Good Morning....I want to thank you for tagging long. Denise and I had a great trip. It's great to be back in the greatest country in the world.
I hope you enjoyed our stories.
Auf wiedersehen
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Odds and Ends about the Trip.
Other interesting things and tips we learned
Toilets......yes toilets....that's what they are called here....not excuse me , where is the restroom?...nope just say toilet....it was a little embarrassing
They also had, in some of the places, reverse holed toilets. The drain hole of the bowl was in the front....with a shelf that was about 3 inches below the seat rim from the center to the back. It was very weird and it made going to the bathroom a little tricky. I don't want to get too gross...but where does a big one go?....no where...you need to poop and kinda stand or it's comin back at you....you get the drift....enough potty talk.
The people overall.....in both cities.....were not friendly. They had their moments, remember my buddy Rhino. He was the exception. We did find that when we left the city and drove into the countryside, the people, who spoke not a lick of English, were friendly and actually smiled.
Tourists....we were absolutely the minority. We found few if any Americans. Since we do not speak the different languages, I am not sure where everyone was from....but the USA was not it.
Hotel doors......in every hotel we stayed at, they gave us a key to the hotel door. When you went in the room, you needed to lock the door from the inside with the same key. It was a deadbolt lock. If you did not have the key, you would not be able to get out. Safety tip....lock the door but leave the key in the lock in case you need to exit quickly....just a little quirk
Toilets......yes toilets....that's what they are called here....not excuse me , where is the restroom?...nope just say toilet....it was a little embarrassing
They also had, in some of the places, reverse holed toilets. The drain hole of the bowl was in the front....with a shelf that was about 3 inches below the seat rim from the center to the back. It was very weird and it made going to the bathroom a little tricky. I don't want to get too gross...but where does a big one go?....no where...you need to poop and kinda stand or it's comin back at you....you get the drift....enough potty talk.
The people overall.....in both cities.....were not friendly. They had their moments, remember my buddy Rhino. He was the exception. We did find that when we left the city and drove into the countryside, the people, who spoke not a lick of English, were friendly and actually smiled.
Tourists....we were absolutely the minority. We found few if any Americans. Since we do not speak the different languages, I am not sure where everyone was from....but the USA was not it.
Hotel doors......in every hotel we stayed at, they gave us a key to the hotel door. When you went in the room, you needed to lock the door from the inside with the same key. It was a deadbolt lock. If you did not have the key, you would not be able to get out. Safety tip....lock the door but leave the key in the lock in case you need to exit quickly....just a little quirk
Flight Home
Flight back
We are presently about 5 hours into our 9 1/2 hour flight back to Toronto. Not sure how a 7 1/2 hour flight to Vienna from Toronto becomes 2 hours longer.
Overall it's uneventful. Air Austria must of left the Nazi brigade off our flight. Maybe they are happy they are getting us out of their country...who knows, but they all are pretty nice.
Can't wait to see Chris and Shelby....
We are presently about 5 hours into our 9 1/2 hour flight back to Toronto. Not sure how a 7 1/2 hour flight to Vienna from Toronto becomes 2 hours longer.
Overall it's uneventful. Air Austria must of left the Nazi brigade off our flight. Maybe they are happy they are getting us out of their country...who knows, but they all are pretty nice.
Can't wait to see Chris and Shelby....
Last Night In Vienna
We spent our last night back at Hotel Austria. This hotel is a three star....and was about 2 blocks from the center of the square. It was very nice, had a great breakfast and the rooms were very nice.
We stopped at the farmers market on the way back. We had some pretty crazy food and Denise was shopping like mad! After spending a few hours there we spent the afternoon touring St Stephens Cathedral. Crazy big!
In the evening we went to a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant. It was another fantastic meal. Denise posted a picture on Facebook of the empty plates. Great traditional Vienna food.....and beer.
8 pm came ....and we were done.......we were exhausted and decided to head back to our room. We packed it up and got ready for our flight on Wednesday.
We stopped at the farmers market on the way back. We had some pretty crazy food and Denise was shopping like mad! After spending a few hours there we spent the afternoon touring St Stephens Cathedral. Crazy big!
In the evening we went to a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant. It was another fantastic meal. Denise posted a picture on Facebook of the empty plates. Great traditional Vienna food.....and beer.
8 pm came ....and we were done.......we were exhausted and decided to head back to our room. We packed it up and got ready for our flight on Wednesday.
