Adventure: Prague

McKay: It is lovely sitting on a train… to gaze languidly at the passing scenery relaxed and relieved of any responsibility to watch for a bus stop or count metro stops. I love travelling by train.

Yesterday was another perfect day in Prague. We beat the tourist crowds again and got to see the first strike of the day by the astrological clock (really really neat!) and see the Jewish Quarter before being overrun with tour groups (notice Rob’s comparison photos from earlier). The synagogue with the names of Czech victims of the Hollocaust was very interesting and somber. The names are not only written on the walls with hometown, birth date, and last date known alive, but read aloud or sung softly over speakers.

One of my favorite exhibits in the Jewish Quarter was that of the art of the children of Tezerin. Tezerin was a camp near Prague, kind of a sending-off point to other concentration camps. The people there taught the children, held lectures, put on plays, and the like. It was stopped at first, allowed later, and eventually used as German propaganda to promote Tezerin as a wonderful getaway.

Other interesting sights were the Jewish cemetery with topsy-tuvy gravestones and the synagogues elucidating Jewish life and culture. We learned a lot of interesting things, thanks to the displays all being described in English as well as Czech.

We bought fruit and snacks at an outdoor market and had a picnic lunch in the Old Town. I got to shop a little (one of my favorite touring activities) and ended the afternoon with come gold bobby pins (so hot right now) and a new pashima.

Dinner was at a restaurant Rob scouted for its Czech food. We ordered the pig leg and won at food! Yum! The Germans we shared the table with told us they got McDonald’s earlier for dinner and were seriously regretting their decision as they averted their eyes away from our amazing and fragrant dinner. On a beverage note, I must find out what it is about Czech dark beer that makes me actually like it! It is so amazingly good! It has a taste like a smoky, tasty, smooth, dark peaty forest… so much better than regular beer (generally known not to be my favorite). After dinner, we walked to the river and looked at the castle lit up from far away then walked the Charles Bridge again before heading back to the hotel and sleep.

After another early morning, we left our keys at the desk to checkout (no one was up yet) and arrived at the train station in time to get two coffees and a pastry. WOW! So, Europeans really know how to do good pastries. This was a train station and it was AMAZING!!! Flaky, buttery, crisp.. everything one wants in a good pastry. Why have Americans let their food get so mediocre? Hopefully, this new movement toward locally grown food and “slow food” will help our tastebuds in America come alive again. Thank you, little brother, Chef Martin for your contribution to our tastebuds.

Europe II

McKay:

Oh my! We have done a lot! It seems like many days ago we were in Germany, yet we're only at our second European country. From Heppenheim, we drove to Heidlberg and walked the town and walked UP UP UP to the castle. Heidlberg is beautiful! I find Germany to be delightful, very clean, and very colorful. Views are breathtaking and I can't help but wonder whose fairy tale I have wandered into.



This was our rental car. Isn't it cute?



After Heidlberg, we returned the car to Frankfurt Hahn. That sounds so easy, doesn't it? Well, we severely underestimated the length of time it took to drive from lovely German hill towns to middle-of-nowhere Hahn. SEVERELY underestimated. Rob got his dream of driving James Bond style on the tiny hillside roads (uphill switchbacks galore!) and I got my dream of riding Bond-girl style in the seat with a handsome stud driver.

So... Frankfurt Hahn is FAR! I don't know how they are allowed to put "Frankfurt" in the name, because it's not close to that metropolitan area at all... or any metropolitan area. But we arrived close to the due time of our rental car and turned it in with no hitches. Then, we just went through the airline genius system that is RyanAir. So, Rob thinks the guy who invented RyanAir is a genius, and I lean towards the side of agreement. I mean, it's completely brilliant to charge next to nothing for an airline ticket, but add on a $20 internet fee, $5 check in fee, $30 bag check fee, or $50 bag overweight fee and you've got yourself a profit! Top it off with the whole flight time taken up with snack carts, drink carts, and gift catalogs passing down the aisles for you to shell out some more euro. Genius.

