Today was also a day I had booked a tour that would take up the entire day so I got up at 6 and was out the door to breakfast by 7. After breakfast I had enough time that I didn't want to just sit around so I walked up to the National Museum and the monument to St Vacislaw in front of it and took a couple pictures and then turned right around and headed back to the hotel to be picked up by the van. The real irony is that I passed the starting point for the tour twice but since I had booked from the hotel I didn't want to cause any confusion and not show up for the van ride. Of course, all the van did was drive me around the corner to the starting point again. If I had realized where it was when I booked my tours I would really have booked them right at the office instead of the hotel.
After sorting out the tours we departed for the Konopiste and Karlstejn Castles tour. I think we kicked off at about 9am and we had approximately a 45 minute to an hour drive to the first castle Konopiste. We didn't run into any traffic, nor did the driver have any issues with the car. He drove like a Bostonian but other than that things were fine. The British couple obviously didn't trust him much but I thought he was safe. We had 2 American couples, from Virginia and Las Vegas and one British couple. The oldest were from Vegas and obviously retirement age. The other two couples were probably in their fifties. They were all nice people but the Vegas folks were the loudest. Our guide was named Helena and she struggled with annunciation in English a lot so it was difficult to understand her at times especially when it appeared she was going on a set speech given by the company. When she was off script she seemed to speak a bit easier but she also had a difficult time following what people were saying or asking. In any event she did well overall and I liked her.
Konopiste Castle was owned by Franz Ferdinand. Those of you who are World War I buffs might recognize his name because he was assassinated by Bosnian terrorists and that kicked off the events that started World War I. The Castle it self was built in the 13 century originally but then redone several times right up to the 19th century where Franz had it redone for the modern including modern plumbing, electricity and an elevator among other amenities. He was also an avid hunter so the decoration has a lot to do with hunting as well as having a collection of his trophies. There is also a sizable weapon collection that he inherited as a child of 12 or so that is on display in the upper floors. The inside of the castle is quite impressive. The main guide turned us over to a tour inside the castle. The castle guide was a younger girl who was actually very good at English and very knowledgeable about the subjects at hand. She spoke about almost everything we saw in the castle. I liked her a lot. Of course they didn't allow us to take pictures so I had to buy the book at the end. The main issue with this castle was that the outside was hard to photograph. There are no good angles to it from any distance as it is on a hill surrounded by trees. The guide said the best spot was across the lake but we didn't get a chance to see that. I took what pictures I could of it but it was not easy.
After Konopiste it was about an hour drive overland to the second castle Karlstejn. The drive was mainly through country roads and though a bit windy it was not the sickening experience of the day before. It was however a bit hot and I am sure it was in the mid to high 80sF during the course of the day and also humid. The AC in the van was not the best in the world but it did take some of the edge off. At the end of the drive we had dinner at a restaurant near Karlstejn Castle. I didn't get the name of it but surprisingly we had roast pork and potatoes with a cabbage soup for starter. I ordered a beer and got a Pilsner Urquell. The food was good but it is a bit repetitive to have pork each day for lunch.
After lunch we walked the short path up to Karlstejn Castle. This one is very impressive from the outside. It was a bit more easy to take pictures of Karlstejn than Konopiste. We arrived with a few minutes to spare before our tour started. Again our main guide would hand us off to a castle tour. I took a few moments to scout out some picture locations and then bought a Magnum Gold ice cream bar and ate that. That about took up the time and we were moved in with a much larger tour this time than Konopiste. This guide was also a younger girl that spoke English well and had a good sense of humor. She had a very good knowledge of the subject matter and was, well, smoking hot. The inside of Karlstejn is not much to look at. It was built in the 13th to 14th centuries and was meant to house the crown jewels of the Austria-Hungary Empire. It was renovated a few times and the most recent had all of the Renaissance period decorations removed from the interior and exterior. It for all intents and purposes feels more like a functional castle than a royal palace though Charles IV did actually stay there at points. The castle is made up of 3 towers and one housed the crown jewels. Apparently the castle was attacked several times and the Swedes came the closest but did not capture the main tower where the jewels were housed. For the record the Czech Republic is one of the only countries that does not commonly display its crown jewels. They are only shown every 5-10 years on special occasions, and then to only 10000 people and are put away again. So even though the insides of the castle were a bit dull I quite liked listening to and looking at the guide so it worked out well to me. This tour took approximately an hour or so because we did see several rooms as well as a courtyard.
After the tour was over we walked the long way down and around the castle rather than back the way we came. This afforded me the chance to get several different angle pictures of the castle and also to find a reasonable magnet though I couldn't find a book for it. I will probably look when I search the gift shops of Prague before I leave. The walk may have taken 45 minutes or so the long way around with the couple stops for pictures and shopping. After that we were back on the van and driven into Prague to the starting point again. I am fortunate that it is no difficulty to get back to the hotel from the starting point and I tromped back through the heat to drop off the stuff I bought and use the facilities before heading back out to dinner. It was an earlier return than Cesky Krumlov. I did use the opportunity to crank on the AC in the room too.
