Grandeur

I really wasn't prepared for how grand Vienna would be. I didn't understand how far reaching the influence of the 600 year old Habsburg monarchy has been. Marie Antoinette grew up here! Below is the summer palace called Schönbrunn which rivals Versailles.


The other end of the garden has this huge overlook building. I can't believe I walked all the way up there then up a bunch of stairs. Barb was barely breathing hard.


This is the front door of the palace.


We also went through the maze and the labrinthe. Seriously I did not need to do extra walking but ......it came with our ticket so.



Sorry about this picture but a photo from inside a maze is very dull.
Below you see the Hofburg, which is the city palace. This is just one of the side entry gates.


Some of the guys who try to sell you concert tickets are decked out in Viennese jackets etc.


Fountains and statues galore.


We also walked through a beautiful green park.





Statue of Strauss playing a violin.


Cool church but I was too tired to walk there. Instead we stopped by Mozart cafe and I had Viennese coffee (the best ever) and a Sacher torte. Barb had the chocolate cornucopia of berries with raspberry mousse.



Then I went back to the hotel and looked up the Habsburgs on Wikipedia. Whew!

Location:Vienna, Austria

Sunny at last!

Well, this is a post from Prague which I wrote while my blog wasn't working. I will put it up even though it is a couple of days old. Catching up is good,right?

I awoke to a sunny day at last! Prague is really glorious when it is not so gray and rainy. Blue sky! Love it!


We went across the historic Charles Bridge to find the church of the Infant Jesus. There are lots of musicians, artists, etc. selling their wares on the bridge and it is a huge draw for tourists. This was a few hours later when the clouds were starting to gather.


We bought tickets to see the black light theater show tonight. I hope it is good! We got the senior discount. Yippee!


This wall of graffiti is called the John Lennon wall. Very colorful. We happened upon it while looking for the church with the Infant Jesus icon.


And we finally found it!


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I wish I could get my cool movie to post. A tour group of particularly devout Catholics broke into song to honor the Infant Jesus and I recorded it. Some glitch in my system here won't let it play! Ain't that the way?

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Location:Prague, Czech Republic

Backtrack to Norway

Right now I am riding a bus from Prague to Vienna, but it seems a good time to write a bit about Norway. I did not have my blog functional then, so I wanted to put down a few reflections before I forget!



This medallion I noticed above the water fountain as I was leaving Austin. I like it a lot. Horny toads are completely cool looking plus they can squirt blood from their eyes. They are one thing I love about Texas. Sadly, this was the last water fountain I would see. Europe is not big on free water.

A totally surprising and serendipitous thing happened in Chicago where I had a couple of hours to layover before catching my flight into Berlin then on to Oslo. My niece and I discovered through a series of text messages that we happened to be sitting just seven gates apart at the airport in Chicago (which is enormous)! I knew she was traveling to Buffalo that day and she knew I was on my way to Norway, but we had no idea we would find ourselves in the same huge airport laying over at the same time. We met up in the concourse and could not stop laughing in amazement! It was incredible!! My fav travel story since running into my cousin Jan and hubbie Greg in a casino in Vegas!



Here's Sarah in the O'Hare airport.

I boarded my flight to Berlin, then changed planes to fly into Oslo. Next was a train out into the countryside of Norway. My good luck continued as I spotted my cousin Stan just before boarding the train. I knew he was probably there to meet us, but had given up on finding him! The train ride passed lots of large bodies of water as well as rolling wheat fields and giant red barns.


After dropping off my stuff in my room we were off for a ride through the countryside to a charming little coffee house. The cute house was set in an idyllic setting among gardens, ponds, shady lanes, and even a pasture full of miniature horses.


That's a large lake there in the distance.














The coffee house





This is called Kringle. It is Norwegian specialty and it is super delicious.


This baby mini horse was just too cute.


The best part is that in spite of jet lag, I was able to stay awake and alert until about 9pm which is a major miracle. I credit the fabulous fresh air and sunshine of Norway. I really have never had such an easy adjustment to the time change. It was great!

Location:Norway

Prague, the city of music and black lights

Last night I attended a small concert of baroque music in a venue called the Clementinum where Mozart is said to have played and pronounced the acoustics outstanding ( so said the guy who sold us the tickets). It was a four piece string ensemble and an organ. Nice place! I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful art on the walls while listening to the music.



Out on the street there are lots of musicians like this guy.

Or this group which included a talented washboard player.

There are concerts every night in the historic churches all around this part of town. I wish we had heard and seen more! This place is a hotbed of classical music for sure. The building across the street has a piano out on the covered walkway and people just stop and sit down and play. I wished for you Suzy. You would have people throwing euros in your hat just to keep you playing.

Another night we attended a performance of Black Light Theater. That was really different and very unique. It is hard to explain other than to say the stage is completely black and there are people dressed all in black that you can't see. The main actors are bright and colorful and do seemingly impossible things like fly or juggle in slow motion. There are all kinds of illusions involving mirrors and see through screens, candles and back lighting. The most surprising thing was when two of the actresses came out on stage wearing nothing more than flesh colored panties. Hmm. Wasn't expecting that. For a minute I thought it was another illusion but no, it was for real! Oh, and I did not mention that there was no talking through any of this. Just very haunting music and mime. Here is a picture of one of the tamer scenes.