Back to Gaming
Monday morning we said our goodbyes to Prague. We started our 6 hour drive by 8 am. We had a pretty uneventful ride back. We did need to stop at half dozen gas stations to ensure our directions were correct. In Gaming we had dinner at the student dining room and then went over to our little hotel down the street. We stayed at Urs. Urs is a 3 room B and B that is located over Urs , the pub. We sat at this little smoke filled pub and played some board games and had some wine and beer. Taylor and Maria came by and we sat around for a few hours. We said our goodbyes and Taylor who then went back to the Kartause.
Urs does not take credit cards.....he didn't even have a computer. He and his wife run this little pub. They were really nice people, almost no English though. We got up early and went back to Vienna. The drive was a little over two hours and we got to the hotel,......amazing......without one wrong turn!
Urs does not take credit cards.....he didn't even have a computer. He and his wife run this little pub. They were really nice people, almost no English though. We got up early and went back to Vienna. The drive was a little over two hours and we got to the hotel,......amazing......without one wrong turn!
Last Day in Prague
In closing out about our weekend in Prague, I thought I would review our highlights.
The city is, by far, a better city to visit then Vienna. The size, the walkability, the sites...all are more interesting and far more beautiful. I would of preferred to stay a week instead of just a few days.
Our final night we had dinner in the main square with The Church of Our Lady before Tyn’s steeples behind us and the clock tower to the side of us. It was a little cold, but the place had heaters and good beer. The meal was outstanding. It was great catching up with Taylor and enjoying time with her.
The name of our hotel was the Golden Deer. We could not have picked a better location. It was steps to the main square in Prague...and I do mean steps. The place itself is billed as a three star......but it’s sparse at best. The best feature of the hotel is the location. Overall. It was fine.
The history of the Catholic church is the basis of almost all of the historical places in Prague.....outside the downfall of communism. There are 400 Catholic churches here. The sad thing....most are used for concert halls and museums. Our guide told me that over 60% of the population is atheist.
What a waste.
Totally would recommend this city
The city is, by far, a better city to visit then Vienna. The size, the walkability, the sites...all are more interesting and far more beautiful. I would of preferred to stay a week instead of just a few days.
Our final night we had dinner in the main square with The Church of Our Lady before Tyn’s steeples behind us and the clock tower to the side of us. It was a little cold, but the place had heaters and good beer. The meal was outstanding. It was great catching up with Taylor and enjoying time with her.
The name of our hotel was the Golden Deer. We could not have picked a better location. It was steps to the main square in Prague...and I do mean steps. The place itself is billed as a three star......but it’s sparse at best. The best feature of the hotel is the location. Overall. It was fine.
The history of the Catholic church is the basis of almost all of the historical places in Prague.....outside the downfall of communism. There are 400 Catholic churches here. The sad thing....most are used for concert halls and museums. Our guide told me that over 60% of the population is atheist.
What a waste.
Totally would recommend this city
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Prague part two
We had a great second day in Prague. We slept in listening to the pouring rain, we went to breakfast and then to mass at one of the few english masses in the city. We are blessed to have the Bascilica in St Louis.....but they have 400 of them in the city of Prague. The churches here are crazy big and beautiful. If we melted all the gold found in these churches we could pay off the US national debt. After mass we took a walking tour....and just as it started, the sun came out. Our tour guide brought us throughout the different neibhorhoods; old town, new town, castle quarter, the jewsih quarter and little town. She was a good ending to the history lesson we took at the Communist Museum that we visited the day before.
Here is the most interesting thing I found. She was 13 when the Velvet Revolution occurred. She was actually in Wensceles Square when the revolt occurred. ( in the simplest terms, the velvet revotion was when czech's peacefully won their freedom from communism in 1989.). The czech people hated what their country had become under communism. The promise of the utopia.....as always....never occurred. After 40 years they were tired and sick of the government running their lives.
Here comes the interesting part...
I asked her if there were many in the coutry that would want communism back...her reply....yes. 13 % voted for a communist party in the last election. She said there were three types that voted for them...the young people...who thought that the impossible utopia could be achieved and were too young to remember what it was like, the stupid people ( her words not mine) that did not know any better and the lazy....people who did not want to work and wanted the gvt to provide for them....
Interesting
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Prague
Prague is a great city! The architecture is fantastic. Most of the downtown roads are made of cobblestone and are for pedestrians only. A few people have told me that Prague looked like Disney world, I agree. It also looks like the Venitian in Las Vegas....or should I say the Venetian looks like Prague!
Although Prague is a very large city and spread out, tourists stay within the limits of Old Town to Castle Quater. All of this is very walkable. From one end to the other is no more than a 30 minute walk. There is no need for taxis....or a car!