I trudged out into the heat and wandered around in circles for probably 45 minutes before deciding to eat at Mama Lucy's Steakhouse which was just a corner off the Old Square. I was indecisive before this point and I guess I took it as a good sign that the restaurant was displaying a poster from the NHL premier in Prague between the Bruins and the Coyotes. Unfortunately it was signed by the Coyotes and not the Bruins but Chara and Krejci were featured more prominently in the picture so that was nice. I ordered a dark beer which had a really awful name like Velpopovicky Kozel. It was a decent beer and I enjoyed it and had two during the meal. For dinner I opted for a the bacon cheeseburger which was many times better than the McDonald's version if a bit more expensive. The waitresses were really cute if hideously under-aged so overall it was a reasonably good experience. Their light beer was just a Pilsner Urquell and I'd had that before a couple times now.
After leaving that place I opted to have another beer or two at a place right on the square whose name was difficult to find. They served Krusovice beer and I enjoyed that enough to have two after all. It was a simple Pilsner style but it was tasty enough. That carried me past the point where the sun was visible over the buildings any longer and I really had to use the bathroom. So I raced back to the room to call it a night.
The pictures for today are found here.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Czech Republic Day 3
Today started with a 6am wake up and quick shower and breakfast in the hotel. I stuck to pretty much the same food as the day before and probably will for the rest of the trip. I had already purchased the night before a tour to Cesky Krumlov (Chesky Kroomlov for easiest pronunciation) and had to be in the lobby for 8:30am which I had time enough to relieve myself of the excess coffee before the required time. The real irony is that the main starting point for tours with the company that my hotel uses (Premiant Tours) is literally a 3 minute walk from the hotel yet I have to get picked up in the morning. It might have been easier for me to book the tours right at the starting point but I didn't realize at the time how close it was.
Cesky Krumlov is a Unesco site. It is basically 16th century and earlier through a lot of it and most of the buildings are original if modified for modern use. It was the Unesco bill that sold me to try the trip. The town is basically about 2 and a half hours or so drive from Prague and the tour starts with a brief explanation of some of the city of Prague as we drove through and exited the town. The guide was named Janna and was a retired school teacher who gave the tour in both English and Italian. There were 16 of us on the tour. More than half were Americans, there were 3 Italians and 3 from Barcelona who figured they could follow along with the Italian because I guess their dialect is close enough. Of the Americans I was the only east coaster, the rest being from California. 3 were college girls in Prague for a course they were taking over the last month. There was an older couple just touring Europe as well as a couple of guys also touring Europe for a couple weeks and a mother and son who didn't really speak to anyone. The college girls reminded me why I regret not doing all this at an earlier age... ouch.
The tour started with a long drive to the town of Cesky Krumlov where we got stuck in traffic a couple of times and the driver appeared to have issues with the van stalling or not shifting properly or something where he kept restarting it mid-drive. That said we did make it to the town but where typically the tour gets to walk through the gardens of the castle instead we had to rush straight in because we were late arriving. The guide traded us to a castle guide who ran the tour inside. I think the tour lasted about an hour or so and took us through the various parts of the castle. They did not allow pictures inside so I had to buy a book. The castle started in the mid 13th century and was added to over the years. It is a large complex. Not as big as Prague castle but the second largest in the Czech Republic after it. The castle is built on two large rocky platforms and they built a very decorative bridge between the two parts. Inside the castle was probably rebuilt several times and it was obvious by the styles, most of which was Renaissance or Rococo. Since the castle is older than those period it was obvious a lot of it was redone over the centuries. The castle is quite impressive if more of a palace in style than a castle at this point as with Prague Castle. The guide was nice and knowledgeable and I enjoyed the tour quite a bit. This castle is not as impressive as Versailles and much of the paintings could use some restoration but it was still a very unique and interesting place. They had 3 bears as the Rosenberg family that owned it considered themselves related to the Italian Orsini family and that basically means bears. I did manage to get pictures of one of the bears. For some reason he had a keg in his habitat.
I should point out that the day was basically cloudy and below 60F with sprinkles so far and continued so as we exited the castle. The Premiant guide walked us down out of the castle and through the town to where we would have lunch, in a restaurant that used to be the local jail originally. I am sure it had not been used for that for quite a long time. Their specialty was roast pork and that was what I ordered. The place was dim and had a lot of medieval furnishings that included weapons and animal furs. I ordered a beer and got the Budweiser Budvar we've all heard about. This is the Czech beer that the American company bought the recipe from. The agreement was that the US Bud would not alter the recipe but that fell through many years ago. There must have also been an agreement that this Budweiser could keep its name because obviously the other one never tried to sue them to drop it like most gigantic corporations would. It is a reasonably good beer. Certainly better than the Bud of the US. I could not mark it amongst my favorites but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The lunch was roast pork and a baked potato and I really enjoyed the meal a lot. It was basically a pork chop but it was properly cooked and quite tasty. They served it on a wooden plate as a representation of the fact we were in a prison. We finished with some tart like pastries that were called wedding cakes by our guide.
When we stepped outside from lunch we were told we had about 50 minutes to wander the town. Somehow the grim and grey had turned into about 80F and sunny. It was nice because I got to walk around the town and retake some of the pictures I took with better sunlight than the grey overcast we had before. Mostly that was what I did with my free time only stopping to get a magnet and castle book. The town is actually bigger than it seems at first and the river that runs through it has several bridges to cross and lots of different points to take pictures from. I managed to find the local church but there was some sort of service going on so I really just ran in and out. I was the first to arrive at the allotted spot at the correct time and then the rest of the tour slowly trickled in. We were walked further through the town where our guide explained a few more features and then marched our way to the van where we loaded up and then started the long drive back into town.
