Beginning The Last Leg

Today we left Munich, and in my mind, we left the second third of our trip. My mental image of the trip is divided, unevenly, three ways: 1) Ireland, London, and Paris. 2) Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich. 3)Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid.
It feels like we are in the home stretch of our tour, even though we are almost exactly 1/2 of the way through as far as weeks go. We have been here four weeks, and we have four weeks left to go.
So today, I felt a little relieved--as though we had made it over the hump as far as "places-left-to-see" goes. We left Munich early in the morning after another hostel breakfast. We went through three countries today, more than any other bus-stint along our journey.
We left Germany and headed back through Vienna, where we stopped for a quick break in Ensbrook, which is a gorgeous town at the foot of the alps. There are tons of wall-to-wall pastel houses along a river with the backdrop of the huge, gorgeous, mountains.
We were told that there was a famous gold roof that we needed to see while we spent 40 minutes walking around the small city. Along that street was a little Christmas shop that housed thousands of ornaments made out of glass, wire, porcelain, but most of all, egg shells. They had hand-painted egg ornaments by the thousands piled lightly in carboard cartons on top of each other. They were all absolutely amazing, and perfect for any one whose family gives ornaments as gifts as a tradition ;)
I realized that it would be the last time we were in Austria, which has turned out to be one of my very favorite countries in Europe. Although Vienna was beautiful, and its elegant history breathtaking, the more impressive parts of Austria were the small towns we stopped in along the way. I would love to come back and spend a month just touring the smaller towns in Austria--not to mention a small-town-tour of Europe as a whole. Anyway, I realized that it would be the last time we were in Austria, and I had learned that Swarkovski Crystals come from Austria, so when I saw the store, I had to go in. There were beautiful trinkets everywhere, as well as some kitchy ones that made my toes curl.
At the end of my spin around the store, however, I wasn't in love with anything and left empty handed.
We got back on the bus, and to get us pumped for our arrival in Venice, we watched "The Italian Job," which i think I saw when it came out, but didn't pay attention to closely enough. This time, I was on the edge of my seat, despite the various corny parts that made me roll my eyes.
We moved on to our third country for the day: Italy. Italy. For so long, Itlay has been a mirage in the distant corners of my imagination--something I thought would only be possible a long, long time from now.
But we're here...in Italy. It is beautiful. For much of the drive into Venice, the enormous alps walled our lush green corridor. We stopped at a pit stop and learned a few necessary words for simple transactions in Italian.
I slept until we arrived at our campsite. Yes, campsite! Now, I know what you are thinking: "That CAN'T be good." I know you're thinking that because I thought the same thing. But I decided that the EUR 15 a night was worth whatever came our way.
I was happily surprised to find a gorgeous swimming pool with lounge chairs, a water spout that pours water from ten feet above the pool, cool showers, two hot tubs, a bar, a market, a restaurant, a pizzeria, and free Wi-fi. Not only that, but after we got checked in, we found that we were actually in little cabins, with conspicuous white machines on the windows--yes...AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!

Athough the rooms are small, there are bathrooms with large showers in each unit, and the air conditioning feels like heaven.
After quickly dropping our stuff off in our cabin, we put on our suits and headed to the pool in our pasty-white, non-Italian glory. There were Italian families who were vacationing here in the pool along with all the traveling 20 somethings. We showered off and got in the slightly warm pool, which was perfect. I hate it when pools are icy cold, even when it is hotter than 100 outside.
After dipping in, Collin and I just sunbathed. I have been waiting to sit by a pool and sunbathe all summer. Don't get me wrong: this journey through Europe is invaluable, and the things I have learned about history and culture will stay with me forever. But it was amazing to finally feel like we are on vacation. As we have found, traveling is more than a full-time job.
We got out and headed toward the market to pick up a few cheap items for dinner, but on the way, we ran into Doug and Katrina who are also on a Busabout tour. On the tour, you see the same people from time to time, but everyone spends either three or five nights in each place, so everyone is on a different schedule. We had met them in Prague, and Collin had sat with them outside the POW camp that I visited because both Collin and Katrina were suffering from foot injuries. Collin had gotten to know them really well and told me all about them afterward.
So for more than an hour, the four of us sat and talked about our travels and our lives at home. Katrina teaches high-school math, and Doug works in building cabinets and other home furnishings. They are living in Scotland on an exchange with a Scottish teacher who wanted to work in Australia, where Doug and Katrina are from. While they are living in Scotland, the couple has been doing numerous trips through the Busabout company--even the Shamrocker Tour like we did.
After talking as much as we could, they headed toward the pool, and Collin and I headed back to our air-conditioned haven. We met our roommate: an Australian girl traveling alone who has a cold, so she decided not to attend the toga pool party that the campsite is offering tonight. We showered and got ready for bed.
We are looking so forward to seeing the beautiful, romantic city of Venice tomorrow, along with the surrounding islands that promise some very special souvenirs!

