Czech-mate

Saturday, August 23 2008

It time again for more travel! We went out in the afternoon on Saturday to Luton Airport (the first time we flew from that London airport.) We were going with Dan and Rebecca, so met them on the bus out to the airport to fly out to Prague in the Czech Republic. To be honest, Prague wasn't on our list of places to go, but an amazingly cheap deal became available and we heard good things, so we couldn't resist. Our flight was an hour late (which unfortunately meant that we found the Krispy Kreme at the airport lounge and couldn't resist), so we didn't leave until 9:30, which with the time difference had us landing at 12:15. There wasn't much we could do, so we caught a cab to our hostel.

Yep, I said hostel. We stayed in a hostel that was 8 person to a room. However, we lucked out and they split the room into two separate areas with 4 beds apiece, so we were just in the room with Dan and Rebecca. The other side only had one person and we didn't ever really see her, although she did ask us to be quiet since we came in late and were pretty loud getting everything ready for bed.

Sunday, August 24 2008
This is the real start to our trip. We only had one day to tour all of Prague, so we went ahead and got up in the morning and got started ASAP. We took a tram into town and walked around a bit trying to find a place for breakfast. We finally settled on a place called Cafe Savoy where we had a really good breakfast. We then walked along the river in search of the Lennon Wall. We ended up going by the Kampa Modern Art Museum first though which was interesting with the giant pink dogs, giant orange rabbits and other interesting giant colorful animal statues. After a bit of searching, we did find the Lennon wall (where a Mexican art student painted a graffiti portrait of John Lennon back in the 80's) although the picture that is currently there isn't nearly as impressive as the original which we've seen pictures of. We then walked across the Charles Bridge which is filled with statues. Unfortunately, it is under construction for the next 10 years, so it's not as impressive as it could be. At the end of the Bridge there were a bunch of souvenir shops, so we ended up buying a marionette doll of Pinocchio before walking to the Old Town Square and watched the Astronomical clock go off at noon.

Watch out for the giant bunnies Tami:


Greg at the John Lennon wall.... this version isn't that impressive:


The peace sign was pretty cool though:


The Astronomical Clock:


By this time, we realized that we wouldn't be able to walk everywhere since the day was half over. We found a solution to this by the old timey car tours that go around the city. For four people, it wasn't that expensive so we piled in and went around town. It was a 40 minute ride which took us around Old Town, the Jewish Quarter with a very cool looking cemetery and through Lesser Town. We had the car drop us off at Cantina, a Mexican restaurant that Dan and Rebecca's flat mates had said was really good. They had a very strange Fajita combination that I never heard of, so I had to try. Banana, Coconut and Chicken. While interesting to try, the banana's really overpowered everything, so I ended up saving those for desert. Aside from the strange combo, the food was really good and reminded us of some of the places from back home, something we haven't gotten from any of the places in London.

Everyone in the car to tour the city:


Here is the car we drove around in:


After lunch, we took the tram out to the Staropramen Brewery to see how they brew beer in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately when we made it out there, we found out that they only have one tour a day and we had missed it. We ended up going to a Staropramen Concept bar that was next door. The beer was really good, but the staff wasn't too friendly, so we hopped back on the tram back into town and took the funicular up to the top of Petrin Hill. At the top, we walked around the rose garden and saw the mini Eiffel Tower. We also went through the mirror maze which was
disappointing since it wasn't a maze at all, more of a mirror hallway. They did have the mirrors which distort your image, so that was fun. After that, we walked down the hill a bit and grabbed a Krusovice beer at a cafe that had a spectacular view of the city. The view was great, but the beer was only so-so. We took the train back down the hill and headed to the center of town to see about a marionette show. We bought tickets for the 8:00 showing of Don Giovanni and did some shopping while we waited. We ended up going to a bar for a drink and a snack of sausages and beer cheese. Then it was back to the show.

The nice thing about a room full of mirrors is that it's easy to get a couple shot without having to ask someone else to take it:


The mini Eiffel Tower


The view from the cafe:


One of the nice things about wandering around a town is that you run into wacky things such as this statue of a guy hanging from a flagpole:


Don Giovanni is a famous opera by Mozart, and they do a version with marionette puppets. It was quite interesting and not as dull as you would expect for opera, although we weren't familiar with the story so were very confused as to what was really going on. The puppeteers did a good job though and we enjoyed it, it was definitely something different. After that, we walked back up the river and had supper at Kavarna Salvia for supper of Goulash for me and Caprese for Tami. After that, it was a tram back to our hostel to get ready for our 7:30 am flight back to London the next morning.

