual baggage check, only the lockers. And in contrast with the lockers in Vienna, these had an actual key that could have been duplicated by any person who wanted to pull the key out for a moment, have it duplicated and return it to the same locker. So there could be hundreds of people with thousands of keys for each locker. Needless to say, we would have carried the bags on our backs from 11:00am -8:00pm rather than leave them in these lockers.
Luckily Jan, the man who rented us the room, said we could keep the bags in the main kitchen area for free until 6:00. Somehow Tim worked out a "gentlemens agreement" with him, after he wanted to charge us 25 euros for the late checkout if we decided to keep them in the room. This was such a blessing to us, and though we were slightly skeptical, we decided it was the best of all of the options. We locked all of our bags together, and were off for the rest of the day. After lunch at a restaurant called "the two cats" we decided to spend time in the last of the things we wanted to see and do on our last day. We looked at the main square again, and went into some of the souvenir shops. We also went to a few glass stores, as Tim and Michelle wanted to pick up a piece of Czech glass, and we were able to find one that we liked. We also went to a black light show, which is a play that includes elements of black light reflecting on the white parts of the clothing of the actors. It was an . . . interesting show, called Aspects of Alice, which was loosely associated with the Alice in Wonderland story. And by loosely, I mean loosely.
It was a great day of walking around, talking, and making one last visit to the grocery store before we headed over to the train station. We picked up our bags and made the 15-20 minute trek to the train station. By this time it had started to sprinkle, which made the trip a bit harder. The streets in Prague are beautiful, with different colored stones making simple mosaics on the side walks, but once they get wet, they are very slippery. So you add a 25 lb pack on your back and walk for a mile, and it is a bit . . . precarious.
We finally made it to the station and had about 1.5 hours to wait for the train. This was the hardest train station to be in, as the interior is not designed to be aesthetically beautiful, and has little by the way of creature comforts. It may have been more beautiful at one time, but has since fallen into a bit of disrepair. This is not a station that we would choose to spend much time in. The nice thing is, the police presence is felt, and that is a great comfort as we were there for a while. We finally boarded the train, and after a while Duane and Brandon were able to switch rooms to Michelle and Tims. We were alone for about 30 minutes when two other men joined us. They were from Long Beach California and were pretty nice guys. They were also traveling around Europe, and since they were on the young side, we were able to share travel stories and suggestions. They were supposed to have tickets on this train, but their travel agent reserved their tickets for September, even though their Eurorail tickets ended in the middle of August. So the train personnel were very nice and did not fine them for traveling on the train without tickets, but our two extra beds were the only ones on the train that were open for the night. So there were 6 of us on one very small room. It was not the best nights sleep for any of us, but we managed.
When the train came to the train station we were excited to see Marina and her mom already there waiting for us. It was a beautiful sight to see people we already knew there. We were warmly welcomed, and we soon came to love Marnias mom. Her name is Renata, and she speaks English very well. We made introductions and made our way to the ticket agent to make reservations for our way out of Munich. It turns out that the German schools began their vacations on the day we arrived, and the first train we could get out of Munich was a day later than we planned because all of the previous trains were full with vacationing students . Renata was nice enough to allow us to stay for 4 days instead of 3. We are so blessed to be able to have such great friends.
We then left the ticket agent and Renata bought us our first pretzels with butter on them, which was a great treat since we had not eaten anything since lunch the previous day. We hopped on the S-Bahn train and made the 20 minute train ride out towards Marinas house. It is a beautiful house with three stories (3 on top, one basement). The first story (ground floor) is the kitchen, dinning room and living room, the second story is Renata's room as well as the office and Marinas room is a large on on the very top. It is about as big as Tim and Michelle's first apartment. WOW! Renata has given Tim and Michelle her room, and Duane and Brandon are sharing the office nearby. It is wonderful to have such accommodations after the smaller quarters we have had so far.
