Final Post

This blog has been fun to write and it was pretty cool to find out people were reading it. We are looking foward to having this blog as a way to remember our trip. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and I'm sorry I didn't have a thesaraus or dictionary along the way.

The last ten weeks have been the trip of a lifetime. We always talked about doing it, but never knew if we'd be able to really pull it off just as we wanted. We wouldn't change anything. Everything lined up, and, in the words of our Chianti wine tour co-passengers, we are, like, totally privileged. Hopefully, however, our acknowledgement of how lucky we are for having this trip comes off with a little more sincerity.

Here are some things we will miss about traveling in Europe:
- the fun of trying to communicate the simplest thing (e.g., where is the bus, what animal does that meat come from) with someone who doesn't speak English
- train travel
- delicious, cheap house wine and Belgian/Czech/Austrian/German beer
- the adventure
- the surprise of walking into your hotel room and not knowing what you'll find
- minimal safety requirements, maximum emphasis on take care of yourself (see Cinque Terra & Interlacken)
- soccer! (I mean futbol!)
- despite getting sick of the repetive nature of the 20 minute loop of CNN/BBC International news, getting another perspective of news was cool (although I think the Michael Jackson coverage was ridiculous)
- the views/scenary

With all that said, ten weeks is a long time for us to be away from home and all that goes with it, so we made a list of some of the things we miss:

- Having a dresser, closet, laundry facilities, and not living out of a suitcase
- Food selection (we can walk across the street for a burger, any direction for Italian, drive 5 minutes south for Mexican on National, and to our kitchen for whatever we want)
- Driving a car
- Playing guitar (including the new one, thanks again Mom and Dad)
- Watching more than just BBC and CNN International on the tube
- Sleeping in our bed, not on two twins pushed together
- Having normal outlets and not needing plug adapters
- Using a phone without a calling card or fear of huge costs
- Not having to convert anything (dollars to euros, forints, czechs, and francs; temperature; time; distance; and speed)
- Being able to check emails and use the internet without having to walk blocks searching for WiFi
- Most importantly, family and friends. We look forward to seeing everyone when we get back.

Au Revoir
Aufwiedersehen
Adios
Ciao
(insert Czeck, Hungarian, and Dutch goodbye)

Day 70: Brussels & Dublin

We checked out and left our bags at the hotel so we could squeeze a little more Brussels in before our 7 PM flight to Dublin. We walked through the king's Palace, through a few churches, and stopped for one last bit of Belgian Chocolate and for a first truffle, which was created here.

Our big stop for the day was the small Cantillon Brewery. They still use the open-air/wild fermentation process and their beers sourness showed it. This was a cool self-guided tour because we walking along their actual brewing equipment. They only brew a few months of the year because they need the cool temperatures outside to cool their beer down after the hopping stage. They supposedly export Milwaukee, so go out and try one and support a small Belgian brewer trying to stick to tradition.

We went back to the Grand Palace square for lunch, a final waffle, and a final Belgian beer from the 1600s pub (where Michael Jackson's "Beat It" appropriately played). Then it was off to the airport and we arrived in our Dublin hotel at about 8:00.

We got dinner at an Irish pub in the Temple Bar area along with a final Guinness (or two), and the musician appropriately played "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane" as we finished our last sip. That wrapped up our final night in Europe. Awesome end to and awesome trip.

Day 69: Brussels

Today we took the scenic route by walking into town instead of using the metro. We saw cartoons painted on buildings (Brussels is know for their comics) and a flea market. Our first real stop was a beer museum in the main square. If you ever go to Brussels, skip this museum. It's basically a cellar bar with old beer making supplies, a Belgian beer making movie on loop, and a pamphlet. The highlight was a sample of a "special beer," but it wasn't that great.

We made a quick recovery by getting a waffle and later heading to a pub from the 1600s and having a real Belgian beer.

We also took a ride out to the Atomium, a large structure in the shape of an atom of iron made for some World's Fair (it seems everything in Europe was made for some World's Fair).

When we arrived back in the main square, a 30 person band made up of people under 25 or so were putting on a show. A crowd gathered very quickly because they were really good, but apparently didn't get their permits. Cops eventually shut them down while a crowd of a few hundred booed.

The rest of the night we walked around Brussels, got dinner, and a beer or two. I'll keep it short today because it's our last night on mainland Europe, crazy . . .

BK Europe 2009 Map

Here's a link to a map recapping our trip courtesy of map aficionado Posti.

Link:
<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106485472403871731705.00046eedaf832afe55e71&ll=48.107431,6.196289&spn=15.882119,51.416016&t=p&z=5>

Week 10 Top 5

1) Amsterdam Brewery
2) Van Gogh Museum
3) Brugges Brewery
4) Vama Veche Festival in Brugges
5) Pit stop on Brussels bike tour for fries, beer, and meeting the group

Runners-up - Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, eating lunch and waffles in the Grand Palace in Brussels, Brugges bars with large selection

Day 68: Brussels, Belgium

Our first stop this morning was for a waffle from the same walk up window as yesterday. Then with a quick check out, off-road walk to the train station (fun with rolling suitcases), and an hour ride, we were in Brussels.

Our first 15 minutes in Brussels was not ideal. It was raining and smelly and we were wondering around looking in vain for the bus we need to catch on our way out of Brussels in 2 days. Things started looking up when we got to our hotel, which was huge, modern, and had a single queen (not the usual two twins).

Although still raining, we headed for the central square called the Grand Place. There we found a bike tour that was highly rated and about to start. The bike tour didn't really compare to Mike's Bike Tour in Munich, mostly because of our weird Argentinean guide (we think Cesar was high or something). The Belgian tour guide that was in-training was a lot more fun.

That said, we were glad we did the tour because we saw a lot of the city and met some interesting people. We got to know our group when we stopped for beer and fries (we were made fun of for ketchup, but we're ok with that because they had mayo). Two people were Australians that were working in Dubai, one was Australian living in London, and one was from Malaya (I'm sure this is way off, but some African country somewhat close to Congo).

We got adventurous for dinner. We went to a Moroccan place with French menus. With a little luck, and knowing chicken and vegetables in French, we had a good meal.

Our last stop was to Delirium Cafe, a bar named after the famous Belgian beer and known for having two thousand types of beer. The bar was OK, but not as great as we expected. After a beer (one of us had a Delirium, although we are not sure who) we headed home.

Our last activity was to watch the only non-news English channel on TV, which was showing Die Hard III or IV, whichever one had Samuel L. Jackson. Awesome.

Day 67: Brugges

Our morning began with a hotel switch because the rate for our perfectly located, clean, and modern hotel shot up on Saturday. Our other hotel was a little bit south, and it worked out because 1) it gave us a new area to explore and 2) the De Halve Maan Brewery and beer museum was only a block away.

The Half Moon Brewery is the last one inside the Brugges city center. It's a small operation in a small location, they only brew 3 days a week and even outsource the filtering and bottling. This small size, however, makes for a good tour and great tasting Belgian beer.

We spent the afternoon stopping in shops and grabbing snacks. We stopped and had a hot waffle from a walk-up window and had some more fries from a place called Pickles. We have definitely been well fed and had our thirst quenched our entire stay in Brugges....

At night we went back to the same restaurant as yesterday before heading to the Burg Square. A week long festival (we think called Kilnkers) was in process in the square and an American was in the line-up. The backdrop of old buildings was amazing (like Prague), but after about 15 minutes we grew bored. The music wasn't that good and the crowd was not our age group. One funny thing we saw was a drunk guy with a great party trick of balancing a full beer on his head while weaving through the crowd and dancing.

We moved on back to Vama Veche, the festival we were at the night before. Here we ended the night by listening to good music and having a cheap Belgian beer. We weren't the only people to switch venues; the party trick man brought his moves too.

Brugges has treated us very well, but tomorrow it's on to our last real stop: Brussels.

Happy Birthday JonathAn

Happy Golden Birthday to our one-year old godson & nephew JonathAn.