Beer, BBQ, and Friends

We had a really good weekend this past weekend We got to see lots of friends (almost everyone we know in London), eat lots of food, and drink lots of beer. Yes, even Tami.

Friday night started out with the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court. We had gone last year enjoyed it so this year we met Dan and Rebecca down there. We tasted several beers and had dinner at Wagamama's afterwards. Greg really enjoyed getting to try Hobgoblin on draft while I enjoyed the perry that I got. However, I did try a really bad perry and a kriek that got worse the more you drank it.

Greg, Me, Dan & Rebecca enjoying a pint:


Saturday we had Lisa and Lilli over for a cookout. We weren't sure if it was just the two of them or if Terry and Jaime would be coming also so we made sure to have plenty of food. We cooked chicken, kebabs, sausages, ribs, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and a pasta salad. We even made sweet tea since Lisa wanted to try it. We also found out that nobody here knows what s'mores are, so we went to an American grocery store and purchased marshmallows and graham crackers (we already had the Hershey's bars from our trip home in January). They both really enjoyed those. We sat around talking and playing with the girls, but unfortunately it was all inside, since it rained so much and so hard all day Saturday. It was fun watching Greg try to cook at the grill with an umbrella though, free entertainment.

Lisa and Lilli enjoying roastint marshmallows:


Greg and his s'more:


Sunday was much the same, but this time with Phil and Carolina. She is headed back to Paraguay in a couple of weeks and weren't sure how long she would be gone for, so we wanted to try to see her before she left. Luckily she will only be gone for a month. We again had chicken, kebabs, sausages, ribs, pasta salad, but this time a regular salad as well. We also again showed them s'mores. I think Phil enjoyed them the most. It was fun watching them cook their marshmallows and such. Carolina had never even had a marshmallow, so it was a definite treat for her. At one point Phil was enjoying his s'more so much it was all over his face, while Carolina had it all over her shirt. We had a great laugh about it all.

Phil & Carolina enjoying roasting marshmallows for their s'mores:


Phil and his new pal Chewy:


All in all I would say it was a great, relaxing weekend.

Willow was not happy that she was not included in this post, so here is what she thought about it. Daisy is just Daisy:

Beer in Europe

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Another early start, we were up at 4:30 for a 5:30 taxi to take us to the airport. Laura, Gary, Greg, and myself all piled into the car for the ride to the airport, not really saying much. We would have rather slept at this point. We flew to Amsterdam and immediately took a tram to our Houseboat to drop off the luggage. We were all a bit hungry and tired and cranky from it being so rainy and wet. Oh well. We decided we would just find a spot for lunch. Laura had a hankering for pizza so we found a nice Italian place right near Bloemenmarkt to enjoy some pizza and beer. We were looking forward to getting a shower and nap back at the houseboat but it wasn't quite ready for us. So we walked down Bloemenmarkt where I purchased some wooden tulips and then waited for our houseboat to be ready. The houseboat was really nice, much bigger than we were originally supposed to get. We all took naps and showers so we could be refreshed and awake for the rest of the day.

Part of our houseboat:


Laura and Gary really enjoyed the rain:


Once ready we were off for some relaxing time by starting at Wijnand Fockink, the jenever tasting room that Greg and I found last time in Amsterdam that we enjoyed. After we each had a couple jenever/brandy drinks with beer chasers it was off to the Bulldog for yet another drink and to just chill. We had dinner reservations at 8 pm at the Sea Palace but we still had some time to kill so we popped into a Belgium Bar (translation is The 11th Commandment) for yet another drink. The owner/bartender was very friendly, and this ended up being Gary's favorite bar, surprisingly. It was time for our reservation. We stuffed our faces and our bellies full of so much wonderful Chinese food (but not as bad as last time). We had a blast but needed to walk off some of our dinner. We ended up stopping in at Cafe de Stoof bar after walking around the Red Light district for another drink. We decided now that we were ready to head back to the houseboat. We sat out on the deck on the canal for a bit before going inside to play a round of cards.

Enjoying our jenever at Wijnand Fockink:


Monday, July 21, 2008
Greg, Laura, and I got up to go out to breakfast while Gary slept in a bit. Laura & I enjoyed an authentic duch toastie at Cafe Doelen. We went back and picked Gary up and headed to Rijksmuseum. This was a great museum, not so big that you get overwhelmed. We spend a couple hours there before heading back to town center. I have to point out that at this time it has been pouring down rain and very very windy. Gary and Laura collect Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses so we found the Hard Rock, bought some umbrellas at a store next door, and then dropped into an Irish Bar so Greg could get an advertised Murphy's Irish Red. As luck would have it they were out, oh well we got something else. We then had lunch at a pancake shop, The Pancake Corner. Greg and I enjoyd it but I don't think Laura and Gary liked it as much.