We had a great breakfast full of pretzels, butter, jam, and bread with tea and coffee. After showers and a small nap break we were off to explore the sights of downtown Munich. We looked in on two different churches, one of which was built into the surrounding buildings that you could almost miss it as you walked down the street. They were both so beautiful In one we climbed to the top of the bell tower, and Marina and Renata gave us a tour of the surrounding areas. We also walked in the square and into a few gourmet shops selling pastries and lunch type meals. We bought some pastries and ate them in front of the Opera house, which was a great view to see. We then went in front of the main clock to watch the glochenspeil (the parts of the clock that move at each hour). Unfortunately only 1/3 of the glockenspeil was working as the rest was not operating due to renovations. It seems that many of the sights that we have seen have had some form of restoration, which has limited the amount that we could see and experience. Sad, but at least we were able to see some of it.
Once we were finished with the glockenspeil we made our way to the Hofbrauhous. This is one of the most famous beer halls, which has wall to wall tables and beer flowing everywhere. They do serve food as well, and our party ordered both. Tim had something called a Radler, which is 1/2 Sprite and 1/2 dark beer. It has a sweeter taste to it, which was good. Michelle and Duane had the lighter beer, which was also very good. They were all 1 litter beers, which looked so big, and the steins were so heavy that Michelle had to lift hers with both hands. The food was good as well, and we enjoyed looking at all of the other people in the hall that had a bit too much to drink. We were there early, and were able to find a table, but by the time we left the place was very full. Others were happy to get our table.
After dinner we continued walking the town and had some ice cream. We walked a bit more, then headed home on the S-bahn. We tucked ourselves into bed and enjoyed a good nights sleep. It was a great day, and we were glad to share it with good friends.
In the morning we again enjoyed a great breakfast, this time full of cheese, meat and more tasty bread, as well as Nutella and jelly. Brandon has now realized that he loves Nutella, and it was hard to pull the container away from him! He was very excited to learn that you can buy Nutella in the states!
After breakfast we loaded into the rental van that Renata had rented for the 6 of us to take us to Neuenschwanstein Castle, which is the one that Disney modeled their castle out of. It was a 1.5 hour trip out to the castle, for which we had reservations already established. We also had a surprise, in that we were picking up Pia along the way to the castle. Marina and Pia were both exchange students with Tim and Michelle two years ago, and they had not seen her in two years. It was a great treat, and we were excited to see her. The seven of us headed up to the castle.
Once there, we learned that our reservations were not fully completed, but the kind counter lady allowed us to join the next English speaking tour, which was 2 hours away. This was fine, as we had a 45 minute hike up to the castle itself, from the ticketing area we were in. We slowly made our way up the hill, and enjoyed a small bit of lunch once we were there. The castle tour was great, and the castle itself was beautiful. If Renata had not rented a car for us, I don't know how we would have made it over there, as it was not close to town at all. Thank you Renata! We all enjoyed our time, and Duane bought a book on the history of the castle that Michelle is excited to read about when she can get her hands on it. :)
After the castle we all loaded into the van, and promptly fell asleep. Once we dropped Pia off at her Vespa so she could go home, we made a scenic tour back to Marinas home by stopping off at a different town for coffee and pastries. We visited an old church with original stained glass windows that were beautiful and took some great pictures. Renata gave us a history of the town and the walls surrounding it, and we visited one of the walls just outside the city. We then headed home. On our way we stopped off at a German grocery store, which was enjoyed by all. So many great things we have never seen, especially the great cheese and meats at the deli counter.
Once at home Marinas sister had homemade lasagna and appetizers waiting for us, as well as red and white wine. It was a great meal, and I think we all ate way too much. Marinas sister is named Bettina, and she is a urologist in a local town. So after a hard days work and some complicated surgeries, she came to Marinas house to cook us a meal. What an amazing person, and since she speaks wonderful English she is a great addition to dinner conversation. After dinner we had lemon ice cream with lemoncello liquor over it. With all of the days happenings we are feeling like royalty. It was one of our best meals of our trip, and it is nice to feel like you can let down your guard and be at home. It will be hard to leave in another two days!
That is all for now. Tomorrow we are off to the Dachau concentration camp, which should be a somber experience. We will make a day of it, by sleeping in a bit, finishing laundry and making our way over to the camp. Renata is concerned that we don't do this as our last thing, so that our last memory is not the camp. It will be an enlightening experience, if nothing else.