They did not take the same route out as they took in. This direction took us through a national park that the Czech Republic shares with Austria (again I was very close to Austria) and then on to the major roads again eventually. This would have been an ok thing but the driver was moving very fast and the roads were very windy and up and downhill a lot. I actually wanted to shut my eyes but I was getting motion sick from it all and didn't get to do so until we got back on the major roads. There I probably catnapped for 20 minutes or so and then woke up with a stiff neck as to be expected. The remainder of the drive in was relatively uneventful and we made it into town a some time after 7pm. This was a long tour but a lot of it was really on the road. Still I enjoyed it. They dropped us off at the starting point rather than our individual hotels which works out best for me of anyone on the tour because of how close my hotel was. I was ready for dinner it being close to 8pm already and opted first to make a quick pit stop at the hotel and drop off my book and use the facilities.
I wasn't sure what to do for dinner but decided to walk slightly askew to the main throughway and found the Restaurant Templar (in English) which was actually an Italian style restaurant. Not really sure how Templars translate to Italian food but who am I to question these things. I didn't even realize the name until I had already ordered. I had another Budweiser Budvar or two and penne aglia i olio. It was actually quite good and I am glad I ordered it. They had red pepper in it to add some nice spice to it. After I finished dinner I had an Irish coffee (not sure why I ordered it but I did) and their ice cream plate which had a berry compote, whipped cream and some chocolate sauce accompanying vanilla and strawberry ice creams. I liked both quite a bit. When I finished I took an indirect route back to the hotel to hit a couple souvenir shops because I was in the neighborhood then headed back in to crash for the night.
The pictures from day 3 can be found here.
Cesky Krumlov is a Unesco site. It is basically 16th century and earlier through a lot of it and most of the buildings are original if modified for modern use. It was the Unesco bill that sold me to try the trip. The town is basically about 2 and a half hours or so drive from Prague and the tour starts with a brief explanation of some of the city of Prague as we drove through and exited the town. The guide was named Janna and was a retired school teacher who gave the tour in both English and Italian. There were 16 of us on the tour. More than half were Americans, there were 3 Italians and 3 from Barcelona who figured they could follow along with the Italian because I guess their dialect is close enough. Of the Americans I was the only east coaster, the rest being from California. 3 were college girls in Prague for a course they were taking over the last month. There was an older couple just touring Europe as well as a couple of guys also touring Europe for a couple weeks and a mother and son who didn't really speak to anyone. The college girls reminded me why I regret not doing all this at an earlier age... ouch.
The tour started with a long drive to the town of Cesky Krumlov where we got stuck in traffic a couple of times and the driver appeared to have issues with the van stalling or not shifting properly or something where he kept restarting it mid-drive. That said we did make it to the town but where typically the tour gets to walk through the gardens of the castle instead we had to rush straight in because we were late arriving. The guide traded us to a castle guide who ran the tour inside. I think the tour lasted about an hour or so and took us through the various parts of the castle. They did not allow pictures inside so I had to buy a book. The castle started in the mid 13th century and was added to over the years. It is a large complex. Not as big as Prague castle but the second largest in the Czech Republic after it. The castle is built on two large rocky platforms and they built a very decorative bridge between the two parts. Inside the castle was probably rebuilt several times and it was obvious by the styles, most of which was Renaissance or Rococo. Since the castle is older than those period it was obvious a lot of it was redone over the centuries. The castle is quite impressive if more of a palace in style than a castle at this point as with Prague Castle. The guide was nice and knowledgeable and I enjoyed the tour quite a bit. This castle is not as impressive as Versailles and much of the paintings could use some restoration but it was still a very unique and interesting place. They had 3 bears as the Rosenberg family that owned it considered themselves related to the Italian Orsini family and that basically means bears. I did manage to get pictures of one of the bears. For some reason he had a keg in his habitat.
I should point out that the day was basically cloudy and below 60F with sprinkles so far and continued so as we exited the castle. The Premiant guide walked us down out of the castle and through the town to where we would have lunch, in a restaurant that used to be the local jail originally. I am sure it had not been used for that for quite a long time. Their specialty was roast pork and that was what I ordered. The place was dim and had a lot of medieval furnishings that included weapons and animal furs. I ordered a beer and got the Budweiser Budvar we've all heard about. This is the Czech beer that the American company bought the recipe from. The agreement was that the US Bud would not alter the recipe but that fell through many years ago. There must have also been an agreement that this Budweiser could keep its name because obviously the other one never tried to sue them to drop it like most gigantic corporations would. It is a reasonably good beer. Certainly better than the Bud of the US. I could not mark it amongst my favorites but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The lunch was roast pork and a baked potato and I really enjoyed the meal a lot. It was basically a pork chop but it was properly cooked and quite tasty. They served it on a wooden plate as a representation of the fact we were in a prison. We finished with some tart like pastries that were called wedding cakes by our guide.
When we stepped outside from lunch we were told we had about 50 minutes to wander the town. Somehow the grim and grey had turned into about 80F and sunny. It was nice because I got to walk around the town and retake some of the pictures I took with better sunlight than the grey overcast we had before. Mostly that was what I did with my free time only stopping to get a magnet and castle book. The town is actually bigger than it seems at first and the river that runs through it has several bridges to cross and lots of different points to take pictures from. I managed to find the local church but there was some sort of service going on so I really just ran in and out. I was the first to arrive at the allotted spot at the correct time and then the rest of the tour slowly trickled in. We were walked further through the town where our guide explained a few more features and then marched our way to the van where we loaded up and then started the long drive back into town.
They did not take the same route out as they took in. This direction took us through a national park that the Czech Republic shares with Austria (again I was very close to Austria) and then on to the major roads again eventually. This would have been an ok thing but the driver was moving very fast and the roads were very windy and up and downhill a lot. I actually wanted to shut my eyes but I was getting motion sick from it all and didn't get to do so until we got back on the major roads. There I probably catnapped for 20 minutes or so and then woke up with a stiff neck as to be expected. The remainder of the drive in was relatively uneventful and we made it into town a some time after 7pm. This was a long tour but a lot of it was really on the road. Still I enjoyed it. They dropped us off at the starting point rather than our individual hotels which works out best for me of anyone on the tour because of how close my hotel was. I was ready for dinner it being close to 8pm already and opted first to make a quick pit stop at the hotel and drop off my book and use the facilities.
I wasn't sure what to do for dinner but decided to walk slightly askew to the main throughway and found the Restaurant Templar (in English) which was actually an Italian style restaurant. Not really sure how Templars translate to Italian food but who am I to question these things. I didn't even realize the name until I had already ordered. I had another Budweiser Budvar or two and penne aglia i olio. It was actually quite good and I am glad I ordered it. They had red pepper in it to add some nice spice to it. After I finished dinner I had an Irish coffee (not sure why I ordered it but I did) and their ice cream plate which had a berry compote, whipped cream and some chocolate sauce accompanying vanilla and strawberry ice creams. I liked both quite a bit. When I finished I took an indirect route back to the hotel to hit a couple souvenir shops because I was in the neighborhood then headed back in to crash for the night.
The pictures from day 3 can be found here.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Czech Republic Day 2
While I went to bed early I slept fairly well throughout the night and woke up at 6:30am which is a half an hour later than I normally do. The bed is small but comfortable. I got showered and dressed and went down to the included breakfast which was a typical European breakfast buffet. I didn't really eat more than a sandwich made of brown bread with ham and cheese and then accompanied with some apple juice that didn't have a lot of flavor and some ok but not great coffee.
After breakfast I went down to the front desk and booked the Grand Sightseeing Tour: Prague Castle and Boat Trip. The tour pickup was at 9:45am at the hotel so I had a lot of time to kill and decided to just go out and walk around the town sort of trying to get lost and see what I could see. I did this for around an hour and a half and had some reasonable luck seeing things I hadn't on day 1. I set my phone alarm for 9:15 and headed back to the hotel for the pickup then. I got back at say 9:20 and used the facilities and drank some water before heading back down. I got to the lobby just as the van was arriving to pick the tour up. Along with me there was a Norwegian woman and her granddaughter that left from the Meteor Plaza. The van took us to a starting point location and we were separated off to our respective tours. Ours was not too full having half Spanish speaking guests and half English speaking (including the Norwegians). There was a couple from NYC Ahmed and Beth around their thirties and a couple from South Carolina Delton and Cindy who were retired age for the English speaking group. Our guide was a tall Czech man who said his name really fast though I think it was Michael (or the Czech equivalent). He spoke both English and Spanish and said everything on the tour twice.
The tour started with the van ride through the old town and some of the new town and then over the bridge into the lesser town. Old and new are relative as they are talking 13th and 14th centuries I believe he said. The lesser town is 16th century. As we crossed into the lesser town we came up past the royal gardens to the back side of Prague Castle where we disembarked and started a walking tour of Prague castle. The walking part carried us to the castle and the scenic overlook then had us see the changing of the guard which was not terribly filled with pomp but still was neat and then into the castle courtyards and into the cathedral which dated back originally to 12th century but was added too over the centuries. From there it was through the rest of the courtyards and down to meet the van again. A lot of this was recap walking from day 1 for me and I didn't take tons of repeat pictures but tried to take new angles when I found them. The van took us down to the river and actually to the boat where I saw something being filmed for TV (it looked) on day 1. The guide didn't know about the filming.
The boat tour basically takes you up the river to the locks and then spins around for a little while and then back to the starting point. Along the ride the guide explained features and all of this was recap visuals for me. i found that the huge metronome was a symbol of the national government after communism was removed and that a statue of Stalin was originally up in that location. The boat ride was pleasant and I ordered a beer named Bakalar (pronounced Bah-kah-lahsh) and enjoyed it. Along the boat ride guide had set us up in English and Spanish tables to make it easier on him and that's where the batch of us got to talking and even though he spent a lot of the ride talking to the Spanish we didn't really mind. They were all very nice people and it was fun to talk to them. Everyone had traveled quite a bit and seen different things and it was fun to compare notes.
