Goodbye, West Wing

On our fourth date, Jff asked if he could come to my house and make me dinner. That Tuesday night three and a half years ago, he showed up with fresh salmon, asparagus, and the first season of the The West Wing.

I had never seen the show (silly- probably just too busy teaching about the topics it covered to actually watch it). I remember being excited to finally see it (and impressed by husband's thoughtfulness). Since that first night I fell in love with the show (and with him). That night also began a long infatuation of watching the series together.

For the last three plus years, we have borrowed from friends or rented the seven seasons one at a time on dvd. We have watched the episodes sometimes one at a time, sometimes a whole disc at once. I used many of the episodes in my government classroom and we often have discussed the episodes as if we knew the characters personally, (i.e. naming a guy at the gym "Toby Ziegler" or referring to Martin Sheen in other movies as President Bartlet.) I think we have relished having a show that we both love, that suits both of our interests so well, that we only watch together.

Tonight, almost exactly four years after initially meeting, we watched the very last episode of The West Wing together. It was sort of sad to realize that there will never be another season or episode of that show that we haven't seen. I kept thinking to myself tonight, it is just sooo good (Aaron Sorkin come back!) Although it was never the same after Sorkin left, it is, in my opinion, one of the best shows out there.

I wonder what we will do now when we have a evening at home or when the weather keeps us inside... Start all over again? Find another series? Either way, it is hard to let go of a tradition that we had kept up since the very beginning of 'us'.

Reykjavik to Home, USA: Day 20

Breakfast that was much the same as the one we had had at the guesthouse in Prague started out our morning. We quickly packed up our bags one last time and got ready for the tour bus to pick us up. We were headed out to the Blue Lagoon, one of Reykjavik’s seven geothermal pools.

The Blue Lagoon is about 30 kilometers outside of town and is much like a day spa. As you drive up you see a geothermal heat station (that I believe heats the entire island and provides most of the electricity) and beautiful light blue water in a field of lava (the entire island is pretty much lava rock). Blue Lagoon is a destination for tourists as well as locals and is like no other place I have ever seen. The light blue, opaque water has steam rising from it since the air is colder than the 100+ degree water (today the air was 32 degrees). The large pool is much like a small, man made lake with stations where you can apply silica masks, sit in small areas, or swim under bridges. Around the lagoon are steam rooms, saunas, and warm and cold natural showers.

So our last hours before flying home today were spent relaxing in the geothermal pools of Iceland, alternating between different areas of the lagoon and the steam room. We ate lunch up on the “relaxation deck” inside overlooking the water, and then used their state of the art locker room to shower and get ready for our airport pick up at 2pm. It was a great day. Do note, however, that the salty water is awesome for your skin, your muscles and joints, and leaves you amazingly relaxed but does nothing good for your hair (mine currently feels a lot like straw and Jff’s usually straight very fine hair was easily turned into a spike do while on the plane today).

We left Iceland today less than 24 hours after we had arrived today, but not before I ran in to someone I used to work with at the high school. Ida, a Russian woman, retired from school the same year I left but had been a great friend to me while I was there. We had a great time catching up in the airport and laughing about our good fortune of running into each other. Today on the plane she stopped by to talk again and couldn’t resist telling husband and I that when we have ‘babies’ she would like to babysit for free – that is while she is not traveling the world!

So somewhere over the North Atlantic, I am declaring our vacation an incredible success. It was so wonderful and fun that sometimes I couldn’t believe I was living my life- traveling around Europe for three weeks with the best traveling partner I couldn’t have even imagined? Making new friends, seeing old ones, visiting family, and learning so many new things? How could I ever be so lucky? How is it that this is my life?

Husband and I have recently gotten into the bad habit of saying things like “the next time we come to Paris” or “that is where we should go on our next amazing adventure”. We have also begun post-gaming our packing and planning job so as to refine our traveling and packing skills (I will post on this later). It is true that when travel gets into your blood it is hard to imagine not doing it. Yet, even though I was sad for this vacation to end, there is nothing sweeter than returning to a home, friends, and family that you love just as summer is beginning.

Paris to Reykjavik, Iceland: Day 19

For our last day in Paris, we decided to get up early, enjoy petite dejeuner with the boys before they left for school, and then walk over to the Rodin museum near the apartment for about an hour. Everything was going along pretty smoothly until we were nearing the museum and the first street that we wanted to walk down was blocked off and barricaded by police. We weren’t very phased since we had seen somewhat the same thing in Prague when the Old Synagogue in the Jewish town was temporary closed off.

We just continued walking- going down another block in order to cut over to the West. We finally made it to the street where the museum was, but as we got closer we realized that there was another police barrier. We walked up and they let us right through. Then we saw the major barricades: police in riot gear behind portable riot fences- hundreds of them just standing in the middle of a major street: Boulevard D’Invalides. Again we were able to walk through on the sidewalk.