More to come . . .
Monday, July 30, 2007
Czech me out . . . of Prague and onto Munich!
Before we start this post, Michelle wants to send a big Happy Birthday to her sister Jennifer. It was her 27th birthday on the 25th, and though this wish is 5 days old, know that I was thinking about you on your big day. We love you Jay!
Well we are back, and no longer in Prauge. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let us catch you up on what has been happening since we last posted. We settled into our room in Prague, and since we had the use of a washing machine (and a ton of laundry to do) we threw in a few loads in the wash. Unfortunately no dryer, so our room looked like one big huge clothes line by the time we went to bed. On the first day we slept in for quite a while. Once we all awoke and had showers (which we were badly needing at the time) we were off for a walking tour of Prague. The city is absolutely beautiful, with amazing architecture and old world charm. We can see why people were saying that Prague was not a city to be missed on a tour of Europe.
We walked all the way across the St. Charles Bridge and up to the castle of the Hapsburgs. The bridge is a beautiful place with many people selling their homemade crafts. Very tempting to buy them all, except transporting them across Europe is always in the back of our minds. The bridge is lined with statues of the saints, and there is one that everyone touches the feet of for good luck. When you look at this statue it is covered in black, but the place where people touch is a bright gold. It makes you wonder how beautiful they could be if they were all cleaned.
At the castle we saw that at the front they had two guards at the gate. We had fun getting pictures with them, as they could not move. We tried not to be too annoying, and compared with others there, we were easy on them. We toured the church within the palace walls, but as we arrived late we were not able to tour the castle. It was on our list, but we were never able to get back to that area of town. We know that we will see a big castle in Munich when we are with Marina, the one that the Disneyland castle was modeled after, so we are not too sad. Part of the problem with getting back to the castle was the rather large hill you had to climb to get to the top. As much as we love to walk, when you walk over 20,000 steps in a day, climbing hills a second time looses its appeal. Aside from the hill, it was a beautiful castle area and church, and we enjoyed our time there.
After the castle we walked down the hill and continued to explore the town. We then turned in for the day, as we had a long night the night before.
The next day we again walked around the town. We made a point to get back to the train station to confirm a train to go to Munich the following night. Unfortunately there were not 4 beds in the same compartment, so we were separated, at least on the books. We were determined to switch bunks with someone so that we could be in the same room. It makes sleeping much easier when you are not worried about someone stealing everything you have at the moment.
As we were walking we were surprised to see a big parade of people dressed in what we assumed to be traditional Czech clothing playing instruments we had never seen before. We stopped a moment to watch them pass by. Later on in the day when we walked past the old town square they were again playing music and dancing. It was amazing to watch. In the midst of this, we spent a few moments in the tourist information office and then it began to rain. And when we say rain, we mean RAIN. With thunder and lightening. An wouldn´t you know that the dancers did not miss a beat. All of the spectators ran for the overhangs, but they kept on going. And as we left the windows in our room open (with all the laundry hanging) and our umbrellas in the room, we were off as well. We ran through the streets, just like the crazy Americans we are, laughing all the way while everyone else stared in amazement. Some people laughed, and one even applauded, but I think they could all see how much fun we were having. It was a great moment.
We had dinner at a restaurant together and decided to see a marionette show. These are the puppets on a string. The one that was recommended was for Don Giovanni, which is like our Don Juan. It was all in the original Italian, so some of the action was understood, and some was not. It was in interesting show, and Duane commended that it was much better than the Punch and Judy shows he remembered. A good time was had by all.
We will have to update you on the third and final day in Prague as well as the night train to Munich and the first day in Munich tomorrow. We will try to get online and do that during the first part of the day, as we have a traveling day planned tomorrow. Marinas mom has rented a car to take us to the Neuschwanstein castle, which we are all excited about. Marina and her mom have already been so amazing to us, and it is great to know and be staying with locals in a city. More to come!
Aufwiedersehen!