We have been very busy. On Friday night we went and had dinner and then saw the Prague symphonic orchestra. It was great. The concert was held in a church. On Saturday we had a big day of sightseeing. We first went to Prague Castle. The gourds of this place were HUGE. It look us 1/2 the day to tour through the facility. We then went and saw the St Charles Bridge. We saw a few more churches on the walk back. We went to the Communist Musem. It was really interesting. We then took in a show at the Black Light Theater. This type of theater was invented in Prague. There are many of then throughout the city. We then had a late dinner....9:30. We have become Europeans.
Overall, a great day with Denise and Taylor.
Although Prague is a very large city and spread out, tourists stay within the limits of Old Town to Castle Quater. All of this is very walkable. From one end to the other is no more than a 30 minute walk. There is no need for taxis....or a car!
We have been very busy. On Friday night we went and had dinner and then saw the Prague symphonic orchestra. It was great. The concert was held in a church. On Saturday we had a big day of sightseeing. We first went to Prague Castle. The gourds of this place were HUGE. It look us 1/2 the day to tour through the facility. We then went and saw the St Charles Bridge. We saw a few more churches on the walk back. We went to the Communist Musem. It was really interesting. We then took in a show at the Black Light Theater. This type of theater was invented in Prague. There are many of then throughout the city. We then had a late dinner....9:30. We have become Europeans.
Overall, a great day with Denise and Taylor.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Drive to Prauge
We hit the road at 8 am. Prauge is five hours away. We wanted to get there so we could tour the Jewish section of town in the afternoon It is not open on Saturday and Sunday so we need to make sure and see it by sundown on Friday.
Well let me say this......we made it. Ok it took about 7 hours but we did it. Mostly without directions. Again that darn gps would be handy. We have printed out instructions from google maps and everything was great for about 3 hours. We must of missed a turn.....next thing we know I am getting directions in German on how to get to the czech border. I buy a map....we gather some hope and we do not take Han's advice. We ended up right were we needed to be. The drive through Austria is just beautiful Little quaint towns....al the houses in great condition. ....lots of flowers....great architecture. Then we cross the Czech border (btw, no border guards......nothing....not even welcome....) and the drive goes to slumville. the communists did a great job in the hinter lands. It was an unbelievable difference.
Anyway....we get off too early for downtown Prague .....now we have no directions....we stop two cops who give me wrong directions.....then we stop in a hotel...and they get us going in the right direction. Now we are in downtown Prague and have no idea where the hotel is....no map...nothing. (great planning right?......nope these cities are crazy, even with a map it's nuts). It's Vienna all over again. We know we are close....so I ask someone and they tell me the hotel is about 100 yards behind us....but you cannot drive there....this is starting to sound familiar.....so I walk to the hotel and the girl tells me that I have to go all the way around the downtown and come in the back way.....oh cripes....1 1/2 hours later we make it to the right side of the hotel where we can drive to it.
What took 1 1/2 hours you may ask....driving down a pedestrian court.....being corned in one way streets constantly and lastly being pulled over by the police for driving in the train lane....to say the least, the ride was interesting.
More about Prauge tomorrow ....one thing....it's a truly beautiful city.
Well let me say this......we made it. Ok it took about 7 hours but we did it. Mostly without directions. Again that darn gps would be handy. We have printed out instructions from google maps and everything was great for about 3 hours. We must of missed a turn.....next thing we know I am getting directions in German on how to get to the czech border. I buy a map....we gather some hope and we do not take Han's advice. We ended up right were we needed to be. The drive through Austria is just beautiful Little quaint towns....al the houses in great condition. ....lots of flowers....great architecture. Then we cross the Czech border (btw, no border guards......nothing....not even welcome....) and the drive goes to slumville. the communists did a great job in the hinter lands. It was an unbelievable difference.
Anyway....we get off too early for downtown Prague .....now we have no directions....we stop two cops who give me wrong directions.....then we stop in a hotel...and they get us going in the right direction. Now we are in downtown Prague and have no idea where the hotel is....no map...nothing. (great planning right?......nope these cities are crazy, even with a map it's nuts). It's Vienna all over again. We know we are close....so I ask someone and they tell me the hotel is about 100 yards behind us....but you cannot drive there....this is starting to sound familiar.....so I walk to the hotel and the girl tells me that I have to go all the way around the downtown and come in the back way.....oh cripes....1 1/2 hours later we make it to the right side of the hotel where we can drive to it.
What took 1 1/2 hours you may ask....driving down a pedestrian court.....being corned in one way streets constantly and lastly being pulled over by the police for driving in the train lane....to say the least, the ride was interesting.
More about Prauge tomorrow ....one thing....it's a truly beautiful city.