After using my favorite French phrase: “Qu’est qui ce passé?” We found out that the fisherman had staged a demonstration about the price of fish in France (and were still demonstrating although we couldn’t figure out where exactly they were). Bed sheets with spray painted messages about Pecheurs being colere (angry) along with the smoke bomb debris in the middle of the street (and the police (gendarmes) being poised for action) was interesting. Maybe not as picturesque as the Rodin gardens, but interesting and a good vision of French life.

After a walk around the gardens of the Musee d’Armee in the Hotel D’Invalides (where Napoleon’s tomb is) we headed back to finish packing and catch our train out to the airport, buying a few sandwiches on our way.

The flight to Iceland passed without much of note other than I was introduced to my new favorite food of Iceland (and possibly overall): Skyr. Skyr is yogurt made in Iceland- a thicker, tarter version of standard yogurt made from skim milk and considered to be a cheese product. It is super high in protein and has no fat. What a perfect and delicious snack!

Once we got to Iceland we took a bus from the airport to another bus terminal where we transferred to a smaller van that brought us to our Guesthouse. Guesthouse Baldurbrau was not all that charming to me, but it fit the bill. We dropped our bags off, grabbed a map and set off to explore the town. Iceland is very cute, with neat houses of all different colors, and very Scandinavian architecture. We walked towards the center of town and found a very quaint but hip city center with restaurants with all kinds of food. We settled on Icelandic/American/French Fusion where we could check our email and pay with credit card. I had fish stew on top of rye bread with a cream sauce very good and hearty.

After dinner it was already past eight o’clock but the daylight looked as though it was three o’clock. You wouldn’t expect it, but it was very disorienting. Being on Paris time- which was already two hours later, and having not slept a lot the night before, we headed back to the Guesthouse for an early bedtime. I wanted more time to explore the very old town set up and look in all the cute shop windows, but felt the draw of some sleep.

The Guesthouse was loud with people moving around all night and the curtains not sufficient to keep out the nearly 20 hours of daylight. At 2 am when husband got up to get some ear plugs I looked outside to see that a street light was the source of “daylight”, but that the sky was indeed only grey.

Paris, France: Day 18

Last day full day of traveling! We are keenly feeling the end of our trip coming near. How can three weeks go by so fast? We have had so much fun on this trip, and it seemed liked it has been one adventure after another, it is sad to see it ending. Around the middle of our time in Munich, I think we were both feeling the fatique of constant travel—dirty clothes, lots of walking, strange beds, and just a lot of moving around. By our last full day in Paris, I was feeling sad to be leaving so soon, especially from France. Jff and I had become a well-oiled machine at navigating cities, foreign languages, and different forms of mass transit.

We had purposely planned for a shorter time in Paris when planning the trip. We had already been there and wanted a chance to visit places that were new to both of us. I had never liked Paris all that much, and was leary about the same conclusion a third time. Well…the third time was a charm! I loved walking around in the city, being partly familiar with it, relishing chances to speak and order in French (which came back surprisingly easy, by the second day I was communicating very well with people we came in contact with), was also hard wanting to leave a beautiful apartment in the center of hip and trendy Paris. I wanted to soak up the culture and continue to speak, I was not ready to leave!!

So our last day we got a late start after spending some time getting things in order in the morning. We headed out to see the line was too long at the Musee D’Orsay and so moved on to visit the former Palace gardens. We couldn’t get enough of the outdoor sights of Paris, wanting to enjoy a beautiful second day of weather. The gardens were beautiful and very fun to see Parisians at play. Although we tried unsuccessfully then to rent bikes from the automated system on the streets, we did make it over to the area of Trocodero where we had a picnic lunch of ham sandwiches, red wine, cheese, and butter cookies while looking at the Tour d’Eiffel.

With a quick trip across town on the Metro we ended up at the Musee D’Orsay, my favorite stop in Paris. Especially after watching the series The Impressionists, it was a blast to see all the impressionist paintings. The views from the observation deck of the former train station, were also not bad. Before leaving we also took in some Art Nouveau and post-impressionist works. It was a fabulous 2.5 hours spent.

Afterwards, we rushed back to the apartment in order to make a wardrobe change and pick up Cameron’s ping pong paddles (yes, I am serious). We had planned to meet him after school in the Luxembourg Gardens to relax, enjoy the gardens and fountains, and of course to play ping pong on the outdoor tables. It was fun, I have never played ping-pong outside before. After the tournament, we walked through most of the gardens, up to the palace, and through a little sculpture garden.

This is what I like about Paris: there are surprises around every curve. More so than any other city I have ever been in… Turn a corner and there is a beautiful hidden park, or a great view of the Eiffel Tower, or a gorgeous building that you have never heard of… Even small little neighborhoods and courtyards are nice surprises. As we left Luxembourg Gardens for dinner, we found all sorts of old land marks or good views.

We let Cam decide where we should go to dinner and we ended up in the cute part of the Latin quarter on the Right bank Paris. It was a French restaurant called De L’Atlas and had a mixture of French and English food. John and Cams had burgers (Cam’s had a friend egg on top and was pretty much raw meat and no bun) and I had a Auvernigte salad which included the niciose dressing, potatoes, cheese, crudities (or raw veggies) and other things I couldn’t quite identify. It was a great meal.

Around nine we dropped Cam off at home so he could study a bit before he went to bed, and we grabbed our jackets. We headed out for a night-time tour of the Seine River on the Bateaux-Mouches (my very favorite thing to do with all the rest of the tourists). All the bridges and monuments, including the Eiffel Tower along the river are lit up. For an hour and a half you just cruise up and down the river going around the islands. We had a great time. We headed home afterwards for a late bedtime, determined to get up early enough to do one more thing before we caught our plane in the afternoon.

Paris, France: Day 17

It is so exciting to wake up or arrive in a new city, wondering what you will do and see that day while exploring. Paris, although not new, still held the same excitement for me on Monday morning. In school (middle, high school, and college) I took French; just kept going with it for no particular reason. I like speaking another language, listening to other people speak it, watching people move between two languages. The last time I was in France, around 1998 or 99, I spoke really well (I remember an old snooty lady on a train telling me that).

After I graduated from college, I never spoke much French, and always felt like I had forgotten most of what I knew. I was both excited and a lot intimidated about trying again to speak it while in Paris.

We had a plan about how to do everything we wanted to while in Paris and so set off Monday towards Sainte Chapelle, a church originally built by French royalty in the 13th century to house the crown of thorns. A few blocks from Notre Dame, it is now completely housed within the Palais du Justice. This hulking structure now encompasses a large part of the island in the Seine, houses the French government, and used to be the royal palace (the towers, which are still a part of it are really neat looking).

Anyways, we got to Sainte Chapelle after walking along the Louvre and strolling across Pont Neuf (Bridge Nine, the oldest and prettiest bridge in Paris) only to discover that the line was about a hundred people long to get in. Husband and I followed the theory of--- the line will be shorter in the afternoon. We moved on and walked over towards Notre Dame (we did not go in, but wanted to walk along the outside.)

Upon getting the square in front of Notre Dame, we came up on a huge group of tents and a big sign that read La Fete du Pain, or party of bread. It was literally a exposition for the artisan boulangers and patisseries, bread and pastry makers of France. Inside the large tent, people where making bread and pastries for people to watch (and then handing out samples). In the smaller tents, they were selling their wares, including des sandwiches du jambon (ham), or petit chocolates. We stopped there and had a picnic while looking at Notre Dame.

After lunch, we headed North off the ile de la cite and headed for the Modern Art Museum, Centre de Georges Pompidou (which Kat describes) on the Left Bank. After a couple of strange, but interesting special exhibitions, we spent our time looking at works of Klee, Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, and a lot of others. There are also great views of Paris from the top floor of the building, looking North.

We headed south, back towards Saint Chapelle, determined to get in to see the over 1100 stained glass windows in the church, but first we stopped for an afternoon Caffe Au Lait and Crepe at a Café. The weather on Monday was partially sunny, but very windy and somewhat brisk, so sadly we sat inside.

We made it into Saint Chapelle, and the wait to go through security was well worth it. The windows were beautiful and their true ability to take your breath away could not be captured no matter how I tried with my camera. We sat for along time, trying to make out all the stories from the bible.

Even though we were tired and our feet were a bit sore, we headed South to the Right bank for a city walk. Recommended to us by my cousins D & D, these small cards that come in a set lay out short walks in cities around the world (with a map). Each city has up to 50 “city walks” that you can go on while reading the history or points of interest about the area. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after we wandered through an area of the Latin quarter, looked at historic cafes where the likes of Voltaire and Hugo gathered, and found a great area of town to eat, we were true believers. I will never travel again without some city walks in my pocket, perfect for seeing average people living and working in neat places.

After we stopped to sample some local fare for snacks, we headed back to Rue de Bac via a short ride on the Metro. We hung out with the family for a short while before setting off for dinner with them. We went out for Fondue and had an adventurous evening with the wild Kaelin (who I can’t help but adore) and talkative Cameron. We didn’t get home until close to 11 pm but had had a great night.

Munich to Paris, France: Day 16

An early train to Paris from Munich. Luckily our hotel was really close to the train station, but that did not help the fact we had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep. We bought a couple of sandwiches in the train station and found our train seats (we found the right ones this time).

