Well, this will be the last post for Bohemian Legrace, and a short one too. In the morning we will be packing up and heading back to Munich. I can't guarantee internet access at the next hotel, so it is better to end this now.
Today was my presentation at 9:00 am local time. It was fairly well attended, with about 25-30 people in the room. There were 4 other papers presented in the same session and presenters were from Poland, and Spain. Spain has a large contingency of speakers, with 3 of them being in the first session.
I went down to Wenceslas Square this evening and poked around a bit. I checked out a few department stores but didn't find anything that suited me. So, I went and took a good long look at the National Museum, and then hopped back on the subway and headed back to the hotel.
Thank you for following us along on the trip, and I hope you enjoyed what was suppose to be light-hearted jokes and exaggerated stories, although the heart of them were true.
Safe travels to you all!
Love,
Christy
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Shopping and the Mayor's Residence...
Christy's Point of View (Because Mom is in bed!)
It was another fantastic day in Praha. We stared out with breakfast at the hotel. They have a large variety of 'normal' breakfast items, meaning eggs, sausages (smoked, and another variety that I have not ventured to try), toast/croissants, cereal, coffee cake, fruit, juice, tea, and coffee. But then there are some interesting new twists on breakfast. As you are well aware by now, that I'm not exactly a fan of processed meats that come from unidentifiable origins. And there are quite a few of those items on the buffet, and ones I steer clear of at all costs. But the thing that intrigues me, although not enough to try, is the one made of vegetables and held together by what looks like the goopy slime on SPAM! I bet the slim negates all of the nutritional value of the vegetable slices you might get. I read somewhere today that Czech food is heavy, fat, & nice. This definately gives you a new perspective on what you are eating.
After breakfast, I took some time to work on my presentation for tomorrow. We also checked in with our blog readers, sent some email, and chatted with Chet...you know my brother that feels he's the least loved out of my Mother's children? He informed me that he didn't really appreciate getting IMs from me at 4:30 am EDT. But at least he knows we were thinking of him and LOVE him!
Chet, Mom hasn't told me once on this trip that you make her wish she wasn't a mother! (For those that don't know, while on vacation this summer in Canada, Mom said "Chet, you make me wish I wasn't a mother!" OUCH! We've probably had the most contact with Chet & BJKA while on the trip...but we love all of you!
After I worked on my presentation we went on a little shopping excursion. By excursion, we mean we had to find our way to the mall. We tried this yesterday, but didn't quite make it there, well half way there. Our hotel key advertised a shopping area 5 minutes away using the public transport system. The directions were not very clear, so we had a great opportunity to wait at the bus stop before asking someone if the bus would take us to the shopping area. Nope...the bus would not take us directly there. Instead, we had to take the subway up to the end of the line at Letnany, board a bus, and that would drop us off at the shopping center. The end of the subway line was as far as we had gotten yesterday.
Let me tell you if you want to entertain my mother, just take her to a grocery store. The TESCO had a large selection of teas...I swear Mom was there a good 10 minutes looking at them. And you know what, she didn't even buy tea!!!
We chose to eat at the food court for two reasons... 1) We had a difficult time the day before finding a place that was open for lunch and 2) we wanted something lighter because we had a great dinner to look forward too. So we chose to eat at the place that serves authentic Czech food, or so we thought. We both got the same thing (Menu 3) because we couldn't say anything else. To indicate the '3' you should hold up your thumb, index, and middle fingers. The people in Central Europe get confused if you hold up your index, middle, and ring fingers! Mom made this mistake, but quickly realized why she was getting such a look. Menu 3 consisted of a chicken breast, mixed veggies (carrots cut into 2 shapes, broccoli, peas, cauliflower and red peppers), and potatoes that could be best described as 6 miniture hash browns from McDonalds. We also had a Pepsi.
After a bit more shopping, or should I say, browsing, we headed back to the hotel. I then finished my presentation for tomorrow. You can all stop worrying now...this is how things are done in my lab. I've fought it for as long as I can, and now just have to give in to procrastination. I'll just present my slides in the morning and not worry about it. I do a better job when I don't over prepare, and besides, I'm the first talk, so either people will 1) Still be in bed, 2) Still at breakfast or 3) Skipping out on the morning session to sight see. So I might just present to Mom, and the moderator tomorrow. Well, I guess Saska and Stephan will be there.
