Prague - 3/26/09 and 3/27/09

We arrived at a very Eastern-bloc, run-down train station in Prague late at night. Here are some Czech treats at the hotel breakfast the next morning, Čokoládový (chocolate) yogurt and a Nutella knock-off called Finetti.



Strahovské nádvoří (Strahov Monastery). Sadly, we missed the brewery.



Ed with Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler on Keplerova Street.



View from Prague Castle.



Katedrála svatého Víta (St. Vitus Cathedral), near Prague Castle.



More St. Vitus.



Stained glass window by Alfons Mucha in St. Vitus Cathedral. The window was sponsored by Banka Slavie.



View from Prague Castle.



The astronomical clock in Old Town Square.



The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (Týnský Chrám), also in Old Town Square, with a tree decked out for Easter.



St. Wenceslas in Wenceslas Square. This is where the Velvet Revolution gained a lot of momentum.



We made a quick visit to the wonderful Mucha Museum before enjoying a Václav Klobása, the best sausage/sauerkraut/mustard combo EVER. Seriously, I salivate every time I see this photo.



On the Charles Bridge, with Prague Castle in the background.



Kozel beer and duck.



The next morning, we headed back out with our packs to squeeze in more touring on the way to the train station. Here I'm walking down the hill from our hotel on Nerudova Street.



We once again crossed the Charles Bridge.



First we went to the Museum of Communism. This is a truly wonderful, enjoyable museum, though it looked like it had been put together by an extremely talented class of 10th-graders.

Lastly, we toured Josefov, the Jewish Quarter. We saw several synagogues and some museums. Pinkas Synagogue was a very powerful experience -- on its walls are inscribed the names of the Jewish victims from Bohemia and Moravia, their personal data, and the names of the communities to which they belonged.

Unfortunately, our tour of the Jewish quarter was made particularly unpleasant by huge crowds of loud, smoking Italian teenagers.

This is the Spanish Syagogue.



This is sort of a Czech empanada -- a thin potato pancake wrapped around a meat mixture (Bram. Kapsa s Pikantni masavou smesi). Yum. Photo taken at Prague Holešovice, one of the train stations.



After that, we were back on the train. In Europe, the trains tend to leave on time -- to the minute -- but in this case ours was 30 minutes late. Fortunately we made it to Dresden in time to transfer to the next train to Frankfurt. This went without incident. Then the fun began.

Before we left for Zurich, I spent some time on the Rhine Valley transportation web site trying to figure out the best way to get from Frankfurt back to our friends' house in Nordenstadt. The site recommended a train from Frankfurt to Hofheim, then another train to Rheingauer Weg in Hofheim. I was pretty sure that Rheingauer Weg was a bus stop (having gone by it on Monday when we took the bus to the Hochheim train station -- Hochheim, not Hofheim, very confusing), so I double-checked the transportation web site when we were in Prague. It definitely showed a train icon next to "AST 404." So, we arrived in Hofheim at 11 p.m. and waited on the platform for the train. The electronic board showed the train arriving and departing, but we didn't see a train. I began to get agitated -- after all, I had gotten us all the way from Prague to Hofheim without incident, and we were less than 10 miles from our final destination.

We headed out to the street to see if AST 404 was actually a bus. We checked all the stops and maps, but there was no AST 404. A large group of German boys puked loudly across the street. A cabbie came up to us to see if we needed a ride. We were down to 9€, since we didn't want to bring Euros home with us, so we turned him down. But he helpfully told us that AST 404 was actually an UNMARKED BLUE VAN.

Then one of the puking teens crossed the street, walked up directly behind Ed (I didn't see him until the last second), then clapped him jovially on the shoulder, scaring the crap out of me. He said something, Ed said he didn't understand, he said something else, and they high-fived each other.

The unmarked blue van arrived, driven by a man who resembled Otto the bus driver on the Simpsons. He confirmed that he was driving AST 404 and, for 5€, tore off across Hofheim to deliver us to Rheingauer Weg. We asked if he could take us to the bus stop near our friends' place, to which he replied, "This is not a taxi. But for another 5€, I will do it." We laughingly declined and walked the last kilometer. It was a funny, random, and somehow very fitting end to our vacation.

Vienna - 3/24/09 and 3/25/09

I meant to post the two final trip entries many days ago, but this week really got away from me. And I'm leaving on Wednesday for another 2-1/2 week trip, so I definitely need to finish this up!

Some general notes on Vienna: gorgeous, very walkable, lots to do, museums are more expensive than Paris, restaurants are as expensive as Paris but the service is atrocious.

After a very uncomfortable night on the train to Vienna, we arrived at the station and began walking to our hotel. (One of the advantages of traveling light with medium-sized packs was that we could walk everywhere and see a lot.) We stopped at the first coffee house we saw. It was also an underwear store.



Once we dropped off our packs, we headed out to walk around town. I trust you are seeing the theme here with Ed and statue-posing. Be thankful I left out the one of (a fully clothed) Ed with a naked Greek in the Louvre. Here he is with Goethe.



We went past the opera house and then to Hotel Sacher, which was highly recommended by our Rick Steves guide (Best of Europe 2009). We greatly enjoyed the famous Sachertorte.



We are here at Hotel Sacher, where we've secretly replaced the fine coffee they usually serve with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference.



We rushed off to St. Stephen's Cathedral so we could look around before the daily Mass started. Here's the incredible pulpit.



The roof was also amazing.