We then took the tram to Dam Square for a bit of souveneir shopping before heading back to the houseboat to pick up our luggage. We then took a taxi towards Centraal Station to lay back and enjoy some cafes and bars before catching our train to Munich. We went to Route 99 and Cafe 420 and a couple pubs. We ended up finding a nice, quiet pub to go to for dinner, it ended up being the Crowne Plaza, so it was rather nice. We got our bitterballen, since Amsterdam is one of the few places to get it, and then headed to the train station. We had a drink while we waited and then boarded the overnight train to Munich.

Our train experience was pretty good. We ended up in a 6 person cabin with an older Chinese couple (very odd). They were kind of taking over and pushing up the middle beds on either side so they could sit on the bottom bunks. The four of us opted to head to the food car to sit around, play some cards, talk, and have a few beers. We spent nearly 4 hours in the food car, listening to Laura tell us stories of all the cities that we were going through that she remembered growing up, it was a lot of fun. We did play several rounds of cards as well. We finally decided to head to bed, it was getting late and the food car was closing down. We climbed up to our beds, tried to get comfortable, and made sure to have some head phones in to drown out the snoring of 3 of the bunk mates.

Greg in our cabin (he is standing on the bottom bunk with his hands on the top bunk):


Tuesday, July 22, 2008
We arrived in Munich around 7:15 am, dropped our luggage off at the hotel, then headed towards Marienplatz to locate some breakfast. As you can imagine it was very quiet around Munich at this time of the morning. We went to Richart for breakfast and then started walking around the sleeping city. We walked by Hofbrauhaus, hard Rock Cafe, and the Residenze before going back to Marientplatz to do a bit of shopping, since it was still cold and rainy. We took our purchases back to the hotel and waited for our rooms to get ready. When we got into our rooms we took another nap and shower and then the two of us headed on out. We went back towards Marienplatz to go to some other shops, I even tried on a few beermaid outfits, though I am not built to their proportions. Greg and I met up with Laura and Gary a bit later at the Hofbrauhaus where we enjoyed some nice, large beers, along with chips, spaetzle, and pretzels. After almost 2 hours we headed out, stopped by Hard Rock Cafe, then went back to the Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel do its thing. We then stopped in Augusiner Bierhalle for yet another maas and more pretzels. We then headed back to the hotel so we could check our emails and such and waited out a huge downpour. We headed out for dinner and went to Augustiner Keller, where Greg had a great pork.

Enjoying our first maas at Hofbrauhaus:


Me holding 4 maas at Augustiner, don't know how those bar maids do it:


Dinner at Augustiner Keller:


After dinner Laura as really hankering for a beer so we walked around looking for a decent pub, but no luck. After walking around the blocks around our hotel, the only find was a bunch of strip clubs, including The Dolly Bar located directly below us, where the girls were standing in the window, just like Amsterdam, we just laughed. We did end up finding a place to get a beer......McDonalds. Quite funny actually. They pour the bottled beer directly into a McDonalds paper cup. I felt so classy. It was back to the hotel for the night.

Our McDonalds beers:


Wednesday, 23, 2008
Day 2 in Munich was early for Greg and I. We met up with Laura for breakfast and then went back out on a Cuckoo clock hunt. Laura waited around the hotel for Gary to get up and ready while Greg and I did some shopping. The four of us got back together for a journey out to the Dauchau Concentration Camp. We took the train out but then walked to the actual camp instead of taking the bus. It was a nice walk, the weather was finally decent. There were landmarks and memorials all along the way that we stopped to read. The actual path that we were walking is where the tracks that carried the captured people to the camp. It was quite sad in all reality. We stopped about half way at a small cart to get a pretzel and chips for a snack. We finished our walk to the concentration camp and spent a couple hours there looking around the entire place, including the museum, the memorials, the execution points, furnaces, and on. We took the train back to town and then headed to the Englischer Garten. We walked for a little bit, even seeing where people used to surf, and finally made our way to the Chinese Garten for a great pork schnitzel, pretzel, and beer. It was all very German and what I had always imagined doing.

Twins!!!