The first couple of hours we both slept, then I read (great book that I have had on my shelf for along time, but hadn't gotten to: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx) and Jff played video games. The last hour on the train we took turns reading through the Paris book and each writing a list of things that we wanted to do. Since we have both been to Paris before, me twice, our lists were a little on the beaten and off the beaten track. We then talked about our lists, catagorized by area of town, and ruled a few things out and starred the ones we couldn't leave with out going to. Our activities in Paris did really reflect our list.

The last hour and a half on the train, there was an announcement that the TGV (Train de Grand Vitesse- or really fast train) would now be increasing to optimal speed on our way to Paris. That was no joke, within about 5 minutes the train was moving so fast you couldn't even see the telephone wires going by out the window. At its maximum the train was going 320 k/hour- or about 200 mph. It was amazing to watch towns go by in less than 30 seconds and to not even be able to watch anything close up!

When we got to the Gare de l'est in Paris, Jff's aunt was waiting there to drive us back to their house (we had told her it was unnecessary...). When we got to their apartment in the middle of Paris (3 blocks from the Louvre, 2 blocks from the Musee d'Orsay) there was a huge group of people gathered for a late Sunday brunch. It was so fun! We got to meet some of Uncle Michel's family, and some of their friends, one of which had just had a baby a few days ago. (The baby was beautiful and so tiny). Everyone was talking in French, and so I got to practice a lot. The only problem is that sometimes I forget that I am listening in French and I forget that Jff has no idea what is going on...

It was great arriving to a brunch and a house full of family and friends. We ate petit chocolates, had omelets, potatoes, chocolate chaud, and of course brioche. The kids were all playing Wii- which Jff almost kissed the ground about- and I got to revel in the French conversation and catch up with Jff's aunt, M.P. I couldn't believe how much the boys had grown- Cam now 10, Kae now almost 4- and super wild, but super cute.

After everyone had left (kisses on both cheeks for us all) Michel, M.P., Cam, Kae, Jff, and I decided to go for a walk. We headed over the Seine (with a soccer ball) to the grounds of the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. We played a little "futball" and then headed over to an area where the kids can go on a trampoline. It was so great just to be hanging out with family like normal IN THE MIDDLE OF PARIS. It felt really funny at first. After an hour or so, Jff and I struck off on our own, with a plan to meet the family back at their apartment on Rue de Bac in the evening.

We walked down through the rest of the Tuileries Garden, took in the view of the Place du Concord, all the way down the Champs-Elysees, through the Arc de Triomphe, and then all the way to La Defense. We walked all the way down the Champs-Elysees to revisit the Arc de Triomphe and to (this time) pay more attention to the scenes depicted on the monument originally built by Napoleon. It was a busy Sunday afternoon with some patches of sun, but a really cold wind. And so after that, we bought a book of Metro tickets, did some figuring out of the map (I love the metro system of all the different tunnels and turns and stairs, but hate how complicated it can be to get from point A to point B unless you can transfer)and then hoped on the Metro and headed back to Rue de Bac.

We spent a nice evening in the apartment two story apartment, 4 bedroom apartment that is filled with very old antiques (a few things from Ikea for the boys to play on) and original pieces of art. We had a great time reading, playing Wii, eating a late dinner, and just spending some family time. It was a nice soft landing after a lot of intense traveling with not much sleep.

Munich, Germany: Day 15

Our visit to Munich seemed so short- already our last day?? We hardly just arrived. It was also the one city that we didn’t have a guidebook for, and that also made a difference in what we felt like we saw… Husband and I (but especially he) had done a lot of research before our trip, but no amount ahead of time can arm you for once you get there and can actually read along with the book as you go.

Many of the books provide you great restaurant recommendations and that is sorely missed when you are starving and just wandering around hoping to find a restaurant that serves a type of food or fits into a budget. Next time I think we will buy (and lug) books for each place we go. Even though we copied pages from some books to bring along- it is so messy and never has all the information that you want. I think, interestingly enough, it is a good idea to read a couple of different books on each place you are going, take notes, but then pick the one that is most useful to bring along. We have found the Rick Steve’s is the best by far. In 1998 when I traveled through France and Italy, I brought him along. This trip the books have also been great. Although for Copenhagen, the “Time Out Copenhagen” book that Arne and Athena borrowed us was the most useful, so you really just have to put in the time to find out before you go.

Anyways, we started out our day by heading to the Viktualenmarkt in one of the town squares. This market, much like a fancy farmers market, had fresh cheeses, meats, nuts, vegetables, potatoes, fish and does it almost every day. We had a fun time shopping around in this area that Munich has refused to allow any chains or big businesses buy into. I couldn’t stop taking pictures because it was all so pretty and cute.

