Events of Friday, June 19, 2009 (Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic)

This morning we did our version of the Amazing Race! We ran down our hill to catch our bus when Dave partially tore his Achilles tendon. When we reached the bus station we had less than five minutes until our bus was scheduled to leave and Dave continued to have trouble walking. Then we were not able to determine easily which terminal we needed. No one else seemed to know either. (Now close your eyes and picture Dave and I jumping off a city bus and briskly hobbling down five blocks. I didn't even know if we were going the right direction. Then as we approach the station I run ahead of Dave and start asking anyone who I think may speak some English if they know where our terminals is. Some look the other way as if I am begging for money, others have a clueless look on their face, or if they do try to help they know less than we do. Our heads were on a swivel looking for our terminal, all the while trying to make any sense out of their numbering system. It truly was as scene out of Amazing Race, but I really hope there are no re-runs.) It seemed like an eternity until we found our bus which was thankfully boarding the last of the passengers. We had made it on the bus!

We soon found out that the bus company not only books the seats, but also the aisle. Although we knew that we had seats 39 & 40, we couldn't see the seat numbers anywhere. Two girls realized why I had a look of confusion on my face and explained in gestures that the seat numbers are on the back of the seats, about nine inches down. We slowly made our way past those standing in the aisle and as we approached the area of our assigned seats the two men who were in them purposefully covered up the numbers. The 6'6" 22 year old was not about to move for me to see the number so Dave came behind me and gently helped the guy sit forward to expose the seat number. We showed him our tickets and the two perturbed men moved out of our seats after scolding us for not arriving 15 minutes before departure. He had a point, but we held the tickets. We were happy so long as were seated and didn't have to stand for 2.5 hours.

In about 30 minutes we were in the countryside which looks similar to the western side of the Oregon coastal range except for more deciduous trees and the addition of birch trees.

It was raining when we arrived in Cesky Krumlov (C.K.). We decided not to let this dampen our spirits as we had lots to investigate in this lovely quaint town. We checked into the hostel where we had rented a small apartment down the hill. It was very rustic and had lots of personality. We decided to eat some traditional Bohemian food with the locals. Our new find was the "smoked pork neck in potato omelet" that I ordered. It was not nearly as scary as it sounds and was so good we went back the next day to have more. Down every cobblestone street was something different to explore and begging for its pictures to be taken.

Our itinerary put us in C.K. during their annual "Festival of the Five Petaled Rose". That meant that we would be able to attend the many activities of the renissance festival, but miss out on some of the quaintness of the town since tourist were swarming all over. We enjoyed the singing of folk poetry. We didn't have a clue what was being sung, but it was very cool and included lots of interesting instruments. The rain resumed around 8pm, so we headed back to the apartment to watch Gilmore Girls on the computer.

* It is amazing how well they have preserved the beautiful, old buildings.
* The sidewalks and many roads are still "paved" in coblestones. Even today, when they finish a construction project they will individually pound back in the coblestones as they have been for centuries. It is wonderful to see that this is not a lost art.
* They park on the sidewalks.
* They are stingy with their napkins and the ones they do have are extremely thin.
* The drinking water issue in restaurants!
* When the trolley and subway doors close, you had better not be in the way. They SHUT tight and fast!
* Dogs are everywhere! They are mostly smaller breed dogs, but are some of the most behaved ones I have ever seen. They go with their owners everywhere, often off leash. They are allowed in restaurants, on the subway and buses, and even in the theater. The only place that I saw they were forbidden were the grocery stores and the mall.
* They have an issue of owners not picking up after their pets on the sidewalks.
* We loved our stay and wish it could have lasted even longer!

Events of Thursday, June 18, 2009 (Prague)
We spent most of the day today at the Vyshrad, another castle complex. This one is more park-like and was espically beautiful today. We enjoyed the views of both modern and old buildings of town from the top of the castle walls. We toured an old cemetery containing graves from the mid-1800's through the present. We were curious as to the procedure they use to add additional bodies as it appeared this was the practice in some of the family plots. I once again voiced my opinion to be cremated upon death, but made Dave take a picture of the grave marker I liked in case that I go first and he decides to bury me against my wishes. (We have differing points of view on this so it made for an interesting conversation and some good laughs.)

