Day 6
This day was for the Prague Castle......
This is a huge castle complex on top of the hill which overlooks the city. The complex is huge and has 2 churches, basilica, palaces, and homes for the common people way back to the 10th century. It took all day to review and examine. We first had to climb the steps to the entrance of the massive location......we figured about 200 steps. Not too bad!!! But it was really interesting to see centuries of occupation and royalty. The crowd was not too bad at all and one ticket could get one into all the buildings....we liked that. Also, we got to spend alot of time on St. Charles Bridge which is truly the most popular tourist area in the city. It is on the way back from the castle complex. There were millions of people all over the place enjoying the gorgeous day. The hawkers were all over but none were obtrusive. In fact they had some really nice stuff to buy....we were strong though. We did stop and buy a couple souvenirs but not too bad. Remember we have to bring this stuff back in our small bags....so we always have to be very observing on that.
While over on the other side of the river, we found a great restaurant which we went back for dinner....a real CZ type so I had to order a pork knee or pork knuckle.....it is a huge joint of a pig...roasted to a perfection with a crispy skin and juicy, moist meat. D could not do such a thing and ordered chicken.
Tomorrow we are off to Austria....Vienna by train.
I must say that I really liked Prague. It was a smallish city which was quite laid back atmosphere. The beauty of the city is so apparent that one cannot resist taking as many pics as possible. I really did get some really beautiful pictures of the city.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Day 5
The weather is fabulous......every day is the same....around 60-70 and sunny, lots of sun.
We met our friends after breakfast and headed to the Jewish Quarter and themain square of the city. Being Sunday there were many familiesout and about with the kids and dogs and such. Entertainers were everywhere. The atmosphere was joyeous. WE visited a couple synogogues that dated back to the ea. Crly centuries. One was quite meaniful because it had all the names of the jews killed during the war.......over 500,000. Their names coated all the walls over the building.
After lunch our friends left fo anyr home and we were on our own to roam the city. The city.....it is simply a picture out of a story book. It is GORGEOUS. For me and my pictures, it was a candy store. I was so worried that they would not make outstanding pictures for a show or calendar but I am wrong. The beauty of Pragurule is overwheliming, especially with the sunny gorgeous sky to assist.
We roamed all over and spent alot of time on the famous St. Charles bridge. Many many peopleboth local and tourists were there oualont with all the craftmen.
The food is meat, meat meat. D actually had to order a spinach salad special to get any sign of a veggie. But the meat is truly outstanding, the pork, the vealand beef. The cuts are different and the cookinhe g is muchslower to make the meat so very tender. Thebeer is great too, anycolor or style, but what was surprising was the wine. We have had 3 bottles now and they are truly outstanding, not strong but smooth reds one after another.
Again staying on a boat has it advantages and disadvantages. Now we canclearlyhear our next door neighbors TV blasting, but it is almost 9:00 so we cannot complain.
Today is our last day so we are concentrating on the mountain castle area all day....the castle, churches and places on the other side of the river.
Tomorrow we are off early onstere the train to Vienna......so far the trip has been very easy and very interesting and fun. Iwould recommend this circle trip to anyone. Almost everyone speaks English, gettting around is easy and fun....and the cities are gorgeous.
See omyou tomorrow.
The weather is fabulous......every day is the same....around 60-70 and sunny, lots of sun.
We met our friends after breakfast and headed to the Jewish Quarter and themain square of the city. Being Sunday there were many familiesout and about with the kids and dogs and such. Entertainers were everywhere. The atmosphere was joyeous. WE visited a couple synogogues that dated back to the ea. Crly centuries. One was quite meaniful because it had all the names of the jews killed during the war.......over 500,000. Their names coated all the walls over the building.
After lunch our friends left fo anyr home and we were on our own to roam the city. The city.....it is simply a picture out of a story book. It is GORGEOUS. For me and my pictures, it was a candy store. I was so worried that they would not make outstanding pictures for a show or calendar but I am wrong. The beauty of Pragurule is overwheliming, especially with the sunny gorgeous sky to assist.
