Our Five Favorite International Trips

While on the train back from Triberg, Greg and I thought about our five favorite trips we've taken together in the last two years. We have wonderful memories and great stories from all of our trips, but here are the most special ones:

Croatia

Island of Cres

If I could talk about Croatia every day to everyone I see, I would. But then I would be one of the "crazies" so I withhold from doing so. The parts of this country we saw were absolutely beautiful and fairly untouched by tourism, unlike Italy and Greece. Although the language is a problem, I envy the people who live there.

The coastline and Plitvices park were so gorgeous, and there are tons of great old cities to explore as well. My mouth still waters when I think about the grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers I ate there - it felt like someone had just picked them off the plant and handed them to me. I still sometimes say to myself if I eat an average grape in Germany, "it's just not like Croatia."

If you're looking for a sunny holiday off the beaten path, go to Croatia!

Budapest

If you've seen quite a bit of Europe - as we have over the years - old buildings and churches start to look the same, or you've already seen what you consider the most beautiful church and none of the others can compare. The reason I'm saying this is because I think this was our mindframe when we arrived in Budapest. We had just left Vienna, which is a beautiful classic European city, and Budapest hit us with a solid dose of reality.

It may not be a city for everyone, but we loved it. The atmosphere, the resourcefulness of the people, the kindness of people in helping us find our way around... it just felt so different from Western Europe. Or indeed, any other country we'd been to.

Istanbul

Talking about something different from Western Europe, Istanbul was it, for sure! We went here for our first anniversary (our second was in Lindau, which is in Germany - that list is coming soon). I wish we had time to explore other areas of Turkey because it sounds like each part is very different. I especially hope to get to the ruins in the East at some point in my life.

Having been to a Muslim country when I was small (and Greg had never been to one before), we were struck by the beautiful minerats and mosques everywhere. There must have been at least 30 on the hills around our quaint little hotel. Parts of the city were crumbling, but the palace grounds and the museums were still very much there. And I won't go on again on how much the Islamic designs inspire me with their beauty. I'm sure you all had about enough of that already.

Prague

Prague seems to be everyone's favorite and for good reason. The city is so lovely whatever the season. Even when we went in winter, the snow on the ground gave Prague this mystery and warmth. Greg went with his parents in the summer and they seemed to all like it for the nice cafes along the river and easy walking distances. Another of our friends went in the spring and meet great new friends randomly. Everyone seems to find something that they enjoy in the city.

Salzburg
Last on our list is Salzburg, but not because we liked it the least. It's only 2 hours from Munich so we went there a lot the first year. The city is touristy, but in a way, I never minded it. The walk up to the castle gives one such a great overlook as to why people go there. The beautiful little old town stretches out below you and you may even make out the palace grounds to your left.

Last time we went there, I visited the art museum on the hill and I think the walks along the cliffs were more fun for me then than checking out the art. And of course, who can forget the Sound of Music tour?

 We'll also be doing a post about our top five favorite trips just in Germany so stay tuned!

Traveller's Cheques - "Not" Accepted Everywhere

How many of you know what a traveller's cheque is? I can name three people who do, but at least 100 businesses in Europe that do not. As with all family vacations, running jokes seem to really stick in my family and create memories last a lifetime.
The recent visit of my parents and aunt to Europe gave us another perspective on the subtle differences among cultures and a continued interest in our travels. Although our journey started off on a hot train ride to Prague, with the lack of a promised chocolate box and one debit card swallowed by an ATM, we managed to make the most of our time.

Prague is a great stop if you are heading out of Munich. There is a totally different feeling in the city with its tight streets in the old city that scatter out from a main square. I was especially happy to get a second look at the city. Last time Ayelet and I were here (in Prague) in February, the days were short and we were both under the weather travelers.

summer fishing across the river from the Prague Castle

The best part about summer in the city is all of the outdoor live music. This was a big jazz event in Prague with the temperature so hot that a firetruck was parked among the people with a wide spray of water. There were more adults getting soaked than kids.

Prague Day 2 and 3

Continuing on with Prague... On the second day, we hiked up to the Prague Castle (with a stop in a great bead/jewelry store). We got there at the right time because the guards were changing and their band was playing, too.

Left to right: Entrance to Prague Castle; Greg in front of St. Vitus Cathedral looking pensive (and cold!); and the stained glass in St. Vitus Cathedral

The castle actually consisted of quite a few buildings within it. We saw St. Vitus Cathedral (beautiful stained glass windows all around), a Romanesque church, Vladislov's hall and the Golden Lane full of little houses and shops (one where Kafka lived at one point). We had a fantastic view of the city from up there.