Day 66: Brugges

We slept in again. We realize we're getting real close to making a complete switch over to Mexico/beach vacation mode, but we're ok with that. Wake up, eat, bum around, eat/drink, sleep, repeat . . . it's nice.

In the morning we rented bikes and rode out to some windmills. We also saw a church, a school of some sort, and more canals, and stopped for a drink. Bikes have been a good way to see cities and get to places we otherwise wouldn't walk to.

When we returned the bikes we made what is probably one of our last European tower climbs. We must be in shape, the 366 steps to the top of the bell tower in the main square were no faze.

Although not fazed, we still felt we earned another stop at the 2be bar/store. Kevin tried a Rochfort Trappist 10, an 11% dark beer, while Brooke had a blonde 8%. They make strong beer here, and after the drink, we felt we earned a short nap.

On our hotel break we got delayed because we finally have a few English channels that aren't just a 20 minute loop of international news. A 1992 Step-by-Step episode and Ice Road Truckers episode have never been so engaging.

While we were walking to find dinner, a guy on a double decker bike rode by and went to a small park ahead of us. We followed him, obviously, and he led us to the free Vama Veche Festival. After eating dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, we spent the rest of the night at this small local festival. The festival was great. There were under 1,000 people there, we had to buy tickets and take them to the beer/soda tent like a church festival back home, and they had a great band. We actually bought the band's CD. We're interested to know if they were as great as we remembered or if the Belgian beers clouded our judgment. Either way, another great day in Brugges.

PS- Happy 2-year anniversary to the TFB on owning 1438-40 Main St. Hopefully we're at least halfway there!

Belgian Beer!

It didn't take us long to find a few hundred Belgian Beers here in Brugges. This is the appropriately named "Beer Wall" at an amazing bar and beer store called "2be."

Day 65: Brugges, Belgium

After a comfortable 4 hour train ride with a transfer in Brussels, we arrived in Brugges at about 2. Train travel in Europe has been pretty great overall. We show up 5 minutes before the train departs, then during the ride we enjoy the scenery, read up on our destination, listen to music, and watch Simpsons episodes on our iPods.

Brugges is not that big, and after a short bus ride we were in the city center, only 2 blocks from our hotel. We checked in and were ready to tackle our tough agenda, enjoy the things Belgium is known for: waffles, French fries, beer, and chocolate.

Apparently French fries are originally from Belgium, and since we were hungry, our first stop was to a French fry stand in the central (Markt) square. Most people order fries topped with a giant scoop of mayo. It looks as gross as it sounds, but no comment on the taste. We like to try local stuff, but can't do the mayo, so we ordered fries with curry ketchup instead (tasted great).

Our next plan was to go find a canal tour. Brugges has cool canals around the city, but they are part of a much smaller canal network than that of Amsterdam.

While looking for an ATM and canal tour tickets, we stumbled upon the "2be" bar/store. It has some 700 Belgian beers displayed in a Beer Wall, tons of Brugges beers available, and a store with aisles of Belgian beer and chocolate. We couldn't fight fate, so we enjoyed a local Brugges beer and watched the canal tours for awhile from the terrace.

We eventually made it on a canal tour boat ticket office, but we had enough time to stop at a chocolate shop before shipping off. Then we enjoyed a half-hour trip around the canals with an occasional chocolate.

We found a reasonable Italian place for dinner, then we went on to two bars to finish off the night. The first bar was just off the main square and had over 400 types of Belgian beer. The task was great and the menu heavy, but we found two to try. The second bar had a smaller selection (only a few pages of beer menu), but it was a little more off the beaten path. Delicious beers all around.

Brugges is working out for us.

Day 64: Amsterdam

We slept in again today, we think it's a great way to ease back to central standard time. Our first order of business was to figure out our laundry situation for the final time. We lucked out again, our hotel has a laundry service and we are starting to get spoiled.

For breakfast we went back to the Pancake Bakery and it was just as good as yesterday. We rented bikes again, which was a little more difficult because our hotel was out of bikes. Eventually we were back on the road and dodging pedestrians, cars, and other bikers. One additional hurdle here is that the bikes are not the only vehicles allowed on the bike lanes. Mopeds regularly ride in the bike lanes and we even saw a Smart car pass us.

Our first bike pit stop was at the floating flower market. Amsterdam is famous for growing and selling all varieties of flowers (insert marijuana joke). That said, the floating flower market wasn't that interesting.

Our second stop was a windmill. This was no ordinary windmill, however, as the Brouwerij 't IJ Brewery was attached. Tours were only given on the weekend, but they had a bar on premisis where you could see through a window to the small brewing operation. The bartender was the first person in Amsterdam we met that didn't speak English and they had no English menu. We managed to succeed at ordering a few beers anyway, and sampled all six types of really good brews before leaving.

After our tasting we headed back to the hotel to lock up our bikes for the evening. We had Thai one last time and retired for the night.

PS - Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!

Windmill Brewery

This is a serious windmill.

I Amsterdam

Moped Post!

Bonus Post!

One thing Europe has a lot of is mopeds (although mostly France and Italy). Along the way on this trip we have seen some funny moped action. So here is a short list of examples:

1) Paris - two guys on a moped, the one on back holding a 12 ft ladder upside down
2) Paris - a guy riding solo no handed down a hill surrounded by cars as if it was nothing
3) Sorrento - we thought this was the best moped city until Palermo, but here we saw a bit of everything. A little kid standing on the floor board helping his mom steer her moped down a busy street, what seems like 12 year olds riding solo, two people sharing the moped while one holds a pizza, three guys all on one moped, and mopeds scooting between buses to pass along the Amalfi Coast highway.
4) Palermo - best for last, three not-so-skinny Sicilian women, each with a lit cigarette hanging out of their mouth, one holding a few bags, and a 4 year old standing up on the foot board with his head peaking over the handle bars and a sucker in his mouth (this was a site to see). After their pit stop (I'll say to buy more cigs), they failed at remounting. The 3rd lady was just too much, and the moped fell over bringing the kid and other 2 ladies with it. They dusted themselves off (cigs still lit, sucker still in mouth), one lady was forced to walk home, but the other 2 and kid rode off into the alley. One more thing, not one of them was wearing a helmet.

Day 63: Amsterdam

We slept in a bit today, enjoyed some hotel coffee, then headed for breakfast at the Pancake Bakery. We showed up before they officially opened, but they let us in and we got the first flapjacks of the day. They were not ordinary pancakes, they were thin, huge, and came in all kinds of combos, like chorizo and cheese. They were great.

After our breakfast (more of a lunch), we rented bikes from our hotel. There are bikes everywhere here, more than Munich. The riding is not as easy here, however, with canals & bridges, one-ways, and lots of intersections, pedestrians, and other bikers.

Our trip still went relatively smoothly (although Brooke did get cursed at in another language at one point). Our first bike stop was Vondel Park, a smaller Central Park of sorts.

Next we went to the nearby Van Gogh Museum, which was a very cool art museum. The museum is centered around, you guessed it, Van Gogh. What made it cool was that it was as much about Van Gogh as it was about looking at his art. They set up his art chronologically and described where he was and what he was doing when he created it, so we could follow his changing style, growth, and ultimate demise.

From the museum we slowly pedaled our way back to our hotel to return the bikes, stopping for a snack and drink along the way.

We rested up then headed out for another Thai dinner (we decided we need to work Thai food into the routine when we get home). We walked back over to the red light district to have a drink and people watch. At night it still felt sleazy, but there aren't 5 year olds walking around so it isn't quite as weird (but still very weird).

Week 9 top 5

We can't believe we are in our last week, but here's our second to last week's top 5:

1) Self-guided bike tour of Munich
2a) Driving on the Autobahn! (Kevin's #2)
2b) Returning the car in Frankfurt (Brooke's #2)
3) Romantic Rhine cruise
4) Anne Frank's house
5) Almost going to the Koln-Bayern soccer game, then watching it in the Koln-supporting bar

Runner up: Gollem bar in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Canal

This picture sums up Amsterdam's layout; a canal, a bridge, bikes, and cars are all squeezed together.

