Bonn and Rhein in Flammen

My friend Andrea, her husband Jeff, and I decided to go to the opening weekend for Rhein in Flammen (Rhine in Flames) yesterday. Rhine in Flames is a yearly event that takes place several times over the course of the summer - beginning generally in the towns along the Northern end of the Rhine and then moving down the river, generally ending somewhere around Bingen each year (usually in conjunction with a wine festival).

Since yesterday's event took place around the area of Bonn/Königswinter, we decided to leave early in the afternoon to spend a few hours sightseeing in Bonn, drive across the river to Königswinter, and then watch the fireworks from there.

It was a beautiful day for sightseeing…low 70s, sunny, just a bit of a breeze, but not enough to be uncomfortable. We had a nice drive to Bonn…it takes a little over an hour to get there. But wouldn't you know, we had no sooner arrived in Bonn, waiting at a traffic light at an intersection, when Jeff's car died. He pushed it to the side of the road and attempted to figure out what was wrong with it. He guessed that the fuel pump went out (an accurate assessment, as we later discovered), and then commenced to calling ADAC (the German auto club). He told Andrea and I to go ahead and get out of the car and do our sightseeing. We weren't far from the main train station anyway, which is where we had planned to park and begin our walking tour. So Andrea and I left him to deal with the car and we went ahead to begin our sightseeing.

We stayed in the general area of the Markt. There were lots of interesting things to see, not the least of which was a beach volleyball tournament right in the cathedral square. Rather odd, but interesting. We wanted to visit the cathedral, but it was closed. It was completely covered in scaffolding too, so I couldn't even photograph it. We had no particular destination in mind, other than the Beethoven Haus, so we just meandered along the shopping district, making note of potential places to have dinner. We eventually found ourselves a bit lost, as the signs for Beethoven Haus came to an end and we couldn't find it. So Andrea consulted her map, realized we were about a block from where we should be, and we backtracked and found it.

So we paid the admission and went in for about an hour. It's a good sized house, but with small rooms. No pictures allowed inside. Beethoven's viola, organ, and his various woodwind instruments were on display. His hearing instruments (ear trumpets and whatnot) were also there, as was his life mask and death mask. It was interesting. The room in which he was born is completely empty, except for a bust of him sitting in the center of the room. It was an interesting way to kill some time, and the gardens outside were pretty. The gift shop was nice too. I picked up a couple of Andy Warhol's Beethoven paintings in postcard form to send to some friends, and I got a magnet that has his sheet music printed on it.

Andy Warhol's Beethoven

After the Beethoven Haus, we were starving. Andrea had already talked to Jeff a few times, and he was in the process of having the car towed to the shop and getting a rental car (all of which is covered by ADAC), so he told us to go ahead and eat. I remembered seeing a tapas bar just a couple of blocks from the Beethoven Haus, so I asked Andrea if tapas sounded good, and she agreed. So we sat outside at the tapas bar, happily nibbling away at our mixed tapas platters, when Jeff called. He had the rental car, he was parked at the train station, and he wanted to know where we were. So we told him the street name (we were sitting across from a big church…I think it was, in fact, the one in which Beethoven was baptized). He took his GPS unit and plugged in the coordinates, and several moments later, we saw him coming down the street. So he joined us, shared our tapas, got a bit more for himself, and we had a nice dinner.

After dinner, it was going on 8, so we decided it was time to leave Bonn. We made our way to the train station and picked up the rental car (emblazoned on all sides with the ADAC logo…AWESOME! :P) and we drove to Königswinter. I should mention that this town's claim to fame is Castle Drachenfels, a ruin at the top of this absolutely massive hill that you can see for miles around. Drachenfels is apparently "the world's most popular hill." There's a funicular that goes to the top to the Drachenfels visitor center, stopping halfway up for people who want to visit Schloss Drachenburg, which is a large Rococo palace. We weren't sure we would be able to visit Drachenfels, since we read that the funicular only operates until 7 pm. But we were in luck, because of Rhine of Flames, they were open until 11:30, and they were taking people up to the top to watch the fireworks. From up there, you can see all the fireworks displays, which started at Linz at 9:50 and ended at Bonn past 11. So we paid our 8 euros round trip, and took the funicular to the top just as dusk was settling in. The views were AMAZING. It was incredible to watch the lights come up on all the towns around the Rhine.

The ruins themselves were closed off by that time, but they don't look that big anyway, so I was content to just hang around the visitor center. Large crowds had already staked out spots, particularly on the side that looks out over both sides of the Rhine. We got there too late…we could only see the river from Linz to Königswater. We wouldn't be able to see the fireworks show in Bonn. But we held on to the spot we could get…fortunately, it was along a wall so I could set up my tripod, and we waited for the fireworks to begin.

Once they began in Linz, we could barely see them…but they were there, at a distance. Ten minutes later, fireworks started going off at a location nearer to us…we could actually hear them this time. At the same time, we started to see the fleet of lighted barges snaking its way down the river toward Bonn. Some barges that were lit up all in red were floating close to the banks, giving off a reddish glow that really did look like flames. Ten minutes later, an island just below us started shooting off their fireworks. That’s when I got most of the photos.

The Königswinter fireworks began, but on the other side of the visitor center from where we were. But we found a spot where we could see most of them. At the same time, the Drachenfels ruins were lit up a bright red.

Then, the Bonn fireworks were to begin. There was no spot we could find where we would have a good view, so we decided to just get on the funicular and beat the crowds. We sat on the train for a good long time, waiting for the fireworks to end. We could see the sky lighting up, but that was about it. Finally, the hordes were coming, and we were grateful that we had seats.

So we came down, found the car, and then headed home. I got in at around 1:15, exhausted and with a splitting headache, but very very happy. It was a fun day, despite the car mishap, and we all had a wonderful time.

Pictures

Tiptoe Through the Tulips: A Walk in Keukenhof

Rather than doing a trip report and post, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Just a quick note - Keukenhof just opened last week, and because of the late winter, most of the outdoor gardens are not blooming yet - mainly just daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths. The indoor gardens were beautiful. And we got to listen to a nice swing band playing inside. Most of the flower photos were taken in the indoor pavilions.

The weather was nice today. Very windy, but sunny all day with mild temperatures.

Pictures

Viva Veneto! Karina's Italian Adventure, The Exciting Conclusion

Friday, March 3, Day 4 - Venice again

Friday was our last day…at least for me, Emily, and Tracey. Stephanie's husband was coming down to Pisa, so she was taking the train down there to meet him. Her train was scheduled to leave at 8:20.

So we quickly ate breakfast and at 7:20, I got us checked out of the hotel and asked that a cab be called for us. Typically, it only takes a couple of minutes for the cab to arrive. The first place he contacted couldn't send out any cabs. So he called the second place and the phone was busy. He tried for 20 minutes. After being unable to get through, he advised us to go to the tobacco shop across the street and buy bus tickets. So we did that and waited for the 8:05 bus, which didn't come until 8:15. It was really cold and it started snowing while we were standing there. Finally, the bus came, but by the time we got to the train station, Stephanie had missed her train. She was able to get on another one that got her down to Pisa a half hour later. We got our train tickets to Venice, which ended up being on the EuroStar, the high speed luxury train. They cost a bit more, but it was Emily's birthday, so we figured it was worth the splurge.

Ironically, the high speed train was 20 minutes late. And when it arrived, it came in on a different track. Fortunately, it was the track next to us, so we didn't need to rush to get to it.

We arrived in Venice, checked our luggage at the left luggage counter, and then set out. This time, we stopped in many souvenir shops on the way. I got a Murano glass pendant with my initial on it, and a ceramic handpainted mask, as well as a Murano snowman ornament. We slowly made our way toward Piazza San Marco, since our goal was to actually see the inside of the basilica and the Doge's palace. Instead of lunch, we grabbed some ice cream cake at a gelato stand. When we stopped at McDonald's to use the restroom, Emily and Tracey had decided that some protein might be nice, so they each got a hamburger. When I saw them eating, I caved and got one too. Yes, I understand the irony and the sacrilege of eating McDonald's in Italy. But I had to say, it hit the spot.

Finally, we arrived again at San Marco, which was not nearly as crowded as it had been 3 days before. We went into the basilica, and I immediately got a sense of déjà vu. It reminded me of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Turns out, it was modeled after the Hagia Sophia, so it's no wonder I made the connection (I actually read this in The Historian later that day - a novel that has nothing to do with Italy, really, but it was mentioned. I thought that was pretty cool. And the novel is based on fact, so I assume that the San Marco/Hagia Sophia connection is true). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which is a shame, since it's gorgeous. But I managed to take some pictures right outside the entrance. You can take a virtual tour here:

http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/eng/index.bsm

After touring the basilica, we went next door to the Doge's palace, but not before I had a sudden impulse to feed the pigeons. I hate them, so I'm not sure what compelled me to do it, except that Emily videotaped it and she thought it was funny. I asked her for some crackers and she gave me some butter cookies out of her purse. Within a minute or two, I had pigeons all over me. I got smacked in the face with their wings and everything. But I didn't get pooped on. Miraculous.

Okay, so Doge's Palace…we could only take pictures in the courtyard, but the inside was very impressive. The prisons were a bit cramped though, and my slight claustrophobia made me somewhat uncomfortable.

Once we toured the palace, we figured we'd call it a day, since we needed to start moving toward the train station to work on getting home. We wanted to eat first though. Emily found this restaurant that seemed a bit high priced to me, but she really wanted to eat there, so I agreed and we went inside.