After the boat ride was over we walked through the Jewish Quarter and then on to the Old Square where the guide finished his tour speaking about the Old Town Hall with the clock. In all the tour was about 3 and a half hours and was fairly pleasant. The guide was a fast walker which was fine by me but a lot of the tour was not happy with trying to keep up with him. I guess he was worried about time schedule. I am sure he had to be back to the starting point for a 2pm departure as well. Before we left him we asked him to suggest someplace to eat for lunch and he sent us to the Red Peacock which was less than a five minute walk away. We Americans had decided to stick together to talk and eat because we were having a good enough time. The Red Peacock (I won't try to type in or even say the Czech name) was apparently an expensive bordello a long time ago and had some famous customers including Otto von Bismark according to the menu. This was not a touristy place as it was around 2 corners in a back alley. I ordered a dark beer which was served in a Pilsner Urquell glass but was not that brand (the menu just said dark beer) and I had the roast boar with dumplings and cabbage. I liked the food a lot. The dumplings were more bread-like than I was expecting but they were still very good especially with the sauce from the boar meat. The boar meat was very dark and sort of looked like beef but still had a pork flavor to some degree. I am glad I ordered it and cleaned the whole plate including the cabbage. Apparently everyone else liked what they ordered because they all ate what they ordered too. An odd note to mention was the noose hanging right next to the table where we ate.
After settling the bill we decided to walk around the town a bit together some more and talk and the women did a little bit of souvenir shopping as both groups were heading home on Saturday. We all had maps but I had the best understanding of the land and we steered ourselves around a few more streets I really hadn't visited (which had a lot of shopping stores) and then eventually around to the Old Town Hall again to watch the clock go off for 6pm. From there I guided them to the Charles Bridge which is the large walking bridge across to the Lesser Town that I had crossed already a couple times. Delton and Cindy had to go to a hotel up past the castle and it would have been a long walk so I guided them to the bridge and then showed them on the map how to get to a tram that would take them near their hotel. With that we all parted our ways. Ahmed and Beth were going to visit the bridge as well and take some pictures as they hadn't yet.
It was basically 6:30 or so by this point and I just started wandering again not sure what I wanted to do for eating. I realized that staying off the main thoroughfares would be cheaper and I tried to see what I could find off the beaten path but I guess I didn't choose my direction well and eventually decided to eat at the McDonald's up heading toward the National Museum. It was already past 7pm and I was tired and didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into dinner at that point anyway. I make it a point to hit a McDonald's once per trip anyway so this was it. I ordered a Big and Tasty Bacon Cheeseburger and it was big and not terrible tasting. I think the meal cost around $7 US equivalently. Since it was a large burger I can live with that. I think I was more anxious for the drink than the food as I was more thirsty than hungry by that point. The weather had cooperated quite well on the day being sunny and warm to hot most of the way through. I got a bit of a burn again as I forgot to sunblock up before I left though not anything terrible. After dinner I headed back to the hotel and booked my next two days' tours at the front desk then headed up to the room to relax.
Overall it was a fun day. I met nice new people and had a good time. The guide was reasonably good though didn't answer a ton of questions off topic and I am sure he spoke Spanish better than he did English. I heard him speaking Spanish and though it was slow by their standards it was clear and he didn't pause to think what he wanted to say near as much as he did in English. I don't speak Spanish but I could understand about 50% of what he said.
The pictures for today are located here.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Czech Republic Day 1
I was picked up from home by Flightline at about 1:40pm for a 5:05pm flight on Lufthansa. The ride in to Logan was not bad. There was very little traffic and I was checked in and waiting by 2:30pm. I opted to walk around the terminal a bit then ended up in O'Brians for a couple beers until it was time to board. I talked with my neighbor at the bar for a bit about the Casey Anthony trial which I had paid no attention to but watched the verdict of being not guilty discussed on CNN right there. It meant little to me really but a lot of people at the bar were appalled that the jury came to that decision. Oh well.
The flight boarded a touch late but pulled from gate on time. I was fortunate in both flights because I was in an aisle sit with no direct neighbor. Just someone at the window. I had a glass of red wine. Nibbled at some of the food and then when it was obvious they weren't going to play any movies I liked - it was a 747 with only the overhead screens - I went to sleep. Unfortunately to get to that point wasted probably 2 hours and it was 2 hours more sleep I could have used. The flight was a tad bumpy but I did sleep through most of it. 3 and a half hours or so anyway, plus some catnapping during the descent.
In Frankfurt it was easy to go through passport control and get to my gate which was still in Terminal A this time. An easier transfer than last time. I had to wait a while to board because that one also boarded a bit late but pulled from the gate on time. I slept through the majority of this flight too. It was uneventful. I didn't even get the snacks or a drink.
After exiting the plane it was a fairly quick bit of work to get the luggage and basically walk straight through customs with nothing to declare. No passport control at all. It is not a very big airport in Prague and I was quickly outside and getting a taxi to the hotel. I was tired and I didn't feel like finding the buses or trains. Plus it is relatively cheap compared to other European cities. The taxi dropped me off right at the hotel and I was able to check in directly as my room was ready which was a relief because I desperately wanted to take a shower and was able to. After getting settled in I cleaned up and then dressed for the weather, which included shorts as it was probably just near 80F and sunny.
I took a quick look at a map and realized to turn left out of the hotel and then basically it is a straight line to the old square, on to the old bridge and up to the castle. I walked that path and then through the castle area for a while. Before reaching the castle I stopped and had lunch at a roadside cafe named the Golden Star. I had the Czech beef goulash with potatoes and a couple of Pilsner Urquell beers - one large and one small. The food was reasonably good if a touch on the salty side for my preference.