We left the hotel around 5 pm to go to the Conference Hotel where we got figured out which hall I'll be presenting in, and seeing the setup for the poster session. (No, I'm not involved in the poster session other than looking at other peoples posters. We had plenty of time to spare before leaving for a reception at the Mayor of Prague's Residence. So, Mom wanted to make lunch reservations at U Kalicha for tomorrow. We get 2.5 hours for lunch, so why not? This is Rachel's favorite place to eat from her trip to Prague in summer of '07. Anyway, this place serves real Czech food...so maybe we'll go light on breakfast in the morning.
We joined the group to leave for the Mayor's Residence and took the Subway just 3 stops down the A line and then a short 5 minute walk to the Residence. It is quite the extravagent place. Once we entered, we were ushered through a short hallway and then could take an elevator or the stairs. I took the stairs, 6 flights to go 1 floor, but Mom opted for the elevator. It was enclosed in glass. From my viewpoint above, it looked like a glass tube that had a pulley going down through it into the peaked roof made of plywood. I'm glad I took the stairs.
Once upstairs, we were greeted by waitors with glasses of wine or juice. Just the right thing to get people to talk. :) So there were a number of connected 'salons'. The second salon had a piano and bass player performing for us. And then it opened up into a large room set with tappas and a buffet line. They also had more wine and Pilsner Urquell to drink. I didn't want to mix my alcohols, so I stayed with the wine. TASTY! We finally got to taste the potato dumplings (periogies for all of you back home). And they are very good...no butter or toppings needed! They had a number of dishes including, fried fish, baked fish stuffed with spinach, several types of potatoes, beef, mushroom & onion sauce, and ham.
Through 2 more rooms there was the dessert buffet and coffee. Lots of little things to try, often filled with walnuts, cream cheese, poppy seed, or prunes. Yeah, I stayed with the walnuts and cream cheese stuff. Mom loved the poppy seed filled thing.
We had a great talk with Saska and Stephan, both from Switzerland. They are hosting this conference next year, and trying to talk me into going. We'll see what research I have to present at that time. Milos Klima also joined us. He is the man that organized this year's conference in Prague. Mom showed him her maiden name in an attempt to find out what it means, but once again we were told that the name is definately Czech, but no one knows the meaning.
Anyway, we had a great time at the reception, and then headed out to do some souvenir shopping. Well, we almost have all the souvenir's bought that we need too...except for me. I haven't filled Eric's t-shirt request. Tomorrow after lunch...I PROMISE!
Okay, Okay, Chet is now hounding me for this post, as it is now after midnight my time. And I have to be up early to get ready and leave for the conference hotel.
Good night!
Love,
Christy
It was another fantastic day in Praha. We stared out with breakfast at the hotel. They have a large variety of 'normal' breakfast items, meaning eggs, sausages (smoked, and another variety that I have not ventured to try), toast/croissants, cereal, coffee cake, fruit, juice, tea, and coffee. But then there are some interesting new twists on breakfast. As you are well aware by now, that I'm not exactly a fan of processed meats that come from unidentifiable origins. And there are quite a few of those items on the buffet, and ones I steer clear of at all costs. But the thing that intrigues me, although not enough to try, is the one made of vegetables and held together by what looks like the goopy slime on SPAM! I bet the slim negates all of the nutritional value of the vegetable slices you might get. I read somewhere today that Czech food is heavy, fat, & nice. This definately gives you a new perspective on what you are eating.
After breakfast, I took some time to work on my presentation for tomorrow. We also checked in with our blog readers, sent some email, and chatted with Chet...you know my brother that feels he's the least loved out of my Mother's children? He informed me that he didn't really appreciate getting IMs from me at 4:30 am EDT. But at least he knows we were thinking of him and LOVE him!
Chet, Mom hasn't told me once on this trip that you make her wish she wasn't a mother! (For those that don't know, while on vacation this summer in Canada, Mom said "Chet, you make me wish I wasn't a mother!" OUCH! We've probably had the most contact with Chet & BJKA while on the trip...but we love all of you!
After I worked on my presentation we went on a little shopping excursion. By excursion, we mean we had to find our way to the mall. We tried this yesterday, but didn't quite make it there, well half way there. Our hotel key advertised a shopping area 5 minutes away using the public transport system. The directions were not very clear, so we had a great opportunity to wait at the bus stop before asking someone if the bus would take us to the shopping area. Nope...the bus would not take us directly there. Instead, we had to take the subway up to the end of the line at Letnany, board a bus, and that would drop us off at the shopping center. The end of the subway line was as far as we had gotten yesterday.
Let me tell you if you want to entertain my mother, just take her to a grocery store. The TESCO had a large selection of teas...I swear Mom was there a good 10 minutes looking at them. And you know what, she didn't even buy tea!!!