It was disappointing. I had minestrone soup. At least, that's what I ordered. What I got was vegetable soup with microscopic bits of chicken in it. There were no beans, which is what I thought made minestrone minestrone. I complained to the waitress and she was really snotty with me. Emily and Tracey ordered shrimp scampi, which was a bit charred. The bill for the 3 of us was 81 euros. My soup alone was 9 euros - an outrageous price. In fact, I'm pretty sure the prices inside were higher than what was posted outside. And the food was terrible. At least mine was. We were angry and we felt we got ripped off.

So unfortunately, that was my last meal in Italy. It left A LOT to be desired.

We got to the train station, got our luggage, and got our train tickets to Treviso. There was some confusion. We looked at the arriving trains schedule instead of the departure schedule, so we were waiting at the wrong place and the wrong time. When we finally realized it, we had been sitting for quite awhile. So Emily asked at the information counter which train we should be on, and we got straightened out.

We had some time to kill, so Emily went to the restroom, and I just happened to glance at the train ticket, realizing that it was only for one person! The entire time, all our fares had been printed on one ticket. So I pointed this out to Emily, and in a huff, she got in line at the ticket counter again and waited for the same person from whom we bought the tickets. She was prepared to yell at him, but when he saw her, he said he was glad that we came back, because he had our two tickets still with him. So he gave them to her, she blew him a kiss and thanked him, and we found our platform.

Got to Treviso and needed to take the bus to the airport. There was some confusion as to where we caught the bus. There were about 10 different bus stops. The very last one we checked was the one we needed. So we waited. And then our bus arrived.

It took us through a different part of Treviso than what we saw the first day - right in the center of town. Treviso looked very nice and seemed to be quite a happening place on a Friday night. It's only about 15 km. outside of Venice, yet it looked like the place to be.

So we got to the airport for our 9:20 flight, which left a bit late since somebody checked on their luggage and never boarded the plane. When we got back to Charleroi, it was 11 pm and Emily had mistakenly told her husband that we were getting in at midnight, so we had to wait almost an hour for him to arrive. It was freezing out, and one of the night workers tried to kick us out. But we refused to leave. Finally, he arrived and we headed home. I walked in my own door shortly before 2 am, exhausted.

Ciao, Italy. It was nice knowing you, if only for a few days.

Last day photos

Viva Veneto! Karina's Italian Adventure, parts 2 & 3

Day 2 - Nove (March 1)

Nove is a small town outside of Vicenza, in fact, you go through Padua to get there. Unfortunately, I was unable to see much of Padua, which looks like another amazing place to sightsee.

Anyway, we started our morning with breakfast at the hotel. There is nothing like a fresh baked croissant with cream cheese and jam. They had other things too, but if I see that on the breakfast buffet, that's the only thing I want.

After breakfast, we called a cab to take us to the Army base. There is a small military installation in Vicenza. I shouldn't really say that it's small - it's larger than the Army garrison we have here. This seemed quite large by comparison. But it's considered small.

Anyway, we needed to pick up a rental car, so we asked around and finally got directions to the Europcar office on base. The cars were parked on a lot about 7 km outside of the base though, so we couldn't pick up the car right away. We had a little over an hour until the shuttle would come get us to take us to the lot, so we stopped at the commissary and bought some more snacks and water and we stopped a few other places in an effort to kill time.

At 11, this blue school bus came and got us. The guy spoke no English, so he had trouble understanding where we were trying to go. Finally, he picked up another passenger and that person explained to him where we were trying to go. So he dropped us off there and we located the Mercedes that we reserved. That was the one thing we spared no expense on during this trip. We wanted a good sized car with a roomy trunk and an automatic transmission. Split 4 ways, the cost per day wasn't bad.

After figuring out all the bells and whistles and plugging our destination into Emily's GPS system, we were on our way to Nove. It didn't take us too long to get there…maybe half an hour, slightly longer. Nove isn't a spectacular town or anything. They have a nice bell tower in the center of town and a pretty impressive school building, but there is nothing striking beyond that. You can see the mountains in the distance though, which is cool. Nove's claim to fame is its dozens of ceramics shops, and ceramic shopping was our order for the day.

Well, I should say it was THEIR order for the day. I didn't particularly care to go shopping, but since I'm writing an article about Nove ceramics for a magazine, I had to go. If I didn't have to go, I would've gone off to Verona for the day.

I bought a few things. The mosaic pottery was beautiful, so I bought a piece for myself. I got some gifts. The pottery is really cheap. You can get Lenox or Tiffany china there for a fraction of what you pay in the States. But it was mostly white stuff, and all white stuff bores me. I like color. And the pottery I bought was colorful.

So the entire day was spent shopping. My companions bought A LOT of pottery. I was mostly interested in getting pictures for the magazine. We visited some shops that had pretty handpainted things, but as I was not in the market for any pottery, I didn't see the point in buying it.

Nove is so small that there weren't many places to eat. We stopped at a place that had sandwiches, and I got some kind of wrap with thin sliced beef and cheese. Also, Nove is off the tourist radar enough that they still have squat toilets in most public restrooms. We only found one regular toilet the entire time we were there. Believe me, I was thrilled.

While we were shopping, we ran into two people from here at our base. Small world, after all. And we ran into a lady who is trying to start her own business selling Italian pottery. I think she spent about 15,000 euros...she spent 8,000 just in one store. Anyway, she seemed really nice, and her name was Karen. She is the one who called me "Karina" and told me that it means pretty in Italian.

Once everyone was satisfied with the shopping (actually, it was time for the shops to close), we headed back to Vicenza, stopping at the base to get some cash out of the ATM machine. We asked a nice couple to recommend a restaurant for us, and they told us about this place called Giada's and gave us directions to it.

So, bellies grumbling, we set off for Giada's. The restaurant is located inside an elegant looking 3 star hotel. We ordered 2 appetizers to share: fried stuffed olives and fried mozzarella. I had a nice fruity white wine which reminded me of Riesling. We had a basket of mixed breads AND bruschetta brought to our table. The bruschetta was delicious, as were the appetizers. For the main course, I ordered angel hair pasta with crab legs. They didn't bring me a little fork to get the meat out, so I had some trouble, but what I was able to eat was excellent. Finally, we ordered dessert. I got a lemon sponge cake that was absolutely delicious. Total cost for 2 appetizers, 4 main courses, a side dish, 1 liter of wine, a Diet Coke, and 4 desserts - 69 euros. Astonishingly cheap. We were very pleased and it was the best meal we had on the entire trip.

After our wonderful meal, we headed back to the hotel for night #2.

Day 3 - Vicenza (March 2, if you're not keeping track)

After breakfast, we headed back to the base. We had an appointment with the post office to ship all the pottery. The pottery shop where we purchased the most stuff was delivering it to the base for us. We had to wait awhile for them to show up, but they finally did, we helped unload the boxes, and then we labeled everything and slapped on the customs forms and shipped them back here. (And in case you were wondering, the shipping doesn't cost us anything).

After that was done, we drove into Vicenza for a day of sightseeing there. We found a place to park next to a really pretty park with a beautiful church. So we walked through there first and then headed toward the market square, where a flea market takes place every Thursday.

We got there and perused the flea market for a bit. There was nothing different there from what we usually see in the local markets here. So we gave up on that. We stopped at a place for lunch and ordered pizzas. Mine was vegetarian and came with giant strips of zucchini on it and large pieces of pepper and eggplant. It was a very odd looking pizza and honestly, it wasn't very good. I had a nice rose wine with it though. I don't know what it's called, but it was good. As we left the restaurant, I saw a small dog walking around inside, collecting sugar packets off the floor. His owner, an elderly gentleman, seemed pretty distressed about it, so I called the dog over to me and plucked the sugar packets out of his mouth. As I was leaving, the man stopped me and said "Thank you" in English and then wished me goodbye.

Our car was paid up to park until 2, so after walking around a bit and exploring various streets and alleys, we headed toward the car so we wouldn't get a parking ticket. Tracey was getting tired and wanted to go back to the hotel to nap. So we dropped her off and then drove to a better parking spot closer to what we wanted to see: the Teatro Olimpico, Europe's oldest operating theatre, built by the famous Italian architect Palladio in 1580. The theatre was breathtaking. And we found out that they were performing Romeo and Juliet there only 2 days later - the day after we left Italy. Oh, the heartbreak! Especially since Vicenza is Romeo and Giulietta country (so is Verona, but the original author is buried in Vicenza).

There was an art museum across the street, and our Teatro Olimpico tickets admitted us into that museum as well, so we decided to check it out. We didn't spend much time there. It was mostly religious art, but nothing really famous. Some of it looked familiar though.

After the art museum, we wanted to stop and sit awhile, so we found a coffee shop and got some ciacolatta calda (hot chocolate).

The church were Luigi Da Porto is buried (the aforementioned author of the original Romeo and Juliet) was close by, so we decided to go there to see if we could find his grave. Supposedly, the church also houses a thorn from Christ's crown of thorns. We saw neither. The church was pretty though. It's the Church of Santa Corona.

After the church, we pretty much had enough sightseeing. We were near a pastry/gelato shop that I had seen earlier in the day that had really cute heart-shaped pastries and other lovely delights, so I wanted to take Emily and Stephanie there to show them. We decided to have some gelato, since how can you go to Italy and not have some? So we went inside and they ordered tiramisu and chocolate, I ordered strawberry.

After our treat, we headed back toward the car, but not before a cosmetics/candle store caught my eye. I went in and bought some bath stuff and then hopped in the car and we went back to the hotel.

Stephanie and Emily decided to return the rental car. They left me with the task of picking up something for dinner. So they took off to get rid of the Mercedes and I stayed in the hotel room for awhile to read, since I knew they would take awhile. Tracey was also in the room with me, working on puzzles. It was the first real moment of quiet I had the entire trip, other than when we slept.

