Day 11 by the numbers

Number of.......

Palaces: 1
What may have been the real crown jewels of the Czech republic: 1
What may have been fakes: 1
Hours waited to see possible fakes: 1.5
Degrees Celsius: felt like 10. Brrrrrr.
Amount of rain: seemed like an inch
Best souvenirs yet: 2 (Czech plates!)
Times I used danke: infinite. Not right in cz
Miles to park and ride: 10
slight left turns: 4
Times I missed slight left turn: 2x (Faith recalculated each time)
Heart rate when driving on or near tram tracks: enough to consider it dangerous
Heart rate when turning in front of tram: see previous times 2
Successful metro rides: 2
Stairs climbed to castle: 500000000
Beer: 2
Sick dads: 1
Times I prayed I don't have to figure out Czech health care: still ongoing
Tailgaters when driving: constant

Today was a slow day. We went first to a different park and ride that was further out and in theory easier to get to. Faith chose to take us right past the one we had been at the day before, which defeated the purpose of having an easier drive. The lot that we went to was bigger and in a nicer part of town, so it was a win.

We spent the day at the Prague Castle area. We first climbed the bazillion stairs to get up there and then realized we went in the wrong side and had to go to the other end to start the tour. We took some pictures along the way and then purchased tickets for the sites (short tour) including st. Vitus cathedral (which auto correct just tried to make virus), the convent, the Golden Lane and the royal palace.

The cathedral was the best of the day and I would venture to say possibly the best of the trip and maybe the best I've seen in Europe to date (outside of st peters in Rome). The stained glass was incredible, particularly one by the artist Mucha. Impressive tombs of former kings and bishops (including one for good king Wensclas - misspelled, too lazy to look it up, but we all know the Christmas song). It really was a site to see.

After that we headed to the convent. This is when my dad started to feel bad, so I left them in the convent and went as fast as I could through the rest of the sites, including the Golden Lane, which is a preserved middle ages road that includes exhibits on life from those times. After the Lane, it was off to see the royal palace, which after I had waited an hour in line in the cold, found out that it was closed and I would only be seeing the crown jewels. Since I was only 30 minutes away from them, I went with it. 20 minutes later I read in Rick Steves that they normally only show replicas. Sure were a lot of guards out for just replicas! And I waited a long time to see copies. Teach me to read rs before jumping in lines!

After that, it was a quicker descent down the hill. We stopped for tea and soup at a cafe overlooking Prague, which was nice. They had recently replanted grapes around the area, so it was really romantic....should Johnny angel be reading this: let's do that together :)

Then it was back in the metro to the car and hotel to rest up for the next day

Day 10 by the numbers

Number of.....

Ice cream scoops: 1 (maybe the best on the trip so far....hello Prague!)
Hours driven: 5
Incidents with car that ended badly: 0!!!!!
Incidents that could have: 2 (park and ride signs are ridiculous. One incident that put me in the bus lane as a bus picking up people, for which I off-roaded to get out of. The other with which I ended up going the wrong way down a 1 way - thankfully no cars coming. I can't blame Faith for either - I blame the Czech insistence on making signs as confusing as possible.)
Toll tags purchased before said tolls in Czech republic started: 1
Czech crowns from ATM: 3000 (oanda.com to find the exchange rate)
Cokes bought at McDonald's to get change for tube: 1. I thought we would make it the whole trip without using a McDonald's. Grrrr.
Successful tube rides: 2
Strange border crossings: 1. I wasn't sure if I should stop to talk to the police officer, if they would want to see our papers again or what. There was one free lane going through and another where people were pulling over VOLUNTARILY to talk to the police officer. I have a rule. Unless a cop pulls me over, I'm not stopping. Czech republic is part of the eu, there's no reason to stop because they all have open border policies. I flew through in the free lane but second guessed myself for the next 2 hours.
Horrible roads in cz: all of them
Awful drivers: 75%
Parallel parking jobs: 1 (thanks dad!!!! My first in Europe)
Tries to get into said parking space: 15. Laugh it up.
Times I want to do that again: 0
Size of parking space: huge

After a late start due to rain and general sleepiness, we had the included breakfast and then headed out for Prague. The scenery in cz and Austria was nice before Prague. I included a picture of road signs in one of the towns we went through. That gives you some clue of what we are dealing with between those signs and Faith talking sternly to me about which way to go. It's information overload

We made it to the hotel about 1:30 with limited incidents (see border crossing discussed above). The hotel is in Prague 06, which I think is like the districts in Paris. To be honest, this is the end of the trip where I didn't plan nearly as thoroughly as normal. Probably a mistake. The hotel is nice, but it's not convenient to any public transport, even though we aren't that far from the city centre. Ah well, you live you learn. We headed to a park and ride on the tube (see incidents described above) after finding an ATM to get crowns.

First order of business was food after a successful mcdonalds stop for change for the tube. We found this great place right next to the tube near the old town square. Shown below is paying the bill with a 2000 note. High rollers! (oanda.com for exchange rate).

Then it was a quick teaser around the old square to preview tomorrow and back to the hotel for an early night. Soo ready for tomorrow and a full day in Prague!

Day 9 by the numbers

Number of....

