Prague, Czech Republic - September 2007

Stop #3 on our journey was Prague. Prague was the city that always got the reaction of a dreamy "oh, Prague, I love Prague" from everyone we talked to before the trip. I can see the allure of the city. It very sweet and lovely without being overwhelming. Aside from the area around the castle, the bridge, and the town square - there aren't a ton of "must do's" in the city. On our first night we headed toward the Old Town Square for dinner and a little bit of sightseeing. The Old Town Square is made up of a few churches, cafes, and the Old Town Hall. Displayed on the Old Town is the Astronomical Clock. Built in 1410, it is amazing all that this clock does. Looking at it, you can tell it's complicated, but I didn't even realize that it shows the position of the sun, moon, zodiac, and calendar...in addition to the time. We got suckered into a touristy place for dinner - but it was a good time with live musicians and we ended up meeting a nice couple from San Francisco and were able to enjoy their company for a while. We also had our first taste of Czech beer (well, at least in the Czech Republic). The Czech pilseners are right up my alley since they are light and easy to drink.
Day 2 we woke up to a whole lot of rain. Unfortunately, this ended up to be the standard for the rest of our trip. No matter, we got out our umbrellas and made our way to the Prague Castle complex. It is basically a walled in city with a palace, 2 churches, museums, and a street of little shops and restaurants. The inside of the palace was not like the others we had seen. There weren't any rooms set up to view living quarters or period specific decorations. Instead you enjoy the views from the castle (as seen in the picture) and the actual construction within. I loved the huge wall of windows and the ceilings.

The most impressive part of the complex is the St. Vitus Cathedral. This was built in various stages beginning in 926. It has 21 chapels and is, like all the other cathedrals we have seen, very beautiful. (Cass and I have determined that we could write a tour book on Cathedrals alone for as many as we've seen). I've included two pictures of the outside of it. At this point in the day it was freezing and Cass and I were extremely unprepared for cold weather so we went to an indoor exhibit for some warmth. It turned out to me a weaponry show. Now, guns and swords to me are like the porcelian exhibit to Cassidy. I can look at a few and appreciate them, but soon I am bored, bored, bored. As you can see from the picture, I decided to take a seat and contemplate more exciting things such as running water, tax law, and watching paint dry while he read all about guns from the past. When the sun broke through the sky, we headed out of the complex and back towards Old Town. The streets here are like something out of a picture book. Little tiny cobblestone streets with pastel colored houses is all you can see. Here is just one example: The sun didn't last for long though and we were caught in the rain again. We headed towards the first bar we saw and holed up with some beer and our first game of many playing Uno. After some time we faced the fact that it wasn't getting any nicer that night and just headed to dinner and then home. I bought a coat and attempted to buy some shoes since I only had flip-flops with me and my toes were nearly frostbitten. However that was a failed attempt and I only ended up with some socks and this classy look that I think might be seen on all the hottest fashion runways for Fall 2008. Day 3 began with a trip (in the rain) to Adidas where I bought some real shoes and then we were ready to go! We walked through Old Town and Josefov, which is old Jewish neighborhood. In Josefov is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, from the 15th century. Because the government didn't allow the Jewish to bury their dead elsewhere, graves were dug deep enough to hold 12 bodies. Tombstones were then placed one in front of the other. I wish I had a picture of this b/c it is hard to imagine what it looked like. It was literally a cemetery that was completely covered in back to back headstones. Afterwards we walked along the river and passed the Rudolfinum concert hall and got some great views of the river, Charles Bridge, and the Castle District.
As the rain started up again we headed to U Fleku. This place deserves a blog of its own...but I'll try to sum it up here. It has been around since 1459 and only makes and serves one beer. They don't export or even bottle their own beer but still approximately 2.15 MILLION gallons of it is consumed annually. The staff come around with full glasses and set one in front of you if you have an empty glass. The room was filled with long, wooden, communal tables and the patrons were all nationalities. But the music and the singing was what made it great. A brass band plays requests and people go nuts. And we're not talking 22 year old college kids - many of these people could be members of the AARP but are still up on tables singing and dancing. Cass and I stayed (and drank) for quite some time and also got in many more games of Uno.