Day 62: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

From the moment we left the train station, you could smell that we were in Amsterdam. We probably passed ten "coffee shops" on the ten minute walk to our hotel (yes, we passed them by).

We couldn't check in yet, but left our bags and started walking around the canal-heavy city. We went in two big churches, saw the city hall/square, and walked through a small part of the red light district. It was early afternoon and the area felt sleazy (not surprising) with a bunch of adult stores and "coffee" shops lining the canal.

It was a travel day and we were still getting acquainted with the city, so we took a one hour canal tour. The city has as many canals (165) and bridges (1281) as Venice; one main difference is that the roads are wide enough and connected for cars (although the roads are still narrow and appear very inconvenient for driving).

After the tour we went to Anne Frank's house. It was moving, especially when you walk through the bookcase-doorway into the two-story attic hideout where two families spent years before being caught. It makes us want to read the book again; it would probably have a whole new feel.

Our next stop was dinner, which I'm mentioning because it was an unusual choice for us. We had great Thai food, it cost us, but it was really good.

Our final stop was the Gollem Bar (named either after the Lord of the Rings or a Prague monster from Jewish folklore). It has the largest beer menu we've seen in Europe, and we enjoyed a few Belgian beers. Considering they had well over 100 types of beer, it was surprising they only had one IPA.

We also met a few Americans and a Danish guy in the bar. The Danish guy was celebrating his birthday and told us about his plan to buy a hammock from the hammock store (not sure yet if there is a hammock district). The scene got a little weird after he made an inappropriate joke (even for a bar) and the bar started talking politics. We used that as our cue and headed back for the night.

Reinsfels Castle

From the castle tower of St. Gaor overlooking the Rhine.

Day 61: Romantic Rhine

Today we cruised the Romantic Rhine. Before we hopped on a boat, however, we took a train down to Bingen, the beginning of the UNESCO section of the Rhine (the "Middle Rhine"). As a side note, if a place is a UNESCO Heritage site, it's probably awesome. We only had a half hour in the small river town of Bingen before we got on the ferry, but we both thought it would have been a good place to stay for a night.

Along this middle section of the Rhine, about every 10 minutes on the boat you see a castle up on a hill. The castles were essentially built as medieval toll booths for the river traffic by independent princes, dukes, whatever.

An hour and a half into the trip we stopped at the town of St. Goar. We found a lunch spot and Kevin couldn't decide between sauerbraten and venison goulash, so we asked the waiter for a recommendation. He responded asking if we knew the American Rick Steves. We laughed and said yes. He said that when our bud Rick Steves ate there, he had the venison, so the decision was easy (and the venison was delicious).

After lunch we went up to Rhinesfels Castle. We walked the castle, which included exploring a few un-rehabed sections with a keychain flashlight, watching kids play with swords after being given a lesson by a dressed up peasant, looking out at the panoramic view of the Rhine down below, and sampling white wine made from grapes grown on the castle hillside.

After the castle fun we took a two hour ferry ride downstream to Koblenz. We sampled another Rhineland glass of white wine, then took a train back to our home base of Koln.

We didn't have much energy when we got home at 9:30, so we ate a snack in the hotel lobby and then hit the sack.

Day 60: Koln, Germany

Day 60 was an uneventful, cloudy, and occasionally rainy day. First, we walked through a river front market (similar to a string of garage sales, which was a little interesting). Then we took a one hour Rhine cruise where we never lost sight of Koln.

Our next stop was the beer hall (Gaffel Haus) that we couldn't find yesterday. The Gaffel Haus serves Gaffel Kölsch, an example of the typical style of beer of the region. In stark contrast to Munich beers traditionally served in thick liter mugs, Kolsh is served in tall, skinny 0.2 and 0.3 liter glasses. The beer is still good (not as good), but the barkeeps have to work a lot harder to keep filling all the glasses up.

One bachelor party in Koln had a great idea. Part of the party was a 6-piece oompa band (horns, big drum, cymbols) that played as they moved between bars. The party traveled by bus at first, but were on foot later. We kept running into them playing music (not at the bars, but on the streets between the bars). It was funny to see a band member smoke with one breath and play a horn with the next. Crowds would form and people would dance and clap along.

We also saw a big Iranian "Where's My Vote" protest. We can't believe the election troubles started way back when we were in Nice. We also can't believe we're still hearing about Michael Jackson on CNN International (he died when we were in Cosenza).

Day 59: Freitag in Koln (Cologne), Germany

We woke up early today to look around Rothenburg in the day light before leaving town. One stop was to a church with an alter that supposedly holds a drop of Jesus' blood. We also walked around the city on top of the outer walls. Along the way plaques were mounted to show who donated to rebuild the wall after it was destroyed in WWII. The one that caught our eye was Todd Johnson from Racine, Wi. Anyone know Todd?

We hopped back in our Benz and left for Frankfurt. The drive wasn't too bad getting to the city, but finding the Avis return parking lot without a map or address was a bit tricky. All-in-all, 2 1/2 hours we were in the Frankfurt train station deciding what to do next. We opted to take the train straight to Koln and to figure out Rhine cruises from there tomorrow.

When we arrived in Koln, the only sightseeing we did was at the Dom, the huge cathedral right by our hotel and train station. First we walked inside and saw the three stone caskets that hold the remains of the Three Magi (I know, the 3 kings and Jesus' blood in one day!). Then we climbed the 533 steps to the top and looked out over Koln. We must be finally getting in shape, because we weren't that tired at the end.

In Koln, we kept seeing people wearing Bayern Munich and Koln soccer jerseys, so we asked and found out there was a sold out soccer game tonight in Koln. We decided to head to the stadium to try and scalp tickets.

The trip to the stadium was on cramped and energized train, where an occasional song would break out. When we finally got to the stadium, it was raining and we saw no scalpers. Twenty minutes in and out of the rain and thinking we'll have no idea how to actually do the deal in German anyway, we packed it up and headed for a beer haus.

As seems to be the theme, the home team (Koln) lost (to Bayern Munich 2-0). We still had a good time at a crowded local bar drinking the local brew, Kolsch. Not a bad Freitag in Germany.

Rothenburg, Germany

Early morning on the Romantic Road stop of Rothenburg.

Our wheels

The Benz

Olympic Park, Munich

A stop on our self-guided tour.

Mike's Bike Tour

A stop on the tour.

Day 58: Romantic Road

Today was an adventure.  We rented a car (2009 Mercedes Benz, not sure
what model) in Munich and drove along the Romantic Road stopping in
Ausburg, Donauworth (D1), Dinkelsbuhl (D2), and finally Rothenburg.
The guide books say give 2-3 days for the Romantic Road, we're giving
it just under 24 hours.

The trip was interesting because 1) we don't know the German road
signs and have never driven in Europe, 2) the car was manual, and
Kevin is rusty at best (rusty implies Kevin was at sometime good at
stick, which is not the case), and 3) we relied almost exclusively on
the GPS device (the Romantic Road is not always the route that the
device provides).

Immediately upon leaving the parking structure, we were in the middle
of Munich pedestrian, bike, and car traffic near the train & tram
central station.  Kevin proceeded to kill the car at the first
intersection twice, missing the green light.  The cars behind were
likely not pleased, but thankfully held their honks.

Once Kevin figured out that he was trying to start in 3rd, he was able
to choose the appropriate gear and to get the car moving.  Brooke
requested that we exchange the car for an automatic, but Kevin
heroically declined and drove on.

We managed to leave Munich and get to Ausburg, all the way, however,
Kevin honed his starting and stopping skills in the construction
traffic.  We parked in a structure in Ausburg and walked around town
for about two hours, including a stop for lunch.  Ausburg is touristy,
but still quaint and the people were nice (a random old man stopped
and offered to help us when we were looking at a map on the street
corner).