After lunch I hiked up the hill to the castle and around through its grounds and back down the hill. I came to the river at a different bridge and crossed there and then turned back towards familiar ground before taking a couple extra detours just to see the neighborhood. I walked around for about 4 hours before heading back into the hotel to hide from the heat which had grown stronger. Fortunately the hotel has AC and wifi. I picked well on that count. The location is quite good too. I can also book tours with the front desk and will be doing that I am sure especially for a couple that go outside of town. The bed is a small one but I've grown used to that in hotels. I have to say this city is beautiful. I really like the architecture and the really old feel it has. The streets are a tangle rather than a grid and I like that so much better. Planned cities are really boring to me.
After resting for a short time to cool off I headed out to do a bit more walking and get some dinner. I decided to walk out to the bridge across the river but not cross and instead turn right and follow the river. I did that for a while and found a lot of the river boat tours depart from that area. There was a park with a huge metronome at the top of a hill that I could see also. Along the way I saw a boat load up with a bunch of Danish kids in a marching band. I assume they were Danish because they had a Danish flag and were all wearing the Danish flag as an insignia. Further up I saw some sort of TV show being filmed and they had a local music band play something. It was sort of neat. On the walk back when I figured, with the aid of a map, that I was exiting the region of anything interesting I decided to go up to the park with the metronome. It was a lot of steps and it appears the park has been taken over by skateboarders mostly. Still it was neat to get up there. Wish I knew what the metronome was about.
After that I headed back up towards the castle after following the river to the pedestrian bridge. I should get the name down before I leave here I bet. I did a basic climb up the hill and turned right back down and over the bridge again. It had gotten to being 6pm and I was ready to eat so I found the Hotel Zlateho Stroma in the main alley leading back towards the old square (and eventually my hotel). There I decided to order a beer and got a Staropramen which I like better than Pilsner Urquell and to look at the menu. I had Staropramen in Sweden way back when. I decided to get the meat skewers which had beef, chicken, pork, bacon, peppers and onions along with a baked potato side. The meat was not individual flavor chunks but all the types except the bacon rolled into one. It was good though a touch dry. I think it probably needed one minute less cooking. Still the flavor was good and I ate it all. I opted to have a beer for dessert too as I people watched. A wicked lot of foot traffic passes that restaurant and sitting outdoors in the nice weather it was great. There was no one wearing jackets or scarves now. They must realize it is actually summer around here. I was impressed. We definitely got into the low 80sF today but that hasn't stopped Europeans from wearing jackets before. It makes me sweat thinking about it.
I was exhausted after dinner and just decided to head in to the hotel and crash for the evening. It was early by most people's standards but I only had the 4 hours of airplane sleep and the brief bit of rest on the day. I was ready to crash and start off a more full day on day 2. Still considering how early I got in on day 1 it was also a very full day besides.
The pictures from day 1 are located here.
The flight boarded a touch late but pulled from gate on time. I was fortunate in both flights because I was in an aisle sit with no direct neighbor. Just someone at the window. I had a glass of red wine. Nibbled at some of the food and then when it was obvious they weren't going to play any movies I liked - it was a 747 with only the overhead screens - I went to sleep. Unfortunately to get to that point wasted probably 2 hours and it was 2 hours more sleep I could have used. The flight was a tad bumpy but I did sleep through most of it. 3 and a half hours or so anyway, plus some catnapping during the descent.
In Frankfurt it was easy to go through passport control and get to my gate which was still in Terminal A this time. An easier transfer than last time. I had to wait a while to board because that one also boarded a bit late but pulled from the gate on time. I slept through the majority of this flight too. It was uneventful. I didn't even get the snacks or a drink.
After exiting the plane it was a fairly quick bit of work to get the luggage and basically walk straight through customs with nothing to declare. No passport control at all. It is not a very big airport in Prague and I was quickly outside and getting a taxi to the hotel. I was tired and I didn't feel like finding the buses or trains. Plus it is relatively cheap compared to other European cities. The taxi dropped me off right at the hotel and I was able to check in directly as my room was ready which was a relief because I desperately wanted to take a shower and was able to. After getting settled in I cleaned up and then dressed for the weather, which included shorts as it was probably just near 80F and sunny.
I took a quick look at a map and realized to turn left out of the hotel and then basically it is a straight line to the old square, on to the old bridge and up to the castle. I walked that path and then through the castle area for a while. Before reaching the castle I stopped and had lunch at a roadside cafe named the Golden Star. I had the Czech beef goulash with potatoes and a couple of Pilsner Urquell beers - one large and one small. The food was reasonably good if a touch on the salty side for my preference.
After lunch I hiked up the hill to the castle and around through its grounds and back down the hill. I came to the river at a different bridge and crossed there and then turned back towards familiar ground before taking a couple extra detours just to see the neighborhood. I walked around for about 4 hours before heading back into the hotel to hide from the heat which had grown stronger. Fortunately the hotel has AC and wifi. I picked well on that count. The location is quite good too. I can also book tours with the front desk and will be doing that I am sure especially for a couple that go outside of town. The bed is a small one but I've grown used to that in hotels. I have to say this city is beautiful. I really like the architecture and the really old feel it has. The streets are a tangle rather than a grid and I like that so much better. Planned cities are really boring to me.