A Man's Day in Munich

Today was our last day in Munich and we had a busy day planned. We wanted to visit two museums and go to the English Garden for a swim. Dennis was with us for one last day and he was extremely excited for both the BMW museum, which of course focuses on cars, and the Deutsches Museum, which focuses on German contributions to the world (much of which is also engineering/automotive-related).

I thought the BMW Museum would be cool, but I wasn't salivating like Dennis. As we began our self-guided tour through the museum, I really started to enjoy it. I knew BMW started with planes, but I had no idea about their contributions to motorcycles, racing, and engineering in general. Fun fact: when BMW bought the company that would go on to be their automotive division, they modeled their first car after a British car, a fact they certainly don't advertise. Seeing the evolution of the motorcycle and their race cars and the enormous presence of BMW in F-1 and MotoRacing was very interesting. Overall, the museum had a ton of fascinating automotive history and of course some gorgeous cars (for those who care, my favorite was the 507 Roadster from 1956).

Next, we went got a delicious lunch and regrouped and decided that because of all the stuff left to see and the first overcast day in a long while, we didn't have time to go swimming. The Deutsches Museum is a museum of German achievements in a variety of fields including nanotechnology, all types of engines, alternative fuels, locks (actually very cool), sewing machines, boats and many others. The first thing we saw was the evolution of boats from what looked like Viking-style row-boats to modern cruise-liners. What was interesting was to learn how prominent a figure Germany was in building the mega-passenger ships that crossed the Atlantic in the Titanic era. At the door to the next room there was a piston from one of these enormous ships that was at least 20 feet tall. We looked at some really cool, huge truck engines and the evolution of the German truck-making company MAN, like the German version of Mack trucks.

Upstairs we looked at locks from the 18th century from castles and chapels which were very complicated and interesting. We looked at how they build tunnels, including the worlds largest underwater tunnel which stretches only 10 miles from Sweden to Denmark, but houses a four-lane highway and a two-track railway. We explored some newer technology that had to do with advanced microscopes, facial cue interpretation software, nanotechnology, bio-mass conversion and many other technologies that are used every day but not necessarily known as German inventions.

After we waited for Dennis to be kicked out when the museum closed, we got some delicious ice-cream and headed back to the hostel to send Dennis off.

All in all, Munich was a ton of fun and very beautiful. They have some of the beautiful, old buildings common to Europe, but they also have the super-modern architecture and technology that seems to be uniquely German. We got to experience an authentic German meal and Bier Garten, and see some cool museums, but we definitely didn't get all of Munich. I really enjoyed it because it had the feel of cities like Amsterdam and Dublin where it is small enough to get comfortable, but big enough to keep you interested for a lifetime.

Cozy, Museum-Filled Munich

Collin and I arrived in Munich after kicking the pants off of Vienna! While we were there, we saw everything we could and somehow remained in good spirits. But when we got to Munich, I wasn't interested in seeing another palace or another German WWII camp. I just wanted to relax. Luckily, our plan all along had been to meet up with one of our very good friends in Munich because he is studying abroad in Germany (little did we know that he is closer to Paris than to Munich).

So after getting into our overbooked hostel in the evening, we met Dan from Florida in our room, went to have a cheap Italian dinner on the corner, and came back to try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, the front desk was having some difficulties with their bed planning, and roughly 10 people came to our room throughout the evening thinking that they were booked for our room.

Finally, after a single non-English-speaking Korean guy stood perplexed in the middle of our room for about 20 minutes, I decided to go down and get the whole thing worked out. Apparently, one of the guys in our room was booked for another room, but the front desk gave him a key to ours, leaving the guy who was booked in our room bedless. Luckliy, we'd met and remembered all of the names of the people in our room and were able to get to the bottom of it.

The next day, after sleeping in until 12:30, I got up to Collin who was already ready for lunch after having gotten up at 7 am to make sure we had access to the laundry machines. So we mosied to lunch after filling out some postcards we'd been saving. We went to have schnitzel in Germany for the last time. And I suppose the positive way to look at this little anecdote is to call it a lesson-well learned.

We looked at the prices quoted above the cash machine and saw meals for about EUR 6. But as we were ordering, the woman behind the counter reccomended that we sit at a table outside and wait for the waitor. That sounded like a swell idea because we had time to spare before Dennis arrived at the train station from the other side of Germany. After we ate a heaping serving of schnitzel, we left and got back to the hostel only to look nonchalantly at the reciept and find that we spent more than twice what we had expected. We ran back as soon as we could, and the lady explained that the sign above her head refered only to take-away meals. We stood there frustrated and helpless. Although in the states, I would have made a scene, saying that that was false advertising and absolutely unacceptable, I couldn't communicate it effectively enough through our language barrier, and if we had looked at the menu on our table, we would have known better than to sit and eat and expect a fair price.

We walked away with a new lesson learned: always make sure you are ordering from the eat-in menu prices.

After shrugging it off, knowing that there was nothing left to do, Collin went upstairs to take a nap, and I waited in the lobby for Dennis to arrive. It wasn't long before a lean, mean, German exchange student machine was standing at the table where I was sitting. I have never seen Dennis so skinny. I don't know that anyone has ever seen Dennis so trim. He looks INCREDIBLE! He is so thin--like a different person.

We sat in the lobby for a while and caught up our lives past and future. After about an hour, we decided to get Collin up and ready for the Biergartens in the English Garden in Munich. Dennis had just finished telling me that there are TONS of non-alcoholic beers in Germany and that he drinks them all the time. I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell Collin. We had been interested in tasting a German beer, but were so dedicated to our sobrieties that we kept it in our minds as an impossiblity.

After getting Collin out of bed, we went downstairs to meet Dennis' friend Ben, who was his German TA while they were in high school. Ben taught Dennis some of his first German words, and they were best friends while Ben lived in Portland. Ben is in the German military and is stationed in Munich until he moves to Arizona and then Texas in the next few months.

It was lucky for us that Ben lives in Munich because he was able to give us a really relaxed and authentic feel for the city. We left the hostel and headed straight through the center of town, where beautiful music was being played in finely manicured gardens under gorgeous gazebos. He showed us the beautiful Town Hall, Marienplatz (pictured above), and a few car showrooms on the way including Aston Martin and Mercedes Benz.

When we arrived at the doorstep of the English Garden, we anticipated quite a few sights to be seen. The English Garden hosts a few nude sections that we couldn't wait to get our eyes on--despite having been told that the only naked people in them are the ones who shouldn't even be naked in private.

I only saw one old naked guy, and he was facing the wrong way. But what was even more impressive was the beauty in which he was standing. The Garden has a huge network of clear streams that flow through the enormous, lush, green park. There are waterfalls and duck ponds, huge fields and private lawns. There are horse paths and bike paths and hundreds of people gathered around the streams. It was the most magnificent sight.

After we reluctantly passed the inviting waterfalls with people up to their necks in cool water, which we desparately wanted to sooth our sweating selves in, we headed to a big pagoda that stands in front of a large biergarten. On one of the wooden pagoda's balconies, a small band was playing authentic Bavarian drinking music, which lulled us happily into the crowded bier bars where we were determined to find a non-alcoholic beer mixed with lemonade (a staple of the Bavarian biergartens). Finally, guided by our lovely Bavarian guide Ben, we sat down and took a few photos of each other with huge beer mugs that are only used in the part of Germany that is Bavaria.

We slowly finished our beer and kept our eyes peeled for men in leiderhosen (sp). After we sat under trees with some late-afternoon sun shining through the leaves, Ben told us that he was taking us to a Bavarian restaurant that is known across Germany as one of the best! We made our way back through the huge park, and I listened to all three guys restrain their anger as each one of them suggested alternate routes to our destination.

We made it without anyone getting his feelings hurt. There were huge pork knuckles on rotisseries in the windows and white tablecloths and real flowers on the tables. The high cieilings with chandeliers warmed my heart immediately. Although I usually don't complain at all about any sort of food whatsoever, I was dying for something that wasn't wrapped in foil.

The host asked me to choose the table, and I found one that suited me perfectly. After we sat down, we found our waitor to be a charming, chubby fellow who identified himself as a New York-Canadian. I was determined not to pay for another serving of water, so I politely and somewhat coyly asked him "If I buy a Coke, would you let me have some tapwater." It worked! "Only if you give me a smile." I, of course obliged him, and he brought us four glasses with ice water as well as extra ice (you have no idea what a godsend that is after weeks of begging for just a drop of ice to put in the three ounces of soda they give you).

After a small appetizer of coarse mustard cream cheese on bread and pretzels, our food arrived.

Collin and Dennis both got pork knuckle, which is actually just a pig thigh. Collin got a 1/2, but Dennis got ONE WHOLE PORK THIGH! It was huge, it was juicy, it was tender, and it was magnificent! It was so fun to watch them eat it (not to mention to help them finish it). After this great Bavarian meal, the guys and I headed out, and we were on the hunt for some gelato. Now, I know everyone says that even the ice cream we had in Vienna would not compare to gelato, but from what I have had so far doesn't even hold a candle. We are heading to Venice next, though, so maybe I will be happily surprised.

Collin is has already blogged for what we did today, so keep readin'.

Adieu Vienna!

Today we woke up and again had the same delicious but sweat-inducing breakfast. We tried to find the pick-up point for the wine-country tour but our map told us a tram-line ended in one place when it actually ended at the exact place we needed to be; you can see how that could have caused us some problems. After getting off at the wrong stop we walked and asked locals until we found the tram-line that mysteriously had not ended where the map said it did.
The tour was in a bus-like-thing that will can really only be explained with pictures. The guide didn't speak english but the pre-recorded commentary for our route was bilingual and actually quite funny. The bus travels in a loop and the poster said it took 50 minutes but we got to our first destination so quickly that I thought it was a rest-stop. We got out and took some pictures of Vienna from above but for some reason (heat wave?) the city was blanketed with smog so our pictures didn't really come out. We left and drove down the hill past some very scenic and extensive vineyards. The commentary told us that Vienna was the only capital city in the world with vineyards within the city limits, not to mention most of those vineyards are award-winning.
We got to the second and last stop on our tour and it was a small, quiet, up-scale, little town called Grinzing. We found a little Italian place to have lunch because we only had an hour before our next pickup. Whitney got a salad with chicken and I got a spinach, ham, oregano and chevre pizza. Both were delicious (she told me her salad was good, but I wanted no part of it) and for such a nice little place it was pretty reasonably priced. We got back on the train-bus and headed back into town.
Whitney wanted to go to a beach on the Danube that she had heard of and even though I couldn't stand the thought of being in the sun any longer, the thought of taking a book into the shade and seeing a famous river would be relaxing. However, there was no beach, only concrete with a few rocks/brush leading down to the river. Whitney went in the river twice, but like any other in a big city, it wasn't too clean and she was content to sunbathe for another half-hour or so.
For our last outing in Vienna, we decided to go to a different film festival outside yet another glorious building, one showing mostly older movies from around the world. We were all set to see an Austrian movie from 1978 but we were promised subtitles and when they didn't appear, we decided that getting eaten by mosquitoes for 100 minutes to watch a movie we wouldn't understand wasn't worth it, so we took our complimentary glow-in-the-dark stars and left.
Vienna surprised both of us with it's size, history and beauty. We are sad to leave and feel like even though we crammed so much into four and a half days, we left a lot unseen.
We look forward to Bavaria and will try to have a blog up after our first day there. Thanks for reading and we miss you all.

Schonbrunn Palace and Other Sights in Vienna

So, on our second to last day in Vienna, or Wien as it is spelled in German, we had a full day of sightseeing on our schedule. We had breakfast in our hostel for the first time, which was a nice breakfast for three and a half euros, but by the time we ate breakfast at 10:15 it was already over 85 degrees and our habits of drinking coffee and hot tea with no fan or air conditioning resulted in both of us leaving the breakfast table drenched before even starting our day.
From the time I saw it on the map, I knew Schonbrunn Palace was going to be one of my favorite places we visited, and I was not dissapointed. We toured the gardens first and I can't even describe the size of it all. Forests with wide walking paths, perfectly manicured gardens and giant marble fountains (yes, plural) stretched as far as the eye could see. Whitney and I mused about how the occupants probably never made it to all four corners of their estate and how their dinnertime conversation included debating which of their giant marble, classically-themed fountains was their favorite. We made it to the far end of the estate where a pillared structure (purpose unkown) stood atop a hill, facing the palace and providing a spectacular panorama of Vienna. The palace and it's "gardens" knocked me sideways, I've simply never seen anything like them. Imagine the White House being the summer house (yes, this was only a summer house for the Hapsburgs) for only one family and the parks that surround the White House being the private yard for that family. Incredible.
The inside of the palace was equally incredible but because we had just walked through the imperial apartments, we were acclimated to the opulence and extravagance that characterized the Hapsburg dynasty. The "Millions Room" was the most expensive room in the whole palace and it was amazing. The room is made of rare types of imported Rosewood from floor to cieling and collages of centuries-old oriental art are lined with gold. The large gallery was the most impressive "room" in the palace. At 40 meters long and 10 meters wide, with frescos on the ceiling and portraits on the walls, both with the standard gold border, the gallery seemed like the ultimate Baroque-era party room.
Next we went to St. Stephan's Cathedral. After Prague, Paris and London, we have been somewhat desensitized when it comes to enormous, ornately detailed churches, but St. Stephan's was still worth the visit. Because it was Sunday the tours weren't running and we didn't get much history on the place, but we did find out that you have to pay to light a prayer candle and the roof is in a fun, multi-colored, blue and yellow design.
We walked to Mozart's house and stood in the lobby because the tour was 12 dollars per person and we were short on time. We tried to take the tram around the "ring" that goes around Central Vienna, but the suggestion on the map didn't point out that the trams don't go in a continuous ring like the map itself indicated. After getting off and re-boarding in the opposite direction in North Vienna, we got to see the other side of the city (East, if anyone cares) that we would never have gotten to otherwise. We didn't stop and we didn't even get the names of the impressive buildings we saw, but it did reinforce our feeling that Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities we've seen in Europe.
We got home and watched the World Cup final, which I won't go into because I am still furious. All I want to say is that the Spanish play football in a manner that relies equally on their actual football skill and their ability to manipulate the officials. The bar was packed with Spaniards and I left immediately after it ended because of the real possibility of getting into my first fistfight.
Tomorrow we go to wine country because of the spectacular views...Why else would anyone go there?

The Magnificent Vienna, Austria

For more photos, look at Whitney's photo albums labeled by city on Facebook.

When we got into Vienna, it was late afternoon and my birthday was fading fast. We needed to find the hotel that we had booked especially for my birthday (which was only slightly more than staying in our hostel).
So, just like in every other city, Collin quickly devised a public transportation plan for us and we were off. And, just like in every other city, we came out a little wary about what we saw. A lot of closed-down shops, reconstruction projects, and not a piece of beautiful architecture in sight. But, it was my birthday, and I refused to have a bad attitude.
We found our hotel, which was out of character for the neighborhood. The tables in the dining room were covered in ironed red tablecloths and the furnishings were modern and fresh.
When we got to our room, we were pleased to find that we didn't have a view of the street, but instead, the courtyard in the center of the building.
The most important part of the room, however, was the fan. There was a fan pointing directly into the center of the room, and we looked at it like someone opened the doors to a steakhouse and said, "Have at it!"
After talking a little bit about the fancy dinner we'd been planning, I realized that I would like to go to a movie. A movie in English, with characters I know and love. Somthing that would make me feel at-home on my birthday.
There was only one option: Sex and the City 2.
It was supposed to be horrible, and I guess if you are looking for a storyline and good writing, you might think it was so. But for me, it was a chance to see a few familiar faces with familiar attitudes and perspectives.
It was great. Afterward, Collin and I window shopped on our way home and talked. Just talked happily as we made our way back to our version of luxury. We had bathrobes and slippers waiting for us in the room, and a TV that offered a few shows in English.
In the morning, we feasted on the buffet breakfast they offered at the hotel, complete with fine cheeses and freshly baked croissants. Then, we shopped around the little stores that we felt lucky that we were in the less expensive part of town. We got an alarm clock--finally--so that we could be sure to make it to our bus on time, and Collin got a pair of shorts, which he needed becasue two of his pants had been destroyed in the last three weeks from the wear of traveling.
After a VERY cheap lunch of schnitzel for Collin and durun kebap for me, we made our way back to the hostel that we would be staying in for the next four nights.
We checked in and got settled after a lengthy walk from the undergroud station, and while Collin caught up on blogging, I found a pamphlet on Vienna, which we needed to tell us what we should see while we are here.
I found quite a few things that we needed to see: the Hofburg Palace, the Schonbrunn Palace, the Belvedere Palace, the Museum Quartier, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and the Freud Museum.
I also found a small train that takes people to the wine country just outside of the city. Busabout, the company we're traveling with, offers a trip like it for $65 per person, and it is centered around wine drinking, so reluctantly we passed on taking it because we weren't even going to partake in the activities that cause the high price. I was disappointed because I expect the Austrian countryside to be just beautiful, so when I read about the Vienna Heurigen Express, a wine country trainthat it only costs $10 per person, complete with narratives in English, the "romantic Vienna woods," and the beautiful coutnryside views, I was ecstatic!
After planning a few days' activities, we homed in on one more attraction: the Rathaus Annual Film Festival.
From July 3rd to September 12th, Vienna's town hall (a majestic and expansive building with spires and statues adorning its outer walls and roof) hosts thousands of Vienese and toursists while they watch recordings of ballets, operas, symphonies, and concerts.
Because we didn't want to waste the day, we decided to go. At sundown, the film would begin, so after another cheap meal, we headed to Rathaus.
We were in awe when we arrived. The buildings and public space were breathtaking. The screen was enormous, and people were mingling and eating at the nearby restaurants before the film started at 9. We found fantastic seats and waited until the show began.
When it did, we were impressed by the amazing sound quality of each instrument and voice that accompanied the National Ballet of France as it performed "Ballets Russes."
The night air was the perfect temperature, and the sky was clear so that we could see the stars--even in the city. The huge screen stood just in front of the beautiful Rathaus (Town Hall), so from every angle the view was spectacular. I mean every angle. When we turned around, there was another ENORMOUS white building with a dome in the middle that was lit beautifully. And to our right and left, there was a romantically paved park where people were chatting and smoking through the evening. As we left, the building turned on the small white lights in the alcoves of the architecture in the Rathaus, which made for a splendid sight to see!
Vienna might rival Paris as the most romantic city in Europe. I can't remember a single moment when a smile wasn't on my face or a kiss on my lips. We are just so happy here, surrounded by so much rich, beautiful history.
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This morning, we woke up late and decided to hit the ground running on seeing the sights. We've learned that the best thing to do is see the main sights first. In Prauge, we would have been much more impressed with the city had we gone to see the most important sight first.
So we headed to the Hofburg Palace.
This palace was the residence of the six-century-long monarchy of the Habsburg family, which was once the most powerful empire in Europe.
There are 10 buildings that comprise the palace complex, most of which have been converted into museums.
Some of the main attractions, however, are: the family's silver collection containing hundreds of years of fine dining ware fit only for the Habsburgs; the Sisi Museum that showcases the life and personality of one of the most posthumously popular Austrian royals: Elisabeth of Bavaria; and of course, the Imperial Apartments in which the royal family spent most of their time.
We purchased our tickets to these three exhibits and grabbed hand-held audio guides. The first thing we saw were the dishes. They were made of the most exquisite gold, silver, and later, porcelain. In the beginning, the hundreds of pieces that went into each set were hand-painted. Some of the sets were inherited from family and friends in other countries, and others were made in the royal silver and porcelain shops.
When we thought we'd seen it all, TWENTY more rooms followed! There were dishes from almost every decade for hundreds of years. They were so intricate and ornate! Breathtaking! So much wealth in the dinnerware alone! We learned about the dining etiquitte that the vistitors and family used on a daily basis as well as on special occasions.
After the LONG tour through the thousands of dishes that still exsist after the monarchy fell at the end of World War I, Collin was starving, so we headed out to find lunch.
When we returned, we worried that the two exhibits we had left to see would be as in-depth.
The exibits were incredible and luckily not insufferably long.
We saw the Sisi Museum first.
Elizabeth of Bavaria was born in Munich to a somewhat royal family who tended to stay out of the formal life that other royal families lived. Elizabeth, or Sisi as everyone called her, grew up in a very carefree and unrestrained household, so when she was asked to marry the man who would become the Emporer of Austria, she did, but found herself unhappy for the rest of her life.
She felt restrained by the life of an Empress, and constantly sought refuge in other countries, poetry, horseback riding, learning other languages, and obsessive diet and exercise. She was 5'8" and approximately 100 pounds at her heaviest. She was revered for her beauty, which was complemented by her ankle-length hair.
Her very depressing life, which in the final years was clouded by the memory of her son who committed suicide, ended when an Italian anarchist assasinated her as she boarded a ship.
The exhibit was interesting because we got to see so much of such a prominent figure in Austrian history, but it was so sad. Although much was said about how her husband adored her, nothing was said about their mutual affection.
The final part of the tour was through the Imperial Apartments, which were impressive. We saw the private rooms with murals painted by famous artists, gorgeous furniture, lush red carpeting in every room, gold painted trimming on all of the doorframes and around the ceilings. We saw where the family ate their 7-14 course meals every day, and where they bathed when the day was done.
If ever there was a palace to end all palaces, this would be it. The whole experience was exactly what you would think of when you imagine the life of royalty--twofold. To be in the presence of such elegance and wealth was somewhat suffocating, but it was incredible to se that royalty like that actually exsisted!
After heading for a quick look at Museum Quartier, which is supposed to be a hip, happenin' place for young people and artists but was really a kind of boring stark area with a few restaurants, we hopped on the underground and headed back to our hostel.
Collin is watching the World Cup, and I am looking forward to the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburgs, and the St. Stephen's Cathedral tomorrow!

Footnote: Sorry!! I HAD to say how AMAZING THE ICE CREAM IS! We were looking around, wondering why seemingly all the locals had a cone in their hands! So, around noon, which is an appropriate time to start eating ice cream in the day (not like starting to drink at 3 p.m.), we detoured into a cute and busy ice cream shop. We ordered the cones medium cones, which we found could accomodate three flavors. I got pistachio, walnut, and hazelnut (also known as walnusse and haslenusse (I was feeling nutty)), and Collin got Flor Di Basco, coffee, biscuttino. We HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH FABULOUS ICE CREAM. The flavors were so potent and so perfectly sweet. No wonder we see hundreds of people with ice cream in their hands everyday! Biscuittino ended up being my favorite. It is a really rich wafflecone flavored ice cream--it was to die for!!

Finally, a Pretty Prague!

Before leaving for Europe, when we told people which cities we were visiting a good number of them would stop us and say, "Prague is so beautiful" or "Prague is my favorite, it's so gorgeous" and even our supposedly unbiased tour guide described Prague as the "The prettiest city in Europe". However, after our first four days in Prague on the 'old' side of the city, we came away with different impressions. Whitney thought it was a run-down city with a couple neat historic things to see and although I was enjoying Prague, it was nowhere as beautiful as Amsterdam or Paris.
After our last day in Prague, we came away in agreement that Prague might indeed be the prettiest city in Europe. The book we had about Europe and the tour guide both casually mentioned that the Prague Castle is the top tourist attraction in Prague and warrants a visit. They did not mention that while the castle is gorgeous, that entire side of town (the castle sits on the opposite side of the river as central Prague) is filled with gardens, palaces, monasteries and breathtaking views of Prague due to its locatin on a big hill (think Pittock Mansion in NW Portland).
We went looking for our first stop of the day, the Wallenstein Palace but found the Czech Senate instead. The senate building was surrounded by a mini-labyrinth of shrubs that opened to a beautiful fountain and a pathway lined with statues that led to the building itself. For some reason they had a fenced in area where they kept around ten large owls. Next to the birds was a big dripstone wall that Whitney found beautiful and I found to be a little bit wierd. We left the senate area and walked around trying to find the palace, until Whitney pointed out that the picture for the Wallenstein Palace on our map looked very similar to the senate building we just saw. We realized we had just seen the Wallenstein Palace without realizing it because it wasn't written anywhere (in english anyway) that the senate actually meets in Wallenstein Palace.
We got some good exercise walking up that giant hill, and we rewarded ourselves by relaxing in the shade of a beautiful old monastery (right) and taking in the views of Prague. We walked around a little bit (Collin's euphamism for getting lost) because at that point we were off the edge of the map, but found ourselves back where we needed to be...lunch. We had our second traditional Czech lunch. Whitney had bratwurst and sauerkraut while I had a delicious pork chop with roast potatoes. The Castle was very large but surpisingly un-castle. It was fantastic for two reasons; St. Vitus' Cathedral and the gardens surrounding the castle walls. The actual castle walls had been replaced or at least filled in with tourist shops and overpriced cafes.
The cathedral was incredible. I would guess the ceiling was over 100 feet high and everywhere you turned there was incredible stained glass or a gold and silver statue. I won't write much about it because all of its magnificence was visual. Hopefully our pictures give you some idea of how beautiful it is. We then walked down the gardens that are a series of stairways and switchbacks in a 'chutes and ladders' sort of fashion, but surrounded by lavender, roses, grapes and other gorgeous plants. After descending, we walked through a really neat park where we saw a group of female Peacocks. Then we found our way to the Lennon Wall, which is where people "wrote freely" during communism because the wall was technically on embassy property. Next we walked over Charles' Bridge, the most famous and oldest bridge in Prague. There were tons of sketch artists on the bridge, all offering to draw flattering portraits or caricatures. As we stepped off the bridge, we realized that we had crossed the river away from the true beauty of Prague.
When we got back to the hostel, we were beat. We had a cheap dinner from the supermarket and watched the first 70 minutes of the Germany-Spain World Cup Semifinal game (which Germany unfortunately lost, so everyone should be rooting for The Netherlands in the championship). We wanted to get to bed early but it turned out that we were up late enough for me to sing "Happy Birthday" to Whitney a few minutes after midnight.
We felt cheated because we only got to spend one day seeing the real, beautiful Prague. I would reccomend it to anyone who comes to Europe and especially if you like old churches, towers, palaces and castles. (AND DON'T TRY TO PET THE DOGS; Whitney got violently barked at three times before she gave up on petting the pups.)

We are off to Vienna, and if it's as beautiful as everyone says it is, then we will have plenty to write about and plenty of pictures to share. Thanks for reading.