Well we are back, and no longer in Prauge. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let us catch you up on what has been happening since we last posted. We settled into our room in Prague, and since we had the use of a washing machine (and a ton of laundry to do) we threw in a few loads in the wash. Unfortunately no dryer, so our room looked like one big huge clothes line by the time we went to bed. On the first day we slept in for quite a while. Once we all awoke and had showers (which we were badly needing at the time) we were off for a walking tour of Prague. The city is absolutely beautiful, with amazing architecture and old world charm. We can see why people were saying that Prague was not a city to be missed on a tour of Europe.
We walked all the way across the St. Charles Bridge and up to the castle of the Hapsburgs. The bridge is a beautiful place with many people selling their homemade crafts. Very tempting to buy them all, except transporting them across Europe is always in the back of our minds. The bridge is lined with statues of the saints, and there is one that everyone touches the feet of for good luck. When you look at this statue it is covered in black, but the place where people touch is a bright gold. It makes you wonder how beautiful they could be if they were all cleaned.
At the castle we saw that at the front they had two guards at the gate. We had fun getting pictures with them, as they could not move. We tried not to be too annoying, and compared with others there, we were easy on them. We toured the church within the palace walls, but as we arrived late we were not able to tour the castle. It was on our list, but we were never able to get back to that area of town. We know that we will see a big castle in Munich when we are with Marina, the one that the Disneyland castle was modeled after, so we are not too sad. Part of the problem with getting back to the castle was the rather large hill you had to climb to get to the top. As much as we love to walk, when you walk over 20,000 steps in a day, climbing hills a second time looses its appeal. Aside from the hill, it was a beautiful castle area and church, and we enjoyed our time there.
After the castle we walked down the hill and continued to explore the town. We then turned in for the day, as we had a long night the night before.
The next day we again walked around the town. We made a point to get back to the train station to confirm a train to go to Munich the following night. Unfortunately there were not 4 beds in the same compartment, so we were separated, at least on the books. We were determined to switch bunks with someone so that we could be in the same room. It makes sleeping much easier when you are not worried about someone stealing everything you have at the moment.
As we were walking we were surprised to see a big parade of people dressed in what we assumed to be traditional Czech clothing playing instruments we had never seen before. We stopped a moment to watch them pass by. Later on in the day when we walked past the old town square they were again playing music and dancing. It was amazing to watch. In the midst of this, we spent a few moments in the tourist information office and then it began to rain. And when we say rain, we mean RAIN. With thunder and lightening. An wouldn´t you know that the dancers did not miss a beat. All of the spectators ran for the overhangs, but they kept on going. And as we left the windows in our room open (with all the laundry hanging) and our umbrellas in the room, we were off as well. We ran through the streets, just like the crazy Americans we are, laughing all the way while everyone else stared in amazement. Some people laughed, and one even applauded, but I think they could all see how much fun we were having. It was a great moment.
We had dinner at a restaurant together and decided to see a marionette show. These are the puppets on a string. The one that was recommended was for Don Giovanni, which is like our Don Juan. It was all in the original Italian, so some of the action was understood, and some was not. It was in interesting show, and Duane commended that it was much better than the Punch and Judy shows he remembered. A good time was had by all.
We will have to update you on the third and final day in Prague as well as the night train to Munich and the first day in Munich tomorrow. We will try to get online and do that during the first part of the day, as we have a traveling day planned tomorrow. Marinas mom has rented a car to take us to the Neuschwanstein castle, which we are all excited about. Marina and her mom have already been so amazing to us, and it is great to know and be staying with locals in a city. More to come!
Aufwiedersehen!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Alive and well in the Czech Republic
Much has happened since our last post, the least of which is that two days have elapsed without an update from us. We have been doing some major traveling, beginning with leaving Florence and heading for the day to Venice. We boarded a morning train and arrived around 10:00 am. We checked our baggage at the train station (which keeps getting heavier and heavier with each day) and were off for the craziest little city we have seen so far. Arriving in Venice, this was the first time we have handed over all of our possessions to a complete stranger (aka luggage checking - no lockers available), as we were just staying for the day. The twists and turns in the roads are enough to confuse even the most map savvy individual, but you add in all of the roads that end in canals with no bridges, and it is a recipe for disaster. Luckily we had the guiding prowess of Tim, who used the map like no ones business. We were navigating our way easily. We walked all around the major square, and many of the off track streets. Quite a few of them had multiple names, which made Tim's map skills even more impressive. We took a side trip by vaparatto to the island of Murano, which is famous for their glass making. As soon as we stepped off of the vaparatto we went into a shop that was giving demonstrations. It took them about 5 minutes to make a beautiful vase with different colors. Then a second artist came along and made a glass horse. The impressive thing was, the horse had to be finished in less than a minute or else the glass would become too hard to manipulate. And he did it perfectly, showing a horse raised on its hind legs, with the front legs in the air. And the piece could balance perfectly on the two back legs and tail. Now that is impressive.
