Adventure Almost Over

As I write this post I am laying on my bed in the hotel room in Frankfurt trying to cool off' This morning we left Prague bright and early.  We stopped for a few hours in Erfurt where my good friend Harry Maier and his wife Wendy showed us around some of the Luther sites and served us a yummy lunch and took us to a wonderful ice cream shop for dessert.  Then it was back on the train to Frankfurt.  Now we will try to get some sleep in spite of the heat (and our hotel room air conditioner isn't working) so we can get up bright and early again to get to take the shuttle to the airport and board our plane home.  It has been a wonderful adventure, some things recounted on this blog, others that we simply haven't had the time to write up.  We are looking forward to getting home to our own beds, but we sure have enjoyed these past weeks in Europe.

Reflections on Prague

When we first arrived in Prague, I had no idea what to expect. All that I knew about the city was based upon my wikipedia research. I soon found out that it is a great place, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I also soon found out that you "can't spit" without hitting a jewelery shop that sells either garnets or amber. Upon learning this fact for myself, I decided that my "significant souvenir" from Europe would be a garnet ring (I finally bought one today).

The garnet ring

We have done various things this past week - from attending a slightly bizarre marionette show of Mozart's Don Giovanni to a tour of Prague Castle. The actual castle was not what I was expecting at all, though I suppose I didn't know what to expect. Instead of a single large building, Prague Castle consists of many seperate buildings and is one of the largest castle complexes in the world. I especially enjoyed seeing St. Vitus Cathedral. I almost think I liked it better than Notre Dame, because the stained glass windows were vibrantly coloured, elabourate and striking and it was nowhere near as crowded with tourists. My favourite window was done in the Art Nouveau style and was actually painted glass. Overall, it was a very interesting tour full of good information and insights into various architectural styles.

St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

Another highlight for me was going to see the Mucha art exhibition at the Galerie u Bileno jednorzce. I love the Art Nouveau style, and he is possibly the most famous artist of this era. I find the amount of detail in these simplistic seeming artworks quite impressive. It is also fascinating how much of this artwork was used for advertisments and magazine publications rather than as standalone prints. I ended up buying a book of Mucha's work, and I contemplated buying a collapsable umbrella (but I didn't - we have enough umbrellas).

Overall, I have quite enjoyed my time here in Prague. We had a lot of unique experiences and we pretty much did everything we could in the short timeframe that we had. I would definitely come back to Prague in future travels so that I may see more of what the city has to offer and find more joys to remember for years to come.

Jet streams above the Astronomical Clock Tower

Marionettes and More

Walking around Prague one quickly notices that marionettes are significant for the city.  Marionette theatre has a long history in Prague and there is a school here to teach marionette skills to new manipulators.  Based on a brochure we picked up we decided that we would check out the National Marionette Theatre's production of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni".  I didn't realize this, but in the 18th Century there were operas specifically composed for marionettes.  So we decided to take a chance on this following our supper.

Earlier in the day we did more looking around the old city, basically a time of wandering.  We also looked for a specific walking tour person to ask questions about what they offered.  They never showed up at the time and place indicated on the brochure, but I did talk to another walking guide who gave us some helpful information.  Monday we plan to do one or two of these walking tours.

One of the many beautiful old buildings of Prague.

After wandering about Prague, including walking over one bridge and back over another, we headed back to the apartment for a little break.  Beth and I walked to the train station to buy our tickets for Wednesday (so we don't have to worry about doing that in the morning prior to boarding the train). On this walk we discovered a whole new section of Prague, with different shops and restaurants.  However we already had our supper place picked out... I saw in the window of a place near our apartment a picture of goulash soup in a bread bowl - that looked yummy as well as being a decent price.  So once we got back from the train station we gathered up the kids and headed out for supper.  The goulash soup in the bread bowl was indeed yummy, and the other dishes we ordered we all quite tasty.

The Charles Bridge - the oldest bridge in Prague, now a pedestrian bridge only filled with artists and crafts people selling there work (or doing your portraits) during the summer months

After supper we dashed off to the National Marionette Theatre to catch the performance of Don Giovanni. The theatre was in the converted attic of an old building which we reached by climbing some circular stairs.  The performance started a few minutes after we arrived.  It probably would have helped immensely had any of us known the plot details to the opera since it was all in Italian and there were no program notes.  However, even without knowing the complexities of the plot we were still able to enjoy the skillful, and often humorous, work of the marionette manipulators.  When the performance was over we weren't even sure it was finished until the manipulators came out and bowed (there were six of them).  It was entertaining to be sure, and in the words of Thomas "That was sure different".

Part of the Prague Square in the old city at night.

Following the show we wandered about looking for some gelato to cap off the evening.  Prague looks lovely and mysterious at night and it was enjoyable just making our way around the old city.  There were buskers about, two of note - a jazz group including a trumpet player who at one point played both a trumpet and a flugelhorn at the same time, the other was a bouzouki player who was playing some incredibly fast lines on what seemed like a very narrow neck of the instrument.  After our gelatos we headed back to the apartment where Anna looked up the plot of Don Giovanni and we all had a good laugh trying to figure out which marionette was which character. Another day has disappeared and with that I realized that our time in Europe is quickly, and sadly, coming to an end.

Street to our apartment at night - mysterious and beautiful.

Impressive Impressions

We were told by so many people that we would love Prague that we were worried it wouldn't live up to our expectations, that we would be disappointed on this last leg of our family adventure in Europe.  We needn't have worried.  Within a half hour of arriving in Prague we were already in love with the place, we were impressed to say the least.

Our apartment was the first impressive encounter in Prague. After a great flat in London, followed by wonderful accommodations in Oxford, we were somewhat disappointed by the Paris apartment (the location was great, but everything else less than we had hoped for). Would we be further disappointed in Prague?  No, the exact opposite - because of a double booking we were upgraded and thus ended up with a beautiful and spacious apartment with a huge bathroom with both modern shower and large tube, washing machine and dryer, and two sinks.  There is another small bathroom (and nice feature because sharing one bathroom has been tricky at times on this trip. There are three large bedroom, a sitting room, a kitchen and a large entrance.  The appliances are modern, the beds are comfortable and there are easily accessible power outlets everywhere.  We are on the second floor of a historic building, in one direction we are just a few blocks from the town square, in the other direction we are only a couple of blocks from a main shopping street (with the largest Tesco grocery store we've seen yet - much to Joshua's delight).  In short this place is the best accommodation yet.

Our apartment in Prague. We are on the second floor - where the brown brick starts. It wraps around both sides of the corner - the master bedroom has windows on three sides!

The cleaning person was not quite finished with the apartment so we simply dropped our luggage and headed off to do some exploring.  We wandered the cobblestone streets marveling at the historic architecture, took note of the various museums and cultural activities available, and we located the main tourist information office which appropriately was right next to the famous astronomical clock. We grabbed a pile of brochures, did some more wandering and made our way back to the apartment to plan our time here.

Part of the skyline around the historic Prague square.

Beth and I went to the Tesco store for some groceries and discovered that food here (in the grocery stores at least) is cheaper than in Canada.  The alcohol is certainly cheaper, but so to is bread, cheese, yogurt, meat and so forth.  Our eating pattern in Europe has been to have a light breakfast (toast or cereal with yogurt and juice) at the apartment.  Then Beth might pack a lunch (depending on whether or not we will be close to the apartment that day or not).  Sometime in the afternoon we will have this light lunch (my favorite has been the baguettes with cheese and ham that we had in Paris).  Then for supper we would look for a restaurant that served traditional cuisine of that region.

Before supper on Saturday however we took in a concert of classical music in the historic Mirror Chapel of the Klementinum complex.  The group was a string quartet called the Chamber Ensemble Musica Pragensis, accompanied by a organist (playing an historic Baroque pipe organ).  The concert included works by Mozart, Bach, Handel, Schubert, Smetana, Dvořák, Pachelbel, and featured Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". A few notes about the concert - it was very lovely to hear such music in such a wonderful setting - I could imagine myself time traveling back to the era when this music was first performed in rooms such as this.  The players were very competent, though I agreed with Joshua that while technically superb there wasn't a lot of emotional expression (I'm not sure if that was because of an artistic decision, or simply because the musicians were tired of performing the same program for tourists day after day - something I deduced the next day when I noticed the exact same concert being advertised again).  There were some tourists sitting in front of us talking throughout the concert - that is always irritating to me, I wanted to write a note and hand it to them asking "Why are you even here?"  I learned later that even Beth wanted to kick their chairs (so I wasn't the only one getting frustrated by such behaviour).  Regardless of these rude tourists the concert was still wonderful and a beautiful introduction to the cultural opportunities that Prague has to offer.

The Mirror Chapel where we heard a wonderful concert featuring a string quartet and baroque pipe organ.