An hour after they left, I figured it was time to pick up dinner. We actually wanted to avoid Italian this time…Chinese sounded good to all of us. But when I asked at the front desk, they indicated that the nearest Chinese place was quite a distance from the hotel. I wasn't comfortable being out after dark, alone, in a strange city. So I decided to just get food at the closest place I could find, which ended up being a gelato/snack shop about half a block from the hotel. The guy working there spoke no English at all, so with my very limited Italian, I was able to order 2 pizziola sandwiches and 2 ham and fontina cheese on foccacia. While he was toasting my sandwiches, he was talking with a guy who had a beagle. The beagle kept looking at me and then jumping up to hump the guy's leg. It was hilarious. But I pretended not to see. After what seemed like ages, my sandwiches were toasted, he wrapped them up to go, and I went back to the hotel. I divided each sandwich in half so we could each try a bit of both. They were delicious.

After the sandwiches had gone cold, Stephanie and Emily returned. They had some problems with the car rental return, but it got sorted out, and they came up to the room with 2 glasses of red wine for themselves and a glass of champagne for me (they had no white wine at the bar). They ate and told us about their car rental return adventure. Since Emily's birthday was the next day, we surprised her with a card and a tiny gift - a silver violin that was purchased earlier that day. Emily is an accomplished violinist.

And thus ended day 3. One more day to go.

***
I published an article about Nove in the
Stars & Stripes, European Edition in October 2006. My photos are included too.

Days 2 & 3 photos

Viva Veneto! Karina's Italian Adventure

Day 1 - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - Carnevale in Venice

As we drove further into Belgium toward Charleroi airport early that morning, the snow fell harder and harder, making me glad that I was leaving. Surely the weather would be better in Italy. We arrived at Charleroi, checked in for our flight, and waited. Our flight was slightly delayed, but not by much.

The Ryanair flight was reasonably short - about 90 minutes - and I had a positively breathtaking view of the snow-capped Alps before we began our descent into Treviso airport. As our imminent arrival was announced, I looked out the window and gazed for the first time at the Italian landscape below. It was much browner and drier than Germany. The sun was shining. There was NO SNOW.

Once we departed the plane and tried to get our bearings, we had a decision to make: take a bus all the way into Venice, or take a bus to Treviso's train station, and from there, take the train into Venice? We chose the former, figuring we would get a nice view of the scenery as we drove by. The only problem was, we had no idea where the bus would drop us off in proximity to Venice's Santa Lucia train station, which is where we needed to go to store our luggage. A look through a guidebook revealed that it was only a short distance from where we needed to go. Whew. We sat back and enjoyed the ride and watched stately villas come into view. Already, I was smitten with Italy.

After a 45 minute ride (give or take), the bus arrived at Piazelle Roma. We debarked, found our luggage, and walked about 10 minutes to the train station. Everywhere I looked was a photograph - postcard perfect. But with luggage in tow, it was difficult to get out my camera and take photographs. Alas, I could not, if I wanted to keep up with my friends.

Once we located the train station and stowed away our luggage, the first order of business was getting food. Since the Carnevale festivities take place in Piazza San Marco - a reasonably long trek from where we were - we decided to start making our way in that direction, and stop to eat wherever looked good. This time, I had my camera at the ready, and I snapped away - Venice is a shutterbug's heaven. I frequently got behind my travel companions, but I always managed to catch up.

Eventually, we stopped for lunch at some nondescript place tucked away in a small square. Stephanie had been to Venice before on her honeymoon, and she recalled eating in that area, so we stopped at a place that she recognized. I ordered spaghetti carbonara, my favorite Italian dish. It was good, but I've had better. I had tiramisu for dessert. It was a satisfactory meal, but it didn't blow me away.

Recharged after our meal, we again made our way toward Piazza San Marco, occasionally stopping to browse in shops or take photographs. Carnevale events were well underway by the time we arrived. The Masque Parade was taking place on a stage that was set up at the end of the piazza, opposite Basilica di San Marco. There was such a crowd that I was unable to see anything. I focused mainly on taking pictures of the people around me who were in costume. Emily, being the tallest one of our group, was able to hold up her video camera to record the parade, and we watched it on the small screen of her camera.

After the parade, some of the participants came out to pose for photographs. Tracey, Emily and Stephanie decided that they wanted to buy some masks, so we visited several of the souvenir stands set up in the piazza until they all found what they wanted. Dusk started settling in, so we decided to go in search of dinner. I took a few more pictures as the lights started to come up around Venice, then we headed back toward the train station. We found a little café and ordered calzones.

We took our time getting to the train station, enjoying the allure of Venice at night. As we were getting closer to our destination, we stopped in a grocery store to get bottled water and snacks, and then walked to the train station to pick up our luggage and get on a train to Vicenza.

Once on the train, we noticed that it was much different from the reliable, efficient German rail. For one thing, the stops are not announced, so we had no idea when we were going to arrive in Vicenza. Every time we pulled into a station, we looked out the window, frantically searching for a sign to tell us where we were. Finally, we asked a passenger how many more stops until Vicenza. She told us that the next stop was Padova (Padua) and then 2-3 stops afterwards was Vicenza.

Once we got off at Vicenza, we immediately hailed a cab to take us to our hotel, about a mile and a half away. Since it was a holiday and nighttime, we were charged quite a bit for the ride, but it was better than trying to navigate the streets at night without a map and whilst carrying luggage. After a short drive, we arrived at the hotel. The lobby was very attractive and clean, so we felt good immediately upon entering. Once we made our way up to the room, we were impressed to find that it was huge, clean, and despite its shabbiness, it was charming. It was also very cheap - the four of us shared a room for about $120 each night. We had two twin beds and a queen bed. I immediately claimed one of the twin beds. We settled in, two of us took our showers to help save time in the morning, and then we were asleep.

***

An article was published about this trip in the January 2007 issue of Connection magazine. (I was also supposed to do the entire photo spread, but they only used about 5 of my photos at the most, and the absolute best one that I took wasn't even used).

This is the best photo I took there. It was published in a photography anthology in December 2006:



See the rest of the photos from day 1 here

Going Medieval in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Our walking club took their annual trip over the weekend to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which is along Germany's Romantic Road. From where we live, it's anywhere from a 4.5 to 6.5 hour drive, depending on traffic. Our club hired two 9 passenger vans, so we met up at 4 pm Friday afternoon at the car rental shop on base and loaded our luggage and ourselves into the van to begin our journey. Lance and I sat in the back of our van and we were the only 2 Americans among Canadians. We all got along well and the trip was pleasant enough, despite the wind and rain we had when we left. As we drove further into Germany, the weather became much nicer. About 2.5 hours into the trip, we stopped at roadside rest for snacks and a bathroom break. Our drive took us through/past Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, and Wuerzburg.

We arrived in Rothenburg sometime around 10:30 or so (we hit several traffic jams along the way), and stopped at an Aral station to ask for directions to our hotel. Our hotel - Gasthaus zum Schmölzer - is inside the Altstadt, or the Old Town, which is enclosed inside a giant medieval city wall. We found the hotel without much of a problem, located on a quiet cobblestone street. The owner of the hotel, Herr Hofmann, directed our group to another building nearby on another quiet cobblestone lane. That building, known as Pension Hofmann, is a part of Gasthaus zum Schmölzer, and that was where we were staying. Lance and I were handed a skeleton key with room 7 on it, and we climbed up 2 flights of spiral steps to our room.

Our room was small but cozy, with wood paneling on one wall, decorated with sketches of local sights and Renaissance and 18th century era portraits. We had down pillows and comforters. There were two single beds pushed together. We had a private WC with a small shower stall...it was tight quarters, but clean and cozy, and the room was very cheap with free breakfast every morning. Lance immediately checked on the television and we found that all the channels were in German (typically we get BBC World or CNN World), so he settled on Eurosport to watch the Olympics, while I settled in with a book. We didn't have a clock or a phone in the room, so we asked our new Canadian friends across the hall if they would rap on our door at 7 am. One of them had a cellphone with an alarm (I have one on my cellphone too, but I found that my cellphone battery was dead). We settled in for the night and I was soon asleep in the very cozy, comfortable bed.

At 7 am, there was the knock on our door, but I was already awake. The day started out cold and wet. We walked down the street to the main hotel for our breakfast - brotchen, cold cuts, cheese, hard boiled eggs, juice and tea. Lance and I weren't scheduled to do our volksmarch until the afternoon, but most of the group elected to do a morning walk as well, so we followed them to the start hall after breakfast so we knew where to go when our walk started. As we got there, the weather got worse and worse. And Lance and I were walking back to the hotel, it started to snow. We were going to spend the morning wandering around near the markt, but with the weather looking bad, we decided to stay in our room awhile to see if it might improve. I got so cozy that I fell asleep for about half an hour, and when I woke up, all precipitation had stopped. So Lance and I bundled up and made our way outside, where I decided to just walk straight to the start hall to wait for our walk to begin. The start hall is a lively place full of crowds, live music, and free flowing beer. There are always interesting characters there. We saw several men in lederhosen walking about.

After waiting some time for members of our club to get back for the afternoon walk, they announced the start of the Old Town Walk, and we took off. During the wait, we met some other Americans (there were a lot there) and got to pet some dogs. The afternoon walk was 11 kilometers, but I actually think it was much more than that. The weather was beautiful for the most part...we only got spit on a little bit about 3/4 of the way through the walk.

Much of the walk was on the outside of the Old Town, around the perimeter of the wall. Occasionally, we would be directed into the city, only to leave it again. We got nice views of the valley below.