We did a little shopping along the pedestrian mall and then headed toward the Englisher Garten- the biggest green space park in Europe- where there is a huge stream running through, horse and buggy carriages, miles and miles of walking and riding paths, and lots of grass for the nude sunbathers (spotted at least 7 yesterday while it was barely warm and very overcast). We stopped and ate our lunch there by a nice little waterfall and then went walking up to one of three biergartens where there was a band playing and lots of fun being had- even though by now it was sprinkling heavily.

After a small meltdown from having just exhausted legs and bodies from walking so much and being really tired from not much sleep, we regrouped for a short while near the Hofgarten and headed to the Residenz Museum. The Residenz is a grouping of about 10 different buildings all built at different times by the royal family of Bavaria in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Much of it was damaged by bombs during World War II, but has been rebuilt since and is still being renovated.

Inside is now a museum of parts of the palace, the living space, and many of the jewels and heirlooms of the crown. We only had about two hours but it was time well spent to see some of the most amazing rooms, jewels and fine materials, and historic pieces. One of the coolest things we saw was the Grotto courtyard where there is a huge fountain (with women’s breasts shooting out water) all made of shells. It was destroyed in the war, and so the people of Germany saved and collected shells just to make the rebuilding possible. It was a totally worthwhile stop and one of the best things I will remember from Munich- very enjoyable and interesting.

While we were in the museum, Munich had exploded literally. Their city or regional futball team had gone undefeated and had finally finished off their season. Munich was celebrating their team being the best in Germany, and almost everyone was gathering In the old town square near our hotel. At around 6 there were probably around 5,000 people gathered watching footage, cheering, and singing. We watched for a while, amazed, and then went further from the square to find something to eat. On our way back from a great meal (yum, wheat beer made in Germany), we needed to pass through the square to make it back to the hotel.

Just kidding. By now there were probably 8-10 thousand people gathered- flags waving, massive chants happening, and just general cheering happening. After again watching and taking pictures for a while we knew we needed to get back in order to pack our bags for an early morning departure. Just kidding again. We tried to get on the metro, but that included a ten-minute session of pushing through the crowd for fifty feet just to get to the entrance. Then, just as we were buying our tickets from the machine, a voice (in German) announces that the train station below the square will be shutting down. They didn’t want any more people getting off there, so no trains were going to be stopping.

We had to get back out of the station and walk through crowds down to the next station, which was piteously close to our hotel anyways and take the train from there back. It was a crazy night, where once again we were packing late at night for a very early train ride. The good news is, within about 15 minutes of getting back to our hotel room- it started to rain. Our luck with the weather has been great, with the trains, not so much!

Munich, Germany: Day 14

Our first full day in Munich threatened to be the first where we needed our raincoats. Before heading out on the town, we stopped in the hotel lobby for breakfast. The breakfast buffet was great- a coffee maker that made Café Lattes and enough meat and cheese to make sandwiches for lunch. We left the hotel with our rain gear packed in a backpack along with our picnic lunch.

The first order of the day was to take a look at some of the many churches that are in the old town part of Munich. Many of them were badly damaged in World War II, but all were rebuilt to their former specifications. We were interested in the pictures displayed in each of the churches that showed them prior to the war and after the war. In keeping tradition with our experiences in other cities this trip, we walked the 400+ steps up to the top of St. Peters Church which is just off the square. It was fun to see the city from above in the same way we have see all the cities we have visited.

Just as we were heading up the tower of the church it had started to sprinkle, but as we came down, the sun came out and it began to look like it was going to be a nice day. Our weather luck was continuing! We headed back to the train station to find our train- for a day trip out the city of Dachau- the site of one of the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

It was easy to use the subway and then bus to get out to the former concentration camp, but a little bit more difficult to go in. Although we were there on a day that had turned out to be sunny and nice, and although the surrounding area was pretty, the grounds had a eerie silence and chill to them.

Upon entering we first watched about a half hour introductory movie, with mostly information we already knew, but shocking footage of the camp at the end of the war when the allies liberated it. It was hard to watch, even thought I have taught about it for many years, the reality of it happening only 50 years ago in the place I was sitting was a little too much for me. I was in tears during and after the movie, so frustrated that something like that can happen just because people are close-minded, want power, or are unwilling to try their best to understand others’ differences.

We took our time for the rest of the afternoon on the grounds of Dachau, listening to the audio tour about the different buildings, reading about the ways the prisoners lived, and how the Nazi’s controlled most everything about the camps. I’ve thought it before, but I was again reminded by how chilling the Nazi’s efficiency and perfectionism was in their seeking of the “final solution”. We also spent time looking at the different religious memorials on the sight, and stayed until the museum closed at 5:30.

I think everyone should visit and take time to understand the absolute cruelty that humans can inflict on each other. It was a hard day to let go of, I felt sad for a long time after our visit, but I think there are important realizations that come out of it.

