Wednesday July 28, 2010 Rainy Krakow

Rain Rain go away
Come again another day
Jerry and Linda want to play
In Krakow Poland, on this stay

This is the view from our hotel room in Krakow. that is the train station across the plaza. It rained the entire time we were here and the temperature in the 50's. Needless to say, it was too cool for Jerry to go out. We missed the tour to the castle and through the old town, which was all a walking tour. Those who were brave enough to go, came back soaked above the knees. The raincoats and umbrellas couldn't keep their legs dry.

Although we couldn't see the historic part of Krakow, the hotel was only a few yards from a huge modern mall - just what we came to see?

Three levels and huge, with hundreds of shoppers and this was on a Wednesday early afternoon.

We found some "fast food" that was very good. It was a long rectangular slice of breat with sauteed mushrooms, ham, red onions and cheese. The bread was crusty and it was delicious.

We spent most of the afternoon in our room napping, reading and I spent some time on the computer. The rain finally let up and Jerry found the name of a restaurant, Jerema, that was within walking distance and so all was not lost - we had a bit of a challenge finding it, but after directions (not followed very well) and a bit of frustration (on my part), we found it and it was absolutely wonderful. I was agravated because I didn't expect much and didn't take the camera but it was quaint and very typically Polish. The waitresses were dressed in Polish costumes, the food was Polish and the music was two men playing music on a piano and violin. They played classical, pop and some that sounded like gypsy music. They were very good. It was a delightful place and the food was delicious. I had turkey with roquefort sauce, potatoes and Jerry had salmon with a delicious sauce on it and a side of vegetables.

Some things to remember of Europe: No one hurries you when you are dining. The server only comes when signaled. You can stay as long as you like and they don't bring your check until you ask for it. They bring a credit card machine to the table so they don't take your card out of your sight. In all the restaurants we have eaten on our own, they have all been very polite and helpful, even when they don't speak much English. Also, for the most part they don't expect tips and seem genuinely pleased when they receive one.

As it turned out, rain or no rain, Krakow was a very pleasant place to visit.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Leaving Budapest

We got up early to leave Budapest by 8 am. Our first rest stop, I finally got to take a picture

of a field of sunflowers. There were acres and acres of these flowers all along the rolling hills after we left Budapest.

We then drove into Slovakia and through the Carpathian mountains. It was gorgeous countryside all the way.

We stopped at a ski area in Slovakia for lunch. It was a beautiful, quaint place with excellent food. I had cabbage soup that was delicious. It had sausage in it and was very flavorful. The flower baskets on the deck were beautiful.

After crossing over the mountains to the north side and into Poland, it started to rain. Pouring rain for the rest of the trip to Krakow. At the point where we saw a sign 100 K to Krakow, which is about 60 miles, the tour manager told us it would be about 2 hours more. This was because the roads are mostly 2 lane and the closer we got to Krakow, the heavier the traffic. We arrived in Krakow about 5:30 p.m.

Dinner was a buffet at the hotel and very good. We had chicken, salmon, potatoes, vegetables and dessert was strawberry mousse and little chocolate cakes. I have found the desserts to be very edible for me since they are small and not very sweet, but very good.

July 26, 2010 A full day in Budapest

It was a day of touring Budapest. We left the hotel at 9 am and were on our way when I checked the camera. Most upsetting, I had left the card in the computer at the hotel so no pictures this morning. This is such a beautiful, old city with so many historic buildings and so many that have been rebuilt since the bombings of WWII.





We toured for a couple of hours and then were let off at Vacci Street for lunch and shopping. We finally found a shop that had camera equipment and were able to go back to the Market Hall to take a few pictures. We found some things to buy upstairs and had lunch at the "food court".

The shopping street and the Market Hall. Many shops of all kinds and cafes were found on the street and the Market Hall was full of food shops on the main level with vegetables, meats, fruits, cheeses, and all other fresh foods. Also they had a lot of paprika for sale. We went upstairs where we found some t shirts and other things and had lunch at one of the lunch stalls. They were full of all kinds of Hungarian food. A few places also had some sandwiches.

We came back to the hotel and rested for a while and then went for a walk to the chain bridge for some picture taking and then to a restaurant for dinner.