We quickly visited the original medieval watchtower which today contains the small Vysehrad Gallery (modern art). Unbeknown to us, we made it to the Brick Gate in time for the last tour of the day into the case mates. To get to the Gorlice (a vault about six stories tall & the size of a football field) you walk down a long tunnel that was carved out of the rock under the fortress in 1742. The Gorlice contains numerous statues including some of those originally found on the Charles Bridge. The original purpose or this room was to house soldiers (6,000?) used to protect the fortress and later was used to store potatoes and carrots.

The evening consisted of an odd dinner in the apartment meant to use whatever food we had left. We took in a theater production called 'Cabinet' at the Image Theater consisting of comedy and imaginative dance using black lights. Dave was even pulled from the audience to participate! Thankfully it was for the comedy portion...

Events of Wednesday, June 17, 2009 (Prague)
On the first stop of the day we visited the Loreto. This one is a replica of the one in Loreto, Italy. The Loreto is said to be the house of Mary that floated from Jerulsalem to Loreto, Italy. A more accepted theory is thetat it was taken apart in pieces by Christian crusaders/pilgrims. It was first rebuilt on the Dalmation coast in Croatia, then moved a second time to Loro, Italy. I was stuck by the large size of the home. It was nearly two stories high with a simple brick arching ceiling and dirt floor. The building is surrounded by an open walkway that contains many confessionals and Catholic paintings. The grounds also contained a very ornate church. It was small in comparison to many of the ones we have seen in Prague, but due to its quaint size we were able to really appreciate all of the details of the decor and statues. At the front of of the church were two wax replicas of saints containing there actual bones. The church also contained many chubby cherubs which became quite disturbing. We also visited their vault containing some magnificent pieces covered in precious jewels.

We then walked down to the Prague Castle complex. It is very large and the exterior of the buildings were amazing. Once in the complex we toured the Schwarzenberg Palace museum containing Baroque art in Bohemia. We both decided we prefer the stone statues (chiseled) versus the Baroque (casted) statues. On display were time-telling (sundials, clocks, etc) devices which were interesting to see their progression over the centuries. In the basement were many liturgical robes. We both commented on how heavy they must have been to wear, and the more honor you had the Catholic church, the heavier the garments and head pieces. We had been being watched very closely the entire time, but when I pointed to a piece of jewelry that particularly caught my eye I quickly learned that you do NOT point in museums. At that "point" we ended our toured.

Dave & I then wandered the castle grounds some more and ended up in a torture chamber full of paraphernalia from the time. Dave found the Czech Republic military uniform display in the Powder Tower Mihulka particularly interesting. This was one of the few museums where one is permitted to take photographs.

We finished our day at a yummy bohemian restaurant several blocks from our apartment. It was a wonderful experience to enjoy the local fare in the locals' hangout. Dave enjoyed more Prague beer and I had an orange cream ice tea that we both enjoyed and will be looking for in the US. (As a side note, I don't know how the Czech's don't suffer from dehydration. Water is not served with any food unless you buy a small bottle (about 6 ounces) of it for about $3. It often cost twice that of a beer that's three times the size.) We shared a large plate of french fries that was served with a pile of both ketchup and tarter sauce. To our surprise, it was wonderful; the combination of sweet and sour was very good. For dessert Dave tried the honey cake, but it wasn't worth repeating. On the contrary, Laney had deep fried marzipan stuffed plums in a Bailey's cream sauce that was amazing! Dave ended up giving a 30% tip. Their custom is to give no more than 10%: stupid Americans or God Bless Americans. We don't know which they said.

(Events of June 16, 2009)
Dave and I didn't get to bed until 0230, so we had yet another late start. There seems to be a pattern starting here. We went for a nice tram ride today, only to find out that our tourist map was wrong, so after reorienting ourselves we changed our plans for the day and walked back over the Vltava river into the Old Town. The first official stop of the day was the Museum of Decorative Arts. The pieces that we admired most were inlaid furniture from the 15&1600's. Here I said goodbye in Ukranian instead of hello in Czech. Oops! I can't understand why people keep laughing at me when I attempt to speak. As a side note, I am able to blend in with the locals and even got the nod of approval from two grandmas. I just need to not open my mouth and I might pass, except Dave seems to hinder my incognito approach.