We chose to eat at the food court for two reasons... 1) We had a difficult time the day before finding a place that was open for lunch and 2) we wanted something lighter because we had a great dinner to look forward too. So we chose to eat at the place that serves authentic Czech food, or so we thought. We both got the same thing (Menu 3) because we couldn't say anything else. To indicate the '3' you should hold up your thumb, index, and middle fingers. The people in Central Europe get confused if you hold up your index, middle, and ring fingers! Mom made this mistake, but quickly realized why she was getting such a look. Menu 3 consisted of a chicken breast, mixed veggies (carrots cut into 2 shapes, broccoli, peas, cauliflower and red peppers), and potatoes that could be best described as 6 miniture hash browns from McDonalds. We also had a Pepsi.
After a bit more shopping, or should I say, browsing, we headed back to the hotel. I then finished my presentation for tomorrow. You can all stop worrying now...this is how things are done in my lab. I've fought it for as long as I can, and now just have to give in to procrastination. I'll just present my slides in the morning and not worry about it. I do a better job when I don't over prepare, and besides, I'm the first talk, so either people will 1) Still be in bed, 2) Still at breakfast or 3) Skipping out on the morning session to sight see. So I might just present to Mom, and the moderator tomorrow. Well, I guess Saska and Stephan will be there.
We left the hotel around 5 pm to go to the Conference Hotel where we got figured out which hall I'll be presenting in, and seeing the setup for the poster session. (No, I'm not involved in the poster session other than looking at other peoples posters. We had plenty of time to spare before leaving for a reception at the Mayor of Prague's Residence. So, Mom wanted to make lunch reservations at U Kalicha for tomorrow. We get 2.5 hours for lunch, so why not? This is Rachel's favorite place to eat from her trip to Prague in summer of '07. Anyway, this place serves real Czech food...so maybe we'll go light on breakfast in the morning.
We joined the group to leave for the Mayor's Residence and took the Subway just 3 stops down the A line and then a short 5 minute walk to the Residence. It is quite the extravagent place. Once we entered, we were ushered through a short hallway and then could take an elevator or the stairs. I took the stairs, 6 flights to go 1 floor, but Mom opted for the elevator. It was enclosed in glass. From my viewpoint above, it looked like a glass tube that had a pulley going down through it into the peaked roof made of plywood. I'm glad I took the stairs.
Once upstairs, we were greeted by waitors with glasses of wine or juice. Just the right thing to get people to talk. :) So there were a number of connected 'salons'. The second salon had a piano and bass player performing for us. And then it opened up into a large room set with tappas and a buffet line. They also had more wine and Pilsner Urquell to drink. I didn't want to mix my alcohols, so I stayed with the wine. TASTY! We finally got to taste the potato dumplings (periogies for all of you back home). And they are very good...no butter or toppings needed! They had a number of dishes including, fried fish, baked fish stuffed with spinach, several types of potatoes, beef, mushroom & onion sauce, and ham.
Through 2 more rooms there was the dessert buffet and coffee. Lots of little things to try, often filled with walnuts, cream cheese, poppy seed, or prunes. Yeah, I stayed with the walnuts and cream cheese stuff. Mom loved the poppy seed filled thing.
We had a great talk with Saska and Stephan, both from Switzerland. They are hosting this conference next year, and trying to talk me into going. We'll see what research I have to present at that time. Milos Klima also joined us. He is the man that organized this year's conference in Prague. Mom showed him her maiden name in an attempt to find out what it means, but once again we were told that the name is definately Czech, but no one knows the meaning.
Anyway, we had a great time at the reception, and then headed out to do some souvenir shopping. Well, we almost have all the souvenir's bought that we need too...except for me. I haven't filled Eric's t-shirt request. Tomorrow after lunch...I PROMISE!
Okay, Okay, Chet is now hounding me for this post, as it is now after midnight my time. And I have to be up early to get ready and leave for the conference hotel.
Good night!
Love,
Christy
Monday, October 13, 2008
This and that...
So today included a variety of activities, from navigating the subway system from our hotel the to conference hotel, to trying to find a place for lunch which is not as easy as it seems. We also took a 3 hour walking tour of District 1 of Praha...which includes the Prague Castle (St. Vitus Cathedral, multiple courtyards, 2 palaces), the St. Charles Bridge, Old Town & New Town Halls, and Wenceslas Square. We also walked towards the National Museum, but it was pretty foggy and we were headed to the Metro station and back to our hotel.
Here's a few pictures we want to share with you!
This first one is of the "Creation" window from inside St. Vitus Cathedral.
I know this is out of order, but does anyone know what is wrong with this picture? We took it outside of the Conference Hotel.
Here's Christy standing outside of St. Vitus Cathedral.