We had a great lunch/dinner at a restaurant called Vino Vino, and enjoyed a good local specialty strawberry wine. It was called fragalino, and we are hoping that it is available in the states. Since we were taking a late train out, we also picked up some snacks for the road. We bought rolls, salami, cheese and Duane also picked up some olives (yum!). We ate all of this on the steps of the train station, overlooking the grand canal. The food was so good that Duane and Brandon went back for more. And what a beautiful view we had.
Next, we picked up our luggage (surprise - it was all still there!). I can't believe no one wanted all of our dirty clothes! They must have put our bags somewhere "special", so that the smell would not contaminate any of the other bags (it is amazing how your standard of cleanliness changes as you are backpacking throughout Europe - kudos to Michelle for hanging out with the boys). We boarded a night train bound for Vienna, Austria and were planning on spending one day there as well on our way to the Czech Republic. The trip to Vienna was our first experience in a sleeper train (cochette) and we all slept pretty well. It was like summer camp, only on rails and the cabins were smaller. We all fought for top or bottom bunk position, with Tim and Michelle winning the bottom bunks for this trip. We will make up for it by taking the top bunks on our way to Germany in a few days. Brandon really wants to keep his top bunk, but we are worried about this, after he fell out of the top bunk on his bunkbed in Rome. Hopefully he will not have this problem on any of the night trains.
Once in Vienna, we again checked our baggage, this time in some cool looking lockers. These were significantly cheaper than the checked baggage we had in Vienna (about 1/4 of the cost) and it was all automated. I am sure that it was an easy process, but since it took us a while to figure out that there was an English translation button, we stumbled around a bit.
Vienna was beautiful, we toured the city a while, bought Viennes pastries and even toured the Habpsburg Palace Treasury. They had some beautiful pieces in their collection, including the worlds largest emerald and some golden roses that Michelle did stop to smell (Mom - so we are remembering to stop and smell the roses! - hum 24 carat, now I know what I want for my next anniversary!). We also made sure to eat dinner at a place Tim's boss Steve Shinsky recommended - the Figlmuller. Tim and Duane had their special platter, the schnitzel, which was mighty tasty. We all made sure to get a bite.
Around 6 pm we boarded another train to Prague. It was a late train, so we arrived and secured our lodgings for the next three nights. We are staying in a room in the center of town, with a great breakfast place below, which was somehow included in the price of the room. We are still not really sure how, but after Italy, we will take it. We are paying around 1/3 of the cost of our lodgings in Rome and Florence. Nice on the pocketbook. The manager, Jan and the housmaid Lanka are both nice and speak great English. They are even helping Duane learn a little Czech.
We will update you tomorrow on all of the happenings today, as the internet location is closing. Much love to you all and know that we are safe and still having fun!
We had a great lunch/dinner at a restaurant called Vino Vino, and enjoyed a good local specialty strawberry wine. It was called fragalino, and we are hoping that it is available in the states. Since we were taking a late train out, we also picked up some snacks for the road. We bought rolls, salami, cheese and Duane also picked up some olives (yum!). We ate all of this on the steps of the train station, overlooking the grand canal. The food was so good that Duane and Brandon went back for more. And what a beautiful view we had.