We toured the Powder Tower which is full of rich history, but I won't bore you here with the details. In the Old Town Square the Prague astronomical clock "goes off" every hour. We didn't pay nearly as much attention to the clock as we did to the huge crowd that surrounded it. We got a good laugh at the huge flock of people watching something less exciting and more frequent than watching the apple drop in Time Square.

Our next laugh of the day came during the beginning of our guided tour of the Municipal House. Laney and a German college student got verbally scolded for talking while the guide gave her sales pitch. Needless to say, that made us laugh even more and so we hung out with her during most of the tour discussing our opinions on the male versus female rooms' decor.

We ate dinner at Kolkovna where I had Petron goulash (excellent!) and Dave had the meat platter. Dave's 0.5 liter beer cost only 39 cK while Laney's 6 ounces of water cost 65 Cz. It is so different here in that respect. I do not know how the people in Czech Republic do not become dehydrated. Water comes with no meals, and since it is so expensive everyone drinks soda or beer instead. I normally don't drink much water, but really started to miss having it with each meal.

When starting to head back to our place, I realized in the subway that I needed to use the facilities. This was an odd experience that I am not desiring to experience again! You walk into the bathroom and a chain-smoking woman of Soviet stock puts out her hand for money. Thankfully, this part I was prepared for. However, looking over to see that she was just standing between the male and female "rooms" with a view of both made me a little uneasy. Then I proceeded to the stall only to realize there was no toilet paper. What had I just paid for? I decide to check the other two stalls and realize I must go attempt to ask Svetlana where the TP is located. Thankfully, I did not have to ask as it was hanging right by her. Once again I wondered what the money was for as the TP had to have been left over from a Soviet infantry stock. Let's just say it was not Charmin soft!

(Events of June 15, 2009)
Today was a nice and lazy day for us. We got a bit of a late start due to some extra sleep in the morning (it's amazing how much easier it is to sleep in without Brianna to wake you up at 7am!). We were feeling a bit stiff from all of the walking the day before and were moving a bit more slowly than usual. After a basic breakfast we showered and headed out the door.

Our first stop was the CzechInn Hostel just up the street. There we connected with Dave from South Caroline behind the front desk. We were hoping that they sold the Prague Card, a card that gets you into many attractions in Prague for free, but they did not. Instead of the Prague Card we walked away with a cheap transit pass and a new map with tons of Dave recommended items highlighted. It was a nice find and we're always excited to save a little money on something that we were going to be buying any way. From the CzechInn we headed off for Mary's Travel to buy that silly Prague Card. We found Mary's with little effort and bought ourselves the cards. We were doing pretty good at this point, but then we messed up because we also asked the gal where we could buy the messenger style bag we desired to replace the small bag that Laney had been carrying all around. She told us the best chance at finding that style of bag was to head down to the mall at Namesti Republicky (Republic Square) in Old Town. We thanked her and headed off on a shopping trip to Old Town. To get there we took the Metro (Subway) and we descended that crazy long escalator that I mentioned a few days back. I snapped a picture, but again it fails to do justice to the immense size of this thing. I discovered that this esculator (in the Namesti Miru station) is the longest escalator in Europe and measures 87m (~280 ft) long. It takes a full 2 minutes and 15 seconds to reach the bottom from the top! Once we finally reachee the bottom we hopped onto the metro and soon we found ourselves at the Republic Square in Old Town Prague.

We hadn't yet been to Old Town and so we were blown away by not only the awesome buildings there (more on those in tomorrow's post), but also the runaway tourist trade we found in the Republic Square. There were name brand shops selling every kind of consumer product out there from shoes to lingerie and handbags to electronics. It was actually a big bummer for us to find that kind of consumer whore tourist driven trade amidst all of the awesome historical buildings there, but then again we too were there to buy something - even if it wasn't Coach, Diesel, or Puma branded - so I guess we can't claim innocence. We found the mall that we were looking for and headed inside. It was actually a beautiful mall in the American style with tons of shops on four different levels. We were on a mission to find a bag like the one that we wanted, but we did make quite a few stops that weren't planned along the way. One such stop placed us in a pet shop. It had a pretty decent selection of the same types of fish, rodents, and reptiles that shops in the U.S. have with one glaring exception. When we were looking at the hamsters and gerbils Laney noticed some funny looking ones. Upon further examination we discovered that they were selling chipmunks for about $115! Despite the signs forbidding pictures I couldn't miss the chance to snap a picture that was sure to put a big smile on Micara's face. We left the mall mission accomplished and now we had a new bag for our stuff and were smiling from the whole chipmunk thing.

We both decided that we were too hungry to dig into the sight-seeing stuff we had planned and since we now had free transit passes we decided just to head back to the apartment for a quick and cheap meal. By the time we had finished lunch it was past 2pm. We decided since it was so "late" and since so many of the main attractions here are closed on Monday, our best option was to try to visit the observation tower in Petrin park and the Monastery/Brewery there as well. Off we went via the No. 22 tram easy as can be.

We hopped off the No. 22 near the funicular (a vertical tram up the Petrin park hill). Once we were at the top of the park we found the Petrin View Tower easy enough. The tower, which can be seen against the skyline from downtown Prague, was built in 1895 for the World Expo and at 200ft tall resembles a mini-Eiffel Tower. We could tell right away that views were going to be great from the top, but boy-oh-boy did it sound daunting to Laney to have to climb up all those stairs to reach the top! After suggesting that she just stay behind on one of the nice shady park benches she decided that she would at least give it a try. We started into the climb and it turned out that there was a nice railing so it really wasn't that bad at all. After the stairmaster workout we were rewarded with some really spectacular views of the city and some of the suburbs that we had not yet seen. We also got a great look at the huge Strahov stadium and the rows of huge "Paneláky" apartment buildings built during the socialist 1970s... man those things are soul crushingly ugly! They're the first example of bad architecture that we have encountered amongst all of the beautiful craftsmanship here. When we finished taking a ton of pictures and enjoying the views from high above Prague we headed back down to the park below.

Time had gotten away from us for most of the day and it proved the case again. By the time we strolled through the park over to the Strahov Monastary the attendant was closing the door for the day. We had missed our chance to tour the brewery there and to see the amazingly ornate church and the fascinating library. We didn't actually mind that much to tell the truth. We had taken it easy all day and we weren't about to get upset by this small set-back. Instead we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafe that serves the monk's famous brew (which is not that great in my opinion) and headed back into town.

On the way home we did some shopping and ended up spending a lot of time looking over the store's bizarre offerings again. We are still amazed by some of the things that we can find on the shelf here and I still need to take some pictures and share some details with you all some time. The language barrier makes the mystery of it all even that much more powerful and fun! In the end we bought some pretty boring items: rolls, butter, chicken breasts, cereal, and coffee and headed back to the apartment for the evening.

By the time that we had completed our meal and cleaned up it was nearly 8pm. All of the shows that we most want to start at 8pm so we were not able to go to any of them. Instead we sat at home and watched some TV and some DVDs that we brought from home and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company (and the best microwave popcorn we have ever had!). Our lazy day was at an end and we decided to get a good night sleep and try to do more the next day.

Click the image below to open the entire album for this day:

Europe Day 03 - Prague

(Events of Sunday, June 14, 2009)
At the conclusion of the day we had walked over 9 miles and taken 254 pictures (think of Dave as a Japanese tourist on steroids). Our first stop of the day was the Old Town Hall located in the "newer" area of downtown, which is still older than the United States. We climbed to the top of the old, narrow wooden steps, past the bell tower to have awaiting a beautiful view of the city rooftops. It's amazing!

Next we headed toward the river where we managed to become misplaced for the first of three times for the day. We crossed the famous footbridge, the Charles Bridge, swarming with tourists. Two-thirds of the way across the bridge there is a statue that everyone who passes has to touch; don't know why, but we did too and we both managed to come out the other side with all fingers attached- people really wanted to touch this statue (and no Mom, had they jumped off the bridge I would not have followed).