July 25, 2010 On to Budapest, Hungary

We left Vienna at about 8:30 am and arrived in Budapest at about 11:30. It was rainy, windy and cool. Some were let out at the shopping street, but many came on to the hotel even though it was too early to get our rooms. We sat in the lobby for a while and then went back and picked up several at the shopping area and were taken to the House of Horror. It is a museum or memorial in the very house where the Nazi's during WWII were housed and then after when the communists took over, It was so sobering and frightening the atrocities that were done to these Hungarian people during those times. It is one thing to hear about or read about this part of history and quite another to be right where these things happened. Again, no pictures were allowed inside. It is something you would never forget if you saw the names and pictures and videos of people that experienced the atrosities to themselves and their families. These places are not happy places, but necessary so that the world will never forget and hopefully not repeat what happened here.

On a happier note, the picture above is the view from our hotel window. we are right on the Danube River that separates Buda from Pest. Buda is very hilly and Pest is flat.

After coming back to the hotel, we went to a market and bought a few things. Some interesting things, you bring your own bags to the store or else you have to purchase one to carry your things home. We went there especially to buy some paprika, which is made from peppers and is used in a lot of their food. At home, it is just a dry spice, but here it comes like a paste in tubes or packets or jars. It can be sweet or hot.

Well, some of the people are "cut" out of the picture, but this is where we had dinner. The food was Hungarian goulash, which was a vegetable soup with paprika in it for starters and we all had the chicken at our table. The dessert was like cheesecake with a strawberry sauce on it. It wasn't very sweet at all so even I could have some, of course, after I scraped off the strawberry. Why couldn't it have been raspberry? Go figure. All the food was very good.

The evening ended with Jerry going down on the street to take a picture of the Chain Bridge at night. In spite of the rainy, cool weather, we had a great day.

Saturday July 24, 2010 Vienna

We were taken on a tour of Vienna this morning, starting with the Palace. This is the front courtyard and only a portion of the Palace. The entire building or buildings would not fit on my lowly camera. We went on a tour of the interior, but of course no pictures were allowed.

Jerry standing in the "garden" behind the Palace in Vienna. This was the palace of the Hapsburgs whose name is mentioned everywhere we have been. They were the rulers of this area in the 1700's and had control of most of Europe. They had 16 children, 10 that survived and were married to other royalty to "enlarge" their empire. Their palaces are so "over the top". It seems they just had to have the biggest, most elaborate, fanciest homes.

We then went on a 45 minute walking tour of Vienna. The weather was cool, windy and rainy and we ended up taking the undergroud back to the hotel.

In the evening we went to dinner with a group from the tour and then to a concert at the Schonbrunner theater where Mozart had performed in Vienna. The picture on the left was taken during intermission as no pictures were allowed during the concert. The group had 13 members and a man and woman that sang and a man and woman that danced. They were really fantastic and we enjoyed the music. They performed Mozart pieces in the first half and Strauss after intermission. It was very enjoyable and an amazing experience in this historical hall.

A great end to an enjoyable day in Vienna.

Friday July 23, a trip to Vienna

We left Prague this morning and drove to Vienna with a stop on the way at a roadside stop. It was about a 4 to 4 1/2 hour drive through beautiful countryside. Acres or grains, vineyards, and sunflowers. I tried to get a picture from the bus, but every time something would get in the way or by the time I got the camera up it was too late. We arrived about lunch time and were dropped off on the street by the St Stephen's cathedral shown above. Everywhere you can find these huge old churches and most of them being renovated. The outside has a lot of black on it from polution and there are huge scaffolds, most of them being disguised by screens printed with pictures of the building so in the picture it may look like the building, but part of it is just a picture. Interesting.

We found a place for a quick lunch and met back here for a ride to the hotel. The hotel room was larger than the one in Prague, but the wireless internet didn't work in the room. There was a cable connection, but it didn't work, either.

The city is much more modern and congested than Prague. It doesn't have as much of the old world feel, at least not to me. There is definite and mix of new modern buildings and the old, which doesn't fit for me.






Jerry on the street in Vienna with his shirt bought in Prague.


