Summer Superlatives

Best City:
C- Innsbruck
J- Innsbruck

Best Food:
C- Sacher Torte from Spar Gourment in Vienna
J- Pizza in Rome with UD and AC

Worst Food:
C- Pizza (actually Paprika) flavored Cheetos
J- None

Best Hotel:
C- Unie Pension, Prague
J- Hostel St Nicholaus, Innsbruck

Most fun activity:
C- Hiking in the Alps
J- Hiking on the glacier

Most dissapointing activity:
C- House of Musik, Vienna
J- Same

Greatest annoyance:
C- People not speaking English
J- Rude Germanic people

Biggest thing we miss about home (Tala does not count):
C- Salad
J- Public restrooms and cheap coke (tie)

#1 thing to change for next time:
C- Longer in smaller towns, shorter in big cities
J- Fewer places, more time in each (particulary small towns)

Biggest waste of money:
C- Train tickets we didnt use because I got sick
J- Vaportetto tickets in Venice (expensive and they never check!)

Moment when I wanted to go home the most:
C- Sick the the couchette on way to Prague (when it was about 100 degrees, cramped, and dirty)
J- Lost in rain trying to find hostel in Prague and Carrie was sick and miserable from the above train trip

Moment when I wanted to move to Europe:
C- On top of mountain in Austria
J- Whole time in Innsbruck

Biggest surprise (good):
C- None (I have been here before)
J- How nice Venice was

Biggest surprise (bad):
C- How much the Euro has made everything so expensive
J- Lack of vegetarian food other than pizza, which I hope to never eat again

Best thing Europe has that America doesnt:
C- Interest and involvement in rest of world (without a big stick)
J- Seamless public transit (maybe this is just LA)

Place we would visit if we had another week:
C- Switzerland
J- Tunisia or Morocco or Turkey

Berlin

Last night we arrived very late in Berlin and Carrie brilliantly navigated our way to our hotel, the beautiful Westin Grand in the heart of historic East Berlin.

This morning we slept in and began our cursory tour of the major sights. In a whirlwind morning we saw the Reichstag, Brandenbug Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Tiergarten, Checkpoint Charlie and Checkpoint Charlie Museum, and of course the remnants of the Berlin Wall. Whew!

We grabbed lunch and promptly returned to our hotel and collapsed. We think three weeks was about right as we are really tired out!!!

We will probably spend a couple more hours exploring Berlin, but most of the remainder of this vacation will be spent at our hotel pool and spa. Much needed rest before retunring to work on Monday.

More Funny Pictures UPDATED

Darn, we found the perfect camping spot, but it was not allowed.

10 CZK for whoever can figure out what this sign means!

Please take note: guns are not allowed in banks in Prague. Oops, neither are photos...

Delicious American Style Big Texas pepperoni pizza (Europeans believe pepperoni comes from Texas).

Medieval Carrie

Cesky Krumlov

We arrived in Cesky Krumlov last night after a delayed train ride from Prague - for some reason, we stopped in the middle of nowhere for about 45 minutes!

When we woke up this morning, it was raining cats and dogs. Regardless, we ventured out into the cold wet village. Our first stop was the castle. We took a tour and saw old rooms just the way that they were in the dark ages. They said that in the winter, even with the fire fully blazing, the castle never got over 60 degrees. Brrrr!

For lunch, we happened upon a vegetarian restaurant and tried out some traditional Czech dishes made veggie style. The food was weird, but Jim liked his fried cheese.

After lunch, we explored the wax works museum and then later, the museum of torture instruments. It finally stopped raining, though was still grey and dismal but we walked around and explored the village some while the weather cooperated. And then we had some yummy desserts at a great little restaurant near our pension.

Tonight we will be attending a baroque concert up at the castle. Everything here is dirt cheap so we don't feel one bit guilty about going to so many attractions and eating fancy foods.

Tomorrow morning we make the LONG journey to Berlin.

Prague

We arrived in Prague EXHAUSTED yesterday morning after a dreadful overnight train ride from Munich. It was hot and stuffy in our compartment and we were stuck on the top bunks. Czech trains are definitely not as nice as Austrian trains, which was the last overnight we took. You could tell it was a former communist train.