Leaving Ausburg was a little difficult because it took Kevin 10
minutes to figure out how to put the car in reverse.  Also, it took
about 20 minutes to actually find the Romantic Road and head north.
We finally managed to get to the next town, D1, but just drove by
because it was getting late.

Up until this point the Romantic Road wasn't very romantic.  It was
comparable to driving from Milwaukee to Madison on 94, and it was
raining.

The road started improving between D1 and D2.  We saw a random castle,
drove through a couple small cobblestone towns, rolling hills, etc.
We reached D2 and parked, strolled up the street for 15 minutes to
enjoy the sun that found its way back through the clouds.  Things were
looking up, and we got back on the road and headed for our final
destination.

We didn't take the Romantic Road, the GPS took us to the Autobahn.  We
hit 170 kph, not sure on the exact conversion, but we think 105 mph.
We were timid; the cars on the left were going closer to 150 mph.
Meanwhile, cars on the right were going 60 mph.  It made for a fun and
fast 30 kilometer drive.

We reached Rothenburg at about 8 pm and checked into a nice B & B.
Since we have to leave early tomorrow to return the car in Frankfurt,
we headed out almost immediately to see what we could.  This city is
basically in original 14th century style; it has old city walls,
gates, buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, the whole package.  We
saw one last (hopefully) glockenspiel routine, and headed home.

Kind of a crazy day.

Week 8 Top 5

A little delayed, but here's the list covering from the last day in Budapest through Austria:

1) Eger Wine Caves
2) Outdoor film fest in Vienna
3) Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, including the mazes
4) Steigl Brewery tour
5) Salzburg Beer Hall (even if it made Kevin sick)

Runners-up: business class seats on the train to Salzburg, City "Beach" in Vienna, our last meal in Hungary after the Eger trip, and having our laundry done for us in Vienna (and Kevin finally getting the Barcelona sand out of his shorts' pockets)

Day 57: Munich, Germany

Today we started at the Bavarian Residence, the palace where Bavarian royalty lived for centuries. It was interesting at parts, but going through 96 rooms can start to drag on, so we sped up as we went.

Then we headed back to Mike's Bike Tour so we could rent bikes for a self-guided ride around Munich. They gave us bikes, a map, and we were on our way.

We essentially had three major stops. First we rode west to the Summer Palace (not sure on the German translation), which reminded us of a less extravagant Vienna Schonbrunn Palace (but still very expansive and cool). We didn't go inside, however, just found a bench to relax on.

Our second stop was Olympic Park, which was about as hilly as flat Munich gets. Again, pretty much just rode until we found a bench suitable for soaking up the area.

Our third stop was the English Gardens. After a few hours of riding we decided to try a new beer garden in the park. We grabbed a picnic table at the Sea Haus, which serves Paulaner and sits on a lake. The bees chased us away after one mug, and we went back to the garden from yesterday.

Back at the garden, we split up. Kevin got the beer, while Brooke got some food. Brooke's task proved more difficult. She approached the vender, the only person in line, and pointed at a strawberry dessert type plate (the only food he served) and asked for one (raising one finger).

Universal language right? Wrong.

The German vendor went on a rant (in English) about Americans visiting without knowing the language. Now, not only did he work as a vendor in tourist central, but we still have no idea what the name of the food that he was serving is called in any language and he spoke fluent English. Anyway, as mad as we were at the jerk vendor, he sold the most delicious strawberry dessert thing (still don't know the name) ever.

After the rude vender, we spent 2 hours trying to plan out our trip up the romantic road (complicated by our car rental). So we were kind of bummed at this point. Then we go for dinner, and while we're looking at the menu, a nice woman eating with her family leaned over and offered to help us with the menu.

It didn't take much, just this little offer, to bring us back to a good mood. It reminded us that the vast, vast majority of people in Munich and all over Europe have been extremely nice and helpful in the past 8 weeks.

Tomorrow we're going to rent a car and drive up the romantic road to Rothenburg...should be interesting.

Day 56: Munich, Germany

We started the day slow by going to the Deutches Museum, which is basically Germany's Air & Space Museum. It was highly recommended by our Sorrento hotel friends. The museum was ok, we spent about an hour or so looking at planes, windmills, solar/nuclear power exhibits before heading to the Marianplatz Glockenspiel (clock). The clock was later described to us by our guide as the most overrated tourist attraction in Europe (we think he should see the clock in Prague if he wants to see overrated).

On to the highlight of the day. We took Mike's Bike Tour, a 4 hour tour around Munich led by our Irish guide, Andy. We basically would ride for about 5-10 minutes, then stop for an explanation of a building, statue, etc.

It's a little weird seeing how Germany handles WWII. There aren't any WWII monuments honoring the Nazis (a good thing), it seems like history stops in 1920 or so. However, there are a few subtle and moving monuments around if you (or your guide) can find them.

For instance, what looks like a path of spilled gold paint in an alleyway is a memorial to people that were caught taking the long route to avoid having to perform the required salute to a Hitler/Nazi plaque. Another was the White Rose monument honoring kids that were executed for printing anti-Nazi flyers. The monument is a big stone block with inscriptions, but also a pile of small stones placed on top by passers-by, which is a nod to the Jewish way of showing you visited a grave (correct me if I'm wrong).

After the history and somber notes, the tour hit the beer garden in the middle of the English Gardens (Munich's Central Park). With a beer and a pretzel in our belly, we rode on along the Isar River. This is where Kevin had an unfortunate run-in with a pole that came out of no where. Fortunately, Kevin made an amazing recovery and rode away unscathed without even falling off the bike. This didn't stop fellow tour members, Brooke, and guide from hearing a loud clang and then laughing (when they clearly should have been heaping praise for the recovery).

A final cool part of the 15-person tour was that 2 members were Marqutte Alums from California. They were in Germany for, get this, an international Segway Polo tournament. They took 2nd place, losing to Barbados.

We ended the day by visiting the large Haufbrau Haus (est. 1659) and the smaller A. After the 4 hour bike ride, it was easy to sample a weiss, a Helles lager, and dunkel weiss (split between us, of course). We made a final stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for soda, chicken fingers, and fries (after the frankfurter in Austria and about 10 pretzels, American food was about all that sounded appetizing).

Day 55: Munich, Germany

I'm taking the day off, not feeling so well. Not sure if it was that frankfurter or a bug, but we mostly hung out in the hotel today.

Our one excursion was to see the English Gardens. Besides seeing a few more naked guys, we saw river surfers. They were mesmerizing; one after another they jumped on the waves. Twenty minutes went by in a flash. Check the picture.

Day 54: Salzburg, Austria

Our first stop today was the Castle perched on a hill overlooking Salzburg. The castle rivals Edinburgh's castle in look and feel, but they didn't let us roam as freely as you can in Scotland. We weren't quick enough to get the blue skies we woke up to, but it didn't rain so it still made for a good time.

We stopped for a snack afterwards at the first place that looked good. By chance, it turned out that we chose the restaurant on the ground floor of the birthplace of Mozart. After eating we walked around Mozart's house and saw letters he wrote, instruments he played, and the room he was born in.

Our next stop was the Stiegl Brauhaus. The Stiegl brewery was a sweet deal: $6 for the self-guided tour through "Europe's Biggest Beer Exhibition," 3 beer samples, and a souvenir (another beer!). Their dunkel weiss and normal weiss were both very good.

I know it seems like a theme, but when we returned from Stiegl we headed back to the beer hall we visited the night before. This time, however, we got dinner and were able to enjoy the outdoor patio. Kevin had a fun time trying to order a hot dog. After getting confused looks and confusing instructions, we found out you could buy a frankfurter from one stand, but had to go to another stand to get a bun.

We both liked Austria a lot, it is worth a return trip. Tomorrow it's on to Munich.

A great kevin qoute!