By the time we left it was dark and our walk up the river was stunning. The castle and the bridge are beautifully lit and even in the rain it was enjoyable to view. All in all, Prague was great. I wished we had better weather but then again we had so much fun just hanging out in the bars with people and playing competitive Uno that I'm convinced it could not have been more fun. Krakow is up next...

Vienna, Austria - September 2007

First and foremost - the place we stayed was legit. Some of you heard about the drama surrounding accommodations in Vienna but in the end we were ok. Yes, the bathroom sucked and we had to take a lamp from the bedroom and put it in the bathroom so we could actually see in the shower and maybe it smelled a bit of mildew. But hey, we had a comfortable bed and hot water (most of the time) so I was happy.

















Upon arriving in Vienna, Cassidy and I walked a few blocks into the 1st District, which is where we would spend most of our time enjoying the sights. After walking and getting somewhat acclimated to the layout, we found an Indian restaurant and settled in with a couple of Austrian beers. We decided to make it an early night so that we could get a full day of sights in the next day.

We started day 2 with a large cup o' Starbucks (just to clarify, I don't like to SEE them, but I still love a strong cuppa to get me going) and then headed to St. Stephen's Cathedral. It was built in the 12th century and is another example of the Gothic design that we see over here quite a bit. We were able to go up one of the towers to enjoy views of Vienna, but quickly left due to the cold and wind!

Next stop was the Hofburg Palace Complex. It was the winter palace of the Hapsburgs and it is HUGE! It is a city within a city that houses multiple museums, churches, not to mention the actual living quarters. We visited the Imperial Apartments, Silver & Porcelain Collection, Sissi Museum, and the Treasury. All except the Treasury were interesting and impressive. Even Cassidy enjoyed looking at the old porcelain and silver (for a limited time). It just gives you a glimpse into how lavish their lifestyle was. There was different tableware for every occassion, complete with gold, silver, bronze and family crests on each of the thousands of pieces. We listened to our guide book and paid the 20 Euro to see the "amazing treasury collection" and found it was not at all worth our time or money. However, we did get a good laugh out of it when Cassidy wanted a picture of him "trying on the crown". Yes, we are that easily amused.





Afterwards, we strolled around the grounds where I visited the horses and then we ate a late lunch in a park. Much to their liking, I shared mine with the pigeons. We found so many beautiful old buildings that weren't in our book and just wandered through them while I snapped some pictures.

That night we had tickets to an orchestra performance at the Musikverein in the Golden Hall. Per Frommers, this is "one of the four acoustically best concert halls in the world". We were there for a concert that was mostly Mozart and the music was magnificent. There were also a couple of opera numbers which I did not like. I have never been to an opera before and I cannot say that I will be jumping to go again anytime soon.













On day 3 we had tickets to the Lipizzaner horse show. It is basically a dressage show with some "tricks" added into it. I loved it because I used to ride horses and am familiar with how difficult it is to make a horse do anything he doesn't want to do...let alone prance around in unnatural gaits to the beat of classical music. The auditorium is part of the palace and was ridiculously beautiful as you can see by the picture. Understandably, they don't allow pictures during the show so that the horses can concentrate so I don't have any good action shots.

We spent the rest of the day at Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Hapsburgs. Mind you, this summer home is no more than 10 miles away from their winter palace and their idea of a summer home is about 1,400 rooms small. Ahh, to be royalty! This palace was just as extravagant as the other. Behind it was their own park complete with a labyrinth that Cass and I each managed to get through on our own. No David Bowie sightings in here though (anyone watch Labyrinth as much as me during their childhood?).


That about covers Vienna. It lived up to our high expectations and we enjoyed our time there. One curious thing though, they eat a whole lot of ice cream. I'm serious, we saw people at 10 am eating huge sundaes or waffle cones full of ice cream. We originally thought they were tourists...but later decided they weren't. I'm not judging b/c I fully support this lifestyle, but I thought it was worth mentioning. And to end, some random pictures during our Vienna visit...up next, Prague.

Budapest, Hungary - August 2007

Hello! Cassidy and I are back from our quick 2 week vacation through some of Eastern Europe's biggest cities. Since there are so many pictures and I tend to spend too much time putting these blogs together, I'm going one city at a time with the write-ups.

Our first stop was Budapest. We loved Budapest. I can say that I was the most impressed with this city and to me, it rivals the beauty of Paris. Everything about it was great. First, the B&B we stayed in was the best B&B we have ever stayed in. If any of you ever go to Budapest, please visit http://www.kapitalinn.com/ and book it. I am telling you, you will not be disappointed. I am a bit in love with the couple that owns the place (2 guys that are the nicest men in the world) and am considering going back just to hang out with them. Here I am forcing them to take a picture with me:
Budapest was severely damaged in WWII and the population is still adjusting to changes since the fall of Communism. Currently they are rebuilding the city and to me it seemed like they were making great efforts to retain the old facades while gutting interiors. We loved the energy of the city. There are so many fun, trendy restaurants and little shops to stop into. To us it felt a little like NYC in some areas. Although there are a lot of new places, it still didn't feel too "Americanized" like many of the big European cities do. We didn't see a Starbucks or a McDonalds during our walks, which was nice.

Night 1 we arrived and headed out to see the city all lit up and it took our breath away. The Danube cuts the city in half between Buda and Pest and they light the buildings up at night along the river. I added pics of the Buda Palace and the Chain Bridge at night.

Day 2 we walked around on the Pest side of the river and began our day at St. Stephen's Church. It is the largest church in Hungary and took over 50 years to complete. It survived WWII and in fact, important artworks were brought here during the war in order to protect them. However, the best part of the church is the hand. What hand you say? Ohhh... they have the preserved right hand of King Stephen, Hungary's first Christian king that died in 1038, in a light up case in the Chapel of the Holy Right. No joke. It's a hand that's pushing a thousand years old. Some pics of the church and the hand...


Next we headed towards the Parliament, which we were hoping to tour. However, because we got a late start we missed the tour time. The outside itself is worth a visit though.

It is a huge Gothic building right on the river built in 1902. I imagine the inside is as ornate as the outside. Cassidy and I then walked south along the Danube (which is not blue, by the way) when we saw a bunch of shoes along the promenade. When we got closer we realized there were not real shoes, but permanent. I took a picture not knowing what they symolized, but understanding it probably was not a positive thing since they were facing the river. I asked Albert and he explained to me that it is a memorial for Jewish people in Budapest who, during WWII, were shot at the river's edge and fell into the water... it was chilling to know that and then look at the picture again. However, further down the Danube we got our first view of the palace and the Chain bridge during the day. Legend has it that the man who sculpted the lions on the bridge drowned himself in the river out of shame because he forgot to sculpt tongues on the lions.

Day 3 had took us to the Buda side of the river. This was also our first of mainy rainy days. The sun did make an appearance in the afternoon and we set out on our adventure for the day. The Buda side has a whole area known as Castle Hill, which has been named a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. It consists of the Royal Palace, which now houses several museums, and the Castle District, which is a medieval neighborhood with cobblestone lanes and cute little buildings. To get up the hill you can take a funicular or walk up...we opted for the funicular. It's about the experience, right? We didn't actually go in any of the museums since we were pressed for time, but we spent a few hours wandering and taking pictures from high on the hill of the Danube below. It was absolutely beautiful. The first picture below is the Chain Bridge with the Four Seasons Gresham Palce behind it and behind that you can see St. Stephen's Church. The next picture is the Parliament as seen from Buda...huge, isn't it?
Some other pictures are just from us walking around and taking snaps in the Castle District. The one were I look a bit confused is because I am standing in front of a home that Frommers told us is one of the most photographed buildings in the district. We couldn't figure out why, but we took the picture anyway. Perhaps it's the most photographed because it's the most unremarkable building that managed to get a write up in a travel book?

Finally, on our way back to the B&B we passed this gem. Who knew that Colombo had such a following in Budapest?

When it came time to leave, we were sad to be leaving a city that we enjoyed so much and hosts that we loved, but we were really looking forward to our next stop - Vienna! To wrap up, here are random pics of us during our days in Budapest!