Once we got inside town, I was instantly charmed. The buildings were colorful and beckoning us to slow down and look around. We made several detours for souvenirs on our way. I especially liked the Käthe Wohlfahrt store - the world famous German Christmas store. I think the one in Rothenburg is the original, and it was absolutely GIGANTIC. It was like walking into Santa's workshop. The Christmas displays were breathtaking. I managed to get some pictures of a cute animated display right inside the entrance, but beyond that, no pictures were allowed. Lance and I were walking through the store, looking for a Rothenburg Christmas ornament to add to our collection of ornaments that we've purchased on our travels. We finally found one - an exquisite handpainted glass one that will look wonderful alongside our ornaments from Paris, Holland, Brugge, London, etc.

We were in the Markt (town square) at 3, and our walking companions mentioned that the astronomical clock at the Rathaus had a little show at the top of every hour. So we watched the little windows on either side of the clock open up, and two medieval figures appeared in the windows. One was drinking beer, the other wine.

We finished our walk around 4 - roughly a four hour journey, and we got a really good look at most of the city, so Lance and I were pretty satisfied. We went back to the start hall, got our walking books stamped, and picked up a souvenir beer mug that we ordered that has a painting of Rothenburg's town square on it. Lance and I were pretty worn out, so we decided to go back to the hotel and freshen up, agreeing to meet most of our group for dinner at the main hotel at 6:30.

So back to our room for a nap and a shower. At 6:30, we walked to the main hotel. Lance ordered pork schnitzel with spaetzle (German noodles) and one of the regional Pilsners. I ordered jagerbraten (roast beef with mushroom sauce) with knodel on the side (potato/flour dumplings) and a nice Kabinett wine. The food was very good. I am not a fan of the knodel though, I must admit. It was very sticky and bland. I wish I had gotten the spaetzle.

Our dinner ran a couple of hours, so we got back to the hotel room and watched the Olympics. I was still exhausted, so I fell asleep pretty early. I slept really well, only being awakened by a few drunk guys singing on their way home from a bar.

We breakfasted at 8 this morning, and by 9, we were loaded up in the vans and on the road again. This time, it only took us a little over 4 hours to get home.

It was a nice weekend - way too short, but a nice change of scenery, which I badly needed. I fell in love with Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and I hope I get to go back. Before I moved to Germany, there was a certain way that I pictured it. Rothenburg is what I pictured. I'm just glad that there is an actual place in Germany that lives up to my imagination.


Pictures

Battle of the Bulge Memorial Walk, Bastogne, Belgium

Today, Lance and I had the privilege of participating in the annual Battle of the Bulge Memorial Walk in Bastogne, a tradition that spans 28 years. The emcee of the event was a Belgian soldier who served as a translator with Patton’s army. He’s 80 years old and he outwalked the rest of us. I got to talk to him briefly and he’s a remarkable man. ;)

Anyway, the busses departed Geilenkirchen at 5 am. We had a nice luxury motorcoach, so we relaxed and slept most of the way to Bastogne, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Geilenkirchen. Once there, we discovered that it was quite different from the weather in Geilenkirchen. Bastogne was covered in a blanket of snow. Pretty, but not the most ideal conditions for walking. The men who fought and died here did it in similar weather though (although I believe it was colder), so we were going to tough it out.

After spending a brief time in the start hall preparing for the walk, we made our way outside at 8 am to the starting point. They had 3 walk routes – 6 km, 14 km, and 20 km. Lance and I planned on doing the shortest route, since it was pretty cold outside. We were told we could start later – the 20 km walkers would be going first. But we decided to go with them, since the routes for each distance are marked. I believe most of the group decided to leave at that time also.

It was slow-going, as the route was icy and treacherous. I saw several people wipe out, and just crossed my fingers that Lance and I wouldn’t be included. After awhile though, walking was actually pretty pleasant. It didn’t feel very cold, and we actually started peeling off layers.

Occasionally, there would be stops along the route where you could see re-enactments of the Battle of the Bulge. There were soldiers in foxholes…most of the actors were depicting American soldiers, even though most of them were Belgian or Dutch. There were some American actors there, but not as many. They had places every 5 kilometers or so to get hot chocolate or mulled wine and use a porta potty. When we got to the 6 km turn-off, we decided that we were feeling good, so we would go for the 14.

There were times along the route where it was quite windy, once we reached the top of the hill and were out in the open, not sheltered by trees or hillsides. We just put all our layers back on and trudged onward. Also, toward the end, the last 5 km or so, the snow really started to fall. We had small ice pellets at one point, which stung when they hit you.

The coolest thing about this walk (besides the weather), was that soldiers would constantly come marching by you or jeeps and tanks would be driving up the streets of all the villages around Bastogne. At one point, we even heard machine gun fire. I can’t say the re-enactments were totally authentic though. I saw no Nazis, and all the guys looked pretty happy doing what they were doing. They didn’t make it look like war was hard work. They made it look pretty fun, actually. It was also amusing to see these guys in 1944 military uniforms talking on cellphones and using digital cameras.

Anyway, once we got to the 14 km turn-off, we decided that we could go no further. Lance said he could actually do 20. But I was wet, sore, and getting exhausted at that point. It would have been less of a hardship without the slush and mud all over the paths. We stopped at a tent so I could get a nourishing cup of mulled wine (which was good, by the way, first time I ever had it), and met up with my friend Emily and her husband Jamison, who had gotten way ahead of us on the trail, and we marched on.

Toward the end of our route, there was a Battle of the Bulge Museum and a monument, which you could climb to get great views of the Ardennes countryside. But we decided against both of these things. It was too cold and windy and snowy to climb an open air monument and we were too sore to pass some time in the museum. We tried to finish the route as quickly as we could (it took us exactly 4 hours). The bells were tolling noon as we walked up to the start hall for the completion of our walk.

We had 6 hours at that point until the busses departed for Geilenkirchen. Time enough for a little sightseeing and shopping. But first thing’s first – lunch! There was a cafeteria near the start hall, which happened to be in a mall, so we had lunch there. It was quite tasty, but all of the ordering had to be done in French, since the employees spoke no English. But we managed. I still remember enough French to order food, at least.

I tell you, it felt so good to sit. And sit we did. We stayed there for quite some time.

Afterwards, we walked into town. We stopped in the church to look around, only to find out that a wedding was about to begin (the bride and groom already entered). Ooops. We discreetly walked out.

We poked around in shops and as we were doing so, we noticed the parade about to begin on the main street. So we caught that. It was neat. They had all the actors from the re-enactment and some of the Belgian veterans marching in it, as well as children carrying the state flags from all the states. We had heard a rumor that people would be throwing nuts down from the windows of the town hall (this has to do with the time during the battle where the Germans asked for our surrender, and American General McAuliffe responded with “Nuts!”). Nuts, by the way, were a big theme on souvenirs and there was even a restaurant in the Bastogne town square called “Le Nut’s.” HAHAHA. We missed the nut throwing though.

After the parade, we stopped at a café because Jamison’s knee was hurting. So we had hot drinks and then he stayed there while Emily, Lance, and I did some more looking around in the shops. Finally, we gave up on the shopping, as the snow was coming down harder. We had a couple of hours until we had to meet the bus, so we stopped by the café to pick up Jamison, and then went to an Italian restaurant to eat dinner and wait out the couple of hours for the bus.

It was a snowy ride back, but by the time we reached the German border, the snow gave way to freezing rain. But we got home safe. Sore and exhausted, but safe.

Pictures (which Photobucket seems to want to show in reverse chronological order)

Thorn, Netherlands

Lance and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary in a couple of days, so we decided that we wanted to take a day trip somewhere nearby. One of my friends has been talking a lot about Thorn recently, which is along the Maas River in Limburg, very close to both the Belgian border (less than a kilometer, actually). She mentioned that there was a fantastic pannekoeken (!!!!) restaurant there. Well, Lance and I love our Dutch pancakes, so I was sold. I suggested to him that we should go there for a few hours, and it was well worth the visit.

It took about 45 minutes to drive there, maybe a little less than that. Absolutely easy drive. When we got there, the town seemed pretty dead. There were no cars parked in the town parking lot and there didn't seem to be a lot of people walking around. I told Lance that perhaps everyone was at mass. It was around 10:30 or so when we arrived. We were on the outskirts of town anyway, but I figured there would be more people at the historic town center.

Thorn is known as "the white village" for its whitewashed brick buildings in the center of town. The only building in the center of town that is not like this is the church. The church was built in the 10th century, and was actually an abbey, or a "stift" for quite some time. But the women who lived there were not nuns. They were just the unmarried daughters of the aristocracy, leaving the stift if they married.

There's your little history lesson on Thorn. :)

So we parked and walked into the town center, and as we approached the church, we noticed a lot of men in Renaissance costumes standing at the church entrance. There were kids wearing angel costumes. It seemed that everyone in Thorn was standing around, waiting for something to happen. It looked to us that a parade was about to start. But I wanted to find the VVV (Tourist Information) office, so we followed the signs to get there. I asked the lady at the VVV what was going on, and she told me it was a religious procession. Just then, we heard music starting to play, so we walked back to the church to see the parade finally begin. We had seen banners placed all around with crosses on them, so we figured those banners were marking the parade route.

De Pannekoekenbakker, the place where we wanted to have lunch, was right across from the church and there were already a few people sitting outside in the sun, enjoying their coffee or tea. It was a bit chilly for us to sit outside, so we went inside and grabbed a table. I immediately liked the place. It had a very cozy ambience, even though the inside was very roomy and the tables were pretty private (we've eaten in many a restaurant where the tables were crammed very close together). It had a nice, rustic feel to it, with a little bit of kitsch thrown in (stuffed animals strewn everywhere). Their claim to fame is 230 kinds of pancakes, so we grabbed menus and dove right in. But as we tried to decide what to have, we enjoyed some lovely hot chocolate with whipped cream (warme chocomel met slagroom).

Lance decided on a ham and cheese pannekoeken. I ordered a bacon, cheese and onion (onions in pancakes, you say? Why, it's delicious! These aren't pancakes like what we're used to in America). We ordered seconds on the warme chocomel met slagroom. That is seriously the best hot chocolate EVER.