Once in Mala Strana we meandered around admiring the architecture of even the "plain" buildings. Dave was most impressed with the embassies, while I enjoyed the intricate doors. We ate a light lunch at an outdoor cafe and I enjoyed my first European Cafe Latte. We walked up the hill toward the Prague castle and loved the designs in the cobblestone sidewalks and manhole covers. They really were cool. We ended up walking much farther than our directions indicated, but in our defense the signage of streets is not what we are used to. Once again we enjoyed the views of the city and the beautiful buildings upon our descent.

Next we visited the church of Our Lady of Victory in the Lesser Town district. Before heading back to our apartment we spent an hour trying to find the John Lennon wall. Along the way we met Dave's twin! We thoroughly enjoyed our first full day in Prague!

To unwind we watched some European television. Have you ever watched the Simpson's dubbed into Czech?

You can click on the image below to open our album on Picasa containing all of the pictures that we took on this awesome day in Prague!

Europe Day 02 - Prague

We were up at 0700 after a solid night of sleep. Our apartment is very nice and quiet and the yet to be identified birds singing in the trees provide a very relaxing atmosphere to wake up to. The sun is shining bright in the courtyard below the terrace and the morning air is cool and clean. Laney actually woke up before me which is a bit unusual. I discovered her reading her mystery novel on the couch as I sat up in bed (it's a studio apartment). We were both ready for breakfast and so we surveyed our grocery purchases from last night and settled on a meal of Muesli and coffee for breakfast. The first of many puzzles for us to solve was how to open the milk carton. We decided to try to unfold the flaps and then cut a pour spout. Our strategy worked, but we have so many questions about the ins-and-outs of a regular day in the life a citizen of Prague and hopefully by week's end we will have found someone with the patience to answer them. Ok... back to breakfast... The muesli required a bit of sweetener, but was nice and tasty as was the coffee and creamer. Our simple meal has us prepared for a day on the town checking out Prague in more detail.

One thing that we are going to have to go into more detail about is the grocery stores and markets. We could have spent another hour at the grocery store last night just checking things out (and trying to find what we were after was a challenge as well). There were so many very interesting foods lining the shelves of both the dry and refrigerated sections it was as if we were in a museum. The one obstacle to our joyous discoveries was the shop keeper watching our every move with suspicion. I believe that he was there in the aisle before we came in, but he sure took a keen interest in Laney and I. The food prices seem to be very reasonable so I can envision us getting adventurous with some of the selections as the week goes on. We need to take some pictures to do justice to the scene. We will do so later.

I mentioned the nice morning and the sunshine. Here is a picture from the terrace. There are several different song birds chirping in the trees that the picture does not give justice to. It is a very peaceful Sunday morning with very little human activity to be seen or heard. Now we need to decide what we want to do with the day. As we were walking around last night it became clear that many of the shops are closed on neděle (Sunday). We need to be certain that our choice of destinations is open and then we're off! More later...

We began our day with an amazing breakfast prepared by Laney's mom (by the way I should mention that her parents are watching our girls the entire time we are gone!). The breakfast gave us a great start and we checked through Portland on our flight to Amsterdam with no hassles. We briefly contemplated accepting an offer by the airline for $1500 in vouchers if we would take a bump to the next day, but decided that we were too ready to go and didn't want any kind of delay.

Our first flight was non-stop to Amsterdam. My (Dave's) dad and step-mom had flown this very flight just over a month ago and they raved about the incredible new plane they were on with on-demand movies on individual monitors and larger than average seats. We were excited by that news! As we boarded our plane it quickly became clearl that this was not the same plane that they had a month ago. It was a very slightly updated one with tiny seats with the pleather head rests. Oh well! We're mostly going to sleep on the flight anyhow right? The answer is yes if you're Laney, but no if you're Dave. I just couldn't get to sleep on this plane! The elderly couple in front of us were hearing impared and she just had to narrate every thing on the projection screen to her husband. He was about the only person that didn't get the clue to close his window and it was light outside for our entire 10.5 hour flight (which boggled my tired mind because we left at Noon from Oregon and arrived at 7:30am in Amsterdam - the Earth is round).