We went to a restaurant in the countryside for dinner. Sad to say, we forgot the camera since it was a very memorable place to eat. Jerry had catfish, which he liked, I had beef, which I didn't like. The other members of the group had schnapes, wine and beer, which they obviously liked very much. One guy drank his schnapes, my schnapes, I think Jerry's schnapes, a beer and I'm not sure how many glasses of wine. Fortunately, it didn't make him obnoxious. Those sitting around us were fun to talk to and we had a good time. The restaurant was truly unique with a lot of things such as violins, accordions, lamp shades, horns of various types, etc, etc. hanging from the ceiling and the walls were filled with pictures of celebs that had been there and autographed their pictures. The restrooms were pretty risque and pretty stinky. Jerry even danced a Vienese Waltz with a young woman who went around dancing with different partners. That is the picture that I miss taking. There was a guy dancing with the women, too, but I didn't get chosen. Once a wallflower, always a wallflower! Good for me!
We did get a certificate that he is now a certified Waltz King! Yeah Yeah Yeah

The Czech Republic Thursday July 22, 2010

It was up early again this morning, to breakfast and then a tour of the palace in Prague. The guide was Martin, who was 2 meters tall (well over 6 feet) and easy to see in the crowd, which was huge. Tourism seems to be going strong in this part of the world, given the number of people we "run into" everywhere we go.

We saw the changing of the guard at the Palace (along with many others)

They, of course show no emotion or even change of expression. However, I saw one turn and speak to the other as they left. I felt like saying "caught ya".

The Palace was on a hillside and we walked 6 miles to the old town plaza where we were yesterday afternoon. It happened to be record heat in Prague today. 105 degrees, which is almost unheard of. Go figure, we were walking in it for every one of the six miles. I have to say the people on the tour were real troupers and we all just plugged along and made it.

We had lunch on the plaza and then went shopping at a large shopping mall that was just around the corner from the hotel. Jerry found some socks and a shirt that he needed.

We went back to the hotel to rest our tired feet and then later found another plaza on our own that was called the center of Prague. We had dinner there at an outdoor cafe and had our first experience of "tourist trap". Hopefully the last. They do not have euros in the Czech Republic yet and so we weren't sure of the menu prices. We didn't want a huge meal so we ordered sandwiches, Jerry a veggie sandwich with feta cheese and I had a grilled chicken sandwich, 2 waters and it came to 45 euros (they do take euros) which would probably about $15 at subway, but would convert to over $50. Live and learn!

The astronomical clock on the plaza in Prague

Wednesday July 21, leaving Berlin

We had a 6 am wakeup call on Wednesday morning so we could have our suitcases in the hall by 6:30, go down to breakfast and leave by 8:00. At least that is what we thought. The time was changed to 7:45 and so at 7:50 we got a call and hurried (to our embarassment) to be the last on the bus. That won't happen again.

We had a 2 1/2 hour ride to Dresden where we were able to explore and have lunch. This top picture is the plaza at Dresden with a large statue of Martin Luther. Their was a large Lutheran church that had been rebuilt after WWII. Extremely ornate inside with gold and beautiful windows. No pictures allowed inside. We stop at a little roadside stall for a rostbratwurst for lunch and ate it as we walked up a stairway to look at the Elba River. Rostbratwurst



The Elba River

Then it was back on the bus for another 2 1/2 hours to Prague, Czech Republic. We arrived at the hotel, got checked in and some went on a tour of the old Jewish area of Prague. We followed the tour to a large plaza and spent the afternoon looking around the shops, seeing the street musicians and exploring down little streets, always to be sure we could find our way back. It is good Jerry can orient himself well. I do pretty good if I have a map and watch carefully, however I tend to get turned around easily. Following are a few pictures of Prague.

Above are pictures of the tower that we walked through when we went to the plaza. The large plaza (there was this large plaza and several other smaller ones. One of the small side streets that we walked down with exclusive stores such as Mont Blanc, Prada, Cartier, etc. A street musician that played sax and trombone to a karioke machine. He also sang Volare and the younger observers really got a kick out of him. The last picture is of our hotel.

We had a dinner buffet with the tour group at the hotel and went to bed tired and ready for a good night's sleep. It was a full and enjoyable day.

Tuesday-first day of our tour

We had been to Potsdam with Matt and Marianna on Sunday and now we were back with the tour. The line to get into the palace on Sunday was too long and as it turned out this was okay. We got there before the palace opened on Tuesday and the tour guide showed us some areas of the grounds that we had not seen. We also went through the palace. No pictures inside unless you paid a price to take them. It was all extremely elaborate with gold rococco style in most of the rooms, crystal chandeliers and a lot of paintings.