Gaming with Taylor
Yesterday we spent the day with Taylor at her campus in Gaming.
Denise went to two of her classes while I caught up on the political scene and watched the debate on you tube. Go Mitt!
The hotel we are staying at is connected to the dorms and classroom facility. The room is tiny but very nice and I have to admit that I am surprised with the bathrooms so far....very roomy.
While in Gaming we went out to dinner with Taylor, attended a BBQ, went to mass, went to the blessing of the animals and had a bonfire. .......yes I said a blessing of the animals.....where a guy in the whole Austrian get up brought his goats and baby spotted pig. A few dogs to round it out and the priest did a 15 minute ceremony to pray for the animals.
We tried to get a good nights sleep....the mattresses are like rocks....to get a earlly start to drive to Prague.
Denise went to two of her classes while I caught up on the political scene and watched the debate on you tube. Go Mitt!
The hotel we are staying at is connected to the dorms and classroom facility. The room is tiny but very nice and I have to admit that I am surprised with the bathrooms so far....very roomy.
While in Gaming we went out to dinner with Taylor, attended a BBQ, went to mass, went to the blessing of the animals and had a bonfire. .......yes I said a blessing of the animals.....where a guy in the whole Austrian get up brought his goats and baby spotted pig. A few dogs to round it out and the priest did a 15 minute ceremony to pray for the animals.
We tried to get a good nights sleep....the mattresses are like rocks....to get a earlly start to drive to Prague.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Off to Gaming
We left mid morning yesterday for Gaming. We visited the Austrian Treasury before we left. More and more excess from the empires. Most of it was very Catholic. The most interesting item was a display of the nail that is believed to be the nail that was in Christ's right hand. One of the early Popes verified and sanctioned it.
With all of the driving issues we thought we better ask how to get to the highway before we left. As nice as the hotel people tried to be.....remember the German language makes them look like we are constantly putting them out....she made it worse. The highway entrance was 30 minutes away. She even said that we may want to get a taxi to show us the way.....this lack of confidence may of occurred due to denise and I getting lost agin when we went to find our car. Anyway , we decided we will just figure it out. We did ....with not one mistake....Vienna is not easy to get around by car....but it was an adventure.
We drove about 2 hours to Gaming. We were fortunate to take the back roads for the last hour. It was really nice. Winding through the alps ....through some very quaint little towns. In one of them we needed to slow down and pass a funeral prosession .
Interestingly, they had a 20 piece band decked out in the Austrian garb along with 50-60 mourners all marching down the road.
Taylor and her friend Maria were waiting for us when we arrived. Taylor looks great. More on her place later. We went to her flag football game , took a tour of the facility and then went to dinner in Lutz. It was great to see her. Denise went to class with her this morning....we look forward to spending the day in Gaming and then off to Prague tomorrow.
With all of the driving issues we thought we better ask how to get to the highway before we left. As nice as the hotel people tried to be.....remember the German language makes them look like we are constantly putting them out....she made it worse. The highway entrance was 30 minutes away. She even said that we may want to get a taxi to show us the way.....this lack of confidence may of occurred due to denise and I getting lost agin when we went to find our car. Anyway , we decided we will just figure it out. We did ....with not one mistake....Vienna is not easy to get around by car....but it was an adventure.
We drove about 2 hours to Gaming. We were fortunate to take the back roads for the last hour. It was really nice. Winding through the alps ....through some very quaint little towns. In one of them we needed to slow down and pass a funeral prosession .
Interestingly, they had a 20 piece band decked out in the Austrian garb along with 50-60 mourners all marching down the road.
Taylor and her friend Maria were waiting for us when we arrived. Taylor looks great. More on her place later. We went to her flag football game , took a tour of the facility and then went to dinner in Lutz. It was great to see her. Denise went to class with her this morning....we look forward to spending the day in Gaming and then off to Prague tomorrow.
Vienna
Well our first full day in Austria went great. We visited the Hofburg Palace and museums and went to the Opera at night. This is probably a great surprise to most of my friends.......Actual sightseeing as part of my vacation. Denise loves this stuff.....me, well I love my wife so I did not rush her through the hundreds of exhibits of excess that these empires collected. I did, however, falter with the Opera deal. Our plan was to go to the opera for 15-20 minutes. Neither of us enjoy opera but we wanted to try it. We bought standing room only tickets....which means standing...really, in the back. They squeezed us in like sardines. We were near the front of standing room....so there was no way out. The first intermission would be in 50 minutes. The perfomance was Madame Butterfly. They have these little screens on the rails in front of you that translate the opera for you. I was reading along....really....trying to be the good dube .....when it happened....like an old horse, I fell asleep standing up......then a knee collapsed and I did the sleep/wakeup jerk...you know when you pretend that you just were moving but everyone around you knows that you just fell asleep.....happens at midnight mass at Christmas sometimes!