When we touched down in Amsterdam Laney was decently rested and I thought that I was going to pass out flat on my face right on the terminal floor. We had to queue up to go through what must be the most unorganized airport security checkpoint in the EU (but it was entertaining to see the fellow face down spread eagle being aggresively searched by security) before we arrived at our gate to wait five hours for our connection to Prague. By now I was pretty much doing that head bob thing falling asleep each time I blinked my eyes. Thankfully in Amsterdam Schipol Airport there are some full length lounge chairs set up for long layovers. I found a vacant one and almost instantly fell fast asleep complete with snoring and drool. Did I care? Heck no! I didn't even know that I was still alive at that point. I was out cold! We hung out there for about two hours (Laney got the lounger next to mine at some point during my nap and snapped the photo) catching up on our need to be horizontal for a bit before we caught the quick and very scenic flight to Prague over the German and Czech countrysides. That was a nice lead-in to Prague itself which, so far, is very majestic and beautiful.

After we deboarded the plane, grabbed our bags, and were pounced on by a very aggresive female customs officer (think Eastern German Olympic weightlifer circa 1984) ,We caught the bus closer to the city center and entered the metro. We don't have photo evidence, but the escalator that we took up from the metro was at least 250ft up at a 45* angle - It was intense and I must try to get a picture tomorrow! After a short tram/street car ride we found our apartment. One of the reasons that we chose the apartment is that it has a nice terrace to sit outside and enjoy the air. The negative side to that feature is that only the apartments on the top floor have terraces and so we had to lug our bags up five flights of stairs. That darn near killed Laney by the third floor and I grabbed her backpack to boost her up the rest of the way. Our apartment is exactly what we had hoped for. It has an internet connection, a full kitchen, a washing machine, all close the terrific public transportation lines and a large park. We are very pleased with it. After getting familiar with the appartment we unpacked some of our stuff and settled in for a quick nap. When we woke up we used Skype to phone our girls and then headed off for dinner.

After walking about ten blocks and checking out our options we chose a pizzeria for our first meal in Prague. We did so mostly because we were too tired to be brave and risk a mistake while deciphering a Czech menu. Pizza on the other hand is pretty much a universal language. We ate our meal outside on the patio enjoying the beautiful evening and pizza too was very good. We ended up sitting there chatting and people watching for about an hour before paying the check and starting the walk back the apartment. This city is really gorgeous. Every street and sidewalk that we have traveled thus far is cobblestone. The architectural features of the most bland building match the most ornate in downtown Oregon City. Walking around Prague is a real joy and we've barely even begun to see the real gems this city has to offer. On the way we decided that we had better get some groceries since the stores may be closed on Sunday. We filled a hand cart with some basics and headed back home. We briefly discussed heading back out to check out the lights on Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge at night, but Laney just didn't have it in her to go out again and in fact is sound asleep beside me now.

So far Prague is everything that we hoped for and tomorrow we'll dig into some of the more popular destinations here. More on that tomorrow.

A lot of people have asked "what are you packing for a six-week long trip?" Not that much actually. We each have a backpack/suitcase and a day pack (not much smaller than the former). I have four changes of clothes, my toiletries, and the camera gear + mini laptop in my pack. Laney's contents are top secret requiring clearance level OPRAH to get the inside scoop... but I can tell you that she has the same limited space as Dave does (though her clothing requires approx 50% of the material Dave's do... Laney's that is not Oprah's...).

Because we're packing light we're hoping to avoid paying cab fare to and from our accommodations from the rail stations. Instead we hope to get away with using cheap public transport and by hoofin' it. We're mostly staying in apartments and several of those apartments have clothes washers so that enabled us to pack lighter as well. The thing that I'm most frightened by is not being able to pack a pillow. I loath the thought of sleeping on fifteen different pillows during the course of our travels...

Spent some time to create a map of our trip (as of now...). Thought that some of you might like to take a look at the journey we have planned for ourselves.


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