We roamed all over and spent alot of time on the famous St. Charles bridge. Many many peopleboth local and tourists were there oualont with all the craftmen.
The food is meat, meat meat. D actually had to order a spinach salad special to get any sign of a veggie. But the meat is truly outstanding, the pork, the vealand beef. The cuts are different and the cookinhe g is muchslower to make the meat so very tender. Thebeer is great too, anycolor or style, but what was surprising was the wine. We have had 3 bottles now and they are truly outstanding, not strong but smooth reds one after another.
Again staying on a boat has it advantages and disadvantages. Now we canclearlyhear our next door neighbors TV blasting, but it is almost 9:00 so we cannot complain.
Today is our last day so we are concentrating on the mountain castle area all day....the castle, churches and places on the other side of the river.
Tomorrow we are off early onstere the train to Vienna......so far the trip has been very easy and very interesting and fun. Iwould recommend this circle trip to anyone. Almost everyone speaks English, gettting around is easy and fun....and the cities are gorgeous.
See omyou tomorrow.
Day 4
I am writing this on day 5,we are up and ready to move on to the city again. Yesterday, day 4, was a travel day mostly and we were up and out early to catch the train from Berlin to Prague. The ttrip was 5 hours but very nice. We go to meet a couple from Australia who were traveling all over Europe following the WWII sites....concentration camps, troops areas and cities hit hard by the war with their monuments and such. It was weird but interesting to listen to them. Also met anothger couple from Texas who were going to Prague just to seethe sights like us.
We arrived around 1:00 and taxied to hotel.....a boat. Yes, a boat. we chose a floating botal hotel on the river because of the uniqueness and fun. One boat is the hotel and a second is the restaraurnt. It is so cute and small, and fun so far really neat idea. Last night we met friends fromEngland that we planned to meet here and went to a concert......Mozart, Vilvaldi and Pachabel. Really really professional. The concert was att the St.George Cathedrial on the hill overlooking the city....really spealbinding. Walked back into the city and went to a fabulous restaurnt which speciallized in pork belly....yep......and it was wonderful. And we had a CZ wine that was exquisite. Then walkedhome wihile the youngpeople partied and celecbrated Sat.Night. Did not get to sleep until after 1 but could sleep inuntil 9. Today we are off to the city to sightsee and take some ppics.
The city is absolutley gorgeous and nothing like any onther city we have been to. Berlin was modern and efficient, this city is slower and older and the building are just magnificent. We are off to the old city after breakfast.
Eating, we have eatenmeat meat meat. no veggies but sour kraut and maybe a few carrets. Dumplingas area must while beer is a necessity. we have tried mayb e s 10 different beers so far and many more to try. They are stronger but with great flavor. Much betttean the rth US beers.
I am ttrying to upload a short video on youtube on the concert to give you an example of the concert and location but having problem.....neverhave done one before. It may r neverget up there.
Off to the old city.
I am writing this on day 5,we are up and ready to move on to the city again. Yesterday, day 4, was a travel day mostly and we were up and out early to catch the train from Berlin to Prague. The ttrip was 5 hours but very nice. We go to meet a couple from Australia who were traveling all over Europe following the WWII sites....concentration camps, troops areas and cities hit hard by the war with their monuments and such. It was weird but interesting to listen to them. Also met anothger couple from Texas who were going to Prague just to seethe sights like us.
We arrived around 1:00 and taxied to hotel.....a boat. Yes, a boat. we chose a floating botal hotel on the river because of the uniqueness and fun. One boat is the hotel and a second is the restaraurnt. It is so cute and small, and fun so far really neat idea. Last night we met friends fromEngland that we planned to meet here and went to a concert......Mozart, Vilvaldi and Pachabel. Really really professional. The concert was att the St.George Cathedrial on the hill overlooking the city....really spealbinding. Walked back into the city and went to a fabulous restaurnt which speciallized in pork belly....yep......and it was wonderful. And we had a CZ wine that was exquisite. Then walkedhome wihile the youngpeople partied and celecbrated Sat.Night. Did not get to sleep until after 1 but could sleep inuntil 9. Today we are off to the city to sightsee and take some ppics.