We returned to our hotel in the early evening to take a little break and try and recoup from the afternoon. Around eight, we decided to take in a little Munchen (Munich) night life and so we headed down to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner and a liter of beer and a lot of revelry in the biergarten.

We did finish our liter of beer (it was good- also very heavy to pick up) and had a pretty good dinner sitting between two German groups at the table (I somehow ended up ordering a Pig's Knucle?). I was amazed to watch people put back liter after liter of beer (it was good, but, wow!) and just keep on going. Although, as a side note, I have to say that I have gotten used to drinking beer with just about every meal here. It is the same price as water, and it is fun to drink it with the salty food here. I am sure the calorie counters must be shuddering at the thought, but I have enjoyed it. I think my tolerance (and husbands) is increasing because of our beer with every meal policy.

Anyways, it was a very festive and college-reminiscent way to finish the night off before heading off to bed pretty late at the hotel.

Prague to Munich: Day 13

On Thursday morning we got up early to make our train to Munich, Germany. As we were trying to figure out the Prague train station, we saw a guy get his passport stolen by a group of people that had been around him. We didn't see the actual incident, but arrived as the older Chinese gentleman was chasing them down the hall and screaming at the top of his lungs. We got to see the police chase them down with him in tow. We stood by his bag because during the chase (the Chinese man had left his suitcase behind) another two guys came up ready to take it, until we said it was ours. Needless to say--an 'exciting' beginning to our trip out of town?

The excitement continued on the train- we were in the wrong seats (glad to find that out as the different cars were going different places) and when we did find the place we were supposed to be sitting, I got to sit next to Mr. Stinkypants. (Seriously so stinky, that I couldn't focus on the book I was reading because I had to keep remembering to only breathe with my mouth, not my nose). After the entire Czech family left our compartment two college kids joined us, when they weren't eating Oreos, the boy was sleeping next to John looking mostly like this:

The six hour train ride left me really sleepy and devoid of any energy. Our hotel was only about 5 blocks from the main train station. It was a relief to get here and realize that it was not a guest house-but rather more like a European Holiday Inn where there is wireless internet access and our room actually has room for me to practice yoga in the mornings. Don't get me wrong- I have actually preferred our local sleeping options up until now, but at this point in the trip, I was ready for a little institutional feel where I didn't have to worry about leaving a water stain on the dresser with my water glass. (Later when I admitted this to Jff, he agreed: We were happy at our hotel).

The only funny realization is that our hotel was in the strip club zone, with lots going on in that area at night. The hotel was a great deal and that is probably why, but I would recommend it to anyone staying in Munich. It was super close to the main train station, the old town of Munich as well as lots of shopping options. Anyways...

So after dropping our stuff off at our hotel, we headed down Munich's main pedestrian street. I was just starting to wake up and get excited about being in a new city. It was a lively afternoon with everyone outside drinking beer or walking around. We sat down to have some beer and some wieners (I really didn't understand the menu and so I just ordered and dealt with what I got) at an outdoor cafe along the main pedestrian street. Afterwards as we wandered down to the main square, the Glokenspiel was chiming that it was 6 pm. We watched the little men inside the clock move around and do a little dance.

Next we walked towards the Hofgarten, a beautiful garden where the natives play bocce ball and socialize together. In the middle of the symmetrical garden there is a small monument, in which someone is always playing classical music on a string instrument. We sat for a while to enjoy the garden and watch some dogs playing together. It is so nice to be in parks that are well used, where people meet others, where there is a clear sense of community. As the sun started to set, we moved on to find a grocery store to buy some fruit for snacks during the day as well as a get a lay of the land.

We decided to eat at a small restaurant tucked on to a quiet street south of the Hofbrau House. We had beer and wood fired pizzas at husband's request and lingered over dinner. It was a good meal and we had a great time making some plans and decisions for when we return to the states. After our late dinner we took the pedestrian street back to our hotel in time to miss the rain that started just moments after we stepped inside. We were both excited for the two days ahead of us that we had to enjoy Germany- a place neither of had ever been.

Prague, Czech Republic: Day 12

Our time on vacation is going so fast! It seemed crazy to me that it was our last day in Prague already. We had a few things left to see and do (like the Jewish Quarter in the Old Town and a return to the Mucha Museum gift shop as well as attend an Orchestra concert in the Municiple Building (see: gorgeous concert hall)), but overall, I felt ready to move on. I liked Prague a lot, I was just ready to get away from the big crowds and the over-done tourist stops.