Following the concert  we set out to find a restaurant serving Czech cuisine.  In the area around us there are countless places to eat - in fact our apartment is right above one of the best places to eat in Prague according to the Michelin guide.  That restaurant seemed a little upscale of what we were looking for, but a little bit of wandering in the historic area and we came across a place advertising the best goulash in town. I got some goulash (which wasn't quite what I expected but still very yummy), so did Anna (but with dumplings instead of rice - really big dumplings), Thomas got roast rabbit (he discovered he liked rabbit in Oxford), Beth's dish included some red cabbage that was similar to way our family prepares red cabbage for special meals (this has been the only time I have found red cabbage in a restaurant that is even remotely similar to the Hendricksen version).  Joshua ordered an apricot liqueur that was a lot stronger to what we are used to in Canada, it took a while for him to finish it off.  All in all a very satisfying meal, which being satiated we returned to our apartment for a good night's sleep.  A wonderful first day in Prague.

The Train to Prague

A few minutes to midnight we were able to board the City Night Line to Prague.  I was able to book room in a Couchette - this is the economy version of a Cabin - but one with 6 beds, good for our family.  First question - where does the luggage go - the train attendant said it had to go in the Couchette, it wouldn't be safe elsewhere.  So I begin to load in luggage to the tiny space when I notice a man sleeping on the bottom bunk on one side!  The ticket agent wasn't kidding - the train was full, every sleeping spot taken up. So much for a family only space.

So as quietly as possible we load our luggage and ourselves in, people crawling into their bunks and trying to settle in for the night.  We were able to put some luggage overhead, and a little under the bottom bunk, but some things (smaller bags) had to take up room on the bunks we were sleeping on.  I felt sorry for Joshua who had to squish his tall frame into a short bunk.  We all tried to get some sleep, but between the stops at various stations and the cramped conditions with a stranger sleeping below us it wasn't very restful for anyone (hence why we are letting everyone sleep in today).

One half of a Couchette - imagine a narrow aisle and the same thing repeated on the other side.

The stranger left us shortly after 5 AM - not sure which stop that was, but I was somewhat relieved - now we had the couchette to ourselves.  We all started stirring around 8 AM, and eventually we took to converting the bunks into seats so we could enjoy the scenery.  At this point we were traveling through a part of the Czech Republic that was somewhat mountainous - very beautiful countryside.  A train attendant came and asked if we wanted coffee or hot chocolate and thus we got our morning caffeine fix - a good thing after a restless night.

By 10:30 AM we were in Prague, standing on the train platform waiting for our local host to meet us.  Our Prague adventure had begun and everyone was getting excited for what we would discover in this city we've heard such rave reviews about - would it live up to our expectations or would it disappoint?  To give you a brief preview of posts to come - it hasn't disappointed, we fell in love with the place right away and it looks like a perfect place to spend the last chunk of our family vacation.

Mannheim - Shoes and Schnitzel

If you have been following this blog you will know that our original intention to travel to Prague was to take an over-nighter train that left from Cologne.  What we ended up doing, because it was the only option available, was to take an over-nighter from Mannheim.  Since we had to vacate the apartment in Paris in the morning, and we decided to take an early afternoon train to Mannheim, and thus have a little bit of time in that city - even though we knew absolutely nothing about it.  This was going to be a complete surprise.

The first surprise was that high speed train we were on - other than the group of children who sat right behind us and chattered excitedly the whole way - the trip went very smoothly in a very comfortable modern train.  Thomas saw the information board note that at one point we were traveling 300 Kilometers an hour! It hardly felt that fast because it was such a smooth ride.  I did a bunch of blog writing on that trip (the blogs posted yesterday).  The other surprise was a lack of WiFi on the train - I know we had WiFi on some trains three years ago, but this trip we've struck out every time.

First impressions of Mannheim was an industrial city, and after a little wandering that was confirmed.  Mannheim was the first German city to be bombed in World War I because of its industrial significance, and it was heavily bombed in the second World War for the same reason.  It was the home of Karl Benz, who lays claim to the first automobile ever to hit the streets (in 1885), and founder of what would become the Mercedes Benz company.  More surprising was this city's claim to be home of the world's first bicycle built by Karl Freiherr von Drais in 1817 and the world's first rocket plane built by Julius Hatry in 1929. Industry was what I noted first, but we soon discovered a place of great culture as well. Mozart spent a significant amount of time in this city which we discovered after seeing a flavour of ice cream in a local eatery called "Mozart" (Anna tried some and loved it) and a plaque that mentioned Mozart by the city square.  There was some kind of Arts School that we walked past and a lovely park near the old water tower that had Art Nouveau touches in the lampstands and water fountain (though being in Germany I should really have called this style Jugendstil).