And last but not least, the promised picture of the toilet. Notice the knob on the top? You pull that up to flush. Strange!
Here's a few pictures we want to share with you!
This first one is of the "Creation" window from inside St. Vitus Cathedral.
I know this is out of order, but does anyone know what is wrong with this picture? We took it outside of the Conference Hotel.
Here's Christy standing outside of St. Vitus Cathedral.
Here are the parrots Andy saw on the webcam!
And last but not least, the promised picture of the toilet. Notice the knob on the top? You pull that up to flush. Strange!
Traveling by train and jet lag
Hello Everyone!
Today we are weary travelers. We started out the morning early, by catching the 6 am shuttle rather than the 6:30 am shuttle to the airport. We knew there were many people scheduled for the 6:30 am shuttle and with the amount of luggage we had, we opted for the earlier one. Here are the adventures of today (Sunday Oct 12).
Jan and Christy's point of view (Together because we are tired! Christy is typing, so please excuse any typographical errors!)
Well, last night I (Christy) barely slept. You might as well say I napped for an hour around 10 - 11 pm local time. But then I woke up, and read almost an entire book. I had only read the first 3 chapters before my reading marathon started. I turned off my light at 4:30 am, knowing that the wake-up call was suppose to come at 5:30 am, but instead it came at 5:15 am. I guess they really wanted us out of there! Anyway, after packing up the room, we met the most friendly shuttle driver (Martine) while staying in Munich. He took us to the drop-off point for the S Bahn (subway) where we boarded the S8 line to take us to Hauptbahnhof Central Station. Well, that WAS the plan anyway. In my sleep deprived state, I did not hear an announcement correctly, so we got off the S8 at Ostbahnhof, and boarded the S1 line which took us to Hauptbahnhof anyway. :) Good thing we had plenty of time to arrive at the train station.
Once we arrived at the Central station, we went up 2 levels to the train platform. Platform 26 was our departure platform. But since we had left so early, we had 2 hours to wait. (I told you Mom likes to be places early!!!) Mom wanted to find a restroom, but we found out that they didn't open until 8 am. I guess no one has to use them before 8 am in Europe. So we found the DB Lounge to wait for our train and the restroom to open. The lounge was indoors, heated and had seats unlike just waiting at the platform. It was a chilly and foggy morning, so we were happy to find a place inside to wait. There were a few other passengers in the lounge as well. But only until the police showed up. When they showed up, they asked each person to show their train ticket. Well, they were speaking in German and Mom and I didn't know what was going on at first. All of the non-ticketed people (i.e. the homeless) were told to leave the lounge, and apparently you aren't allowed to sleep in there either. Too bad, we both could have used a little nap. When the police came to where we were sitting, I simply said "Pardon me?", and then the policeman asked to see our ticket in English. Thank goodness! Mom says that her St. Michael the Archangel medal is keeping us safe. I felt like the Gestapo were after us, except they weren't really secrect!
At 8 am, Mom went down the use the restroom, only to find out that it cost 1.10 EUR. I just decided to hold it...meaning a 6 hour trip!!!!!
At 8:15 am we were able to board the Alex 455 train to Praha. This was about a half hour before departure, but it was good to board early and get our luggage settled in the compartment. We almost had it to ourselves, but at the last minute had 3 university students join us. They chattered in English quite well, and so at least we knew what was going on. A fourth friend of their's had their train tickets, and was late and completely missed the train. However, the 3 girls were able to purchase new tickets on the train. Our tickets were stamped on both the German and Czech sides of the boarder, but they didn't stamp our passports. It makes us sad, because we really wanted a Czech stamp in our passport books!
The 3 girls got off the train in Plzen, and we were joined by a brother and sister pair. The brother (Wenceslas) was 10 years old and is just starting to learn English. He was quite proud to tell us "My name is telephone number!" We and his sister got a kick out of this. His sister Ludmilla is a university student and also works. Her employer pays for her to take English lessons, and it was very easy to discuss things with her. I did ask for advise on what to eat while I am here, so that I don't have another unfortunate eating experience. Dumplings it is!!
So when Wenceslas and Ludmilla got on the train, they got their lunch out, and my heavens, if I had eaten I would have thrown up! You guessed it...bologna, or something very close to it! The smell of the bologna and garlic permeated our cozy train compartment. The smell along with the motion of the train gave me that quesey feel for the rest of the train trip, about 1.5 hours. Please do not send me anything bologna scented...I will throw up!
We did get to see the beautiful countryside between Germany and the Czech Republic. Sorry that we don't have any pictures of it, but the train was moving too fast to get any good shots. The fall colors are in full force here in Central Europe. The leaves are brilliant yellows, oranges and burnt reds. They smell pretty good too!!!