"if I was an old person, I would have broke a hip" - Kevin explaining
how well he recovered from hitting a pole on the Mike's Bike Tour

Saltzburg

With all the rain, the river was really moving. The Saltzburg castle is up on the hilltop in the background.

Salzburg Castle

Walking along the bank of the Salzach River on the way to the Salzburg Castle.

Austrian Beer Hall!

Brooke's view of Kevin in an Austrian beer hall.

Austrian Beer Hall Part 2

A better view of the beer hall, and of Brooke drinking her beer like hot chocolate on a cold day.

Day 53: Saltzburg, Austria

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was 95 and almost unbearable, today it was 55 and raining. This weather, along with a delayed train, lead us to abandon our planned 5 hour stop in Hallstat.

Instead, we stayed on our train to Salztburg in the fancy business class seats we accidentally and incorrectly took. When we finally arrived we roamed around the streets in the rain. Mozart's hometown is pretty small and is very walkable, in nice weather.

We avoided the rain by going into a museum about bathing (of al things) and a few churches. Unfortunately for us, we were soaked after a couple hours anyway, so we stopped back at our hotel for a good nap.

When we got up we felt we should do something, but it was already 9 pm. What else is there to do but go to an Austrian beer hall?

The Augultinee has made their own Brau since 1621, and like Lake Front Brewery, they serve it where they brew it. The beer hall was fun. You start by grabbing a half-liter or liter mug off the shelf, rinse it off in the fountain, pay the cashier a few bucks, then take your mug to the 70 year-old man tipping the wooden-barrel on an angle to get every drop out of the tap. Next you walk in and out of a series of big halls lined with wooden tables and find a seat, enjoy your beer, and repeat. The crowd was young and old, and a few rowdy tables were singing drinking songs, slinking mugs, and shouting Prost!

Unfortunately the hall stopped serving food right when we got there. We found another place to eat on the way home and Kevin got beef goulash. It only took one week for beef goulash to turn into a "safe play" food order.

We're hoping for better weather tomorrow to enjoy the town and its castle.

Danube Beach

Hanging out at the "City Beach."

Day 52: Vienna, Austria

We started our day at the Schonbrunn Palace, a huge 1400 room palace surrounded by acres and acres of gardens and fountains. The picture with Brooke shows the palace off in the distance and some of the gardens and pool in-between.

After roaming around the grounds, including a stop to play in the hedge labyrinths (see pic) and playground, we went through rooms of the palace. Some of the rooms had some cool history attached. In one room JFK met with Soviets and in another room the 6 year old Mozart played for ruler Maria Theresa. The audioguide kept it interesting and brief, so we were through 40 rooms in about 45 minutes.

From the palace we took a U-Bahn ride to get a pretty bad lunch (fyi - Chicken Burger Pita = chicken breast + beef patty + tortilla), then hopped on a tram. The tram took an unexpected turn and crossed the Danube, well, unexpected for us, as the tram was on tracks.

We lucked out, however, because we found the "City Beach." Tiki bars with sand pits stretched a half mile along the river (imagine Rock Bottom in Milwaukee with sand under their tables). We went with the flow that fate brought us and enjoyed a beer on the "beach."

We stopped back at the hotel to plan tomorrow and decided instead of going directly to Salzburg, we'd stop in Hallstatt for the day. We also made a huge discovery. Our hotel will do our laundry (wash, dry, and fold) overnight for the same price as we did it ourselves in Barcelona. We averted another laundry crisis and took advantage of our hotel's service.

Now freed up from having to do laundry, we headed back to the Rathhaus (city hall) to get dinner and enjoy the outdoor show. Tonight was a Hanzel and Gretel opera in German, which was a pretty funny thing to watch. We were slightly confused on how they could get away with calling it Hanzel and Gretel when no bread crumbs were involved.

On the way home we saw the longest word ever, so we wrote it down to remember:

Fahrtreppenbenutzungshinweise


PS - Happy birthday Melissa (it's a day late, but it is the July 17th post). We didn't find your parent's church, but didn't have much time to look.

Salzburg castle

View from the top of the castle

Schonbrunn Palace

The Schonbrunn Palace, where the Hapsburgs royalty spent a lot of their time (and invited guests like Mozart).

The Maze

This maze was also part of the Schonbrunn Palace grounds. We did not see any minotaurs, only a few dead ends.

Rathaus (City Hall)

We watched the concert from these seats after passing the time sampling Austrian food & beer for a couple hours. The blurring is a by-product of my cell phone's "stitch" feature (it was the only way to get the whole area in view).

Austrian Beer

This guy knows his beer.

Day 51: Vienna, Austria

We moved back west today; it was only a 3 hour train ride from Budapest to Vienna, Austria.

With all our efforts the last few days on Hungary, we didn't do a lot of planning for Vienna (we had to book our hotel from Brooke's iPhone at midnight yesterday). We were reading our travel books and listening to Rick Steve's podcasts on the train ride trying to figure out what to do and see.

We never really had a plan, but like in other cities, we picked a first destination to get to and figure out the city on the way. Our first stop was the Opera House since it was the city center landmark nearest our hotel. Then we moved on to a couple churches and walked in just in time for a free concert at the second one.

By now we had a feel for Vienna, and we really liked it. It's a clean city, not too big, not too small, efficient and convenient public transportation is available although we can usually walk. There's lots of good food, drink, history, and arts.

We walked to the sprawling Hapsburg Palace and near, but not in, the museums. At this point Kevin was feeling a little tourist fatigue. It was hot again and the energy to appreciate 15th century art wasn't going to happen. We took a beer break and planned our next stop to Rathaus (city hall), where we read there was usually night shows of some sort on a giant projector.

When we got there we found a few hundred chairs set up and a few rows of bleachers all facing a large screen placed in front the dramatic 5-peaked city hall. Behind the chairs were about 10 restaurants with summerfest-like stands and beer taps a plenty. The most prevelent beer seems to be Ottakringer, which makes a great dunkel (dark) and Helles (pilsner we think).

The chairs were basically empty when we arrived, but a slow trickle filled up the seats over a few hours. Then the big show, a video of a 20 year old performance of a Mozart symphony by the Berlin Philaharmonic. Yeah, doesn't sound that cool. But the park had a whole atmosphere about it, with a thousand people enjoying good food and beer with the city hall backdrop, watching a pre-recorded concert seemed about right. Similar to Jazz in the Park, it's not all about the music.

We spent about 4 hours hanging out at the city hall fest before retiring for the evening.

Day 50: Eger, Hungary

We ventured east today, taking a 2 hour train ride to Eger, Hungary. We were forced to pay for the same train ticket a few times, and needed the aid of another English speaking Hungarian when the conductor approached us to sort it out, but we made it to Eger before noon.

Eger is wine country in Hungary, and that was about all we knew when we decided to go yesterday. Kevin, in particular, was expecting a difficult but rewarding day in a 1000 person town surrounded by farms and with no English. Kevin was wrong.

Our first stop was the city center, a ten minute walk from the train station. Immediately upon reaching the main road it felt like we could have been on any suburban street in the US. Wide roads, wide sidewalks, the smell of freshly cut grass...it was unexpected.

We knew we reached the city center when we saw the giant yellow Basilica. From there we walked twenty minutes in the 95 degree sun to reach Szepasszony-volgy (the Valley of the Beautiful Women, or "Nice Women" depending on the translation). We eventually reached an oval path about the size of a 400 meter track with a park inside the path and about 50 storefronts on the outside. The store fronts lead into cool (60 degrees or so) wine cellars that went into the ground/hill surrounding the oval. Each wine cellar was a wine bar that sold glasses of wine, bottles of wine, or filled up whatever container you brought in.

We didn't really know the protocol on our first stop, but each managed to order a glass of the local red wine called "Bull's Blood." We were surprised to find out the glasses were $0.50 each. Before we knew it, a few hours had passed and we were tipsy from wine cellar hopping. We had bought 3 bottles of wine and filled up a water bottle with wine too (for a whopping $15 total).

