Prague

We enjoyed Prague. It is a beautifully ornate city attracting hordes of tourists. Buildings in Prague have a lot of flourish, spires, gargoyles and elaborate doorways. We ate at the "Original Pilsner Urquell Restaurant." It was great. The next day we ate at the "First Original Pilsner Urquell Restaurant." It was even better.

We stayed in an apartment in a building once lived in by W. A. Mozart. It inspired Jack to compose the song "I'll be coming around he mountain without my pants on." I suspect I may have been the real inspiration. We had to move to a second apartment 4 blocks closer to the Old Town and 200 years older. Both were nice.

We visited the Prague Castle, the largest castle complex in the world. It was more interesting than impressive. St. Vitus Cathedral was spectacular, especially on the inside. There were displays of armor and weaponry dating back to 600 BC and sadistic torture devices.

The kids had been wanting to ride Segways since we first saw them in Istanbul. Everywhere we tried had an age or weight limit. In Prague we found a place run by young Ukrainians more than happy to rent to us so we cruised more or less the whole city terrorizing pedestrians. Accessibility was exceptional.

A poppy field in the Czech Republic -  once we crossed the Czech border, the size of the fields increased 5- to 10-fold, probably a legacy of Soviet collective farming.

Old Town City Hall - home of the astronomical clock

A view of the Charles Bridge

A view of the Prague Castle from the east shore of the Vltava River

A view of the Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge

 

A typical, but wide, street in Prague

View of Prague from the Prague Castle complex

View of Prague from the Prague Castle complex

St. Vitus Church in the Prague Castle complex

 

Armor display in "Gold Alley" in the Prague Castle complex

Torture device display in "Gold Alley" in the Prague Castle complex

Sword display in "Gold Alley" in the Prague Castle complex

Ann-Kristin exiting a 16th century pub - 1 in 7 structures were registered as a pub/inn at the time

The view of Prague from our lunch table

 

St. Vitus in the Prague Castle complex

St. Vitus stained glass - there were dozens of these

St. Vitus at Prague Castle from the Royal Gardens

Nerudova Street

 

Zoe and Jack terrorizing Wenceslas Square on Segways

Wenceslas Square

More of Zoe and Jack terrorizing Wenceslas Square on Segways

 

Zoe and Jack terrorizing the streets of Prague on Segways

 

 The family on Segways in Wenceslas Square 

 

Vienna (Wien)

We kind of hit the wall in Vienna. It was bound to happen eventually, but the fact that their friends were in their last day of school played a role. The day we arrived, no one wanted to go anywhere or see anything and the next day was the same. We stayed blocks from the Haus of Musik,but never visited. I ended up renting a car to go see the Danube and Wachau Valleys. The rest joined me, but  wished they hadn't once we got there. The scenery was very nice. The Danube was wide and muddy with lots of barge and river boat traffic.

Having fun before dinner

 More having fun 

Look at the size of those weinerschnizels - apparently the fun ended

St. Stephen's Church - a couple blocks from the apartment

St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church

The Abbey in Melk on the Danube

The Abbey from the opposite side of the Danube

Schloss Leiben

Schloss Artstetten - an Archduke Ferdinand's residence

Typical Wachau Valley vineyard

Pole with tree on top in town square - every town had one

 

Munich (Munchen)

We took what we had read would be the scenic route from Interlaken, Switzerland to Munich, Germany via Innsbruck, Austria.  The train followed the valleys of the Alps from west to east, often along the shores of long, narrow, deep, milky, blue-green lakes. On a good day I am sure it was picturesque, but the mountains were socked in with clouds. The weather did break somewhat in Austria. What little we did see of Austria seemed much like Switzerland, but perhaps a little plainer or more ordinary. From Innsbruck, the train followed the Isar River valley down to Munich. We say several castles along the way.

In Munich, we had a great, roomy (except for the kitchen) apartment, 150 meters from the train station.  We rented bicycles and toured the city. In Marienplatz, we witnessed the Glockenspiel, the giant coo-coo clock with royal bannermen, jousting knights and dancing men and ladies. We went to the Deutsche Museum. Although it severely lacked in environmental sciences, it was still one of the best science and technology museums I think I have visited. The cool think was at least half of those in attendance were under 20 yo and highly engaged. 

We had lunch (bier, sausages, sauerkraut, crackling pork, potato dumplings, white asparagus and salmon) at the Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s famous and enormous, state-run bier garden. Bier is food in Germany. After that we took a 10-mile bike ride, weaving along the waterways of the English Gardens and beyond.

Just a note - I know it could be expected, but 80% to 90% of cars in Munich are VW, BMW, Audi, or Mercedes. in that order of predominance.

West of Innsbruck, Austria from the train

 

West of Innsbruck, Austria from the train

 

West of Innsbruck, Austria from the train

Karlesplatz in Munich

 The gate to Kaufingerstrasse from Karlesplatz

The glockenspiel at the New Town Hall (Neus Rathaus) at Marienplatz in Munich

The glockenspiel at the New Town Hall (Neus Rathaus) at Marienplatz in Munich

The first "Diesel" engine at the Deutsche Museum

Fokkor Dr.1 Tri-plane (Red Baron)

Early steam engine

Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus

Hofbrauhaus

English Gardens

 

Interlaken

We woke up to low clouds so we decided to save the investment and avoid the disappointment of wandering up into the mountains today. Instead we rented bikes and made a trip up the southern shore of Lake Brienze and then west again a little way down the River Aare toward Lake Thun. We had lunch and then biked through Interlaken to the Funky Chocolate Factory for a payoff of chocolate fondue. It was raining as we rode back to the hostel.

For good reason, Interlaken has been a tourist destination for at least 600 years. One of the hotels here claims to have been founded before 1323.

On the road to Iseltwald

Lake Brienze

Lake Brienze

Ann-Kristin cooling her heals

The girls

Biking

Lake Brienze

Biking along Lake Brienze

Biking along Lake Brienze

A tiny marina where we stopped to take a break

Lake Brienze

Biking along River Aare

Biking along River Aare

Chocolate fondue - YUM!

Chocolate fondue - YUM!