When we departed from the train with luggage in tow, a man decided that Mom and I needed help. And while we did, we wished we could have taken the time to get a good view of the subway station, figure out where to go, exchange money, get tourist information etc. Instead we were rushed to the tourist info booth where I was able to get a bigger map of the subway, figure out what stop was best for our hotel, and purchase our subway tickets. Good thing we had some Czech crowns on us! 26 CZK for 1 person to take the subway. The man was helpful in getting us to the correct place and carried our large suitcases for us, all he really wanted was a tip. I figured out that his tip was about a $1 USD, so that wasn't so bad.
So we are ready to get onto the Metro (Line C) and take it a short 6 stops to Strizkov, which is conviently located across the street from our hotel. (THANK YOU STEVE!!! This stop just opened in June of 2008, so it wasn't here when Steve, Eric and Nate were last here.) So Mom was shoved onto the train, and I almost missed it, but I quickly adopted the European mentality of pushing your way on...although I was greeted by a frown from a police man, complete with a billy club, handcuffs, and handgun. Opps!
Once we made it to our stop, we hauled the luggage off and Mom took off ahead of me...my suitcase wasn't exactly cooperating. We had about a half block to go, and Mom decides to take off on a 'student path'...you know, paths where students have trampled down the grass. She didn't want to go the short distance and find a fence, hence her taking the student path.
We were able to check into the hotel quickly and retire to our room where we promptly passed out for a good hour. Oh, and I was able to finally use the bathroom. The toilet has a unique flushing feature...more on that tomorrow!
When we woke up, we had a quick dinner of Chez Mix (no pun intended) and Paprika (a.k.a. BBQ) flavored Pringles that we had picked up in Munich. Then Christy was able to visit with Ben, Jenny, Katie, and Andy via the webcame. Andy was excited to see that we have a cage with 15 parrots in it in the hotel computer lounge. We also have a tank of turtles...I hope neither are destined for breakfast in the morning! We also had a nice time chatting with Phil.
Well, it's time for bed, although it is only 7:30 pm. It's going to be a busy week, and we need to be well rested.
Goodnight!
Love,
The Weary Travelers.
Today we are weary travelers. We started out the morning early, by catching the 6 am shuttle rather than the 6:30 am shuttle to the airport. We knew there were many people scheduled for the 6:30 am shuttle and with the amount of luggage we had, we opted for the earlier one. Here are the adventures of today (Sunday Oct 12).
Jan and Christy's point of view (Together because we are tired! Christy is typing, so please excuse any typographical errors!)
Well, last night I (Christy) barely slept. You might as well say I napped for an hour around 10 - 11 pm local time. But then I woke up, and read almost an entire book. I had only read the first 3 chapters before my reading marathon started. I turned off my light at 4:30 am, knowing that the wake-up call was suppose to come at 5:30 am, but instead it came at 5:15 am. I guess they really wanted us out of there! Anyway, after packing up the room, we met the most friendly shuttle driver (Martine) while staying in Munich. He took us to the drop-off point for the S Bahn (subway) where we boarded the S8 line to take us to Hauptbahnhof Central Station. Well, that WAS the plan anyway. In my sleep deprived state, I did not hear an announcement correctly, so we got off the S8 at Ostbahnhof, and boarded the S1 line which took us to Hauptbahnhof anyway. :) Good thing we had plenty of time to arrive at the train station.
Once we arrived at the Central station, we went up 2 levels to the train platform. Platform 26 was our departure platform. But since we had left so early, we had 2 hours to wait. (I told you Mom likes to be places early!!!) Mom wanted to find a restroom, but we found out that they didn't open until 8 am. I guess no one has to use them before 8 am in Europe. So we found the DB Lounge to wait for our train and the restroom to open. The lounge was indoors, heated and had seats unlike just waiting at the platform. It was a chilly and foggy morning, so we were happy to find a place inside to wait. There were a few other passengers in the lounge as well. But only until the police showed up. When they showed up, they asked each person to show their train ticket. Well, they were speaking in German and Mom and I didn't know what was going on at first. All of the non-ticketed people (i.e. the homeless) were told to leave the lounge, and apparently you aren't allowed to sleep in there either. Too bad, we both could have used a little nap. When the police came to where we were sitting, I simply said "Pardon me?", and then the policeman asked to see our ticket in English. Thank goodness! Mom says that her St. Michael the Archangel medal is keeping us safe. I felt like the Gestapo were after us, except they weren't really secrect!