We landed in Prague around 9 and took the bus to the metro station and the metro to our hotel (I love that Rob likes taking public transportation as much as I do!) Completely exhausted, we checked in and read up on Prague sights in Rick Steves before closing our eyes.

We had a perfect day in Prague! We rode the tram to the castle and arrived before it opened to beat the throngs of people Rick Steves promised us would be there. So, Europe has a lot of hills! A lot, people! I live in FLAT places and my legs and lungs have gotten a great workout lately!

Anyway, the Castle area was beautiful! We saw the cathedral and other associated sights. We lunched at a brewery next to the monastery and YUM! I tried the first dark beer I liked! It was SOOO good! It had a taste that reminded me of chocolate without the sweet. Tasty. Plus, our meal was excellent! Rob won at food (again!) by ordering the rabbit. WOW! Who knew bunnies were so delicious!



After lunch, we took in more views and tried to see everything at the top of the hill establishing a policy of trying to walk only downhill. It worked out. We saw all the sights we wanted to see in the Castle and Little Quarter areas of Prague and finished our day walking the Charles Bridge and supping on the water at another Rick Steves recommendation (sorry, Rick, you won Rob but I wasn't with you on the fish place - oh well).

The entire past few days had been rough on our feet, but at the end of yesterday, mine were threatening a mutiny. My little pep talks were waning, "Feet, I know you're tired, but we're counting on you. You are such good feet and we have always loved to walk places. Let's step it up a little longer, okay?" By the end of the day, I could not ignore the screaming feet because the legs had joined in and were creating a chorus of mermaid quality calling us to the comfort of the hotel room and the bed. After dinner, my mouth told Rob, yes, let's go see the castle lit up at night while the resting feet were caught off guard and only had a moment to say, "What? No!" We went because feet get outvoted. But in the end the whole body was thankful, especially the eyes, because the castle at night is magnificent!!!!! It easily ranks with my very favorite sights ever, matching last year's Iguazu Falls and Florence's Duomo.



Today was another day, but posting time has run out and I'll have to tell you later.

Rob:
Driving in Europe can be very frustrating at road interchanges. Unlike US highways which show direction of travel (US 69E vs. US 69W) Euro road signs point you to the next few towns along your route. As it turns out you may not know the next few towns along the way because your destination is 7 towns away. Since most rural biways aren't even numbered you may come to an intersection and spend the next minute combing your map for any town between you and your destination that happens to be listed on the arrows. The fact I had an excellent navigator (McKay) who learned quickly how to be two towns ahead of the car made driving way easier.

We arrived late on a rainy night in Prauge and were greeted by a gray and cold morning. The sun quickly came out and with the Europe standard, castle on a hill, the "brisk" walk/climb warmed us up pretty well. Sight seeing at the earliest possible hour is highly recomended as most important sights seem to contain only 6-9% of the people as only 2 hours later.


Note the fewer tourists in the piture above (8:30AM) versus the picture below (Noon)

Our second day in Prauge has been much more relaxing. We saw the Old Town square by 9AM and were off to the Jewish quarter. The Jewish quarter is a number of buildings where a vast collection of Jewish people's stuff was collected to be archived in the 1940's. It turns out that after Hitler had killed them all, this area of Prague was to be his "Museum of the Extinct Jewish Race"; at least we'd remember them. About 95% of the Jews that lived in Prague were exterminated including the ones who did the collecting/archiving of all the Nazi confiscated stuff. Luckily some survived as did all the stuff which is preserved in 6 different synagogs in the neighborhood. A ticket to see them all is expensive but worth it.

Afterwords, with our legs calling for relief, we made our way back to the hotel by way of the local farmers market, candy store and shopping mall. After several hours of resting we are ready to go back out for dinner and a little evening sights before our early morning train to Budapest.

Europe!!

Friday, 14 August

McKay:
We began our vacation Thursday when Rob got home from work by driving to Atlanta, but not before saying a peanut-butter filled goodbye to Gus, leaving him in the loving and capable hands of the Jestice family. On the way, we tried a McDonald’s mocha (both hot and cold) and decided that they really were better than Starbucks. Wow. Impressive, and kinda bittersweet (no one WANTS to like McDonald’s).