We finally arrived in Prague to find a torrential downpour going on. We wandered around for awhile and finally found our pension - certainly with no help from the Czech people we asked, as one lady tried to direct us to the bus stop when we were in fact about 10 yards away from the door. Our pension was hard to find because it is on the 5th floor of a business school (we think it is used as a dorm during the school year) and is poorly marked. But it was worth the effort, since they let us check in very early (around 9:30) and it was warm, cozy, clean, and spacious. Carrie needed a nice rest after the trip - her sore throat has turned into a cough.

After a few hours of BBC and reading English books we managed to find in Munich, we decided to venture out to the Museum of Communism. It was hard to find, however, so we also ended up getting a tour of downtown Prague. We saw Wenceslas Square, site of the 1968 and 1989 anti-Commie demonstrations. Since it was still a monsoon outside, we decided to buy umbrellas for 500 crowns (about 20 dollars). Well worth the money.

We finally made it to the museum of communism. The museum is situated above McDonalds - by the time we found it, we had been to five different McDonalds in our quest. The museum was crowded, but interesting, and fortunately everything was in English. Jim enjoyed learning about the communist sports movement, and Carrie enjoyed learning about the schools. The highlight was a video of the 1968 and 1989 demonstrations showing where we had just been walking around. In the video Wenceslas Square was abandoned and decrepit, but today it is full of department stores, restaurants, etc.

After the museum, with Carries excellent navigational skills, we found our way to the site of the best vegetarian restaurant in Prague, which offers vegetarian delights based on traditional Czech cuisine. Unfortunately, we discovered it has been closed for two years! Thanks a lot Lonely Planet.

We got food at a grocery store as usual (more cheese and bread) and went back to the hotel where Jim put Carrie to bed. Jim then went to the train station to buy our tickets to Cesky Krumlov while Carrie read. After that, Jim went out to enjoy the Czech nightlife.

The Prague Symphony were playing a concert for tourists in historic Smetena Hall (named for the 2nd most famous Czech composer). The program was very un-Czech: Mozarts "Don Giovanni Overture", Schuberts "Unfinished Symphony", and Beethovens "Emperor Piano Concerto". However, Don Giovanni was premeried in Prague, so there was at least some connection. The concert was very good but there were some glaring mistakes.

After a good night of rest, we awoke and had a pension breakfast, and headed out to explore Prague Castle. The rain had fortunately ended and everything was wet and fresh. The castle was neat. We walked around the gardens and the perimeter of the main palace. We walked up the original castle stairs to the top of a hill, and visited some sort of mirror maze and a replica of the Eiffel Tower (I think that is the 3rd one we have seen on our trip - good thing we opted not to go to Paris). Then we took the funicular railway back down the hill. We stopped for some chinese for lunch - 2 bowls of noodles for about 3 bucks. We then went back to our Pension, grabbed our bags, and headed for the train station, where we are now.

We are about to grab our train to Cesky Krumlov, about 3 hours away. More from there.

Jim and Carrie

PS - Illness Update - Carrie got some cold and sinus medicine and other than being congested and having a cough is feeling a bit better today. Lets hope the country air of Cesky Krumlov will help.

Sick!

Carrie got sick with a sore throat so we decided to take a zero day yesterday (in hiking a zero day is a day with no miles). We hung around the hotel, watched way more track and field than we would ever want to again, and read a British tabloid - the only English reading material to be found. Jim also found time to go for a swim, a dip in the hot tub, a bit of time in the sauna.

Today was much the same. Jim went out for groceries, and now we are on our way out to catch our train to Munich (4 hours) connecting to Prague (overnight). What a long trip!

Carrie reports that her throat is feeling a bit better but now it is turning into a chest cold. She is determined to go out and have fun in Prague on our arrival. She is trying to eat lots of fruit with vitamin C and rest whenever possible.

Intinerary update - we are only staying in Prague one night before moving on to Cesky Krumlov (a small town about 2 hours outside Prague in the Czech Republic), then on to Berlin for two nights. We are not looking forward to going back to work, but Carrie is missing Tala more and more! Jim misses her less and is enjoying not having to walk her every night before bed.