At 8 am, Mom went down the use the restroom, only to find out that it cost 1.10 EUR. I just decided to hold it...meaning a 6 hour trip!!!!!
At 8:15 am we were able to board the Alex 455 train to Praha. This was about a half hour before departure, but it was good to board early and get our luggage settled in the compartment. We almost had it to ourselves, but at the last minute had 3 university students join us. They chattered in English quite well, and so at least we knew what was going on. A fourth friend of their's had their train tickets, and was late and completely missed the train. However, the 3 girls were able to purchase new tickets on the train. Our tickets were stamped on both the German and Czech sides of the boarder, but they didn't stamp our passports. It makes us sad, because we really wanted a Czech stamp in our passport books!
The 3 girls got off the train in Plzen, and we were joined by a brother and sister pair. The brother (Wenceslas) was 10 years old and is just starting to learn English. He was quite proud to tell us "My name is telephone number!" We and his sister got a kick out of this. His sister Ludmilla is a university student and also works. Her employer pays for her to take English lessons, and it was very easy to discuss things with her. I did ask for advise on what to eat while I am here, so that I don't have another unfortunate eating experience. Dumplings it is!!
So when Wenceslas and Ludmilla got on the train, they got their lunch out, and my heavens, if I had eaten I would have thrown up! You guessed it...bologna, or something very close to it! The smell of the bologna and garlic permeated our cozy train compartment. The smell along with the motion of the train gave me that quesey feel for the rest of the train trip, about 1.5 hours. Please do not send me anything bologna scented...I will throw up!
We did get to see the beautiful countryside between Germany and the Czech Republic. Sorry that we don't have any pictures of it, but the train was moving too fast to get any good shots. The fall colors are in full force here in Central Europe. The leaves are brilliant yellows, oranges and burnt reds. They smell pretty good too!!!
When we departed from the train with luggage in tow, a man decided that Mom and I needed help. And while we did, we wished we could have taken the time to get a good view of the subway station, figure out where to go, exchange money, get tourist information etc. Instead we were rushed to the tourist info booth where I was able to get a bigger map of the subway, figure out what stop was best for our hotel, and purchase our subway tickets. Good thing we had some Czech crowns on us! 26 CZK for 1 person to take the subway. The man was helpful in getting us to the correct place and carried our large suitcases for us, all he really wanted was a tip. I figured out that his tip was about a $1 USD, so that wasn't so bad.
So we are ready to get onto the Metro (Line C) and take it a short 6 stops to Strizkov, which is conviently located across the street from our hotel. (THANK YOU STEVE!!! This stop just opened in June of 2008, so it wasn't here when Steve, Eric and Nate were last here.) So Mom was shoved onto the train, and I almost missed it, but I quickly adopted the European mentality of pushing your way on...although I was greeted by a frown from a police man, complete with a billy club, handcuffs, and handgun. Opps!
Once we made it to our stop, we hauled the luggage off and Mom took off ahead of me...my suitcase wasn't exactly cooperating. We had about a half block to go, and Mom decides to take off on a 'student path'...you know, paths where students have trampled down the grass. She didn't want to go the short distance and find a fence, hence her taking the student path.
We were able to check into the hotel quickly and retire to our room where we promptly passed out for a good hour. Oh, and I was able to finally use the bathroom. The toilet has a unique flushing feature...more on that tomorrow!
When we woke up, we had a quick dinner of Chez Mix (no pun intended) and Paprika (a.k.a. BBQ) flavored Pringles that we had picked up in Munich. Then Christy was able to visit with Ben, Jenny, Katie, and Andy via the webcame. Andy was excited to see that we have a cage with 15 parrots in it in the hotel computer lounge. We also have a tank of turtles...I hope neither are destined for breakfast in the morning! We also had a nice time chatting with Phil.
Well, it's time for bed, although it is only 7:30 pm. It's going to be a busy week, and we need to be well rested.
Goodnight!
Love,
The Weary Travelers.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Grrr...
Okay, so we have a very LONG post, but I can't copy it in at the moment to post it. Something about the html...I'll post in the morning after some sleep.
Night Night!
Love,
Christy
Night Night!
Love,
Christy
Saturday, October 11, 2008
THE AMAZING RACE
Weather Report: The sun does shine in Munich! We saw the sun this afternoon while we were downtown. This morning around 9 am it was 9 degrees C and overcast. This afternoon has warmed up but we can't find a current tempature, sorry Ben!
From Jan's point of view:
That's how it felt for us today. Two people trying to work together on a mission "to have fun while visiting Munich." It was more like the blind leading the blind. I still had fun.