Next, we picked up our luggage (surprise - it was all still there!). I can't believe no one wanted all of our dirty clothes! They must have put our bags somewhere "special", so that the smell would not contaminate any of the other bags (it is amazing how your standard of cleanliness changes as you are backpacking throughout Europe - kudos to Michelle for hanging out with the boys). We boarded a night train bound for Vienna, Austria and were planning on spending one day there as well on our way to the Czech Republic. The trip to Vienna was our first experience in a sleeper train (cochette) and we all slept pretty well. It was like summer camp, only on rails and the cabins were smaller. We all fought for top or bottom bunk position, with Tim and Michelle winning the bottom bunks for this trip. We will make up for it by taking the top bunks on our way to Germany in a few days. Brandon really wants to keep his top bunk, but we are worried about this, after he fell out of the top bunk on his bunkbed in Rome. Hopefully he will not have this problem on any of the night trains.
Once in Vienna, we again checked our baggage, this time in some cool looking lockers. These were significantly cheaper than the checked baggage we had in Vienna (about 1/4 of the cost) and it was all automated. I am sure that it was an easy process, but since it took us a while to figure out that there was an English translation button, we stumbled around a bit.
Vienna was beautiful, we toured the city a while, bought Viennes pastries and even toured the Habpsburg Palace Treasury. They had some beautiful pieces in their collection, including the worlds largest emerald and some golden roses that Michelle did stop to smell (Mom - so we are remembering to stop and smell the roses! - hum 24 carat, now I know what I want for my next anniversary!). We also made sure to eat dinner at a place Tim's boss Steve Shinsky recommended - the Figlmuller. Tim and Duane had their special platter, the schnitzel, which was mighty tasty. We all made sure to get a bite.
Around 6 pm we boarded another train to Prague. It was a late train, so we arrived and secured our lodgings for the next three nights. We are staying in a room in the center of town, with a great breakfast place below, which was somehow included in the price of the room. We are still not really sure how, but after Italy, we will take it. We are paying around 1/3 of the cost of our lodgings in Rome and Florence. Nice on the pocketbook. The manager, Jan and the housmaid Lanka are both nice and speak great English. They are even helping Duane learn a little Czech.
We will update you tomorrow on all of the happenings today, as the internet location is closing. Much love to you all and know that we are safe and still having fun!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Davidmania purchases Ufizzi and Great Food
Today was another very long day, but well worth every blistered step. We literally picked up lunch on the run...a couple of boxes of juice at a grocery store, a croissant from a local bakery, and we were on our way. We were able to see Michelangelo's David at the Academia. (Thus finishing our Michelangelo Sculptural Trifecta ...Pieta, Moses, and David) Wow! It took us all several minutes just to digest the magnitude of this masterpiece. We probably spent 30-40 minutes (at our pace, this is equivalent to a day) staring, absorbing, and playing with the 3-D computer animation of this awe-inspiring work of art (thanks Stanford U.) Does it sound like we use these superlatives too often? It's just because we really were not prepared to take in the scope and the magnitude of the artworks and historical significance of all we have seen this past week. History and art appreciation have truly been realized in just a few days.
After the Academia, we noticed it had rained while we were inside the museum, but had finished by the time we left. Poor us, we missed the rain and were also able to enjoy the just rained air. This was yet another example of God's provision since none of us had our raincoats or umbrellas.
We then picked up lunch in a local cafe, did some shopping in the open air market where Tim and Duane enjoyed exercising their prowess for negotiation. (Those Hardley boys sure love a great deal!) We then went to the Uffizi Museum... room upon room of amazing artwork from Michelangelo to Rembrandt, Raphael, and Da Vinci.
We ate dinner at Mama Gina's... our best meal thus far.
With love,
The Traveling Hardleys AKA four crazy Americans on their European Grand Tour
After the Academia, we noticed it had rained while we were inside the museum, but had finished by the time we left. Poor us, we missed the rain and were also able to enjoy the just rained air. This was yet another example of God's provision since none of us had our raincoats or umbrellas.
We then picked up lunch in a local cafe, did some shopping in the open air market where Tim and Duane enjoyed exercising their prowess for negotiation. (Those Hardley boys sure love a great deal!) We then went to the Uffizi Museum... room upon room of amazing artwork from Michelangelo to Rembrandt, Raphael, and Da Vinci.
We ate dinner at Mama Gina's... our best meal thus far.
With love,
The Traveling Hardleys AKA four crazy Americans on their European Grand Tour
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