After St. Stephen's, we picked up some famous chocolate at Demel before touring the Hofburg Palace.



Next we toured the Vienna Opera.



These are the seats at the Vienna Opera. By waiting until 45 minutes after the opera started that night (a tip from Rick Steves), we were able to score some free (used) standing room tickets at the very top for the sold-out performance of Lucia di Lammermoor.



We spent the evening relaxing at our hotel, which was far, far nicer than we expected (Hotel Pension Corvinus). We had a huge jacuzzi tub, separate shower, and a kitchenette. There was a grocery store nearby, so we were able to eat a few meals very cheaply.

The next morning, we ride the tram around the Ring road. Unfortunately there was an error in our guidebook that had us on a tram that took us about an hour out of our way. We ended up at Friedrich EngelsPlatz, which, if you know me, is pretty much the last place I ever want to be. But we managed to get back on track. Here is Athena in front of the Parliament building.



Here I am outside the national library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), just before our visit to the excellent Kunsthistorisches Musem.



We ended our visit with coffee and a snack at Cafe Schwarzenberg. The food was great, but our waiter was awful (as usual for Vienna). At the end, he made a point of telling us that "service is not included" in the bill. After we left, I said to Ed, "I'll say service is not included!!"

Then we made our way to a different train station for the journey east to Prague.

Zurich - 3/23/09

Early Monday morning, we were back at the train station and on our way to Zürich.

Here's an animal rights protest at Zürich Hauptbahnhof (main train station). Check out those massive cowbells!



Ed's classmate Alfonso met us at the train station and took us out for a very tasty lunch. He was an excellent tour guide and walked with us all over Zürich. Here we are at Zürisee (Lake Zürich).





After that we went to the ETH Zürich campus (the MIT of Switzerland). We even saw someone walking around with supplies for the Beer Game, beloved by business students. We took in the beatifully austere Grossmünster. We had some coffee and I learned my favorite German word/phrase, "Superdanke." After Alfonso went back to work, Ed and I kept walking. Here he is outside the Zürich Rathaus (town hall).



We also thorougly enjoyed listening to Pavel Runov, who makes an accordion sound like a church organ. Amazing.

No trip to Zürich is complete without chocolate, which we enoyed at Sprüngli before meeting up with Marc (another Sloan Fellow), Marc's wife Florencia, and Alfonso for dinner at Zeughauskeller. I didn't know it was possible to eat so many different kinds of sausages in one evening.



Then, once again, it was time to get on the next train. Here are our luxurious accomodations on the night train to Vienna:



I feel like I got a taste of what my 6'5" brother-in-law's life was like when he was a nuke on an attack submarine. It was impossible to sit up on either bunk. I don't know how we slept. On top of our train passes, this cost 75€ each! I was excited that I'd learned a few words of German and could help the nice Slovak father and son who needed help reading their tickets to find their compartment (right next to ours). Finding out they were Slovakian involved a sort of "Me Tarzan, you Jane" pantomime. Good times.

Weekend in Germany - 3/21/09 and 3/22/09

On our first day back in Germany, we went to Köln with our friends/hosts. We had a whole compartment on the train to ourselves, which was very helpful for containing squirmy little Laurel. :)



We started off the day at a beer hall, where we enjoyed some traditional dishes (schnitzen, sauerbraten) and the local beer, Kölsch. Then we visited the Kölner Dom, which was my favorite church that we saw on our trip. I loved the Gothic spikiness.





It was very sad, though, that so many people had written on the walls of the stairway to the bell tower. After the Kölner Dom we went to the Roman-Germanic Museum (also excellent) and got an eyeful of the folks hanging out in the square. We saw chalk artists, a man playing a piano that he wheeled around, protesters, people on stilts, and some kids on skateboards who were frightening because they were so erratic and unskilled.

The next day was a laid-back day at home. Here's Laurel the cleaning fairy:



Here's Meggie and a fresh batch of homemade play-doh.



We hung out at a great park near Heather and Alan's house.



Heather took me out for a belated birthday dinner at a vineyard/restaurant in Wiesbaden. Mmmm, Rheingau Riesling.

Paris - 3/19/09 and 3/20/09

We started out our first day in Paris with a visit to the Eiffel Tower.



Unbeknownst to us, there was a nation-wide transit strike going on, so it took 30 minutes to get a Metro train. We visited the Archaeological Crypt first and then Notre Dame. Love the flying buttresses.



Later, we saw a bunch of Sorbonne students protesting in solidarity with the striking transit workers. They had a banner about "being ready to air our general grievances" that they probably pull out for every protest.



I spent a lot of time consulting my Rick Steves book.



We toured the Louvre.



We then enjoyed a gorgeous walk through the gardens and up Champs-Élysées. There was some kind of military observance going on at Arc de Triomphe, so we didn't get to go inside.



We had an INCREDIBLE dinner at Le Griffonier just off Champs Elysées with several of Ed's classmates (SF08).



The next day, we squeezed in a quick visit at the Rodin Museum. Here, Ed thinks with The Thinker.



Next we went to Musee de l'Armee (Army Museum), which was my favorite Paris museum. We only had time to see the medieval armor and the WWI/WWII exhibits, unfortunately. Then we went to Musée d'Orsay. This half of the diptyque "Rêve antique" by Émile-René Ménard made me think of Aimee.



The king's chapel at Sainte-Chapelle was AMAZING.



"Misuse will be punished." This was on the train from Paris back to Frankfurt.