The longest day.

Last day in Prague. Such a sad phrase. So much more to do and see in the city. Today we wanted to check out an icon of cubist architecture and also hit the museum of midevil torture before catching the train to Vienna (Wein). Of course both were opposite directions from our hotel! Cubist building out of the way we hit the museum which was at the base of one side of the Charles bridge. While quite interesting I was most impressed with the view of the square and churches from the open windows on the second and third floors! We had a few options to get to the train station. 1st was the car service that picked us up at the airport = 600. 2nd was our hotel's fine Audi for 450. 3rd was the official cab of Praha, AAA yellow with an amazing 150... Conveniently our hotel forgot to call for our cab and so when it was time to leave there was no AAA but their fine Audi was right there! This pissed us off and we'd read it was the one thing that has put other visitors off f an otherwise wonderful hotel. No one likes a bait and switch. Anyway, given our now time crunch we seemed to be in a pinch but they didn't know just how badly we needed to get moving so I used that to our advantage and got their 450 down to 200 and we road out of Prague in style...until we caught the stink train! Our 4+ hours on the train can be described in BG & AG. Before the Girls and After the Girls. Our train and compartment was pleasant enough and "before the girls" got on we shared it with two nice enough Czech guys, father an son, who teamed of BO. I mean bad. But it was hot out and we have encountered it before and know it's not in their culture to wear deodorant so whatev. It is whatbit is... We were so thankful when they got off about an hour later and were replaced by "the girls". Two pleasant early 20 something's who were quiet and had zero offensive qualities. The perfect train companions. Unfortunately we only had then for an hour and "after the girls" we got the foulist smelling drunk in all of Europe! Of course he sits right next to Heather! Those that don't know, Heather has a super-human nose and I think it's psychic sometimes in that she can smell the future and the past in addition to everything else within 50 feet! So she was in hell. I kid you not, I went to the dining car to get us sandwiches and when I returned I could smell the stench 30 feet away as I approached our cabin! Apparently while I was away he'd pulled out a water bottle full of beer and a bottle of booze and started pulling sips off both and knocking into Heather after which he apparently cussed her out a bit in Czech to which a young guy who knew what was up said somethng to the old guy that quieted him up. Needless to say at this point we decided we missed the girls... Thankfully he only lasted about an hour too and our final hour was with one gentleman who chose to stand outside the room watching the landscape go by... He probably thought we reeked and didn't want to sit too close! Vienna is a great city but totally different on many levels from Prague. I'll go into greater detail but it's like comparing a thrilling rated R movie to a really good PG....

Best day in Prague

So we were originally planning on heading to Plzen the day after Terezin, but to be honest after all the hiking around with cameras and the early mornings and in my case the time change still playing tricks (in fact I still couldn't tell you with any certainty what today is!) we decided to switch things up and stay in the city. It was a beautiful day and after our groundhog day breakfast we headed out to meet Roman Bily at the astrological clock for his popular Jewish ghetto tour. Actually Roman runs a short and long version of this tour as well as a communist tour and an underground Prague tour and if any of you come to Prague we can't recommend Roman's tours enough.

We left the former ghetto and made our way to the Mucha museum where in addition to the beautiful art nouveau master's work we saw a Japanesse man attack his girlfriend! No one ever expects public violence, or any sort of violence really, but in a museum full of beautiful artwork it seemed even more deplorable.

Next stop was the museum of communism, which appropriately enough is located next to McDonalds and a casino! Needing a bit of a snack before heading in, we bypassed Micky-Ds and went to a Pilsner Urquell pub next door and I somehow ended up with a liter of beer and a jar of pate :) Heather's choice of pickled sausages and cheese were good as well. Newly fortified we entered what turned out to be one of the most interesting museums I've ever visited. I remember images of the velvet revolution on my TV as a kid, but was really too young to understand and appreciate what was going on for these people. Now after spending several days walking the streets of Prague then seeing these same streets with tanks and police beatings and old ladies standing in front of a marching military the whole thing came to life.

Best of all the hurricane had passed and we were faced with facts of the situation and not tense with anticipation. A weight of sorts was off our backs and we could finally spend the day not worrying...much. lol a deep and heartfelt thanks to Don, Kim, and Cole for going above and beyond in looking after our home and cats in our absecence. Each having their own homes and animals and such to worry about and finding the time to check the damage and ultimately pumpIng out the water from our basement.

A beautiful day in a horrible place.

The day after the storm was beautiful in The Czech Republic. A bit brisk really and I think the cold air put some pep in our steps. We woke early to make our way to Terezin, a nazi concentration camp located an hour outside of Prague.