After resting for a short time to cool off I headed out to do a bit more walking and get some dinner. I decided to walk out to the bridge across the river but not cross and instead turn right and follow the river. I did that for a while and found a lot of the river boat tours depart from that area. There was a park with a huge metronome at the top of a hill that I could see also. Along the way I saw a boat load up with a bunch of Danish kids in a marching band. I assume they were Danish because they had a Danish flag and were all wearing the Danish flag as an insignia. Further up I saw some sort of TV show being filmed and they had a local music band play something. It was sort of neat. On the walk back when I figured, with the aid of a map, that I was exiting the region of anything interesting I decided to go up to the park with the metronome. It was a lot of steps and it appears the park has been taken over by skateboarders mostly. Still it was neat to get up there. Wish I knew what the metronome was about.
After that I headed back up towards the castle after following the river to the pedestrian bridge. I should get the name down before I leave here I bet. I did a basic climb up the hill and turned right back down and over the bridge again. It had gotten to being 6pm and I was ready to eat so I found the Hotel Zlateho Stroma in the main alley leading back towards the old square (and eventually my hotel). There I decided to order a beer and got a Staropramen which I like better than Pilsner Urquell and to look at the menu. I had Staropramen in Sweden way back when. I decided to get the meat skewers which had beef, chicken, pork, bacon, peppers and onions along with a baked potato side. The meat was not individual flavor chunks but all the types except the bacon rolled into one. It was good though a touch dry. I think it probably needed one minute less cooking. Still the flavor was good and I ate it all. I opted to have a beer for dessert too as I people watched. A wicked lot of foot traffic passes that restaurant and sitting outdoors in the nice weather it was great. There was no one wearing jackets or scarves now. They must realize it is actually summer around here. I was impressed. We definitely got into the low 80sF today but that hasn't stopped Europeans from wearing jackets before. It makes me sweat thinking about it.
I was exhausted after dinner and just decided to head in to the hotel and crash for the evening. It was early by most people's standards but I only had the 4 hours of airplane sleep and the brief bit of rest on the day. I was ready to crash and start off a more full day on day 2. Still considering how early I got in on day 1 it was also a very full day besides.
The pictures from day 1 are located here.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Leaving for Prague Today
Flying out for the Czech Republic this evening. Here's hoping I get to see the Stanley Cup with some of the Bruins players. Maybe I'll be lucky and they'll take their 24 hours while I am there. Has to be soon I think.
My flight is with Lufthansa and I will be styaing at the Hotel Meteor which is a Best Western. Never stayed at one of them before. The price was reasonable though. Probably won't mind the airplane for the air conditioning considering the temperatures around here.
My flight is with Lufthansa and I will be styaing at the Hotel Meteor which is a Best Western. Never stayed at one of them before. The price was reasonable though. Probably won't mind the airplane for the air conditioning considering the temperatures around here.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Spain in October
Originally it was my intention to travel to Greece for my late October trip but the unrest and strikes there really made me think I should skip that for this year and maybe see how things are next year. Having a birthday late in the fall definitely limits the number of places that might be having decent weather while I visit so for this trip I will be heading to Spain. I have booked a flight through AA for Madrid and will sort out the rest of the details after I return from the Czech Republic. The flight was reasonably cheap and even included a direct from Madrid to Boston on the return. I can definitely deal with that.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Warrior Dash Photos
I did not take any of these pictures but I hijacked them from other people. They are located here.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Warrior Dash
Yesterday was the New England Warrior Dash and I and a few friends participated. The premise is that it is a 5k trail race where they include some obstacles along the way to make the run even harder.
First off let me say I had a blast participating and by the end I was completely covered in mud. The obstacles listed in the description turned out to be somewhat different from what we experienced and I think that was because of the several days of rain and the heavy downpour we got the morning of the race. The entire course was mud from beginning to end and there were very few stretches where footing was easy to run on. Most of it was very slick and slippery and the sections inside the woods were loaded with rocks and roots besides the slick mud. I think they made some of the obstacles a bit more tame because of how difficult the running course itself was. The obstacles we did face included a web maze, walls to jump over with barbed wire to crawl under, two large walls to climb over, fire pits to jump over, a tire swing maze to run through, a balance beam to run across, a small downhill slide, a huge downhill slide (on the mud of course) and a web bridge to climb over. The running was fairly grueling and most of the obstacles were easy but the walls to climb and balance beams were tough for me with heights issues, though I got over them. The web bridge was really strenuous and I had a girl who stalled in front of me making it even harder. Possibly the most fun obstacle was the large downhill mud slide. I am fairly certain I got to about 30 miles per hour coming down, or it felt that fast anyway. I crashed into the girl ahead of me because she veered into my path at the bottom and I couldn't steer away, but no one got hurt.