I should have known that it was going to be a crazy day when we got a later start and weird things were happening all over the place. First we stopped at an old church, park area, and graveyard close to the guesthouse. I was expecting a nice, quiet chance to look around, but surprise! Instead of tourists, there were about 10 field trips on the grounds. As the morning went on, I was not feeling great and had to make several bathroom stops and it promised to be another really hot day. We made it into town and started to realize that we needed to get cash to pay for our stay at the guesthouse. The only problem was that it seemed our ATM card was not working although it had up until now. It was telling there was “insufficient funds” in our checking account (hardly).

So long story short, we spent part of our day going back to the guest house to call the bank (of which no one could talk to us before 9 am central standard time), John’s parents to transfer some of our money around to account we did have access to (the only time I remember actually appreciating U.S. Bank in a long time), buying a phone card so we could make calls without having Skype, trying to figure out how to use the phone card, and so on… Once we got everything else sorted out, we realized that John had left our orchestra tickets back in the room when we had gone back to change.

Although we fit in the tour of the Jewish area and the return to the Mucha Museum, it was a hectic day, and one that makes traveling in a non-English speaking country where you don’t have cell phones and have to rely on mass transit, exhausting. Luckily, we made it to the Orchestra concert at 8 pm in better spirits having dealt with the ticket crisis and decided we were still having fun. The concert was amazing and even included a piano concerto.

Afterwards, we wandered around the lit streets of the old town and Charles bridge, seeing Prague late at night for the first time. It was wonderful and we ended up out much later than we expected considering our early train ride this morning just because it was so nice out last night. The castle was lit up, all the buildings were picturesque and I really understood why people rave about Prague. If you are not expecting it- it is a gem with ambience

Prague, Czech Republic: Day 11

After two nights in our large double room at the guest house, we had to move to a single with a double bed in it. When we made our reservations 2 months ago, we knew that this would have to be the arrangement since Guesthouse Lida was already pretty booked up. So we got our bags ready to be moved and headed out on the town. Our plan was to stay on the east side of the river and to tour the Old Town and New Town quarters.

We started by heading to the Old Town Square to watch the astronomical clock strike the hour (and to watch all the tourists go crazy during it- clapping and cheering…). We had a book that guided us through the different periods of architecture that we were looking at in the square, the history behind the statue of Jan Hus (that rabble rousing protestant from centuries ago), and the history of the Gothic Tyn Church (pronounced TEEN) on the square. The square was beautiful. Prague is so historic (being one of few countries not damaged by bombs of WWII), it has some of the oldest buildings in Western Europe along with examples of gothic, baroque, rococo, and art deco right next door to each other. It seemed like every where we turned there was something else that was very picturesque and that makes everyone “love Prague”- by far the most gushed about city, in my experience.

We slowly wandered down to the new town area- as the winding streets of Old Town lead you in that general direction- and found a bit of relief from mobs of tourists. We went to the expensive, but very worth it, Communism museum (very few tourists). We probably spent 2 solid hours there, looking at the artifacts and doing a lot of reading of the English guide signs. I am tempted to say it was my favorite thing in Prague overall. It was so informative, historical, and made me think a lot about what it means to Czechs to finally have freedom after 45 years of repressive, totalitarian rule from the Soviets. (Czechoslovakia was only free to make their own government once before in the last 300 years- between the fall of the Hapsburg Empire after WWI and the invaision of Hitler in 1939).

After the museum it was very fitting to head over to King Wenceslas Square- where the "Prague Spring" protests of 1968 occurred, and then where the Velvet revolution took place, which lead to the fall of the communist puppet government in 1989. We even got a chance to see the National Museum pillars where communist bullets hit during the Prague Spring revolts, that were purposely filled with a different color to never truly “cover up” what happened in the square. It was very touching, and very inspiring to be there and to see so much recent history.

The country is clearly still touched by the Soviets in many ways- the tram and metro system, as well as many very ugly and functional buildings from the 1970s. I think of DocMI who was there 10 years ago while we were in college and wonder how much it has even changed since then. Fascinating.

After an outdoor café for lunch, we headed over to the Mucha Museum. Mucha, a native, was a famous art nouveau graphic designer and artist in Paris and the U.S. a little after the turn of the century. A lot of his works, especially advertisements, were on display along with a video about his life. He was a firm believer in the Czechoslovakia’s national identity and design money and paintings in support of the new country after WWI. Sadly he died right after Hitler’s invaision, seeing his country’s dream squashed by the Nazis.

We returned to Old Town Square in the late afternoon to walk down the “Parisian Street” that is tree-lined and does look a lot like Paris. I remarked to husband that it is indeed much like Paris- snotty and pretentious- all the high end stores like Hermes, Chanel, and many other luxury names have all taken up residence there. Capitalism has definitely taken over, it is on that street that you see the high end visitors of Prague, in all of their glossy, shiny glory.