We met two teachers from Ohio who were on a 3 week Eastern European trip while tasting. They helped us find the $5 tram back to town, which was a way better method than walking in the heat after all that wine. From the center we made stops at the castle and a park on our walk back to the train station, but kept the stops short so we didn't miss the last train back to Budapest.

After a long, sweltering train ride back to Budapest, we pit stopped at our hotel and grabbed dinner at the nearby restaurant we had wine the night before. The dinner was one of the best we've had on the trip so far, which surprised us. Kevin had some fowl with apples, honey mustard dressing, and mashed potatoes (sounds weird, but good) and Brooke had a salad with chicken and fruit skewer.

We made a final walk to the river to see the castle and Chain Bridge lit up at night. Tomorrow morning it's off to Vienna.

Wine Cellar in Valley of the Beautiful Women

It felt so good in the cellars after walking in the hot, hot sun.

Eger Basilica

The Eger Basilica. Don't be fooled by the picture, this church was big. Zoom in and you can see people by the door to show the scale.

Budapest Bath

Chilling out, maxin' & relaxing all cool.

Day 49: Budapest

We started the day with a great hotel breakfast: meat, potatoes, breads, coffee, juice . . . we had it all. Well-rested and well-fed, we started walking north in Pest. First stop was Parliament, but we couldn't get in unless we waited for a few hours. We opted for walking towards the St. Stephen's Cathedral instead.

It was hot today, 90 at 11am, so we stopped along the way for a drink in a park (turns out we were right by the MTV Budapest building). Eventually we got to the St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is huge and ornate. We half-climbed, half-elevatored to the top dome for a panoramic view of Budapest.

The special draw was a chapel holding St. Stephen's holy right hand. If we read it right, he was the first king to be canonized. You never quite get used to seeing the 1000 year old body parts in churches. If you blinked, however, you'd miss it. You had to plug the meter for the light to illuminate the hand's display case.

Our next stop was the House of Terror. This was a great museum. It chronicles the Nazi and then Soviet occupation of Hungary and is located in the former headquarters of both their secret polices. Scary stuff. Makes us both wonder about Kevin's ancestors that didn't leave Hungary.

After that heavy experience we did a 180 and headed to the Szechenyi Baths (recommended by my bud Rick Steves). Before we got there, however, we had fun using the metro. We bought two tickets and headed for the validater machine to get it punched, where there are two metro workers to ensure you do. The machine wouldn't punch Brooke's for some reason, so the worker wouldn't let her through and was giving us a hard time.

We walked back to the ticket counter and were getting frustrated when a local Hungarian guy came out of nowhere to our aid. He spoke to us in English and asked us to follow him back to the metro workers and spent a few minutes talking/lightly arguing with them on our behalf. They eventually conceded and let us through. We thanked the man, and he apologized for the workers and told us to enjoy our time in Budapest.

This was a pretty surprising 5 minute experience to us. Later we read in one of our books that 1) metro workers are notorious for not speaking English, being rude, and picking on tourists and 2) locals are extremely nice and go the extra mile to make sure tourists enjoy their city. Dead on.

We eventually reached the bath, which was a perfect way to beat the heat today. It's basically a public pool (well, $15 to get in) that is fed with natural heated spring water. The bath we went to had 3 big pools. One was basically a giant hot tub, one a lap pool with normal pool temp, and one in between (where we spent most of our time).

The rest of our day was spent walking around Pest getting some happy hour drinks and dinner. We sampled our first Hungarian wine, not sure what it was called, but it was a pretty good glass of red wine for about $3 from a ultra-modern bar by our hotel.

Tomorrow we'll go one step further with the Hungarian wine. The plan is to take a day trip to Eger and the Valley of the Beautiful Women, one of the main wine regions in Hungary. It's a two hour trip each way, but it'll give us a chance to explore Hungary a bit more.

PS - Alright Prince Fielder with the Home Run Derby victory!

Week 7 top 5

In week 7 we went from the top of Swiss Alps, to Italian lake resorts, to Eastern Europe. It was hard to narrow down the top 5, but here goes:

1) Top of Mt. Schilthorn
2) Lake Como hotel, restaurant, and lake front
3) Prague's Bohemia Jazz Festival (with sausage, chicken skewers, and beer)
4) Charle's Bridge with street performers and scenery
5) House of Terror in Budapest

Runners up: Budapest Baths, Star Wars stop in Lake Como, brief Milano stop, night train ride (it was a top experience, not all good, but we experienced a lot), Prague's cheap and delicious beer everywhere.

Day 48: Budapest, Hungary

Our first stop off the train was a McDonald's for coffee and free WiFi to figure out how to get to our hotel. Our hotel was in Pest and when we arrived they let us check in early. Checking in was a great because it allowed us to refresh after the night train ride.

We struck out without a plan because Budpest isn't the easiest to get a handle on. We figured a little walking around would help us get better oriented. We found a shopping area and by the time we finished our second coffee of the day to fight our grogginess, it was time to eat lunch. We found a semi-fancy place where Kevin had delicious chicken paprikas.

After lunch we started to explore Buda. Budapest has a similar set up to Prague. The Danube river divides Buda with its hill top "castle" from Pest down below. The two main differences are that 1) Prague has a more toy-land type feel and look with its old time architecture and stone roads, and 2) Budapest covers a lot larger area.

We crossed the Chain Bridge and took a funicular up the hill for some panoramic views of the Danube and Pest. Then roamed by all the buildings and a church, and stopped in a museum. Other than one section (shown in pic), the Budapest Castle is similar to Prague's in that it isn't all that castle-like. Mostly just some cool buildings and a church behind walls.

We made it until about 6 when we crashed at our hotel for a couple hour nap. We woke up and went out for walk by the opera house and for a drink, but that was about it. No Benko or Karazi sitings yet, but we're keeping a look out.

PS - Happy Birthday Posti.

Budapest

The castle like part of Budapest Castle.

Budapest

Crossing the Chain Bridge from Buda to Pest over the Danube with Parliment in the background.

Nightrain (Prague to Budapest)

We took the 11 hour (10 pm to 9 am) train from Prague to Budapest via Slovakia last night. It was interesting. Through a mistake in our understanding of reserving the sleeper cars, we got a normal second class cab without beds for the duration. Luckily we ended up having the car to ourselves, but every time the train stopped (which was a lot) there was the chance our privacy would end.

Speaking of privacy invasions. We would finally be sound asleep, lights out, and curtains shut, then when we crossed into a new country (Slovakia and Hungary) a person would burst in asking for our tickets in a Slavic language. Talk about a rude awakening. Each time we would pull out the wrong ticket while disoriented, making the conductor turn on the light and say more things to us until we got the right ticket out.

It was a very Eastern European experience, but it paid off. We were able to save hotel money and, more importantly, eliminate a travel day. That said, it'll probably be our last night train.

Bohemia Jazz Fest 2009

Josephine something from Sweden singing at BJF. The festival has a pretty good backdrop.

Georgia on my Mind

Sometimes you just have to stop and give money. We saw these guys on the Charles Bridge singing a great rendition of Georgia on my Mind.

Day 47: Prague

We slept in a little this morning, missing our free continental breakfast that ended at ten (maybe too many pivos the night before), but headed down to the free WiFi Starbucks for a cappuccino and bagel. We also got a local pastry from a street stand, which is kind of like a churro in a doughnut shape.

After a quick stop at a nearby church and top of its bell tower, we crossed back over the Charles bridge to market square where they were setting up for the Bohemia Jazz Fest (www.bohemiajazzfest.com). They had a wood fire grill with hams roasting on a spit, chicken skewers, and more sausages (kalbasas). Although not yet hungry, we couldn't resist.