Birthdays: 1 (I'm now a 30 something!)
Times the les mis line "at the end of the day you are another day older.." went through my head: on repeat all day (thanks to an esteemed colleague)
Museums: 4
Museum feet: 6 (why I can walk all day and be fine but do a museum for an hour and I'm shot is beyond me)
Ice cream scoops: 2
Apple strudel: 1
Hotel Included breakfast: 1
Glasses of wine: 2
Cumulative times I have attempted to use my limited Dutch in a German speaking country: 9 (dank je wel!)
Successful park and rides: 1 (2.50 euro alllll dayyyy baby!)
Successful tube rides: 2
Miles walked: very high!
Churches: 1
Art museums: 1 (with a disappointing Monet exhibit)
Amount of rain: felt like 3 inches
Times I felt soaked: 3
Degrees celsius: felt like 10-12. Brrrrrrr and wet.

Going to combine the posts today and add what we are seeing as I'm behind.

We first drove the 15 miles to a park and ride in Vienna that was dirt cheap, but was also a dirt parking lot that looked like a sort of sketchy part of town. We went with it because I wasn't sure what else to do. Thankfully it worked out great. We grabbed the tube and headed to the Hofburg area to see the Treasury, imperial apts, and sisi museum. I saw these sites back in December on my Christmas wonderland tour, so it was great to see my parents reaction to them. Love the treasury, it's definitely my favorite jewel museum in Europe so far (including the tower of london).

After that, we headed to St Stephen's in the centre and enjoyed the calm of the front part of the sanctuary. Then it was off to lunch at an RS recommended place, followed by the Albertina museum, which was a bit disappointing. They had a Monet exhibit advertised all over town....the advertisement posters were misleading. There was only 3 Monet paintings in the section and not much else to get excited about. If you go to Vienna, skip it and thank me later. Then it was time to reward ourselves with some ice cream. At this point, the walking is starting to catch up with everyone. We called it a day and found the tube back and the car in one piece. Strudel and wine again for dinner!

Do re me fa so la ti do

On Thursday afternoon, we did the original sound of music tour with panorama, which I thought would be cheesy and was appropriately so. They took us to all of the major sites, which included the back of the house where they shot the boat scene, the lane where Julie sang "I've got confidence", the gazebo, and the church where the wedding was filmed. There were other sites pointed out along the way and some gorgeous lake district scenery.

As a bonus, the tour was sing a long. How can you feel sad when you get to sing along with Julie Andrews? I submit it's not possible. Great tour and totally worth the extra euros to have a guide. I went to bed humming the songs and they are still running through my head. Can't wait to watch the movie again!

Day 8 by the numbers

Number of....

Hours driven: 5
Traffic incidents: 1(who knew you needed a special sticker for tolls in Austria? Found out about 1.5 hours into drive. Hoping penalty isn't too stiff as RS claims it is)
Great highways that I mostly paid for: 1
Missing work: some
Apprehension about 31st birthday: lots (but not as bad as 30!)
Mountains seen: lots
Men peeing: 1 (I won today - that's lindsay 2 mom 1 dad 0)
Palaces: 1
Successful parking spots: 2
Times through Miranda Lamberts new album: 4 (thanks A&A!)
Songs I hate on it: 1 - what is with the voice changer on that one song? Other than that, I LOVE the entire album
Rivers outside of hotel rooms: 1
Distance from downtown Vienna: 15 miles
Schnitzels: 1
Wine: 3 glasses :)
Apple strudel: .5

Combining posts for today considering I'm behind. We reluctantly left Salzburg on early. I should have planned 3 nights there for the food and ambience alone. What a great city. After realising that I needed to buy a toll tag for Austria about 1.5 hours into the trip, I stressed for the next 2 hours about what kind of fine I was going to have for all the cameras I went through. Ah well, life is short, party on. We made it into Vienna around lunch, which was perfect because the road that Faith led us down went right by Schonnbrunn palace, which meant that if parking was available, we could kill that on day 1 without having to stress ourselves the next day.

Palace was as good as last time. The gardens weren't planted like I thought they would be, so that was a bit disappointing. But all in all, a great day at the grounds. No rain (even though we left Salzburg in a down pour) and perfect weather.

After that we headed out of Vienna for the hotel. I couldn't find a hotel in the city centre that I felt comfortable parking at online, so I went with one about 15 miles outside of town, which ended up perfect because it had a huge parking lot and was right on a little river again. Bonus: apple strudel and wine for dinner!

Fortress and fun

I missed updating yesterday. Had too much fun with the beer and lederhosen in Salzburg!

In the morning, we went to the fortress above Salzburg on the funicular. It was a lot of fun - great views with an interesting museum on middle ages life in Salzburg. There was also a very strange marionette museum that Rick recommended. Not a fan - extremely creepy and just super strange. I don't get the marionette fascination. I know a lot of people who have issues with clowns. I don't have that hang up. I do have a weird fear of marionettes. They just creep me out to no end. We also got soup and pretzels on the terrace overlooking the mountains, which was great fun, other than the bird incident which my dad took one for the team on. Poor dad, that bird had a lot inside of it itching to get out.

I'm going to do a separate post for the afternoon. Hint: the hills are alive!

That evening, we went to the middle of the city to hear a band festival and enjoy some chicken and beer. I had a hard time getting the chicken because a ton of guys in lederhosen kept pushing me out of the way. I finally got assertive and pushed my way to the front - lederhosen or not, no one stands in the way of me and food while on holiday.

Overall, Salzburg gets a 9 out of 10 on my scale. It could do with a bit more accessibility, but what a city. It's on my repeat weekend list.