Tuesday evening we returned to the Castle quarter to see a few sights without the help of all the tourists that leave around 5 pm. (The huge masses of tourists killed my traveling excitement in Prague to a certain extent) We went to an area called the Golden Lane, which are tiny houses built into the castle walls that have existed since the 1500’s. This area is charged for during the day, but not in the evenings (and it is good since husband and I agreed it is worth about 5 cents and no more). The Castle and surrounding churches and smaller castles were pretty in the fading daylight, as was the Charles’ bridge.

Our Chili Beef Goulash that night at Josefina’s was authentic, but left us both ready for the nice fruits and vegetables of Denmark and other destinations. But at the end of a long day of walking, it was great to just be fed. We returned to the guesthouse in time to wash some clothes in the sink and fall in to bed in our new tiny, tiny, but workable room with wet clothes hanging from the skylight above us.

Prague, Czech Republic: Day 10

We woke up on Prague (Praha) to our tenth consecutive day of beautiful weather and a beautiful breakfast spread in the dining room of the guesthouse. While we ate a slow breakfast of granola and yogurt (not the same as Danish yogurt unfortunately), toast, fruit, meet, and cheese, we chatted with a couple from Ohio. Guesthouse Lida seemed to be mostly Americans and a little bit of the older crowd. Although I probably wouldn’t prefer this most of the time, it was quiet, comfortable, affordable, and was in a good location.

It is always hard to know when you haven’t been to a city before, how important it is to stay in the city centre or not… With Copenhagen it was cost prohibitive and there weren’t good B &B options, but it would have been nice to be closer to the center at night. I found in Prague, because the transportation kept going regularly at night that it really didn’t matter that we weren’t down by the city center.

After breakfast we headed for the metro station a few blocks from the guesthouse and used transfers to hope on a above ground tram that would show us the general lay out of the city, especially the castle quarter of Praha. We got off at a Monastery with a library that had books and artifacts from the 1600’s, and then toured the grounds where there is now a brewery. From the gardens of this area, there were amazing views of the whole city in the Vltava River Valley.

We continued on down the hill to find the Prague Castle in a square of different styles of historical family castles. Within the castle walls there were several beautiful churches, the most renoun and visible is St. Vitus’s Cathedral, which is high gothic in style with all the gargoyles, rose stained glass windows, and high spires. We spent a lot of time studying the windows, especially the one that Alfred Mucha (art nouveau artist) designed for the cathedral that includes a Prague-specific story including King Wenceslas… Aside from the gobs of tourists that were there, it is my favorite church that we have visited. The views from atop the tower were amazing- totally worth the 400+ stairs that it took to get up there.

We wandered around the grounds of the castle afterwards looking at all the defensive armaments from days of yore. When we got hungry enough, we went looking for some authentic Czech cuisine. We found it in the courtyard of a hidden building in a set of stairs. The restaurant “By the Donkey in the Cradle” was great! We sat under a huge umbrella in the courtyard and enjoyed the weather. We ordered a beer, I got some onion soup, a velky salat skurecim masem, or translated “big salad with meats”, and Jff ordered a uzene maso se zelim (smoked meat, cabbage, potato and onions). It was a good, leasurely meal. After a tour of St. Nicholis’s Basilica (very ornate), and chance encounter with a kitty, we headed south to “lesser town”, one of the four quarters of central Prague.

The afternoon involved some ice cream, a tram ride to the top of the hill to the park and the replica of the Eiffel Tower so Jff could visit a museum he was interested in and so I could walk through the gardens (along with terrific views of the city). Once we were back in the valley, we visited the hunger wall monument that was built in the 1400s. We also searched out a memorial to the Czech who died under communism. It was a statue of a man walking down a series of stairs, slowly losing limbs and parts of his life, in order to illustrate the impact of communism on this country that only became free in 1989.

We, and especially me, were exhausted from traveling the day before. We walked through a park along the river, strolled across the Charles Bridge in the evening, and after lots of picture taking and walking, finally caught the tram home.

These feet were made for...

Dear my feet,

I have never appreciated you so much as I have on this trip. I have always thought you were a cute pair, but not always a practical pair. No arch support, too much running, too little stretching, too much frisbee, not the the right shoes... the list could go on and on. Although I thought long and hard in advance of this trip about how to deal with your sensitivity and propensity to act up while I am traveling, I was still very fearful. So fearful, in fact, that while packing foot wear I concentrated not on fashion, only on function... All for you.

I have to admit I am very impressed with your work so far. Today was the fourth straight day of climbing huge hills or walking up literally hundreds of stairs, not to mention the cobblestones in Prague that are really rough to walk on. Both this evening and this morning you ran for the tram- allowing us to catch it at the last possible second- without any trouble (and in sandals none the less). I can only guess the longer runs are good training or that I did indeed choose some of the "right" shoes to bring on this trip for you.

Thanks so much

Love, Me