Bolzano

Today was a busy day. We slept in, then took the bus from our hotel to old-town Bolzano. We had chocolate croissants for breakfast, then headed off on a walking tour through the town and along the river. Our destination was an aerial tramway up to a smaller town about 2000 ft above Bolzano. The tram ride was fun with great views of the city and mountains.

Once on top, we attempted to go on a hike, but the trail was poorly marked or nonexistent and we got lost in a farmers field - which Carrie reports is not a good place to be lost, as she learned while hiking in England. So we headed back to the village to return to Bolzano, but were sidetracked by a small Italian restaurant overlooking the Dolmites. We had a leisurely lunch of caprese salad and pasta (which was probably filling enough to also be our dinner). After lunch we caught the tram back down to Bolzano.

Another hike beside the river took us to Runklestein Castle (a name worse than Stekelberg!). Runklestein was built in the 13th century and has amazingly well preserved frescoes depicted medieval life, including lance fights, bear hunting, giants, and dwarves. We looked around the castle for an hour or so, then had a LONG hike back to the city center.

A train ride brought us back to our hotel, sunburned and tired. Now we are ready for a swim, a chocolate bar, and some BBC news in bed. Tomorrow we plan to hike or rent bikes.

Funny Europe Pictures

In Europe, you have to pay to use the toilet.

Notice the cows in back of Carrie. They ascribe to the dog style of greeting.

Carrie ordered a small Austrian beer for lunch.

A staple at every German airport.

The Hotel Bristol was so happy to see backpackers!


Carrie is such an angel.

In America, we make toast out of bread. In Europe, they believe Americans make toast out of processed cheese.

Bauer did what?!?!

Glacier Hiking

If you hate mountains, rivers, waterfalls, meadows, and glaciers, then Innsbruck is not the town for you. Otherwise, it is great!

Today we woke up early and caught a bus to a small town about an hour outside Innsbruck (forget the name-something long and German). The town is at the bottom of a tall mountain (10,000 ft) with a big glacier on top of it, where you can ski all year round. Well, that is a bit of a lie since they said it was too warm to ski right now, but most of the year! We bought gondola (not the Venice type) tickets and rode all the way to the top, an ascent of about 8000 ft! The views on the way up were absolutely amazing as we ascended from subalpine forest all the way past the treeline up to snow. We trouped around in the snow for awhile and had lunch in another one of those mountaintop huts before getting cold and heading back down. Then we had a little hike to a waterfall at the foot of the mountain before heading back to Innsbruck, where we just caught our train to Bolzano, Italy - where we are now. I will not describe the glacier in any more detail since my words will not do it justice - see the pictures!

Top of Glacier

Bottom of Mountain

Here in Bolzano we are staying at a fine Four Points Sheraton hotel courtesy of Deloitte. We hope to ride bikes, hike the Dolmites (the local mountain range), and see a castle before heading off for Prague. Now we are off for a swim in our hotels indoor heated pool.

Innsbruck

We made it to Innsbruck last night and took a walk around Old Town after checking into our pension (a pension is like a cross between a hostel and a hotel). Innsbruck is really beautiful, surrounded on all sides by mountains rising up thousands of feet and with a really big swift river flowing through it.

We met a couple of other Americans at our hostel last night who recommended a free hiking guided tour run by the Innsbruck Alpine Academy. We got up bright and early and met our guide at 9 am. We were then shuttled about an hour outside Innsbruck up to a really great mountainy area (we will put pictures later - no USB port on this computer). We thought this was going to be a short, easy hike, but we were wrong!!! First of all, our guide made us take off our sneakers and he lent us some hiking boots. Then, we began climbing... and climbing... over 2000 feet up to the top of this freezing cold mountain, almost to a glacier! We were surprising to find a little restaurant-hotel up there (only accesible by foot), but they are very common in Austria. We warmed up inside and had lunch (and Carrie had 2 hot chocolates), then began our descent, during which we saw lots more mountains and some Austrian wildlife (cows). The hike took the entire day, about 10 to 4 and roughly 8 miles.

Now we are tired and hungry but we had to stop by the laundromat to clean our stinky laundry.

Innsbruck was so much fun that we decided to stay another night! Tomorrow we are hoping (weather permitting) to ride a cable car up to the top of a glacier and do some hiking up there. After that we are leaving for Bolzano.

Carrie and Jim