We timed our route tomorrow to catch the train for Prague. We will have to leave the hotel on the shuttle to the airport by 6:30 a.m. At the airport we take the subway to the downtown train station to go to Prague. It is a 6 hour train ride. So forget our dolling up for the trip. We will shower tonight and hope for the best as far as our looks go tomorrow.
We found where the rich and famous shop in Munich, hence no shopping for us. We picked up a few gag souvenirs and fed our tummies well. We both rated our meal today a 12 on a scale of 1 - 10. We ate at an outside/inside bar Bohne & Malz . My meal, HahnchenRatatoui (Grilled Chicken Breast with Vegetables) is in the foreground. Christy's Weiner Schnitzel is in the background. She ordered before getting Alex's suggestion. Total for our meal was $37 Euros. We only bought one meal today. Breakfast was a bagel and cream cheese from the grocery store. How do you spread cream cheese without a knife, fork, or spoon? We used the complimentary drink stirrer resembling a dentist mirror. Ingenuity!!
Thanks for all the well wishes and keep the blog comments coming. Love to all.
From Christy's point of view:
The Amazing Race...I never did watch it religiously, but Clint was always sure to fill me in. From what I can recall, there was a fair amount of fighting on that show between teammates, but we weren't like that. Frustrated at times, yes, but never fighting. There was always something that would happen to make one of us laugh. For instance, I was slightly crabby (DAD AND BROTHERS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMMENT ON THAT!) as it was near 2 pm and we hadn't had lunch yet. So we found the cafe mentioned above and were brought English menus. Thank goodness! Anyway, so we were seated towards the edge of the cafe, right next to "buggy parking'. Yes, there is reserved parking for strollers etc. Anyway, a young woman brought her child over to their stroller as they were getting ready to leave, but the child started to cry. Mom looked at me with a rather serious look and said "It cries in English!" Well, I couldn't help but laugh, and I hope she was just kidding!
Mom is getting a 'cultural education'. She is learning about the homeless, and the acceptance of wild hair colors. I did feel sorry for a homeless man we saw outside of the "Opera". The Opera was beautiful, with a terrace that had planter boxes planted with lavender. There was a homeless man sitting at the sidewalk with a dead animal on a leash (not sure if it was a cat or dog) that was made to look like it was drinking out of a blue bowl. So sad!
We have observed a few fashion trends during our trek down to the City Center today. 1) Everyone wears black, brown and navy. No bright colors or contrast. :( 2) Knee high boots with skinny legged jeans are quite popular with the teenagers. 3) Scarves! The bigger the better, no matter if you are male or female. Mom freaked out when she saw a man with a grey scarf with white skulls all over it.
So yes, we have our train tickets! We got them before we left the airport yesterday, and did a trial run of how to get to the main train station in the morning. And although we only need to catch the 7:42 subway train to get to the 8:44 train to Prague (about a 40 minute subway ride from the airport to the main train station) we will be leaving at 6:30 am. We'll let you know when we have arrived in Praha!
Here's a few pictures from today. Enjoy!
From Jan's point of view:
That's how it felt for us today. Two people trying to work together on a mission "to have fun while visiting Munich." It was more like the blind leading the blind. I still had fun.
We timed our route tomorrow to catch the train for Prague. We will have to leave the hotel on the shuttle to the airport by 6:30 a.m. At the airport we take the subway to the downtown train station to go to Prague. It is a 6 hour train ride. So forget our dolling up for the trip. We will shower tonight and hope for the best as far as our looks go tomorrow.
We found where the rich and famous shop in Munich, hence no shopping for us. We picked up a few gag souvenirs and fed our tummies well. We both rated our meal today a 12 on a scale of 1 - 10. We ate at an outside/inside bar Bohne & Malz . My meal, HahnchenRatatoui (Grilled Chicken Breast with Vegetables) is in the foreground. Christy's Weiner Schnitzel is in the background. She ordered before getting Alex's suggestion. Total for our meal was $37 Euros. We only bought one meal today. Breakfast was a bagel and cream cheese from the grocery store. How do you spread cream cheese without a knife, fork, or spoon? We used the complimentary drink stirrer resembling a dentist mirror. Ingenuity!!
Thanks for all the well wishes and keep the blog comments coming. Love to all.
From Christy's point of view:
The Amazing Race...I never did watch it religiously, but Clint was always sure to fill me in. From what I can recall, there was a fair amount of fighting on that show between teammates, but we weren't like that. Frustrated at times, yes, but never fighting. There was always something that would happen to make one of us laugh. For instance, I was slightly crabby (DAD AND BROTHERS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMMENT ON THAT!) as it was near 2 pm and we hadn't had lunch yet. So we found the cafe mentioned above and were brought English menus. Thank goodness! Anyway, so we were seated towards the edge of the cafe, right next to "buggy parking'. Yes, there is reserved parking for strollers etc. Anyway, a young woman brought her child over to their stroller as they were getting ready to leave, but the child started to cry. Mom looked at me with a rather serious look and said "It cries in English!" Well, I couldn't help but laugh, and I hope she was just kidding!