Our lunch was very tasty and we enjoyed it immensely. But once we were finished, the doings at the church seemed to be over, so we decided to pay the admission fee and walk around. It is much smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside, but it has a gorgeous altar, and we went down in this little room in a sub-basement that had some religious relics, and the body of one of the abbesses was on display in a glass coffin. She died in the 18th century, but seemed none the worse for wear. There was another abbess on display too, but she was nothing but bones. I don't know when she died. Odd and creepy, really, but amongst the bones, hair, and other body parts of saints, they weren't particularly out of place, I suppose.

After our visit to the church, there really wasn't much left to see or do. Since it is a Sunday, the shops and museums are closed. We decided to look into a river cruise, which goes from Thorn to the towns of Wessem and Stevensweert, but when we looked at the time table for cruises, the next one didn't begin until 2:15. It was only 12:45. So we decided to just go home. We mostly came for the pancakes anyway, and for a bit of a scenery change.

On the drive back, we took a different route home that took us off the autoweg (or what you would call the autobahn in German). We drove through picturesque towns and just enjoyed the beautiful, sunny autumn day.

Pictures

Karyn in Luxembourg

Yesterday I took an MWR trip to Luxembourg City. MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) is a military organization that plans activities for military and their dependents. Here in Europe, they very frequently arrange coach trips to various destinations. Usually they are day trips, but sometimes the trips last all weekend.

Anyway, the trip to Luxembourg took about 3 hours. We drove through the Belgian Ardennes (past Bastogne) down into Luxembourg, and shortly after passing the border, we were in Luxembourg City. It's the largest city in Luxembourg, but doesn't have the feel of a capital city at all.

When our bus arrived, a tour guide got on and showed us the city's sights. Our first stop - the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, where over 5,000 WWII dead are buried. General Patton is also buried there. He died after the war ended, but his will requested that he be buried there with his men.

There is a Nazi cemetery down the street from the American one. I wanted to go in and look at it, but sadly, the tour did not include that. We did learn that over 9,000 Nazi soldiers are buried in that cemetery, approximately 5,000 of them in a mass grave.

The bus brought us back into town, where the guide pointed out various landmarks. We stopped at the casemates (the city fortifications) to look at the views of the valley below.

The bus tour ended around lunch-time, so we got off the bus, splitting off to do our own thing for the day. The guy who had been sitting next to me on the bus, Nels, asked if I would mind if he joined me, provided I didn't plan to spend my day shopping. I didn't plan to spend my day shopping, so I agreed to let him accompany me.

Our first stop was to find some lunch. We walked into a square with a variety of restaurants. I spied a Chi Chi's and I hadn't had Mexican food in some time. He agreed this was fine, so we decided to split a combination plate of their nachos. Honestly, the food was lousy. Chi Chi's isn't a great Mexican restaurant to begin with, but the overseas ones are really bad. I regret going there to eat. While we were eating (al fresco, I might add, although we were under an umbrella), it started sprinkling a bit.

After lunch, we decided to just walk around for awhile. The sky started darkening and we knew worse rain was coming (I was prepared, Nels was not). We ducked into a church when the rain started pouring down - Eglise St. Michel.

Once the rain let up a bit, we found ourselves going back toward the casemates. You can take tours inside it. There are various tunnels and caves inside where battles were fought. The rain started coming down again, so we decided to get tickets for the casemates tour and then spent the next hour or more walking through pitch black tunnels and going down slippery, narrow, winding stairs.

By the time we left the casemates, the rain had stopped and the sun came out again, so it started to get really muggy and miserable.

After that, we mostly wandered around, stopping for McFlurries at McDonald's. There was a jazz band playing in the square, so we listened in for a few minutes and then moved on.

We toured the Notre Dame cathedral, which isn't nearly as impressive as Cologne's, Strasbourg's, or Westminster Abbey. But it was still pretty.

About 45 minutes before we had to meet up with the bus to go home, we stopped at a restaurant called La Boucherie for drinks. (I wish we had eaten there for lunch. The food looked really good. And it was just 2 doors down from Chi Chi's). They had a new flavor of Cola Light - Sango (orange-flavored) that is being test-marketed in Luxembourg and Belgium. So I ordered that. It was very nice. (I ended up buying a big bottle of it to take home when the bus stopped just outside Liege on the way back).

Even though we didn't do much, we saw a lot of sights, and I could appreciate the things about Luxembourg that weren't particularly touristy. There were a lot of interesting details on both residential and commercial buildings, so I tried to photograph those things. The part of the city that lies in the valley seemed to be largely untouched by tourist traffic, so we enjoyed wandering around there as well. It was peaceful and quiet, with just a few sidewalk cafes and nothing that particularly catered to tourists.

We did a lot of walking, particularly on very steep (wet) cobblestone streets, which was a lot of fun, let me tell you. And there was a lot of stair climbing as well. But what I found to be really interesting about Luxembourg is that you can appreciate it on various levels. The views of the valley from the top of the casemates are equally as wonderful as the views from the valley. And in-between is nice too. I hope my pictures demonstrate that.

Pictures

Lance and Karyn Go to London Town

This was almost two weeks ago, but Lance and I have been moving into another house, so I've had no time to update until now.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Lance and I arrived at London Stansted after a nerve-wracking morning of being stuck in Eindhoven, NL traffic and getting to the airport less than an hour before our flight. The flight was smooth and extremely brief. Getting out of Stansted into London proper actually took longer than the flight. We took the Stansted Express – 45 minutes to Liverpool Street Station. From there, we hop on the tube, take that to Tower Hill, and then switch tubes to get out to Fulham Broadway. Total tube travel time (try saying that 10 times fast) = 1 hour. There were some delays due to security issues, but that seems to be pretty normal since the July 7 bombings.

At one of the tube stops, a pigeon got on, pecked around until the next stop, and then got off. Hilarious.

Once we got to Fulham Broadway and located our hotel, we checked in and decided to search for lunch. Lance decided that he wanted to visit the Natural History Museum, which is in the South Kensington area near a lot of other museums. So we figured we would find a bite to eat there. The first place we saw after leaving the tube station was a crepe restaurant. So crepes it was. And then on to the Natural History Museum.

I should say, first of all, that I wasn’t feeling well our first day there. I had an upset stomach – not nausea, but just not good. But I got through the Natural History Museum as best I could. It was interesting, but I just couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would’ve liked. We saw a good portion of the museum, but not everything. The museum is free and I was very impressed with the quality of it. It was probably the best natural history museum I’ve ever seen. The dinosaur exhibit is impressive. No wonder it’s so popular.

The Victoria & Albert Museum is right by the Natural History Museum, and Lance chose that as a place for us to visit. That surprised me, because it’s mostly art, and he’s not really into that. But there was plenty of interesting stuff to look at. We didn’t get through all of this museum either, but the sculpture room was especially interesting and I also liked the wardrobe exhibits – mostly stuff worn by royalty.

After we had enough of that museum, we decided to go in search of dinner. Lance wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Café, since it’s the original. I wasn’t so particular. I’ve already eaten there anyway. So we took the tube to Hyde Park Corner to go to the restaurant, only to find out that they were closed due to a fire. So we walked all over the area looking for another place to eat. We stopped briefly in Harrod’s so Lance could check it out. And then we continued on…and on…and on… Our walk turned up nothing that either of us wanted to eat (and in London, that’s pretty amazing). So Lance suggested we take the tube back to the area where we started out, and there we found an Italian restaurant. So we had dinner there and headed back to the hotel to shower and rest. We spent the rest of the evening watching crazy British television shows (there’s this one called “Bad Lad Army” that just had us in hysterics) and I had some hot cocoa and cookies from the tea service in our room.

Friday, August 26

Lance’s sister and Dennis were arriving that morning, so we spent all morning in the hotel lobby awaiting their arrival, after having a traditional English breakfast at a little café across the street from our hotel. Their flight was to get into Gatwick at 9, but they didn’t make it to the hotel until almost noon.

Once they got checked in, we gave them some time to freshen up, and then they came and got us at our room.

We figured we would get on our city bus tour, since we had 24 hours to use it after validating the ticket. So we took the tube to Green Park to get on the bus, but since we were so close to Buckingham Palace, and Kim wanted to take the tour of the state rooms, we did that first. Then we got on our bus tour, and it started to get pretty cold and a bit rainy then. We rode up to the Tower of London, got off, and then took our free one-way boat cruise down the Thames. We arrived somewhere near the Parliament building, and we decided to go to Trafalgar Square for dinner. We ended up at the first place we saw – Garfunkel’s – which had a bit of everything: burgers, fish and chips, steak.

After dinner, Kim and Dennis were feeling the jet-lag, so we headed back to the hotel. And that ended day 2. At least for Lance and myself.

Saturday, August 27

Not wanting to have English breakfast again, Lance and I fortified ourselves with 2 day old cinnamon rolls from the Sainsbury's grocery down the street. Ick. At least the tea from the tea service was good (but Lance doesn't drink it, so he'll never know).

Our first stop was to the Tower of London. It took awhile to get there on the tube. We got there pretty early and got on one of the tours with a Beefeater, who was more amusing than you could imagine. It was a really interesting tour, but it didn’t cover the exhibits. So we looked at the crown jewels, and the armory.

Since we had an ambitious schedule, we left there around noon, grabbing quick takeaway lunches from the Tower’s snack counter. We hopped on the tube to St. Paul’s, but when we got there, it looked like there was a wedding about to happen, so we decided against taking a tour. Back on the tube, this time headed for Westminster Abbey. We spent at least an hour in there…probably more than that. I was particularly in awe of Elizabeth I’s tomb, the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Poets' Corner. It really is a magnificent graveyard. You almost forget that it’s a cathedral though because it is so mired down in sarcophagi and memorials – more than any other cathedral I’ve seen. But it’s so fascinating to see them all. I almost stepped on Charles Darwin’s grave. He’s buried under the floor. You can’t walk in there without stepping on someone’s resting place.