The issues with the day were that they didn't really have a good handle on the traffic coming in and while we left at 3:45pm for a 5:30pm heat time we got stuck on route 110 until 5:10. The website said no refunds and if you miss your heat you are out of luck but fortunately they must have realized that too many people were getting stuck in the traffic and they basically let people go whenever they wanted. We ended up in the 6:30 heat instead of the 5:30 heat. I was getting really angry with the traffic until we talked to a kid walking out that said they were letting people go whenever. I still wasn't happy with the traffic but at least we weren't sitting in it for no reason. They had over 10000 people participate for day 1. The course was completely torn up by the end of the day when we went and I do not envy the day 2 people at all for how much worse it probably will be. The organization for the event itself seemed reasonable and after the shuttle ride from the parking area to the actual race area things went fairly quick. They had a lot of school buses to use as shuttles and it was quick to get there and even back at the end of the day though the line looked to be a quarter mile long at least. The registration tables and gear check tables were organized and it was easy to get into the heat when we were checked in. They had snow makers to clean yourself of the mud at the end. Obviously they were just spraying water rather than making snow but the water was freezingly cold. I could only be in for a short burst at a time.
The people who ran were Brien, Cathy, Reed, my nephew Will and myself. Shockingly, I came in with the best time of 52 minutes 51 seconds though I must point out that due to the difficult footing I had to walk a lot. Not that I didn't have the energy to run but every time I tried it was trip and fall basically. Reed came in second about 9 minutes later. My nephew followed him by 7 minutes saying he rolled an ankle during the run. Brien and Cathy came in at 1 hour 22 minutes. My brother and sister-in-law and some friends were spectators and two people took some photos but I will have to gather them before I can post them. I obviously was too muddy to carry a camera and therefore I had to rely on others for the pictures. I will post them as soon as I can get them.
Assuming we do it next year I think we'll register early and make sure we get in early to have more of a day of it. Getting in late everything was shutting down a short while after we finished and there was a lot of food and festivities around the park. I had a blast and I definitely would do it again. Even the spectators enjoyed themselves.
First off let me say I had a blast participating and by the end I was completely covered in mud. The obstacles listed in the description turned out to be somewhat different from what we experienced and I think that was because of the several days of rain and the heavy downpour we got the morning of the race. The entire course was mud from beginning to end and there were very few stretches where footing was easy to run on. Most of it was very slick and slippery and the sections inside the woods were loaded with rocks and roots besides the slick mud. I think they made some of the obstacles a bit more tame because of how difficult the running course itself was. The obstacles we did face included a web maze, walls to jump over with barbed wire to crawl under, two large walls to climb over, fire pits to jump over, a tire swing maze to run through, a balance beam to run across, a small downhill slide, a huge downhill slide (on the mud of course) and a web bridge to climb over. The running was fairly grueling and most of the obstacles were easy but the walls to climb and balance beams were tough for me with heights issues, though I got over them. The web bridge was really strenuous and I had a girl who stalled in front of me making it even harder. Possibly the most fun obstacle was the large downhill mud slide. I am fairly certain I got to about 30 miles per hour coming down, or it felt that fast anyway. I crashed into the girl ahead of me because she veered into my path at the bottom and I couldn't steer away, but no one got hurt.
The issues with the day were that they didn't really have a good handle on the traffic coming in and while we left at 3:45pm for a 5:30pm heat time we got stuck on route 110 until 5:10. The website said no refunds and if you miss your heat you are out of luck but fortunately they must have realized that too many people were getting stuck in the traffic and they basically let people go whenever they wanted. We ended up in the 6:30 heat instead of the 5:30 heat. I was getting really angry with the traffic until we talked to a kid walking out that said they were letting people go whenever. I still wasn't happy with the traffic but at least we weren't sitting in it for no reason. They had over 10000 people participate for day 1. The course was completely torn up by the end of the day when we went and I do not envy the day 2 people at all for how much worse it probably will be. The organization for the event itself seemed reasonable and after the shuttle ride from the parking area to the actual race area things went fairly quick. They had a lot of school buses to use as shuttles and it was quick to get there and even back at the end of the day though the line looked to be a quarter mile long at least. The registration tables and gear check tables were organized and it was easy to get into the heat when we were checked in. They had snow makers to clean yourself of the mud at the end. Obviously they were just spraying water rather than making snow but the water was freezingly cold. I could only be in for a short burst at a time.
The people who ran were Brien, Cathy, Reed, my nephew Will and myself. Shockingly, I came in with the best time of 52 minutes 51 seconds though I must point out that due to the difficult footing I had to walk a lot. Not that I didn't have the energy to run but every time I tried it was trip and fall basically. Reed came in second about 9 minutes later. My nephew followed him by 7 minutes saying he rolled an ankle during the run. Brien and Cathy came in at 1 hour 22 minutes. My brother and sister-in-law and some friends were spectators and two people took some photos but I will have to gather them before I can post them. I obviously was too muddy to carry a camera and therefore I had to rely on others for the pictures. I will post them as soon as I can get them.
Assuming we do it next year I think we'll register early and make sure we get in early to have more of a day of it. Getting in late everything was shutting down a short while after we finished and there was a lot of food and festivities around the park. I had a blast and I definitely would do it again. Even the spectators enjoyed themselves.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Czech Republic in Less than 3 weeks
Hard to believe how fast time is flying. I will be heading off for my six day vacation in Prague in less than 3 weeks. My new found hope is that the Stanley Cup might be hanging about in the region due to certain Bruins players who might bring it there. If it is in town I am definitely doing all I can to see it!
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Most Recent Trip Slideshow
I've updated the most recent trip slideshow to the right for those of you interested in the short form of the pictures.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)