The city is absolutley gorgeous and nothing like any onther city we have been to. Berlin was modern and efficient, this city is slower and older and the building are just magnificent. We are off to the old city after breakfast.
Eating, we have eatenmeat meat meat. no veggies but sour kraut and maybe a few carrets. Dumplingas area must while beer is a necessity. we have tried mayb e s 10 different beers so far and many more to try. They are stronger but with great flavor. Much betttean the rth US beers.
I am ttrying to upload a short video on youtube on the concert to give you an example of the concert and location but having problem.....neverhave done one before. It may r neverget up there.
Off to the old city.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Day 3
Wow, double wow, Potsdam was fabulous. We got there by bus and took a bus tour of the city....yes, city, big city. It is definitely an upper class suburb city to Berlin. There were so gorgeous homes and apartments there. And of course King Frederick's palaces. He had several built on this huge plot of land and each was different and had a separate purpose. We got to tour one of them, probably the biggest. It was quite different than others, like the one we saw yesterday, the Charlotte Palace in Berlin. Potsdam is about an hour's drive from the city through more like a suburban landscape than pretty land.
One interesting thing that happened on the way was that the bus was stopped by the police for causing or nearly causing an accident. It seems the driver cut someone off and they called the police who came and stopped the bus. We were on the side of the road for abut 45 minutes as the participants ironed it all out. That had never happened before.
The day today and the last several days since we have been here have been perfect travel days, about 60-65 degrees and sunny. A bit breezy but with the sun it was perfect for touring and perfect for pictures. Speaking of, I first thought that I would not get good scenic pics for a calendar or show, but to the contrary, some of the abstract building pics and some near art pictures from ``the wall" really came out nicely. So I am much more encouraged about my pictures, especially if the weather holds up as it is.
Tonight we go to a real beer garden for dinner.....the BrauHouse and famous one near our hotel. We tried last night but there were no tables available. So tonight we feast on more meat and beer. AGain, speaking of food, we had a traditional German lunch with a sausage, a french bun and a good pilsner. Sitting outside next to the gorgeous palace.
Also, taking the bus to Potsdam, we got to see several parts of the city that we missed so far. So it had a double purpose.
Tomorrow we leave for Prague and so tonight we say goodbye to Berlin.
WE are off to Prague early by train.....see you later.
Wow, double wow, Potsdam was fabulous. We got there by bus and took a bus tour of the city....yes, city, big city. It is definitely an upper class suburb city to Berlin. There were so gorgeous homes and apartments there. And of course King Frederick's palaces. He had several built on this huge plot of land and each was different and had a separate purpose. We got to tour one of them, probably the biggest. It was quite different than others, like the one we saw yesterday, the Charlotte Palace in Berlin. Potsdam is about an hour's drive from the city through more like a suburban landscape than pretty land.
One interesting thing that happened on the way was that the bus was stopped by the police for causing or nearly causing an accident. It seems the driver cut someone off and they called the police who came and stopped the bus. We were on the side of the road for abut 45 minutes as the participants ironed it all out. That had never happened before.
The day today and the last several days since we have been here have been perfect travel days, about 60-65 degrees and sunny. A bit breezy but with the sun it was perfect for touring and perfect for pictures. Speaking of, I first thought that I would not get good scenic pics for a calendar or show, but to the contrary, some of the abstract building pics and some near art pictures from ``the wall" really came out nicely. So I am much more encouraged about my pictures, especially if the weather holds up as it is.
Tonight we go to a real beer garden for dinner.....the BrauHouse and famous one near our hotel. We tried last night but there were no tables available. So tonight we feast on more meat and beer. AGain, speaking of food, we had a traditional German lunch with a sausage, a french bun and a good pilsner. Sitting outside next to the gorgeous palace.
Also, taking the bus to Potsdam, we got to see several parts of the city that we missed so far. So it had a double purpose.
Tomorrow we leave for Prague and so tonight we say goodbye to Berlin.