After sleeping only 4 hours in our airport hotel, we woke up and caught a very early shuttle to the airport and flew to DFW (one flight earlier than planned, thanks to Rob and an on-the-ball gate agent). Fun and spontaneous, Ken (Rob’s dad) was just getting in from flying and Cherry flew from Longview to meet us in the airport and we all went out to lunch in Southlake. Yeah, what other family could do that?

Well-fed and eye candy cravings satiated (visited Anthropologie, Ann Taylor, and Nine West Shoes), we returned to the airport and were thrilled to get into first class!! DU-UDE! First class is AH-mazing! Rob had told me stories about how the chairs swivel around and you have a whole cubicle to yourself. Truthfully, I only halfway believed him, but it’s TRUE! For dinner, Rob and I swiveled our chairs to face one another and had a little intimate 5 course dinner. Then, we watched movies on our personal screen and reclined our seats COMPLETELY FLAT to beds and slept!!

Saturday, 15 August

Today, once in Frankfurt, we took a train to Mainz, walked the sights of Mainz, shopped at a farmers market I’ve only seen in my dreams, picnicked on the Rhine eating cheese, berries, and bratwurst, ate some tasty schnitzel for dinner, and are deciding to retire early as the jetlag is catching up with us.

Rob:
There are a few moments of first day hilarity. As McKay and I stepped onto our first European train we discover the infamously tricky glass doors which divide the train cars into sections. Granted McKay was first into the train so I didn’t have to actually use the door, but it was still a lot of fun to watch my lovely wife’s befuddlement. The doors slide into the wall and even though they have handles to pull them open or closed they are automatic and have a little yellow button imbedded in the handle which opens and closes the doors. McKay pulled and pulled and the door never opened until another passenger opened it from the other direction. The next door she started to pull on the handle. The nice German woman sitting beside the door was explaining to her how to work the door or so McKay thought. Turns out that the lady was trying to explain that the door was already open and what McKay thought was really clean glass was actually nothing but air and the next cabin. I couldn’t help myself - I just stood there giggling waiting to see what would happen. After a few seconds the lady “punched an invisible hole through the glass”. McKay saw the light and we continued our trip.

At Mainz we stepped out of the station and started looking for our hotel: where is the street… where is a map… where are we? I needed a frame of reference so we went looking for help. After 20 minutes McKay located an info booth and a map and we were on our way. This time when we walked out I was looking up and the first thing you see, front and center, the name of our hotel in seventeen-foot letters, “HAMMER HOTEL”. If this was Times Square, it would have been the Coke jumbotron.

Sunday, 16 August

Rob:
Today we grabbed a train from Mainz to Frankfurt. We got on one of the ICE bullet trains for international travel. When the lady checked our tickets it was pretty obvious we weren’t supposed to be on this train but because we were only going two stops she didn’t kick us off. Frankfurt is a pretty quiet town on Sunday (minus all the church bells). We put our bags in a locker at the train station and walked the city. The Germans know how to bring nature into their city. We walked along the Main River amid beautiful gardens and green fields. The old town center called Römburg was rebuilt in 1986 from the original 1418 plans, considering we flattened 95% of Frankfurt in WWII, it was cute. The cathedral kind of made it through the war with the walls and tower intact, but interior and roof burned. The pipe organ looks like it was built by a hot rod enthusiast, probably the most intimidating pipe organ I’ve ever seen. No shops are open on Sunday so we spent most of our time strolling in the wonderful parks that ring the city and window shopping. We had a leisurely lunch at the local street festival, enjoying Frankfurt’s signature apple wine, berries, bread, cheese and amazing cooked mushrooms from local vendors.

McKay: So Frankfurt is lovely. Its skyscrapers and busy streets infused with parks and serenity give it a very New York City feel. We trained it over from Mainz this morning after a lovely breakfast at our hotel where I successfully interpreted everything the hostess said – I got her to bring us coffee and everything until she asked us about “secht” which I did not know and which revealed that we spoke no German whatsoever and I had just been lucky in interpreting her up to this point. *sigh* So sad. “Secht” is champagne or sparkling water or something like that.
The language is so frustrating! If I’d realized we would be in a German-speaking country (Germany and Austria) for a total of almost a week, I DEFINITELY would have brushed up on German. As it was, my brain said, “Oh, we’re not in any one country for that long…” and I’d known too many Germans whose English was so good that they were just frustrated with my German. Still, I LOVE to at least start off my interactions speaking the native language. I WILL brush up!