Anyway, it was fun. We had a laugh. It might of been the Weiner schnitzel and beer I ate an hour before the show! Now that's vacationing.
Anyway, it was fun. We had a laugh. It might of been the Weiner schnitzel and beer I ate an hour before the show! Now that's vacationing.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Gritchen all day long
By mid day of our first day in Viennna I was bitchen and griping. It was a trying to say the least.
Let's start with the flight, we took Air Nazi from Toronto to Vienna. maybe it's the language ......but the 10 crew were the toughest bunch of stewardesses I have ever seen. Never mind waking me up to see if I would like to eat
....really....wake me up for that...but the way they barked out commands was crazy. They must of also had a weight and height requirement. They were all over 5'8" and skinny. They also looked very ............German.
You really cannot bitch too much about coach. If you are a cheapskates like me and not fork over the dough for 1st class......then you get what you get. We of course had the two seats right next to the bathroom.
I got about 1 hour of sleep on the plan, that makes it tough seeing that austria is 7 hours ahead of St Louis time. We landed at 8:30 am Austria time ......ready for a full day....only problem, was that it was 1 in the morning body clock time.....denise was crabby all day ;)
This was just the start of a very long day. More to follow.
Let's start with the flight, we took Air Nazi from Toronto to Vienna. maybe it's the language ......but the 10 crew were the toughest bunch of stewardesses I have ever seen. Never mind waking me up to see if I would like to eat
....really....wake me up for that...but the way they barked out commands was crazy. They must of also had a weight and height requirement. They were all over 5'8" and skinny. They also looked very ............German.
You really cannot bitch too much about coach. If you are a cheapskates like me and not fork over the dough for 1st class......then you get what you get. We of course had the two seats right next to the bathroom.
I got about 1 hour of sleep on the plan, that makes it tough seeing that austria is 7 hours ahead of St Louis time. We landed at 8:30 am Austria time ......ready for a full day....only problem, was that it was 1 in the morning body clock time.....denise was crabby all day ;)
This was just the start of a very long day. More to follow.
Driving in Austria
Hotel Austria in Vienna is a great place........if you can find it. It took us 3 1/2 hours to find our hotel from the airport. It's 15 miles away!!!! We rented a car for the week. Vienna makes Boston look like a one road town. This is one of the worst cities to drive in. Let's start with that I'm driving a clown car. A small peugeot standard. I feel like I'm in the Bourne series driving this thing. The roads are very skinny and nobody watches when they cross the road. It's amazing these people do not get picked off more often. The city is full of crazy drivers, mindless pedestrians, one way roads, construction and closed roads and the worst No Street Signs. Of course cheap pete does not get the gps and dopey pete forgets that his gps on his phone is useless without a connection. So it's now pete and denise jumping in and out of the car asking people directions like we are on a scavenger hunt. We must look so desparate that Rhino ( my new austian friend) actually gets in our car and takes us to our hotel. It takes another 15 minutes and we were only 2 streets away. Rhino has been living here 20 years and he sympathizes with us and let's us know we are not the idiots we think we are.
Never mind the whole time denies and I are rationally discussing the situation. Quietly, calmly like two expierenlced travelers......yea right
Ok, we are off to Gaming Austria this morning.
Never mind the whole time denies and I are rationally discussing the situation. Quietly, calmly like two expierenlced travelers......yea right
Ok, we are off to Gaming Austria this morning.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Packing up!
I did have one fairly light bag.....until Denise tells me that we are bringing power bars for Taylor. 3 Boxes of them. I will be amazed if these people allow us to bring this bag on the airplane.
And about that planning thing, well our flight is at 11:30 this morning not 10:30, Good thing I checked!
Say our goodbyes to Shelby and Chris this morning, a few final last minute things we will need to do and then it's off to STL for the flight.
We are flying Air Canada to Toronto and then we have a direct to Vienna. The flights are 2 1/2 hours and then 7.
I think we are all set....and if were not....we will manage.
And about that planning thing, well our flight is at 11:30 this morning not 10:30, Good thing I checked!
Say our goodbyes to Shelby and Chris this morning, a few final last minute things we will need to do and then it's off to STL for the flight.
We are flying Air Canada to Toronto and then we have a direct to Vienna. The flights are 2 1/2 hours and then 7.
I think we are all set....and if were not....we will manage.
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