WE are off to Prague early by train.....see you later.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Good morning everyone.
Yesterday we started our journey in a complet day. We got a very good night sleep after that long first day and we were off to the Chrolettesburg Palace. That was the summer home of Queen Charlette and the king in the 1700s. `it was a very nice copy of Versaille but not quite as opulent as the Russian Czars in St. `Petersburg. The rooms were very nice and the grounds of course stretched all over with are now common parks for the public. There were very few people touring so it was really nice. AFter we had lunch at the most famous deli in Germany Ragardi's ````````````(sp). `it has everything, every kind of smoked fish one could think of, same goes for the meats. We picked out our choices and ate outside at their tables.....quite nice. Then it was off to what `i was really excited about the `'house of horrors`'. An exihibit on the history of the Gestopo and the SS in `Nazi Germany. The museum is on the same land that the building was on which was torn down immediately following the war. It also gave a good history on the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party. Wow, it was quite interesting how the people actually voted him in and wanted someone to be a dictator and destroy other religions and ethnics.......sounds quite like some of the groups we have in the US now. After we were back at the hotel to meet relatives who came from England to meet us for a couple days. We had dinner at a wonderful German restaurant on the river (Spree) with alot of beer drunk. We all tried several kinds and ended up with a home made brew from the restarant. Walked back to hotel and to bed.
Today we have Potsdam tour all day. We will take the bus there and meet the tour.
Now more insight on the country and people. `like I said before, so far the people have been really incredible. `i would guess that 90% speak English, no matter where we went we had no trouble getting or buying what we wanted. Also, strangers would help us on the street if we looked like we needed it.......and several timnes we did. We took the U subway for the first time yesterday and it was fantastic, fast, easy and cheap. `not like the S line which is more complex and more expensive. But I can truly say that getting around Berlin is quite easy once accustomed to it. It is large and diverse with gorgeous apartment neighborhoods and shopping areas. `it is very modern with very few older buildings. There is a tremendous building boom here and it shows. `modern stuff all over. The streets are not crowded with autos as other cities but still not empty. We have not trouble getting around on the streets and interesting enough NO ONE J WALKS....NO ONE. So we have to go with the flow. frustrating sometimnes but safer.\\
Anyway, enough for now. my 20 minutes are up so `i must get off. We are off to `potsdam in a few minutes.\
Bye.
Yesterday we started our journey in a complet day. We got a very good night sleep after that long first day and we were off to the Chrolettesburg Palace. That was the summer home of Queen Charlette and the king in the 1700s. `it was a very nice copy of Versaille but not quite as opulent as the Russian Czars in St. `Petersburg. The rooms were very nice and the grounds of course stretched all over with are now common parks for the public. There were very few people touring so it was really nice. AFter we had lunch at the most famous deli in Germany Ragardi's ````````````(sp). `it has everything, every kind of smoked fish one could think of, same goes for the meats. We picked out our choices and ate outside at their tables.....quite nice. Then it was off to what `i was really excited about the `'house of horrors`'. An exihibit on the history of the Gestopo and the SS in `Nazi Germany. The museum is on the same land that the building was on which was torn down immediately following the war. It also gave a good history on the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party. Wow, it was quite interesting how the people actually voted him in and wanted someone to be a dictator and destroy other religions and ethnics.......sounds quite like some of the groups we have in the US now. After we were back at the hotel to meet relatives who came from England to meet us for a couple days. We had dinner at a wonderful German restaurant on the river (Spree) with alot of beer drunk. We all tried several kinds and ended up with a home made brew from the restarant. Walked back to hotel and to bed.
Today we have Potsdam tour all day. We will take the bus there and meet the tour.