Rob, however, just starts off speaking English and I KNOW I see, though briefly, a look of “Anglo-centric American… thinks everyone should speak his language” before they politely reply to him in English.

Renting a car went very well – we got a car that starts with an “S”. Unfamiliar with the brand, we still don’t know what car it is, but it’s nice. We followed our map out of Frankfurt and drove some smaller roads through the countryside on the way to Heppenheim. Rob is a very good driver, but I just couldn’t help being a little nervous as a passenger with someone having a little too much fun on the steep twisting country roads where, according to the sign I just saw, might not be allowed to drive on this road… umm… nevermind… just breathe… what a lovely view… down that steep hill… on this 2G turn… pretty colors… I love my wonderful husband… this is how every other car is driving… lovely view… just breathe. Really, it wasn’t that bad… mostly.

We had a sweet dinner in Heppenheim at a restaurant with tables on the balcony overlooking the cobblestone streets. Now we’re back in our hotel writing to you and will soon check our much neglected email.

Checkout Roulette

Today I went to the store for one item. One item that can only be found at the Super Wal-mart. When you make your way to the front of the store, you feel the race starting. You look over the competition and think, "I can get out of here in a hurry. I only have one item and I am paying cash." The checkout line shuffle is the most important aspect of finding the quickest way out of the store. You must analyze the items in your foe's cart and the number of people in each line. It turns out that I usually lose this game at Wal-Mart; I constantly underestimate the tediousness of other shoppers. Today was no exception. I was a royal loser in the speed lane out of the store. Let's recap.

I naturally gravitate to the self checkout line. The lines are short, I can swipe items myself, I have no produce, quick. So I have to say the concept of self checkout at the supermarket seems so good on paper but not the way real life works. I try to gauge the intelligence levels of those already in line. There are 4 lines.
Line 1: A middle-aged couple, the woman is hunched over the computer, the man is classic north-west Florida. Tan, shorts, monster truck T-shirt, beer company hat, mullet, and staring at me.
Line 2: A large woman and her screaming kid
Line 3: A family of 6 with way more than 20 items all gathered round the console trying to "help" each other run the machine.
Line 4: A woman in her mid-60s calmly moving her items from basket to bag.

Line 4, BINGO! As I walked up and a small line formed behind me I began to spy on the older woman. I took notice that the computer screen said, "Please wait for associate to assist you" and had said that for the last 4 items she had swiped. But she continued on her merry way, oblivious to the computer not doing anything. I stood behind her for this because it was still the shortest line and I assumed the Wal-Mart employee who watches over the self checkout would be along soon. After she tried to pay and continued tapping the credit card machine over and over like it would change our fate I looked up. There is a little red light blinking at the top of the machine to indicate the problem. I contemplate moving on to another line. I look at Line 1, red flashing light, still staring; Line 2, red flashing light, still crying; Line 3 green light, only through 5 of 69 items and still trying. Where is the Wal-mart employee? Don't know. I must abandon this line.

I go for the 10 items or less line with a cashier and after leap-frogging around I find the gem. One guy, items finished scanning, just paying and out. This is the racer's dream line. There is little to no time left in said transaction and the customer will be on his way. I step in line. Once again I fail. This guy is around 75, no teeth, and writing a check with a very unhelpful cashier. I don't fault him for writing a check, I mean come on, he's practically old enough to know the guys on our money; he doesn't want to get with the times anymore than I want to learn polka. This being said, he's probably written a few thousand checks and this probably isn't his first trip to Wal-Mart. Maybe the cashier was really slow but by the time he left all of my original lines had passed me by, leaving me with line choice remorse. After the guy with the check left, my cashier turned into a monument of efficiency. She scanned my item and took my cash in the amount of time it takes to say hello. Then with one hand she gave me my change and with the other she was already scanning the first of 17 cans of cat food the lady behind me was toting.