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this city, as far as our immediate family was concerned, was the amount of shoe stores.  It seemed that everywhere you turned there were more shoe stores.  Given that three members of our family love shoes this was a very pleasant surprise, and indeed Beth ended up buying a new pair of Birkenstock sandals (with a lovely green strap) noting that the prices for Birkenstocks here were easily half of what one would pay in Canada.  We were wandering past all these shoe shops because we had a lot of time to kill until our train to Prague, and because we were looking for somewhere to eat.  As like all the other cities we've visited on this trip, the restaurants we walked past all seemed to serve foreign cuisine (in this case meaning Italian, Thai, Sushi, or American Burger chains).  Since the nice lady selling Beth the Birkenstocks could speak English I asked if there were any restaurants where we could get German food.  She wrote out the name and address of one and told us it was only an 8 minute walk from there. (Beth chuckled about German precision, not 5 minutes or 10 minutes, or even a short distance away, but a 8 minute walk!)

The historic Mannheim water tower and the fountain in the park surrounding it.

Much to our relief we discovered that Mannheim's city centre is laid out like a grid, like so many prairie towns and cities.  We simply had to find the corner of Q4 (they call this the chessboard city because of this layout).  Without too much trouble we found the Alter Simpl restaurant (on the main floor of a hotel with the same name).  It looked like an old European inn on the inside, complete with old wooden casks above the bar.  (When trying to translate the name I found our Alter means "old" but couldn't figure out the Simpl part) We were seated quickly and given English menus (a helpful touch) and we were all able to eat good German food!  I had sausages and sauerkraut, others had schnitzel and all of us had an enjoyable and filling meal - well worth the little bit of effort to find.

Interior of the Alter Simpl restaurant where we got some good German food.

A little more wandering, then some ice cream for dessert - this is where Anna was able to try the Mozart ice cream.  Finally as it was beginning to get dark we headed back to the train station to wait for our midnight train (23:59 technically).  We found a book store in the train station that had a small selection of English books and magazines, and since all our reading material was in the storage lockers with the rest of our luggage we picked up a few items and proceeded to spend the next three hours reading, wandering around the train station, or people watching.  I bought the brand new novel by Umberto Eco, partly because of his reputation for being an excellent writer, and partly because of the title "The Prague Cemetery" (which seemed appropriate because of our destination - the Prague part, not the cemetery part).  Imagine my surprise when on the very first page I'm reading street names in Paris that I recognize because the book (at least the first part) is set in the Latin Quarter where we had our apartment!

So that's how our time in Mannheim ended, sitting in the train station waiting for our train to come in - sounds like some kind of a blues song.  The train was a whole different adventure, but that will be for another post.

Eiffel Of Course

Thursday we were determined to get up the Eiffel Tower.  Earlier in the week we showed up in the late morning only to find a incredibly long line (made longer than normal because one of the lifts was not operating.  So we decided to check out other things that day, and promised to return earlier on Thursday morning.  We made a really good start and were at the Eiffel Tower grounds before the gates opened at 9 AM.  We thougtht we would be the crowd, but we were wrong - lots of other people had the same idea - but this time we were going to wait it out.  90 minutes later we were ascending the the second level of the Eiffel Tower - plenty high enough to see all around Paris, and given the wind that day we figured being at the top might not be a pleasant experience anyway.

While waiting in line a whole group of what looked to be Tibetan monks came to visit the famous Paris landmark as well.  I'm not sure they were actually from Tibet, and there were women among them (I wasn't sure if Tibetan Buddists had female monks). However they did create quite a stir amongst the crowd waiting to get tickets for the Eiffel Tower.

Buddhist monks (?) at the Eiffel Tower - they acted like all the other tourists, if not for their attire they wouldn't have stood out at all.

 Once we got up the tower we looked around at Paris, pointing out familiar landmarks, and locating where we were staying.  There were plenty of people up there with us - the Eiffel Tower gets 7 million visitors a year.  When it was built for the Paris Exhibition in 1889 it was the tallest structure in the world, and by the end of the exhibition it had had 2 million visitors, quite a amazing number considering the era and how fewer people would have been travelling in those years.

Beth and Joshua pointing out where our apartment is.

After a half an hour you've pretty well seen everything there is to see, and since the wind of blowing was rather cool, we walked back down.  We rode up the lift, but walked down - it was quite manageable and much faster than waiting for the lift. After the Eiffel Tower we went back to Notre Dame to get some more crepes and to return to a few stores we had found earlier in the week.  Then we headed back to the apartment following one of the walking tours Beth had in a book.  It was a tour through the Latin Quarter and ended up at the Pantheon, which is literally one block from our apartment. We realized on our last full day in Paris that we had only begun to scratch the surface - there is so much to see or do in that city, but alas our time was running out.

A view from the Eiffel Tower - the domed building on the right of the picture is the Paris Pantheon, our apartment building was right behind it.  This view is essentially looking over the Latin Quarter - the fascinating part of Paris we called home for a week.