Now more insight on the country and people. `like I said before, so far the people have been really incredible. `i would guess that 90% speak English, no matter where we went we had no trouble getting or buying what we wanted. Also, strangers would help us on the street if we looked like we needed it.......and several timnes we did. We took the U subway for the first time yesterday and it was fantastic, fast, easy and cheap. `not like the S line which is more complex and more expensive. But I can truly say that getting around Berlin is quite easy once accustomed to it. It is large and diverse with gorgeous apartment neighborhoods and shopping areas. `it is very modern with very few older buildings. There is a tremendous building boom here and it shows. `modern stuff all over. The streets are not crowded with autos as other cities but still not empty. We have not trouble getting around on the streets and interesting enough NO ONE J WALKS....NO ONE. So we have to go with the flow. frustrating sometimnes but safer.\\
Anyway, enough for now. my 20 minutes are up so `i must get off. We are off to `potsdam in a few minutes.\
Bye.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Well, we made it, we are now in Berlin Germany. We left at 4:00 pm yesterday and arrived here at 7:30 am. `nice flight, no problems, especially on registering and all. The lines were nonexistant and even with the plane being full, it was very smooth. Most were German, just a couple of us tourists, and several kids....under 3 can you imagine.
`of course we could not get our room so we dumped our stuff and took off. `our first stop was the Brtandonburg Gate......quite impressive. ````````````````it was so neat to walk back and forth from east Germany to west and back. Also what was really cool, was that they lput brick markers for the wall was. So it moved through the city, street by street. And we went to the only place where the wall still exists...about a mile long art gallery, called the East Side Gallery, which had many murals some old some new. `it was a photographers dream. We also visited the Reishstag, the congress of Germany. They changed the government location to Berlin in the late 1990s and built all these gorgeous new style architecture buildings to house all the government parts. The Reishstag is the `parliment and it is brand new and we could tour the dome. `it is commpletely glass and metal and really cool. We also got to ride the S trains in the city....really nice but I could not believe that there are no signs in the stations on stops. `you just have to know or as we did......ask alot of people., Everyone is soooo nice so far and everyone speaks English, at least broken English. `our lunch was 2 different sausages and sour kraut and of course beer. `i had a wheat beer while D had a pisner. `mmmmmm. `now we are back at the hotel got our room and we are on our way to the bar before dinner....and bed. We tried to find Charlie's Gate but it doesn't exist anymore. `one thing we did really notice is the building that is going on all over the city. The cranes are everywhere and construction blocking streets all over. `Ther is no recession in Germany~!!!!
So `i better close now.,.....`i only have 20 minutes to write the blog free.
Tomorrow, we meet our relatives who are coming from England and on to other sites and sounds of Berlin.
`opf course we also bought some souvenirs already and `i found an insect already......yahoo.
`of course we could not get our room so we dumped our stuff and took off. `our first stop was the Brtandonburg Gate......quite impressive. ````````````````it was so neat to walk back and forth from east Germany to west and back. Also what was really cool, was that they lput brick markers for the wall was. So it moved through the city, street by street. And we went to the only place where the wall still exists...about a mile long art gallery, called the East Side Gallery, which had many murals some old some new. `it was a photographers dream. We also visited the Reishstag, the congress of Germany. They changed the government location to Berlin in the late 1990s and built all these gorgeous new style architecture buildings to house all the government parts. The Reishstag is the `parliment and it is brand new and we could tour the dome. `it is commpletely glass and metal and really cool. We also got to ride the S trains in the city....really nice but I could not believe that there are no signs in the stations on stops. `you just have to know or as we did......ask alot of people., Everyone is soooo nice so far and everyone speaks English, at least broken English. `our lunch was 2 different sausages and sour kraut and of course beer. `i had a wheat beer while D had a pisner. `mmmmmm. `now we are back at the hotel got our room and we are on our way to the bar before dinner....and bed. We tried to find Charlie's Gate but it doesn't exist anymore. `one thing we did really notice is the building that is going on all over the city. The cranes are everywhere and construction blocking streets all over. `Ther is no recession in Germany~!!!!
So `i better close now.,.....`i only have 20 minutes to write the blog free.
Tomorrow, we meet our relatives who are coming from England and on to other sites and sounds of Berlin.
`opf course we also bought some souvenirs already and `i found an insect already......yahoo.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
test again
Well this our hopefully the last test for the India blog. We willsee how hard itbis to type the messages to everyone.
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