I'm not sure why I even bother with the self check at Wal-Mart; the whole point is speed but the lack of customer computer savvy and the fact that 3 of 5 purchases need an employee to validate your ID or something, has finally made it completely useless in my book. On a lighter note the self checkout at Winn-Dixie is fast, user friendly, and talks you through the process but doesn't make you wait until it's done talking for you to move on.

Europe Plan

So, we're going to Europe!!! WOO HOO!!

For those of you interested, here is our plan (and please don't judge us, we know we're not spending nearly enough time in many of our destinations, but we couldn't narrow our wants)

Thursday, the 13th, we drive to Atlanta for our early flight the next day.

14th - fly (hopefully) standby to Frankfurt via Dallas

15th - arrive in Frankfurt, visit Mainz (small German town)

16th - Heppenheim (small German town)

17th - Heidlburg (small German town), check in to Prague

18th - Prague

19th - Prague

20th - travel to Budapest

enjoy fireworks celebrating Hungarian holiday

attend AIR RACES (one of Rob's top ten things to do before he dies happens to be in Budapest when we're there!!)

21st - Budapest

22nd - travel to small towns in Hungary: Veszprem, Csopak, Sumeg, Sopron

23rd - Vienna (I am already relatively certain I will fall deeply in love with Vienna, but we shall see)

24th - Vienna

25th - Bratislava to Dubrovnik in Croatia (everyone's list of "must-sees" in Croatia contains Dubrovnik)

26th - Dubrovnik & Split (for interesting Roman architecture)

27th - travel to Plitvice Lakes (pretty national park with lovely water - really want to see this)

28th - see Plitvice Lakes, drive to Piran

29th - Piran (cute little beach town) & Rovinj (also cute little beach town with a festival this day!)

30th - Llubljana (lub-lee-AH-na) briefly & Lake Bled (to arrive by sunset)

31st - dinner at Das Leon on way to Klagenfurt airport. Fly to Frankfurt.

1st - fly out of Frankfurt back to Atlanta (hopefully)

We'll miss y'all, but we'll be back in September! Have a great summer wherever you are!

he he, spell check just went crazy with all the European towns!

Posh Spice

So yesterday, I had such a posh moment. I had just got out of my yoga class when I drove to the fancy grocery store to pick up fresh bread and veggies to make gazpacho. Then, I exited the store toting my fresh grocery items in my swanky envirosax grocery bag, got into my convertible Volvo and drove away hiding behind aviator sunglasses with my trendy long bob haircut blowing in the warm Florida breeze. Posh.

Nifty envirosax bags are the best! Plus, they roll up to fit in your purse or glovebox!

Health Care

Single payer health care. Hmm. I haven't read the bill, nor done as much reading about it as my dear hubby, but I do know that the military health care system would give you a great taste of what it would be like. Here are some tidbits.

I am healthy and go in for my free yearly checkup appointment with my specified doctor at my specified appointment time. I proceed to directly to the pharmacy and wait a minimum of 45 minutes for them to fill my prescription, pay nothing, and leave.

My friend woke up with excruciating back pain one morning, called to get an appointment with her specified physician, and was told the next opening was 20 days from now. She waited a couple days (impressive) and finally called to get a list of approved alternative providers and got an appointment with one of them. This alternative provider recommended an MRI to truly find her problem and prescribed some pain medication (which she couldn't take because she was nursing... nor could she hold her baby while she was in this pain).

The military insurance told her they wouldn't approve an MRI until she saw one of their doctors. Oh, and the next doctor appointment is still next month. Don't you want the government to run our health care system?

If you're healthy, have endless amounts of time, or happen to jump through all the correct bureaucratic hoops in the correct bureaucratic order, then it's a really great system for which you pay nothing (or very little). If you're actually sick, need any kind of urgent care, or need a specialist of ANY kind, you're going to have an infuriating time.

My friend eventually got her MRI approved and they discovered one of those discs was unhappy, so she's slowly getting more mobile, but still can't take pain medication. Just in case you were wondering.