We had a 4:30 appointment at the London Eye, so we left around 3:30 or so and walked across the bridge to get there (it’s directly across from the abbey – Parliament). We got there way early and we were ushered into a waiting room to await our tour guide that we paid a bit extra to have. We got a private car with her (along with the few other people who paid extra for the tour guide) and had a really cool half hour ride with a bird’s eye view of all of London’s sights. Very very cool. Seeing Downing Street (the prime minister’s residence) from high above was particularly interesting, because it doesn’t look nearly as impressive on the ground as it does from the sky. I have to admit that I was skeptical about the London Eye. In my humble opinion, it’s an eyesore next to the grandeur of all of London’s great landmarks. But it is an awesome way to see the city.

We capped off our night by having dinner at The Anchor Bankside, a pub that was once the haunt of Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, and Dickens. We had a nice dinner there and stayed and had drinks as the skies darkened and the London skyline lit up. After having our fill of beer and cider, we walked along the banks of the Thames for awhile, enjoying the beautiful views, the buskers performing in the streets, and the beautiful weather. What a fantastic ending to our trip.

Sunday, August 28

We had said goodbye to Kim and Dennis the night before, since they had a very early wake-up call to move on to their next destination (Stratford-Upon-Avon…*jealous*…I’ve been there before and I loved it so much). Lance and I didn’t have our flight back to Eindhoven until 5, so we had a leisurely morning at the hotel. Then we checked out and took the tube to Liverpool Street Station, which is where we needed to catch the train for the airport. But we hung out there for awhile, had lunch, and attempted to spend some of the pounds we had left. At 1, we took to train to the airport and then spent more money there. I bought a bunch of books and magazines, so I have plenty of reading material to last me awhile now.

As we were arriving in Eindhoven, I was very excited to see the British Royal Air Force Red Arrows lined up on Eindhoven’s tarmac. I saw them perform last year when Lance and I were at RAF Waddington near Lincoln, England for an air show. They are impressive.

Pictures

The Johnsons' French Camping (Mis)Adventure

Lance and I just spent a sweltering weekend in Strasbourg, France, where I unwisely decided that we should go camping. Going to Strasbourg itself was a good call, although it is a long drive for a 3 day weekend, but if we had been able to predict the weather far enough in advance, we would've gotten an air conditioned hotel room.

Friday:
We left the house around 8:30 am, GPS unit and printed-out instructions in hand. We figured the total drive time would take around 4.5 hours, plus we were stopping at Bitburg AFB along the way to gas up, get lunch, and buy provisions for the trip. We arrived around 11 am at Bitburg. I'm not sure how long we spent there - more than an hour, less than 2.

Back on the road, we realize the instructions Lance printed out were too detailed and also inaccurate. Autobahn numbers aren't matching up with what we have in our directions. By some miracle, we don't get lost, although there are a lot of tense moments.

We arrive at the campground Montagne Verte (translated into "green mountain") at around 4 or so, making our travel time definitely more than 4.5 hours. Montagne Verte is just a couple of kilometers outside Strasbourg, but there is a bus and a tram that go into town. I should add that Montagne Verte is a misnomer. It might be green, but it certainly isn't a mountain.

We set up camp. I think it took a little less than an hour to get settled in. We were assigned a spot very near to the showers/restrooms, which was convenient in some respects, except that we could hear the toilet flushing all hours of the day and night. The people at the campsite next to us were British, and an American came along, saw Lance's truck, and introduced himself to us. We chatted for a bit. He was telling us how he and his wife were spending the summer bicycling through France and they were passing through Strasbourg for a couple of nights. We just thought it was interesting that the first people we met at the campground were English speakers.

After setting up camp and taking a brief rest, we decided to venture into town for dinner. As we were passing a stream that runs along the campground, we saw something that looked like a giant muskrat running toward the water. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my camera ready in time, so I couldn't get a picture.

We found the tram station and bought our ticket. I think we bought the wrong ticket (we got the family pass that is good for 24 hours, although we found out later that the family pass must include children). But we traveled on it for 24 hours without getting caught, although I would not recommend doing that. They do have random checks. We just got lucky.

Once we were on the tram, I had no idea where to get off. My France guidebook doesn't offer a lot of information on Strasbourg, so I didn't really know where anything was. Once I saw the river, I decided that we should get off at the next stop. So we did. And then Lance discovered that I had no idea where we were, and he got a little upset. I told him that I was just winging it...that we could walk around and just explore and find a place that looked good to eat. But he was growing increasingly cranky (and the fact that it was about 90 degrees probably had a lot to do with it, as he overheats very easily). So after a bit of bickering back and forth about where and what to eat, I led him to the first place I saw after we settled down, which was an Italian place. It was good. I had the Tarte Flambee, which appears to be a local specialty (it was on nearly every single restaurant menu in town). It was basically a pizza without the sauce. Mine had cream, salmon, and onion on it. It was very very good.

After dinner, Lance was feeling more himself, and we decided to just walk along the river, which actually goes around town in a circle. We saw a good deal of the town just along the river. We decided to get some ice cream, so we eventually found ourselves at a kind of expensive Italian ice cream place. After we ate there, Lance wanted to head back to the campground for the night, so we hopped on the nearest tram we could find and made our way back.

Our first night was relatively peaceful. The other campers were courteous and weren't being loud and obnoxious at all hours of the night, which was nice. We could hear the toilets though and there were 3 churches in the area that rang their bells every 15 minutes, even in the middle of the night. Also, the outside lights around the bathroom/showers shone into our tent. I didn't get much sleep that first night, even though things cooled down considerably and it was comfortable sleeping weather. Our air mattress seems to have sprung a leak, so it deflated almost completely both nights. Irritating.

Saturday:

We started out with a picnic breakfast on a tablecloth in front of our tent (there was no picnic table...it's one of those "bring your own everything" campsites, although they had nice showers and places to wash dishes and laundry). We went into town around 10 am or so, and the first place I wanted to see was the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg. It towers over Strasbourg and is quite an impressive sight from the outside. Lance and I didn't go in with high expectations. Since we saw the cathedral in Cologne, we use that as the measuring stick for which to judge all other cathedrals. I have to say, this was close. We were both very very impressed. The stained glass had such amazing colors. The organ pipes, I thought, were even more beautifully detailed than the ones in Cologne. The astronomical clock was also really cool, although we happened to see the little show of allegorical figures at 10:30, which was just as disappointing as Prague's.

Right as we were finishing up our tour of the cathedral, they started choir practice. It was such gorgeous music, and we were in such a gorgeous setting, that I got a lump in my throat and I got a bit teary-eyed. It really was amazing.

After our look at the cathedral, we decided to get some cold drinks and sit on the steps of the cathedral, watching the people walking around in the square and listening to a guy who was playing the accordian. It was really perfect, although you could tell that the day was about to get really hot.

I decided that our next stop should be Palais de Rohan, a palace right by the cathedral that has an archaeological museum as well as a museum of fine arts and a decorative arts museum. We paid one admission price for all 3. The archaeological museum was somewhat disappointing. The decorative arts museum was mildly interesting, although moreso because we got to actually see the palace as a living space rather than just a museum. We got to see the bedrooms and how the palace must've looked back when it was a residence. In the decorative arts museum, they have the old astronomical clock on display from the cathedral. That was probably the coolest thing in there. We spent a brief time walking around the fine arts museum, but Lance was complaining of boredom, so I didn't get much chance to explore there, even though there were works by some very famous painters. I know he's not into art though, so I was just happy to get to see some of it.

Once we left the palace, it was really starting to get horribly hot. I suggested that a boat tour might cool things down a little. We had a choice between open-air or a covered boat. Lance decided on covered, thinking that it would probably be air conditioned (one would hope...in heat like that, it would be like an oven if it wasn't air conditioned). It felt really nice when we first got on, but as the tour got started, it got warmer and warmer and warmer. I was sitting by the vent and I could feel less and less air coming out of it. We started to really bake in there after awhile, which just made both of us even more cranky. By the time we got out of the boat, being out in the open air again felt like a treat.

It was then that I realized the entire trip was probably a big mistake. Lance wasn't having a good time. I wasn't having a good time because I saw how uncomfortable Lance was. I told him that after we found a place to have lunch, we could go back to the campground and just sit out the hottest part of the day...take a long siesta...what have you. Fortunately, there was at least a cool breeze.

We started walking around in search of food, neither of us really knowing what we wanted to eat. When it's that hot, nothing really sounds good. Eventually, I found this rather remote place that served crepes. We were walking down some alley that was pretty much deserted, and I happened to look down a side alley and saw a sign for a crepe restaurant with an arrow pointing down an even narrower alley. So we went down that alley and it opened into a small square that had a couple of restaurants and a postcard shop. The creperie was packed. So we got some crepes and actually had a pleasant lunch. We were sitting outside in the shade, but with the cool breeze, it was pretty nice.

Lance felt recharged a bit after lunch, so he allowed for going a couple of places we saw on the boat tour where I wanted to get pictures. And then we got on the tram and went back to the campground and took a siesta until dinner. But before going back, we stopped at a little fast food joint between the tram stop and the campground that sold Magnum ice cream bars. I'm addicted to the double caramel ones, but they don't sell that kind here in Germany. I remembered finding them in Paris last year. So we looked and they advertised that they had them. Hurray! But when we tried to order one for me, we were told they did not have them. I had to settle for a different ice cream bar instead, which was good, but just not the same. Ah well. All other searches for the elusive Magnum Double Caramels ended with the same result, even though the Double Caramels were pictured on their ice cream posters. I guess they are not carried in that part of France. Phooey. (Oh well...they do sell them in England, so I will be happily eating one a day while in London next month!)