A short walk from our Hotel (which I highly recommend. The Hotel Leonardo has been amazing) is a subway stop and it took two subway lines and an hour bus ride to get to our destination. The thrill of the trip so far has been the escalator at the nearby subway entrance. It's easily 250 yards(!) straight down at a very high speed. I'm not kidding, the wind rushes in your hair and your initial reaction is like hitting the giant drop of a roller coaster. I have a picture posted on flickr, which is where I'll be posting these pictures for the time being.

So the Czech Republic is not big on signs for anything. I found out yesterday that people destroy signs whenever the country is invaded as a way of disorienting their enemies... Which I think tourists are now considered because they don't make it easy, anyway after some crisscrossing and questioning of strangers we found our way to the right bus and soon on our way. Terezin was a thriving community built inside a fortress that was an outpost of the 18th century Habsburg empire. The ramparts and high protective walls where separated in very few places for roads, which made it easy for the nazis to close up and form a prison out of the old fortress and stuffed 58,000 people into a town that had held only 7,000 a few months prior. No Jews were killed here intentionally, rather this was a propaganda camp which was used to show "how good the Jews had it" to the Red Cross and the world. They even shot a movie there showing people playing soccer and singing songs. This only lasted a short time before the nazis decided it was too difficult to keep the Jews locked up and soon the orders to ship the Jews to Auschwitz came... very sad indeed. The town has never quite recovered to this day and has a very real feeling of a ghost town. There are inhabitants, cafes, bars, hotels, stores, yet few people beyond tourists are ever seen and those that are seen wandering seem destitute. It seems the nazis cruelty didn't end at the end of the war for this little town...

I've been able to link to my flickr account so check in there from time to time for photos from the trip.

Friday continued

What a city. The cobblestone streets twist and branch off in every direction like an old oak tree, yet we somehow managed to not get lost! After our much needed nap, Heather and I walked to this wonderful deli that served open face sandwiches with potato salad as a base and then some 20 varieties of various meats and cheeses... I called it heaven! From there we walked about a mile to Petrin Hill where we took a tram to there mini Eiffel Tower and the best view of the city. We skipped the lift and walked/hiked to the top and in all honesty the theme to Chariots of Fire was playing as we reached the top from a nearby building. It was appropriate for sure.

The outdoor music was to continue as we walked back to the hotel. A free concert along the river was starting as we reached the bridge. The band sounded, at first, a bit melodic with a bit of Pink Floyd influence and would transition into hardcore at the chord changes... We didn't stick around. We decided to eat at the traditional cafe our airport driver pointed out to us for dinner. I was expecting something more like the giant-tabled beer halls we'd seen on the travel channels but instead found more of a wine bar with an extensive menu. (and only two types of beer, light and dark) We both enjoyed a fresh salad and for dinner Heather had this polenta and potato mixed cake with a mushroom cream sauce and I had the chicken covered in mushrooms and leeks under melted emmental cheese and finished with scratchetel ice cream covered in hazelnuts and caramel, which went great with the lighter beer.

That effectively ended the day. The time change played it's tricks on us and we both found ourselves wide awake at 4am. It's 10 now and we are racing to catch breakfast before heading to the castle :)

I'm a little upset to discover I can't post images from my iPad to this blog. I may have to switch providers or post to my flickr account and link them here. I'll let you know.

Best,
T&H

Day 1: champagne dreams

Notes of our travels to Praha.

We can't believe how fast we got here. This time yesterday we were on the Jersey Turnpike breezing past sewage trucks and girls texting while driving. Today we have awoken in the heart of Prague. Minutes away from the best view of The Castle and The Charles Bridge.

The highlights of our journey here began moments after Heather predicted I'd get flagged going through security because of all my camera gear which of course means Heather gets flagged for no reason and is busted bring on a half-full bottle of water into the airport! Oh the shame of it all! :) Anyway, our flight went by super fast. When we were boarding two of the flight crew were popping champagne for 1st class and I asked if it was for us, we are on our honeymoon? They got all excited and asked our names and seat numbers. I thought for sure we were going to get upgraded, but instead we got a nice bottle of champagne and a cabin announcement that was followed by a round of applause from our fellow passengers. We were next to the loudest child on the plain who seemed to scream for an hour, but thanks to the generous loan of two sets of noise canceling headphones we could only tell how annoying he was By the looks the passengers around us were giving in the noisemakers direction. I don't know what those things cost but they are worth every penny!

Showing our passport to a disinterested security woman with giant fake nails was our stop at customs and in less than an hour we were checking in early (thank god) to our hotel. We had informed them of our honeymoon and were upgraded to a non-smoking suite and 20 minutes after settling in a bucket of champagne was delivered to our door! I told Heather that from now on we are always on our honeymoon!

At this point we are freshly rested and ready to explore. I'm anxious to start taking pictures and taste some local cuisine.