We got back to Berlin in time for lunch and a few minutes of exploring before leaving on a city tour with a guide on our tour bus. We stopped at the Olympic stadium where Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 games. We saw many points of interest driving around Berlin and ended at Checkpoint Charlie. We were supposed to be taken to Brandenburg gate but because of some protesting going on at one of the government offices, the tour bus was unable to take us there. We decided it wasn't too far so we walked from Checkpoint Charlie to the Brandenburg gate. After which, we walked through the Tier Garten (beautiful park) to our hotel. Many miles were walked this day. I wish I had a pedometer on this trip. I have walked more than for a long time.







Checkpoint Charlie

The Brandenburg gate

Walking back to the hotel through the Tier Garten with new acquaintances George and Diane Pomeroy from Rhode Island.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 pm and freshened up to go with Matt and Marianna to dinner. He met us in the lobby at about 7:15 and we walked to his lab and office to see where he works. Marianna was still there waiting for us and we first walked to a Greek restaurant, but it was out of business so we caught a quick taxi and went to an Italian place where we had pizza, calzone, and I had a salad. They walked us back to the hotel where we arrived at 11 pm, somewhat footsore from all the miles we had walked. It was worth every step. We had such a wonderful evening with Matt and Marianna. They are so much fun to be with. He teases her and she gives back equally. Perhaps in a year or so we will have another daughter-in-law. It was very difficult to say goodbye. I shed a tear as they walked down the street, Matt with his arm around his Marianna.

Berlin, Monday July 19

July 19, 2010

Having gone to bed late last night and with the jet lag still hovering around, I woke this morning and looked at my watch and to my amazement, it was 10:20. Wow, I couldn't believe it was that late. We had to hustle to get down to breakfast before the buffet closed at 11:00. We spent our looking around the area. We had seen a church steeple that had never been rebuilt after WWII and we wanted to check it out We went in and looked at the interior. Afterward we walked to a nearby mall, the Ke De Wa. On the was we saw some street performers from California and watched their little show. They, or course, passed the hat. The Mall was beautiful and we were especially impressed with the "deli" on the 6th floor. Hardly a "food court" type section of the Mall. It was the entire 6th floor and had every kind of food in sections. There were breads of all kinds, meats, desserts, sushi bars, and rows of other canned and bottled types of foods. It was bright, clean, and delicious looking, but certainly not inexpensive. Jerry saw a lunch menu with items for 26 euros and more. The least expensive was 18 euros. It was all in German so we wouldn't know what we were getting. Needless to say, we went back out on the street and found a place with wraps and things for much less. I had a wrap that was pretty good, Jerry had a piece of bread with only butter and some very thin sliced smoked ham and a slice of hard boiled egg. The best part of his was the bread.
We came back to the room for a rest before having to go to our tour introduction and dinner. We met a very nice couple that sat with us for dinner. Their names are Diane and George Pomeroy from Rhode Island. He was a Presbyterian minister and she is still a minister in a Baptist Church in Rhode Island. It was interesting to talk to them. They knew about Mormons and he had some interesting story to tell about how he had been seated by some of our church leaders.

Still the effects of jet lag hang on. Tomorrow morning starts early with a 6:30 call for breakfast and the tour starting at 8:00, so off to bed to see if I can get this old bod to finish converting to this new time schedule.

Berlin, day with Matt and Marianna

Sunday, July 18, 2010



Matt and Marianna met us in the lobby of our hotel at 10:45 and we took the train and bus to Potsdam to the Sans Sousi Palace of Frederick I. The grounds are many many acres and include this palace, the New Palace and several other buildings and elaborate places, including a Chinese tea house that you can see is mostly gold.



We had a great time there and walked and talked together. It was fun and interesting to get to know Marianna. She is a beautiful person inside and out. After all the exploring, we found an outdoor place to have lunch and enjoyed our first experience with German sausages. This is a picture of Currywurst. It was served with your choice of bread, fries, or potatoe salad, which is more like small fried potatoes with skins on, onions and seasonings.

Yes, that is the curry sprinkled on top and it was really good.

We took many pictures, but here are a few to share

We got back to the hotel at about 5:00 pm, Matt and Marianna went back to their homes and we all got dressed up and met back at our hotel to go to dinner. We went to a German restaurant and three of us had Weinersnitzel and Matt had duck. Following are pictures of us and the food, including dessert.
We had a wonderful day. It was after 11:00 when we got back to the hotel and said our goodbyes. Good fun, good food, and good company - who could ask for more!!! We hope to see them once more before we leave Berlin on Wednesday morning.