Back into town for dinner, and I was in the mood for doner kebap. We had seen dozens of doner places, but of course, when I actually wanted one, the doner kebap shops were nowhere to be found. We settled on another pasta place that was near the cathedral. And since we were there, we browsed some souvenir shops.

Today (Sunday):

Slept better than the first night. We got up, showered, had our picnic breakfast, and tore down the camp. We took a different route back. The route going there took us through Saarbrucken, which was a scary experience we didn't wish to repeat. So we bypassed Saarbrucken, and had a relatively drama-free drive home. I saw a beautiful chateau somewhere in the Lorraine province of France (note: Strasbourg is in Alsace). We also drove along some beautiful parts of the Mosel once we got back into Germany. I wish I could've taken pictures of all the sights we see along the autobahn.

Stopped at Bitburg again on the way back to gas up and get lunch.

Our drive home was shorter by about 2 hours than the drive there. Also, it was a gorgeous 73 degrees. GAAAAAAAAH!

A note about Strasbourg: it has switched hands between Germany and France many times. As a result, many speak both languages and the culture is a good mixture of French and German. Beer is very popular there, and so are Rhine wines. The food is both French (quiche and cheese plates) and German, with lots of pork and sauerkraut (which is, incidently, Chinese and not German...something I learned yesterday). You see bakeries such as "Schmitt Patisserie/Boulangerie" - a German name with something that is very French. Menus are in both languages (we hardly saw any menus with English on them, but I got by on my rusty high school French...they don't speak English as willingly there). You see many German-style half-timber buildings. One dorm at the Univ. of Strasbourg was named "Gallia" when it was French, and "Germania" when it was German. This name switched back and forth several times. Strasbourg is an interesting mixture of both cultures.

Pictures

Architecture, Gastronomy, CHOCOLATE! and shopping in Brussels

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Brussels with my friend Christy. We didn't want the hassle of driving in, so we took the train from Sittard-Maastrict, Maastricht-Liege, Liege-Brussels. The total travel time getting there was not quite 2.5 hours.

We got off the train at Central Station, and immediately tried to get our bearings. We knew we wanted to see the Grand Place, St. Michael's Cathedral, and the Royal Palace, but we weren't really sure where to start first. The highest spire in Brussels is the one on the town hall in the Grand Place, so I suggested that we aim for that. Within a few minutes, we found ourselves standing in one of the most magnificent market squares in Europe, and there was a flower market going on. We stood and gawked and took a few pictures, and then decided to meander around the streets that branched out of the Grand Place.

Our next goal was to find the Manneken Pis, a celebrated statue of a peeing boy whose image graces the majority of souvenirs in Brussels. You can buy him in chocolate form, and various forms of metal and plastic, in addition to t-shirts, hats, bags, postcards...the list is endless. I'm not quite sure why this little guy is so popular, but there are a lot of things about Europe that boggle the mind.

But we did find him, on some rather un-spectacular side street. What pointed us to his presence was the group of Japanese tourists milling about, and the big Manneken Pis bar and restaurant located across the street (with an replica of Manneken Pis in a waiter's outfit in the window). Manneken Pis, I should add, has many little outfits that he wears sometimes, but when we saw him, he was utterly naked.

Needless to say, seeing him was somewhat anti-climactic.

We just continued walking down side streets, stepping into any shop or building that piqued our interest. Particularly chocolate shops. Many of them give free samples, and just the variety and various designs of the chocolate are enough to make you want to go into every shop just to look at them. Besides the chocolate shops (I eventually bought some chocolates at a place called Devina), there was this store we came across called La Maison du Miel, or "the House of Honey." The smell lured us in more than anything. It smelled like absolute heaven inside, and they sold, obviously, products made of honey - both edible and non-edible. They had soaps, bath ballistics, skin creams, masks, candles, candies, various kinds of honey, vinegars, beers made with honey...the list goes on and on. We spent a lot of time in this place and neither of us walked out empty-handed. They also let you sample the honey.

Anyway, Christy decided that she wanted to find St. Michael's Cathedral, so we eventually made our way there and looked around for a bit.

Then we decided to find some lunch. I don't know how we ended up where we ate...it was just some random street that we happened to come across. But we stopped at this restaurant (I can't recall the name of it) and had a very large lunch. I had some Belgian specialty, which was nothing more than meatballs in a tomato sauce with french fries. It was pretty tasty though.

After lunch, we wanted to find the Royal Palace. We eventually made it there, but not before being distracted by a few things. We walked around and took pictures, and then it really started to rain, so we stepped into a cafe and got some drinks while waiting for the rain to subside.

Once it did, we decided to just meander some more. We did a little more shopping. We both bought pashminas at some souvenir shop. I loved the one I bought in Istanbul so much that I had to get another one, and the price was right. We also came upon a Chi Chi's. I thought it was hilarious to see Chi Chi's in the heart of Brussels, but once I saw it, a huge craving for fried ice cream hit, so we went in to share some. It wasn't nearly as good as the fried ice cream served at the US Chi Chi's though.

Once we finished our dessert (as if the chocolates weren't enough), we figured we better make our way toward the train station, since we had about an hour or so before our train was due to leave. On the way there, we noticed a cheese shop tucked away in a little corner. We couldn't resist. Christy had been telling me about this amazing cheese she had in Paris...it had fig in it. This store had it, and she was so excited. So I bought 3 - two for her and one for myself to try. So after that purchase, we made our way to the train station and came home.

It was a full day, but I think we got a good taste of Brussels, and we want to go back.

Oh...and one more thing worth mentioning, just because I thought it was hilarious. Some Italian guy was trying to pick me up in the Grand Place and was blowing kisses at me. I ignored him, but it was quite amusing!

Pictures

Czeching out Prague (HA! HA!)

Friday, June 10

After a smooth flight from Dortmund to Prague on EasyJet, we arrived in Prague around 1:30 in the afternoon. After getting our bearings, getting some crowns, and finding the Cedaz Airport Shuttle, we paid to be dropped off at our hotel...it cost about $20. We were stuffed in a car with a bunch of Germans and a smelly driver. I had to sit next to him in the front seat, and Lance sat next to me. For the entire very scary drive, the driver kept jabbing me in the ribs every time he shifted, and I was digging my nails into Lance's leg. We got into several near-collisions, and the driver continued to increase his speed and weave in and out of traffic, making sharp turns, and convincing me that I was going to die before my 30th birthday. Even Lance was freaked out, and he doesn't scare easily. The driver dropped off the Germans first, and then after a few more nail-biting moments, he had us at our hotel. We did not tip him, although maybe we should've given him a little something for at least getting us there in one piece.

Anyway, we checked into our hotel. I didn't know what to expect, because the rooms all seemed different from the photographs on their website. We were assigned room 11, which was right next to a staircase, so it wasn't the quietest room. But it was beautiful and had a nice, comfortable king sized bed and a huge picture window that overlooked a small backyard garden with a fountain. That also ended up being a problem, because we were on the ground floor and people were sitting right outside our window until late at night, talking and drinking. But it was really only an issue the first night. I also found it interesting that we got so many different television stations: English, German, French, Russian, Czech (of course), and I think Hungarian...even Hebrew (MTV was in English with Hebrew commercials).

After settling into our hotel, we decided to walk around and explore the immediate area, particularly with a mind toward getting a late lunch. We found a Bohemia Bagel Express a few blocks from our hotel in some cute little square, and since I had seen Bohemia Bagel mentioned many times between our guide book and internet sources, we decided to eat lunch there. The menu was in Czech, but there were pictures of everything and the woman behind the counter was very helpful in telling us what everything was. So we both ordered bacon, egg, and cheese bagels and sat on a park bench nearby to eat. We smelled some pot that some of the people around us were smoking, but it wasn't too bad, so we just tried to eat as quickly as we could and I fed a few pigeons and we moved on.

We decided to check out Wenceslas Square, which was only a few minutes' walk from our hotel. So we wandered around there for awhile and then decided to get some ice cream. I got cinnamon, which was good. We decided that we were a little tired, as neither of us had slept really well the night before, so we walked back to the hotel and took a little nap.

Around 7-ish, we decided to check out places to eat on Wenceslas Square. Lance saw a sign advertising an Italian place off the square, so we decided to eat there. There was nobody in there and the prices were really cheap. We were greeted by a really cute Golden Retriever when we came in. We had a really good meal there. But we were both feeling stuffed and kind of gross after our meal, so we went back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday, June 11 - my 30th birthday

Shortly after 7 am, my Mom called from California to wish me a happy birthday. My two brothers sang Happy Birthday to me along with her. I got to talk to all of them. It was a very good start to my day.

We had to pay for breakfast at the hotel, so we decided to go down to the breakfast room first to see if it was worth it. They had the typical spread: meats, cheeses, breads, yogurts, assorted cereals, a couple kinds of eggs, sausages, tea, coffee, juice. So we decided to eat there since we weren't going to get a better breakfast elsewhere (although there was a McDonald's -one of about a million, it seemed - right around the corner from our hotel).

Our first plan for the day was to take the tram to Narodni Trida and find the restaurant where we would be eating that night so that we knew where it was in reference to the National Theatre (where we had tickets to see Giselle). We bought our day passes for public transport, hopped on the tram, and in less than 5 minutes, we were at Narodni Trida. It took only a few minutes to find the restaurant and it was maybe half a block from the theatre. Great! So we walked to the theatre, which is right along the Vltava River, and walked along the river to Charles Bridge, which leads to the Prague Castle complex that looms over the city (I cannot possibly express how unspeakably gorgeous the Prague skyline is).