Mom is getting a 'cultural education'. She is learning about the homeless, and the acceptance of wild hair colors. I did feel sorry for a homeless man we saw outside of the "Opera". The Opera was beautiful, with a terrace that had planter boxes planted with lavender. There was a homeless man sitting at the sidewalk with a dead animal on a leash (not sure if it was a cat or dog) that was made to look like it was drinking out of a blue bowl. So sad!
We have observed a few fashion trends during our trek down to the City Center today. 1) Everyone wears black, brown and navy. No bright colors or contrast. :( 2) Knee high boots with skinny legged jeans are quite popular with the teenagers. 3) Scarves! The bigger the better, no matter if you are male or female. Mom freaked out when she saw a man with a grey scarf with white skulls all over it.
So yes, we have our train tickets! We got them before we left the airport yesterday, and did a trial run of how to get to the main train station in the morning. And although we only need to catch the 7:42 subway train to get to the 8:44 train to Prague (about a 40 minute subway ride from the airport to the main train station) we will be leaving at 6:30 am. We'll let you know when we have arrived in Praha!
Here's a few pictures from today. Enjoy!
Doug - This one is for you!
Mike - These are quite common, and we knew you would love to see it!
This was a neat building with flowers, statues and a famous Clock "Glockenspiel". Glock = Clock and Spiel = Chimes
Alex, here's a picture for you and all of your Kraft Foods friends! This was purchased out of a vending machine for 0.50 EUR or about $.75 at the subway station. We haven't tried it yet.
This is a picture of today's lunch from Bohne & Malz.
Mike - These are quite common, and we knew you would love to see it!
This was a neat building with flowers, statues and a famous Clock "Glockenspiel". Glock = Clock and Spiel = Chimes
Alex, here's a picture for you and all of your Kraft Foods friends! This was purchased out of a vending machine for 0.50 EUR or about $.75 at the subway station. We haven't tried it yet.
This is a picture of today's lunch from Bohne & Malz.
Friday, October 10, 2008
A few pictures...
This is Mom outside the airport at the Hotel Shuttle stop. 4 bags for the 2 of us isn't 2 bad for 8 days!
Mom wanted to show off the bed, just in case our text description in the previous post does not quite do you justice. And you will notice the contents of our mini-fridge on the nightstand. Only 2 of those bottles contain non-alcoholic drinks. Coke Zero and Coca-Cola!
This picture almost speaks for itself. Airstream restaurant complete with a propeller and wings! Smokey Joe's...maybe we should have eaten here! This is located between Terminals 1 and 2 at the Munich Airport.
This is Mom's meal that was a 10! YUM!
Time for a little game. The slices on my plate are A) bread, B) ham, or C) 1/2 in thick slice of warmed meatloaf/bologna?
If you answered C, you are correct! I had not actually tasted the 'meatloaf' at the time of this picture, hence the smile on my face. At least they provided some very good ground mustard to disguise the taste of bologna.
Why didn't I choose bratwaurt or some kind of sausage? Well, I can't say I've been truely fond of either, and the fact I saw some other person pull his sausages (still linked together) out of what looks like a small soup tourane just sort of turned me off. Maybe I'll have better luck today.
If you answered C, you are correct! I had not actually tasted the 'meatloaf' at the time of this picture, hence the smile on my face. At least they provided some very good ground mustard to disguise the taste of bologna.
Why didn't I choose bratwaurt or some kind of sausage? Well, I can't say I've been truely fond of either, and the fact I saw some other person pull his sausages (still linked together) out of what looks like a small soup tourane just sort of turned me off. Maybe I'll have better luck today.
FYI - We have not run into any 'funny toilets' or bidets yet...but if we do, we'll be sure to take pictures and post.
Ben, I'll work on the weather forecast...but yesterday was in the mid to upper 50's with fog/mist for the first have of the day. The rest was just overcast.
I better get some real work done while Mom is still asleep. It's about 7:30 am local time.
Let us know if you have any other information requests!
Ben, I'll work on the weather forecast...but yesterday was in the mid to upper 50's with fog/mist for the first have of the day. The rest was just overcast.
I better get some real work done while Mom is still asleep. It's about 7:30 am local time.
Let us know if you have any other information requests!
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