Eventually we left for Josev, the Jewish Quarter. Jewish people have not had it easy here (understatement), and this is the area they were all forced to live in at one point. We toured a few synagogues, including the 700 year old "Old-New" and the Spanish synagogue. Kevin had to sport a yamaka (sp?) at both. We also saw the Jewish Cemetery, which looked like the most overcrowded cemetery you've ever seen. Apparently they just kept stacking up, and they'd move the tombstone up to the top layer as they went.

Other stops included what we think was Mozart's house and the Basilica, which is as impressive and big as they get.

Finally, the highlight. We went back to Market Square for the now-started Bohemia Jazz Fest. A crowd was around and the beer and food were flowing. We spent our last 2 hours watching shows and filling up for our 12 hour night train ride to Budapest.

Day 46: Prague

Our first stop was back up to the Prague Castle area this morning. We were glad we walked around last night because it was very busy with tourists in the day. While at first we didn't buy tickets to get in because they only sold "tour" tickets, we found out later that the tickets had no actual "tour," it was just a bad translation. So we bought a ticket and walked in a few places, but the exterior walk was more interesting than the interiors. We never made it in the Basilica, as the line looked like it'd take an hour.

One cool thing we stumbled on was some sort of a military uniformed band (30 or so members) playing a free concert just outside the walls. We listened to a song or two and then moved on.

We walked across the Charles Bridge to a famous clock tower. We got a drink by it so we could see the clock strike on the hour and see the 12 apostles pop out. As it neared 2:00 it got very crowded and the ringing of the bells, etc. was really not that impressive. The market square we were in, however, was impressive with several big churches, statues, restaurants, and lots of people.

After trying to figure out our night train to Budapest for tomorrow at the train station, we walked to Wenceslas Square (see pic). Kevin had a delicious street-side valcov sausage (kinda tastes like Polish sausage).

We wondered though the old town area and then at 7:30 it happened, we cracked on day 46. We walked by a Hard Rock Cafe and couldn't resist any longer. We went in and got cheeseburgers and fries. We have no regrets. We figure we have earned a little Czech cred by having beef goulash and a street-side valcov sausage, so it wasn't that bad.

After that we pretty much repeated last night, pub hopping and sampling Czech beers. In one underground cave-like pub we listened to a good live blues/jazz band.

Praha

Wenceslas Square, where thousands of Czechs took part in a revolution in 1989 ending Communist rule. Capitalism is here, no doubt about it, as we see a McD's or Starbucks every few blocks.

Day 45: Prague, Czech Republic

We woke up early to get breakfast and begin our travel day. First we caught a bus to Como, then a train to Milano. We had about an hour to kill, so we took the metro a few stops to see the Duomo and center of Milan. This was the first time we saw the Duomo not under construction. Brooke felt a little nostalgic about being back in the city where she studied for a semester 5 years ago (and her memory made for smooth use of the metro and bus to the airport).

Our flight to Prague went smoothly. It included some Italian bachelor party with the bachelor dressed up as superman, which was interesting.

Our bus ride was fun from the airport. Undercover Czech traffic cops riding the bus suddenly flashed their badges and made sure all the passengers had valid bus tickets. These guys looked like Soviet-era goons that weren't going to give us a ticket if we failed their test, but were going to take us out behind the bus and teach us a lesson. Our fears were misguided, however, as we saw three teens run off the bus and elude the grasp of one of the cops, so I guess they weren't as formidable as we first thought.

As soon as we czecked in (ha) we stopped for a delicious and cheap beer. Of course, one was a Pilsner Urquel, and it was good. We also tried a "dark beer" as it was labeled on the menu (it's real name was "Master").

From there we walked up the hill to the Prague Castle area. It's not so much a fortress like Edinburgh, it's more of a big area behind walls with lots of buildings inside, including the giant Basilica that was closed for the day. The castle area is "protected" by castle guards (see pic). They don't seem on par with the Royal Guards in London. We saw one trying not to doze off and one give Brooke a smile.

We got a reasonably priced three course dinner where Kevin went local and had beef goulash. Then we went pub hopping for a bit on both side of the Charles Bridge and had our fair share of Pilsner Urquels, Budweiser Budvar (not affiliated with St. Louis), and some beer that started with a G (grimberis?). One bar (O'Che's) was Czech-run with an Irish and Che Gueverra theme, an odd combo. It had cricket on the tv and a lively game of darts going on, so we got two beers there.

We walked back up to our giant room before midnight and slept well.

Duomo in Milano

Brooke in front of the Duomo in Milano.

Prague

Brooke standing by the entrance to the Prague Castle or something near it, not quite sure yet. Notice the two guards and the statue with a club.

Day 44: Lake Como

Today's big goal was to take a ferry ride (it's easy to relax with such low expectations). We decided to go in the morning, that way we could enjoy our hotel's portion of the lake in the hot afternoon.

We caught the ferry from our town and thought we'd get off at Villa C, where we thought Star Wars was filmed. We realized we had the wrong Villa, and hopped back on a ferry to Lenno to get to Villa B. This was not really an issue, as the ferry ride itself was great (good call Posti). Also, with all our boat rides today we never saw Bill Murray or Clooney...

After finding out the hard way that the hiking path to Villa B was closed for the day, we took a water taxi. The gardens of Villa B are a great place to get stunning views of Lake Como (see picture), and we had a good half hour of roaming and picture taking before leaving.

We headed back at 2 and enjoyed our hotel (lake & restaurant) for the rest of the day. We're feeling a little re-energized after a few days in Como, and are looking forward to the adventures that are sure to come in Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary.

PS - Good to see the comment board lighting up again after the 4th of July break. Any thoughts on Prague?

Lake Como

Star Wars grounds.

Day 43: Lake Como

After waking up with the lake & mountains view, we decided at breakfast that we needed another day in Lake Como. Our hotel only had one room open for our third night, a kids room with bunk beds. We reserved it anyway and paid to push back our flight to Prague an extra day.

Our plan for today was to do as little as possible, and we succeeded. We laid out in the hot morning sun and took a brief swim in the chilly water, got lunch at the hotel restaurant, and briefly kayaked.

Our big activity for the day was to catch the bus from our town, Lezzeno, to nearby Bellagio. We got gelato and strolled by the shops for about two hours.

We ended today like yesterday. Dinner at our hotel restaurant overlooking the lake. This time we tried the house wine, not so good. So we bought the bottle of Chianti we had yesterday and brought it back to our room for some tipsy travel planning.

PS - No George Clooney sightings yet, but we hear we're across the way from film locations for Star Wars (ep I-III, Naboo I think) and Bond (Casino Royale).

PPS - Posti, we'll look into to Como ferry. At the very least, we'll be taking some ferry tomorrow.

Bellagio, Lake Como

You'll notice I'm wearing just an undershirt. That's because a bird nailed my first shirt, which I didn't notice until Brooke pointed out.

Lezzeno, Lake Como

Lake Como is working out pretty well for us.

Day 42: Top of Schilthorn to Lake Como, Italy

- Old Man Yells at Clouds
We woke up at 7, ate breakfast, and we were off to the 10,000 ft. summit of Schilthorn. First we took a lift back up the 2200 ft. trail we hiked down yesterday. A short train ride and cross-Murren walk brought us to the Schilthorn-Birg lift. At 9000 ft. in Birg we switched lift cars and made the final climb to Schilthorn in and out of clouds.

Kevin, not a fan of heights, was especially not a fan of the surprise stop the car made halfway up. As we dangled from a cable at 9500 feet, swinging back and forth, Kevin hung on for dear life while Brooke and 20 other people took pictures.

We finally broke through the clouds and arrived at the rotating restaurant of Schilthorn, which was used/blown-up in the 007 Bond movie "Her Majesty's Secret Service." We could see the 3 peaks (Jungfrau, Eiger, and M something) peaking through the clouds, but couldn't see down below or off in the distance. We were simultaneously blown away by the partial view we did have while trying not to be disappointed we didn't get a clear day. We also decided that when we come back (oh, we will come back) we're going to do the Jungfrau route instead of the Schilthorn.

After some photos we headed inside to get coffee in the restaurant. Clouds and snow rolled in while we made the half hour revolution and it never really cleared back up. Darn clouds.

At the bottom we started our journey to Lake Como, Italy, which is a half hour north of Milano (where we'll catch a cheap flight to Prague). The trains didn't line up quite right, so we were put on the 5 hour scenic route via Luzern. We couldn't believe how amazing the land is even on a cloudy & rainy day, with glacier falls, rivers, lakes, and cliffs.

Side note on the Swiss. They are nice people and amazing with the languages. The service industry workers seem to know at least four languages: English, German, French, and Italian.

-The Graffiti is Back
We could tell we reached the Italian part of Switzerland when we saw graffiti from the train (well, that and we were on a delayed train). That said, we were hungry for more Italian food already after our 10 day absence and excited for Lake Como.

When we finally arrived at 8:45 at night in Como, we found out the buses stopped running a half hour earlier (darn late Italian trains). So after a few broken English/Italian conversations with the train station tobacco salesperson and a hilarious phone call to our hotel (we opened with "hola" and it was downhill from there until they found an English speaking worker), we got a 50 euro cab ride to our town of Lezzene.

What a cab ride. I don't normally feel nauseous in cars, but he drove like we were in a rally car race (imagine going 40 mph through a winding, hilly Door County resort town for 30 minutes).

Finally, at 9:45 we made it to our hotel and were relieved. Our hotel was awesome; we have lake and mountain views from the bed. We went down and had a pizza and a necessary bottle of Chianti overlooking the lake.

Perfecto!

The Jungfrau Peak and Friends

Brooke on the Schilthorn overlooking the three Jungfrau area peaks that popped out of the clouds momentarily.

Waterfall

A big waterfall and the river it fed in the Lauterbrunnen valley.

Murren

Hanging out in Murren, a city on the ridge a couple thousand feet above our town.

Happy Birthday Dylan

Happy 4th Birthday
(from Lake Como)

Week 6 Top 5

1) Las Ramblas in Barcelona and everything that goes with it
2) Gaudi's Casa Mia, unfinished church, and park in Barcelona
3) Lausanne's summer festival
4) Trumbach waterfall(s) in Lauterbrunnen Valley
5) Enjoying a few cold ones (Eichhof Lagers) in Murren overlooking Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Alps

Runner's up - Buying Alp Cheese from Hans in Grimmelwald, all the lifts in Barcelona and Lauterbrunnen, hilltop in Bern, and the beach in Barcelona.

Day 41: Lauterbrunnen Valley, Gimmelwald, & Murren

This is a looong post, but it was a long day...


- Change of plans.
We woke up at 6:30 and turned on our black and white tv (not exactly 5 star resorts up here) and tuned into our mountain channel. There is a live feed of the mountain top we planned on visiting and it showed nothing but clouds.

We snoozed until about 8 and after a quick breakfast we decided to hike to Stechelberg, the nearest town in the valley about 1 1/2 hours away. It was cloudy and drizzling on the way, but we could still see up to the ridge where the waterfalls start and where some towns are. We couldn't see the snow-capped tops that we saw yesterday.

- Falls
We called another audible (Brooke called this one) and went for Trummelbach Falls. We were charged $20 US to enter and weren't really sure what we were going to see. It turned out the falls where inside the mountain ridge. We took a 40 person elevator up about 5 stories inside the ridge. From there we took stairs weaving inside mountain tunnels carved out along side the 2 degree C glacier waterfall that sliced through the mountain. There was a cold mist spraying all over and the rushing water made a deafening sound in the caves. Although perfectly safe, our senses made us think we were going to be swept away down the fall at anytime. It was definitely worth the $20.

- Grimmelwald
We completed our walk to Stechelberg and took the lift up to Gimmelwald, a village of less people than Lauterbrunnen but 2000 feet higher (our bud Rick Steves tipped us off on this town).

We walked up and down the "main" road and stopped at a house with an Alp Cheese for sale sign in the window. We rang a bell and a lady's head popped out of the window above and told us to wait a moment. Then old man Hans came out of the door down by us hobbling with his cane and led us to "The Cheese Hut." This 10 x 10 shed across from his house had 3 walls holding wheels of cheese about the circumference of a frisbee.

Hans pulled out some sample cheeses and cut off some for us to try (he had two types, new ('08) and old ('07)). They weren't like typical Swiss cheeses; they were light colored, but no holes and a different strong flavor. He also let us try a beef sausage that tasted a little like salami. After the tasting and his hospitality, we had to buy something. Of course, the smallest portion was about $10 and there was no way we were ever going to eat it. We considered it a $10 tasting.

- Murren
At this point it's still cloudy, but we decided to make the hike to Murren. The rain picked up a bit and half way through our feet were weighed down by water from the rain and leftover from the falls earlier. We did the second half dodging giant snails and slugs on the path like you would worms on a sidewalk after rain.

The hike went 800 feet higher, and we ended at 5341 ft. in Murren. After some expensive hash browns (they claim it's traditional Swiss food), the sun finally started to break through the clouds. Although not all the mountain tops were visible, we could see more and it was drying off the benches outside and, more importantly, us.

We stopped to enjoy some beers overlooking the valley below and mountains across the way. We decided to go bare foot and hang our socks and shoes by our table to dry off.

Eventually some Spanish people showed up and we spent the next ten minutes trying to listen to them make fun of us Americanos and our sock drying (we think we understood "don't worry they don't speak Spanish" and "only in America"). We weren't fazed because we went to Spain and saw naked man (see Barcelona post); they can deal with our feet.

- Hike down
We felt replenished, our socks and shoes slightly less wet, so after our train ride over to Grutschalp, we decided to hike down the ridge. We were basically directly above our village, and the sign said it would take an hour, so how hard could it be? Ugh...

Once we got beyond the tram station the trail turned to a mud and gravel combination and weaved in and out between the hillside forest. We only found out later that the steep descent was 2200 feet. The sign didn't lie, it was only an hour, but it was intense.

- The End
Exhausted, and wet and muddy from the knees down, we got back to our hotel and headed for the shower downstairs (again not a 5 star).

After some dinner in our hotel, that was it for our day. We were in bed by 10:30. We have to wake up early tomorrow to take the lifts up to the 10,000 ft Schilthorn before we leave for Lake Como, Italy.

Murren

Enjoying a few beers in Murren (1635 meters up)

Trummelbach Falls

Kevin at the Trummelbach falls

Day 40: Lauterbrennen, Switzerland

Slow start in Bern, but Kevin was feeling better after some delicious bread at the hotel.

Our first stop was on top of a hill overlooking Bern. Climbing was an option, but we choose to take the Gerten-Bahn tram up the 800 ft hill instead. We took some panoramic shots from a tower on the hill. Kevin was beginning to get an appetite again, and after a snack it appeared he was back in action.

Back on the ground we walked to the largest gothic style cathedral in Switzerland, saw a giant Swiss clock, and headed to the train leaving for the Interlaken area.

The Interlaken train ride was very scenic. The train travels alongside the big Thunersee Lake and in-between the Alps. We are actually staying in a valley village, Lauterbrunnen, that is along the rail and lift paths that take people up to a few mountain tops (more on that tomorrow).

Lauterbrunnen is about 2600 ft above sea level and has 1000 residents. It feels, looks, and smells like we imagined a Swiss village would. It has cows, cheese, beer, and Germans; it's like Wisconsin in the mountains.

We explored our village, which only takes about 20 minutes to walk end-to-end, and hiked up towards the Stubbach waterfall. Being in the valley, waterfalls rain down towards us from melting snow above and flow down a river back towards the lakes of Interlaken. A path leads up to the waterfall and we walked partially under it.

After that, we got dinner and went to bed to rest up for our ascent to 9748 ft tomorrow.

PS- Hope everyone had a great 4th. We missed not being at the parade and Henry & Wanda's in the morning, and Uncle Jack & Aunt Diane's in the afternoon for fireworks.