We got to Charles Bridge pretty early...before the tourist congestion anyway, which was very fortunate. We enjoyed our walk and then we had a huge hike up steep cobblestone streets and stairways to get to the castle. Once there, we walked around all the areas that were free. The castle was pretty crowded and there were long lines to get into everything that charged admission. We didn't feel it was worth it. We were content just to take in the views of Prague below us and listen to a military band that was giving a free classical concert on the grounds.

After all the climbing, we decided we needed a break, so we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for some drinks. I needed to warm up (it was so chilly that I couldn't believe it was mid-June!), so I sipped a cup of hot tea while Lance had a Coke. We just sat for awhile and watched the throngs of tourists that were now clogging up Charles Bridge (it pays to get out early!). Finally, we decided to move on. Our next stop: Petrin Hill.

We walked back to the National Theatre and walked up that bridge to get to the funicular that takes you to Petrin Hill. You could walk up there if you wish, but since we'd already done considerable climbing, we wanted to take the easy way out. So we bought our fares for the funicular and took the ride up there. On the hill, there are some really pretty gardens, a monastery, and a small replica of the Eiffel Tower that you can climb to get good views of the city (we skipped that). We just enjoyed walking around for a bit and seeing what there was to see. We were looking for a beautiful Ukrainian church that was somewhere on the grounds, but we never found it. We finally gave up, and since the funicular tickets were only good for 90 minutes, we came back down. It was going on two by that time and we hadn't had lunch, so we decided to look for a place to eat.

I had heard about this place called the Globe, which is a bookstore/internet cafe. They were rumored to serve a good weekend brunch, so I thought that was worth checking out. It's also a huge expat hangout (particularly for native English speakers). So we walked there...it was just a short distance from the National Theatre (and oh yeah...we took the tram back there from the Petrin Hill area...we were getting sick of walking). They were still serving brunch, so I got the french toast and fruit salad and Lance got an omelet. Yummy. I also checked my email there and I looked around the bookstore, but didn't see anything I couldn't live without.

After that, we went back to the hotel to rest a bit. We had a big night ahead.

Around 5:30, after we had showered and changed into our nice clothes, we took the tram back to Narodni Trida to have dinner at Le Patio, which is the restaurant that I chose for my birthday dinner. It's not only a restaurant, but there is a store in the basement that sells items very similar to what Pier 1 sells. Their stuff is just beautiful. And the restaurant is decorated like that...there were all kinds of really beautiful lanterns hanging on the ceiling...hundreds of them. The restaurant had a very lush decor with an Indian flair. The food was amazing. I ordered a fixed price menu, which came with the soup of the day, a shrimp and spinach risotto, and cheesecake. The soup was beet borscht. Although I was skeptical, I decided to give it a go, and I was glad I did. Oh my God. It was INCREDIBLE. The risotto was absolutely delicious. The cheesecake though...well, it wasn't satisfactory. It was okay, but very citrusy (I thought lemon, Lance thought lime) with a gingerbread crust...not really cheesecake, in my opinion. Lance had the lasagna, which he thought was excellent, and he also had the cheesecake. I think he liked it more than I did though. It was a nice, leisurely dinner since we gave ourselves almost 2 hours to eat. Lance ordered a couple glasses of the local brew, which he decided that he really didn't like (Pilsner Urquell, for anyone who's been there). I just had mineral water.

Anyway, shortly after 7:30, we decided to head to the theatre for the 8:00 performance of Giselle. I couldn't wait to see the inside of the theatre. But I was actually disappointed. It was small and cramped and I didn't think it was as nice as the Ohio Theatre in Columbus. Although it's definitely more beautiful on the outside. We had good seats for the performance - 8th row orchestra - although since the theatre was so small, I don't think there were any bad seats. The ballet was very nice and the orchestra was lovely. I've seen better ballets at home. The Nutcracker is still my sentimental favorite. But it was still well done and I enjoyed it. And I give Lance a lot of credit for being such a good sport. I don't think he hated it.

I wanted to take pictures of the restaurant and the theatre, but there were no cameras allowed in the theatre, so I didn't bother. But so many other people brought cameras anyway and now I wish I had.

After the ballet, we took the tram back to the stop nearest our hotel, and called it a night. I have to say that this was the best birthday I have ever had. It had almost everything I love - travel, great food, ballet, and at least one person I love.

Sunday, June 12

After breakfast, we decided to go to the Museum of Communism, since that was something that Lance really wanted to see. I found it to be pretty boring actually, but he liked it. So that's fine. We really needed to do something that he wanted to do anyway. I'm glad he enjoyed himself. The most interesting aspect for me was watching the films of all the demostrations in Prague in 1989 right before the Velvet Revolution (the day that ended communism in the Czech Republic). It's so hard to believe that all this happened a mere 16 years ago, and Prague still retains some traces of its Communist past.

After the museum, we walked to the Old Town Square. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about with this astronomical clock. Every hour on the hour, it gives tourists a show. The 12 disciples come out and there are some characters on the clock that ring bells and move around. So we stood there for 20 minutes waiting (with a swelling crowd) to see this at noon. At then it was over almost as quickly as it began. Lance and I just kind of looked at each other and went, "That's it?" But when in Prague...

The Old Town Square is just beautiful anyway, so it's worth going just to see all the gorgeous pastel colored buildings and to check out the people.

We got drinks and sat on a park bench in the square for awhile, antagonizing some pigeons that were begging for crumbs. Then we decided to take a Vltava cruise. We had seen almost everything we wanted to see anyway...the rest was just killing time.

So we walked up this street that took us through the Jewish Quarter. We got to the river and bought our tickets for the 1:00 cruise. While we were waiting, some stupid drunken ass...well, did something really disgusting in public (what people generally do when they drink too much) that was seen by us and everyone else waiting for the cruise and everyone at the cafe right next to the departure point. Yeah. That was fun. At least I wasn't hungry...it would've killed my appetite anyway (and that was, thusly, the low point of the trip).

The cruise lasted an hour and it was cozy. Only about a dozen people could fit on the boat and they had blankets for us, which was good, since it was still a bit chilly (although warmer than Saturday).

After the cruise, I was still disgusted by what had happened right before, but I was also hungry. So we walked through the Jewish Quarter in search of food. I snapped a few photos along the way (only one turned out, sadly enough). We stopped at some pizzeria. I got the Italian vegetable soup and the "homestyle mashed potatoes," which were nothing like mashed potatoes. It was a mound of fried-semi mashed up potatoes with fried onions. Still tasty. Just not what I had in mind.

We didn't really know what to do after lunch, since there was nothing else we really had to see. So we just meandered around, poking down any cobblestoned alley that captured our interest. We happened upon a small market, so we walked around there for a bit. Quite by accident, we found the Prague Symphony Orchestra building, which was absolutely magnificent. And we stopped for ice cream bars.

After doing this for awhile, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. We take a lot of afternoon naps when we travel!

At 7, we decided to go to TGI Friday's, since we chanced upon it in our earlier wanderings. I knew there was one in town, but I didn't know where it was and it hadn't occurred to me to even eat there. It was Lance's idea. But we don't get American food that much anymore when we eat out, so it turned out to be a really good idea. I got the chicken quesadilla and I didn't realize how much I missed food like that until I was eating it (although oddly enough, it's not on my list of favorite restaurants when we're back in the States, but you have to take what you can get). Lance got the burger, which made my mouth water, but I was more in the mood for chicken than a burger.

No, we never had Czech food. Honestly, it's not that different from German, and we've had that and it doesn't agree with me.

Anyway, leaving TGI Friday's, we ran into a senior citizen who was lost. He asked us if we lived in Prague, and we said no, but he looked so lost that my heart went out to him and I asked if we could at least try to help him. As it happened, he was looking for the subway station and we were walking there anyway. So we told him to come with us and we got to talking. He's from Dublin, Georgia (not far from Warner Robins, where Lance lived) and he used to be in the Army. He was with a group of other seniors, so he called them over and we all walked to the subway station together and we hit it off pretty well. We even had to get on the same subway, but Lance and I got in a different car. We wished them well (they were getting ready to leave Prague for either Budapest or Bucharest) and they wished us well and we parted ways. It's a small world after all.

Today, June 13

We woke up at 7:30, had breakfast, and then lazed around our room for a bit. The airport shuttle was arranged to come get us at 10, so we had a leisurely morning. We checked out around 9:45 and the shuttle showed up about 5 minutes later. The driver was just as scary as the first one we encountered, only this time, we had the van all to ourselves, so I could at least put on a seatbelt. And this jerk kept honking the horn at anyone that was in his way. He was really obnoxious. So we didn't leave him a tip either.

The flight was REALLY bumpy at first. But Lance wasn't worried (and he's literally spent thousands of hours in the air in a similar jet), so I had no reason to fear. After we got through the clouds, it was smooth.

Oddly enough, it was warm in Prague today. And when we got back to Germany, it was cold. :P Dammit.

Pictures

Windmills Aplenty at Kinderdijk

Today I had the pleasure of participating in a volksmarch in Kinderdijk, Netherlands. Kinderdijk is close to Rotterdam and is famous for its 19 windmills, 8 of which are among the largest in the world.


Kinderdijk (pronounced "kinder - dike") itself is a quaint little town surrounded by canals. This is what a typical backyard looks like in Kinderdijk.


During the course of our 10 kilometer trek, we were able to stop inside one of the windmills and take a self-guided tour. It's hard to believe that people live(d) in them! I have to say, the museum home that we visited sure is cozy.

The living area inside the windmill.


The old cook stove.

All of the windmills were built in 1740 and are extremely well-preserved. Some of them were even operating today, including the one that we visited.

View from inside the windmill.

More photos here