Yep, topless.


Slo-mo juggling


What can I say? It was unique!

Location:Prague

In the Alchemist's Den

In 2002 there was a terrible flood in Prague. A part of the street collapsed right in front of the second oldest house in Prague revealing a tunnel that no one knew was there. Upon further inspection it was found that the tunnel lead to a set of underground rooms under the second oldest house, which back in the 1500's had been a hotel. After 10 years of excavation, a warren of secret underground laboratories has been restored. Just about a year ago they opened it to the public. It appears that sometime long, long ago the scientists/scorcerors who had been working there walled it up and abandoned it until that flood in 2002 revealed it.



Apparently the King Rudolph of Bohemia really wanted an elixir of youth and a set a select and secret group of the best scientists to work on it. They distilled elixirs based on water, alcohol and herbs, as well as trying to change metals to gold. The Philosopher's Stone! Harry Potter fans would love this place.
After touring the study, the secret passageway is revealed behind the bookcase.


Your go down into the several "labs" where the distillation and mixing was done.


There were several rooms and entrances to other tunnels. They made their own glassware down here. At times there were explosions which released burning gases through the cobblestones in the streets above freaking out all the neighbors who had no idea what was going on.


The alchemists thought crocs and gators were magical, also peacock feathers.


They found a couple of unopened bottles of the elixir during the excavation which have been analyzed by chemists and found to contain up to 77 herbs distiller in alcohol. They reproduced the formula which can be purchased for about $15 for a small bottle. It looked like a tequila mini to me. Hmm. Actually, I think this is a picture of the elixir of love. Well, as a former science teacher I found it pretty interesting as I have never seen a place like this before.


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Location:Prague, Czech Republic

Florentina boat hotel

Experimenting here to see if I can get the blog up and running again. Fingers crossed!
Prague is an ancient and historic city. It has beautiful old buildings, cobblestone streets, and a language which is the most foreign I have ever encountered. The street names seem incomprehensible. It is a very tourist oriented city, however, so there are lots of signs with pictures to help you out. We rode the subway today and it was much easier than London or Paris.

I am staying in the Florentina Boat Hotel which is actually a river barge moored to a street side dock in the old part of town. The location is just about perfect. The view across the river is simply beautiful with the St. Vitus cathedral across the way and big white swans paddling by.




The other thing I love about this place is that the breakfast is included everyday and it is quite extensive. I eat a big breakfast and also make a small sandwich and get a piece of fruit for my lunch and I am good to go until the evening. They also have a restaurant that serves a different daily special everyday for seven euro which is not bad for three courses. Tonight it was beet soup with sour cream and pasta with capers and olives. Walnut ice cream with whip cream was the dessert. This is the beet soup below.



Here's the view from the dining room.this evening there were fireworks right across the river. Beautiful! Not sure what the occasion was!


All in all, I like my little,boat hotel!

Location:Prague, Czech Republic

The day to day stuff

Boo hoo! Our visit to beautiful San Miguel de Allende is almost over. I can really see why so many people come down here, fall in love with the place and end up staying long term. It is such a relaxed, friendly place. The best thing for me is that you can live with your windows open. Leave them open all day and all night. Since the house is behind a wall from the street you don't get the street noise or fumes and you feel like you are safe and you have your privacy too. This house has no AC or heat others than one plug in radiator (which we used one night,) and one fan. Here's the resident cat trying to help me with my Spanish.



One thing you do have to get used to, however, is the way they do the trash pick up here. The trash piled up pretty high before we understood that just before the trash truck gets to your block, this highly energetic boy of about 11 years old runs down the street banging on a cowbell with a spoon? as loudly as possible. When you hear this, you stop what you are doing and run out to the street with your bags o trash. As far as I can tell there is no rhyme or reason as to when this occurs. Today I rushed out toting my bags only to find a guy selling ice cream instead. You have to learn to differentiate your bells.

We have been buying many many plastic bottles of water from places like this because we have failed to master the intricacies of getting deliveries from the water guy.



My lunch lady arms might be shrinking, but I do not enjoy toting liter bottles up and down the street. We are supposed to be getting the bottellas giganticas delivered. When the truck is on your street, somebody goes down the street ahead of time ringing everybody's doorbell. The doorbell makes a sound just like the bells we used to have at school to dismiss class before it all went electronic. Brrrrriiinngggg! It is loud and sudden. The one day the water man actually came, the bell rang, and I thought it was a fire. Too many fire drills maybe? Anyway by the time we opened the door he was climbing back on his truck. He yelled "Viernes" at me which I thought meant see you Friday but actually meant "sorry sucker! You old ladies be hauling your own water!" Never have seen the man since. Every time I ask anybody about it, like the folks at the corner store or the maid who comes to feed these cats, they always say " later today" or "tomorrow" he will come. They try to be supportive.
All these empty plastic bottles are filling up the trash quick which leads to previously explained bell recognition problem and or possible ice cream cream consumption. Crazy, but fun!