One of the many bunk rooms where the people stayed at Dauchau, 3 high and at least 10 long.


The grounds at Dauchau Concentration Camp, where the barracks formerly stood:


We did have a great time sitting around listening to the oompah band and watching all the people, we even ran into the old Chinese couple from our train. We had a good time but it was time to head back to the train station, to catch the bus to the airport. When we got into the airport and went through security, we found out our plane was delayed by nearly 2 1/2 hours. We sat around playing cards and chit-chatting until it was time to go. We were ready to get home but it was so late that we had to pay for a driver to bring us home, as opposed to taking the bus. Oh well, we made it back around 2:30 or so, what a long day.

The Chineser Garten pavilion



The four of us enjoying Munich:


One of the many huge pretzels that I enjoyed in Munich:


Killing time at the Munich airport:

London with Laura and Gary

Friday, July 18 & Saturday, July 19th 2008

On Thursday, we had some friends of ours from Atlanta, Laura and Gary, come into London for a week for a visit. We didn't do much on Thursday since we figured that they would be pretty jet-lagged. On Friday and Saturday however, we showed them a little bit of London. Staring on Friday, Tami and Laura went out to Oxford Circus to do a little shopping on Oxford Street. Gary likes to sleep late, and I had to work, so we stayed at the flat and met them for lunch. For lunch, we decided to try The Warrington, which is one of the gastropubs that Gordon Ramsey runs. For those that don't know, gastropubs are pubs that specialize in food, usually the stuff you find in fancy restaurants. The Warrington didn't disappoint in that regard since the food was really fancy. It was really good, but quite expensive and something I wouldn't eat on a regular basis. Tami had skate, which is a type of fish. It was pretty good, but you have to eat it a little different than regular fish and Tami ended up with mouthful of bones with her first bite.

Laura, Gary, Greg and Tami at the Warrrington:


After lunch, I finished up with work and everyone else went over to Baker Street to get their picture taken with Sherlock Holmes and to look around a bit. They also dropped into a pub and had a few drinks while waiting for me. Once I was done, we all went to Madame Tussauds which has wax statues of many famous people. It was a lot of fun, and some of the waxworks were better than others. We were disappointed that they had the Big Brother chair from the current season here in the UK closed since it was later in the day, but everything else was good. After we went through Madame Tussauds, we caught a bus and headed over to Camden Town. There is a bar there called FiftyFive that Tami and I like, especially between 5 and 7 everyday since they have two for one drinks (which is the only way you can afford to have a drink there.) After we had a drink, we went over to Wagamama's for supper, which is one of our favorite restauraunts in London (they opened a Wagamama's in Boston.... they better open one in Atlanta before we move back.) After walking around Camden for a bit, we went to the World's End for a drink. However, everyone was getting tired fast, so we headed home after that.

Tami with Daniel Radcliffe.... I'm worried about being replaced:


Fifty-Five has the best Margaritas and Mojitos in London that we've had so far. It takes forever to get a drink from the bar, so it's best to order an entire nights worth of drinks at once:


On Saturday, we met up with Laurent who Laura works with. He works down in Portsmouth, and caught a train up to London to do with us. Tami, Gary and Laura met up with Laurent around Waterloo and went over to see Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey while I took the dogs to the dogsitter since we would be leaving early the next morning. I met up with them and we took a leisurly stroll up the Thames over to the Borough Market area. It was pretty busy, so rather than doing a picnic, we decided to do lunch at a pub so that we could sit down and relax. We ended up at a Slug and Lettuce that was close by. After lunch, we headed over to Vinopolis where we did the wine tasting that they have. It was about the same as before, except that they have added a rum tasting as well.

Greg, Tami, Gary and Laura at the London Eye:

Laurent, Laura and Greg.... If you look really closely between Laura and Greg, you can see the IBM building.


Everyone (except Tami who was taking the picture) on the Millenium Bridge with St. Pauls in the background:


Greg, Gary and Tami at Vinopolis:


We then went over to Coven Garden and looked around a bit. We also stopped into the Porterhouse, which is a nice Irish pub that brews their own beer, so you can get something different than what most of the pubs in London serve. They also do samplers which is nice. We had supper at Wahaca, which is another one of our favorite restaurants. It's great Mexican food, although not the normal TexMex that we are used to in the states. After supper, we wandered around Chinatown, Leicester Square and Trafalger Square. At that point, it was getting late and we had to be up at 4:30 am to travel, so decided to head home.

Tami taking a picture at Porterhouse:


Everyone at Wahaca: