Relaxing Days in Prague

The next two days were less touristy as we spent the first morning with Pavlina (our host) and her two children (Dave had gone to work) before heading into the city for the afternoon.  Our short day in the city center was focused on seeing the Jewish Quarter and its five synagogues and the old cemetery.  Each synagogue was unique, however the first and last stood out from the others most significantly.  The first was a memorial to the Czechs who were taken to gas chambers by the Nazis.  Every wall was covered with hand-written names of the people who lost their lives, although only a few were originals, since the Communists had erased almost everything during their control.  It was a very moving memorial.

Prague - with the Castle in the background

Some of the others were set up as museums, displaying artifacts and explaining Jewish customs.  I learned more in those few hours than I had ever retained in the past 25 years.  Sara and I were surprised to read about the custom that if a woman's husband died, his brother was obligated to marry her, unless she took off a special shoe for him, at which point they were not forced to marry.  Who knew?!

Our last day in Prague was spent with Dave, who showed us around a bit more, taking us to a beer garden, on a walk along the city wall, to a few of his favorite bars, and a few other locations.

Spending Koruna, or as I Liked to Say, Kroner in Prague

Arriving in Prague meant a new currency - the koruna - and a new language - Czech.  While dividing every price by twenty wasn't very fun, it wasn't as hard as trying to figure out what anything meant in Czech.  My first, and most entertaining mistake with the language?  Calling their currency kroners!  How I came up with that one, I have no idea, but it stuck and that's what I called it the rest of the trip.

Sara and I spent one of our three days at Prague Castle.  Well, we spent a good chunk of that day getting lost on trolleys that changed routes without warning, very limited signage, none of which was in English, and a map that was only in Czech. Up to this point on the trip I enjoyed or at least pleasantly tolerated the adventure of getting lost, but given the lack of signs or English, Prague had me frustrated.  However working together we finally made it to the castle, which really is a walled fortress with many buildings within its boundaries.

The most noteworthy part of the castle was actually in the Cathedral of St. Vitus which featured, among other more expected features such as colorful stained glass windows and beautiful woodwork, the tomb (sarcophagus) of St. John of Nepomuk. The tomb is made of approximately two thousand pounds of silver!  Definitely stunning and no doubt a massive tribute, but I'd call it over the top.

The Old Royal Palace also surprised me as I learned that men used to joust inside of the Great Hall.  While the room was huge, I struggled to figure out how there was enough room for men on horses to charge at each other, until I learned that they would ride up the entrance stairs to start their attack!

We filled the rest of our afternoon by walking throughout the old part of the city - across Charles Bridge and into Old Town Square.  A much prettier part of the city than we had seen yet, I loved the mixture of architectural styles and decorations of the buildings.  I was enthralled by the 16th century astronomical clock, which told Bohemian time, modern time, sunrise and sunset, orbits of the sun and moon, signs of the zodiac, and the saint of the day.  So cool!

Sara and I stayed with one of her friends from high school who is living in Prague - it was wonderful to stay with Dave and his family and have some home-cooked meals!

The Hills are Alive with (the Soundtrack of) the Sound of Music

As readers of this blog, be happy that you are not able to hear our Sound of Music tour group singing along to the soundtrack in the confined space of our eight-passenger van.  However I hope you enjoy reading about my stories from Austria.

Our first day in Salzburg was spent exploring the city's never-been-penetrated fortress, where Sara and I probably spent more time taking silly pictures than taking in the building interiors and WWI artifacts.  We also stopped by Mozartplatz, the cathedral where Mozart served as organist (and got a look at its 4,000 pipe organ), and Mozart's house with a few of his pianos and letters to his sister.

We spent the next morning at Hellbrunn Castle and more importantly its Wasserspeile, which translates to trick fountains.

Water shooting out of the center of each "guest" chair!

 The story goes that the owner of the castle was a jokester and had fountains designed to get his guests wet.  The most entertaining was a stone table that had water spouts in the guest's chairs that would soak their bottoms when they had had too much to drink.  Sara and I did great job staying dry for the duration of the tour, until I got too confident that I could avoid the tour guide's efforts, and got hit on the last fountain while taking a picture!  Even a bit wet, we really enjoyed the tour.  Not having reached my Mozart limit the day before, I went to a concert that night in this very Baroque, very cool room where I heard a bunch of his works, some of which I knew well, some of which were obviously Mozart but things I didn't really recognize.

Salzburg's other claim to fame is of course the Sound of Music, and so we decided to see what kind of fun the tours offered.  Sara had seen the movie for the first time only the night before, and I was happy to have a refresher since it had been a while since I last watched it (and if I'm being really honest, since I had last sung along).  The sights were what we had seen in the movie: the backyard of the Von Trapp family's house, the gazebo, the church where Maria and the captain were married, the gardens through which Maria and the kids are running while singing "Doe, a Deer," and more.  They were all fun to see in real life.  However the real fun was totally unrelated to the movie.

About to head up to the top of the track!

We made a very good decision when we chose the mini-bus tour.  A smaller van meant we were able to go places that a tour bus wouldn't have been able to reach, which, as we found out, meant we got to go... luging!  (Yes, I do mean the verb 'to luge': to ride on a racing sled down a track (that's my version of the definition.))  It was an amazing experience, being in control of this wheeled sled, rushing down a metal track, trying to push the speed and not use the break, all the while praying not to lose control and wipe out!  That ride definitely made my day and topped the list of my favorite activities from our time in Austria.

A Science Nerd's Heaven

The Deutsches Museum is the world's largest science and technology museum.  Sara and I decided that going without a plan was easiest, since the list of areas we wanted to visit would have been ridiculous.  We spent more than five hours there, seeing tons, reading less (most of the in-depth plaques were in German), and taking fun pictures.  While it may be the largest science museum, many of it's interactive elements were not working, which was a bummer, and definitely would not have passed the mustard in the US!  Even still, we easily could have spent 5 weeks there!

Here's an abbreviated list of some of the things we saw: boats, airplanes, engines, cars, nanotechnology, bones, glass, printing, clocks, agriculture, mining, submarines, toys, the environment, musical instruments, ceramics, and energy.  I'm going to let my pictures do the talking for this one so you can see some of the fun we had exploring this museum.

A slice of an Airbus A300... very cool

A tiny German car

Vertebrae of a Whale - this was giant!

A Gutenberg Letter Press!

Foucault's pendulum - proof the earth rotates!

And the best for last...

A "foot massage" that really just shakes your body and doesn't make you feel refreshed as advertised in the poster!

Meeting for Beers in Munich

Moving on to Munich meant that I had a friend to travel with for a week!  All I had to do was get to Munich Airport to meet Sara, which shouldn't have been difficult since I was a two-hour direct train ride from the airport.

However nothing is ever as smooth going as expected, evidenced by my train stopping short of the city with announcements in German that they were diverting people by bus to another station.  The bus ride was much longer than I thought it was going to be, which pushed me back even later from when I was supposed to meet Sara.  Luckily she was able to call me and we changed plans to meet at the hostel.

An hour or two later, we were together, checked in, and on our way!  We took it easy, wandering down the main drag doing some shopping and just taking in the city.  Sara bought a dirndl, a traditional dress worn in southern Germany, which looked amazing!  (She's all set for Halloween 2010!)Dinner was traditional Bavarian food, which we ate at a table we shared with this couple who spoke limited English, making our attempts at conversation quite entertaining.

Ready to really explore Munich, the next morning we went on a walking tour around the city.  The highlights include a well-told story about the events leading up to and through World War II, a subtle reminder of German passive resistance, and small memorials to those who lost their lives.  We also heard a fun story about how the devil helped to build a church (ask me if you're interested, it's too long to type out).

Our afternoon consisted of climbing a church tower for awesome views of the city, visiting the Royal Palace (Residenz), and watching the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, which entails bells chiming and figures "dancing" and "jousting" (moving on a rotating circle) as a way of reenacting stories from
the 16th century.


After all that fun, our search of food brought us to the Viktualienmarkt, a beer garden surrounded by a farmers market for bread, cheese and Radlers, beer mixed with lemon soda -- much better than regular beer!  On a roll, we headed over to Hofbrauhaus, another brewery and beer garden, for more beer (a dark, 1L Radler this time - to split) and pretzels.  Yum!

We chanced upon some amazingly talented street musicians, who took well-known classical songs and put a funky, jazzy spin on them.  It definitely was a great ending to the day!

Don't Bother Saying Fussen or Neuschwanstein - Go Straight to Cinderella's Castle

Cinderella only had to take a carriage to get to her castle, but for me to even get from Switzerland to Fussen, a nearby town, I had to take a gondola, bus, and five trains.  That was one of the longest travel days I had - an entire day on spent on the road.  Even with wiping out on train platform, ripping a hole in my jeans and cutting my hands and knee, the trip was worth it when I got to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles the next morning.

For those of you who may not know, Walt Disney based Cinderella's castle on King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein castle, a German king who ruled in the late 19th century.  He was potentially crazy, or at least an eccentric who was less than willing to deal with reality, and therefore had this fantasy castle built.  He died before it was completed and as a result it was never finished.

The castle is now a huge tourist location, and I joined the masses to see what the real Cinderella's castle is like.  However before going up to Neuschwanstein, most everyone (myself included) visited Ludwig's childhood home of Hohenschwangau, where the historical information about Ludwig and his father that was shared on the tour was much more thorough.  Neuschwanstein was impressive even as you walked up the hill to the entrance - and it was fun to see the real version of Walt Disney's creation.

Both castles were beautiful and were filled with all kinds of lavish decorations, as you can imagine.  However the best part of the day for me was the walk up to Mary's Bridge and the views back to the castle.  It was there that Neuschwanstein really looked like Cinderella's castle, in a way more beautiful setting than at Disney World!

The walk back down to the bus stop was a well-worn trail following a giant waterfall and fast-moving river.  So pretty!

Home Sweet Home

My journey has ended, but now comes the fun of sorting through pictures, doing exactly two loads of laundry, and catching up on my blog and journal.  While I loved seeing new places, I must say that it is nice to be home.  The best parts?  Seeing my parents, having clean pajamas, and having home cooked food.

As you all know, I neglected my blog near the end of my trip, and as a result have much to share with you!  So in the next few days be on the lookout for more stories from Europe, which include drinking beer, wiping out on a bike (no, the two are not related), and seeing how wooden clogs are made.  Also, if you haven't received a phone call or email yet, don't feel unloved -- I'll be in touch soon!