Left to right: Ayelet on the Golden Lane; view from the Charles Bridge; and Greg makes a friend.

After the castle, we walked across the Charles Bridge and randomly found a pizza place for lunch. We even got the happy hour deal because our lunch was so late! Greg was very happy with that. He was still recovering from his cold so we headed back to the hotel to relax and warm up before crossing the river again to try out a lovely Spanish tapas place. The tapas were similar to the ones served in Spain so it brought me back. The Manchego plate and tortilla espanola were especially delicious. Afterward, we tried to watch a band in a bar, but they still allow smoking in the Czech Republic, much to our dismay! With Greg being a little sick, it wasn't worth making him feel worse by staying there. C'mon Czech Republic (and Austria), smoke-free is the way to go!

On our last day, we went to the Museum of Decorative Arts for its Swedish and Czech glass exhibit. This was a quirky museum filled with more than that! They had old clocks, fabric, textiles, Czech jewelry, furniture and commercial Art Nouveau posters. After that, we had lunch and grabbed some bagels (from the fabulous Bohemian Bagels) for the train ride back. Since then, we thankfully have found a nice bagel shop in Munich.

All in all, it was a lovely trip and a great city. We highly recommend it! We'll leave you with the view of Prague's famous Astronomical Clock (and all the gawking tourists)!

Prague Day 1

Sorry for the week-late post. It seems like after even a small vacation, it takes a while to catch up. We both loved Prague for its charm, walkability, great architecture and yummy food (as described in this post). Our first day we did a walk around town, visiting the old town and Jewish Quarter. In our borrowed guidebook, we saw that because Prague has been largely spared from bombings in past wars, there are plenty of different architectural styles throughout the city.

On the way from our hotel into the city, we stopped off at the Powder Tower and Obecni Dom (municipal building) next door. The Powder Tower was blackened with age and stood at a contrast to the municipal building, which was Art Nouveau from top to bottom.

In the Jewish Quarter, the most amazing sight was the Jewish cemetary. Just piles upon piles of grave markers all slanted at different angles and in different levels of decay. I tried to read some Hebrew on the gravestones for Greg, but it was pitiful. Apparently, almost 100,000 Jews had been buried there over the years, mostly in levels one on top of the other. I wish we had photos of this part, but instead I've found a good one from Flickr. In the ceremonial hall, they had paintings of how it would have looked like when it first started being used. They helped to imagine how the cemetary fit into the quarter.

Thanks to CxOxS for this one of the Jewish cemetary... now just imagine this whole thing snow-covered.

The Jewish Quarter itself changed throughout the years depending on the situation the Jews found themselves in in that particular century. Sometimes the leaders tolerated them, sometimes they hated them. As usual, a cyclical history of mild tolerance and severe intolerance continued.

We stopped off for a late lunch at the fantastic vegetarian lunch place, Lehka Hlava. Take a look at the photos in their gallery in the link. The room we were in was the night sky room with big comfy chairs and lighted wooden lookalike tables. The waitress actually came around in the room at one point with incense that smelled like campfire. Greg unfortunately was too stuffed up to taste the flavors, but it was a fantastic lunch. He instead kept the bowl of fresh mint tea near his face for most of the time. The fresh mint tea was the best over there!

I'll post the rest of the days in Prague over the next week *hopefully*. For a sneak preview, here's the link to our photos. Enjoy!

Prague

First Impressions of Prague

After a delayed start to our long weekend, we caught the train to Prague on Saturday evening. It was cold (colder than Munich), but still lovely to walk around amongst all the buildings, each with its own beauty to add to the city. The people were not particularly helpful - we got many blank stares to questions and even had a luggage locker attendant who repeatedly shrugged her shoulders and lifted her hands in antipathy to Greg's requests for change. However, many people knew English and that was a help since we couldn't remember the words quickly enough for thank you (dekuji) or the check please (Uchet prosim) in Czech. Getting an English word out of them was easier than getting a smile or *horror of horrors* a giggle.

Steering clear of Czech food as it is not vegetarian-friendly, we ate at some awesome places - vegetarian hippie place that was actually clean and used their spices in moderation; Spanish tapas (ay, manchego y tortilla espanola); Italian happy hour pizza and pasta; Bohemian Bagels (that's the actual name of the place - great for a bagel fix); and Mexican burritos and quesadillas. Not bad variety for a city! If anyone's going there soon, let me know and I'll hook you up with some names.

And I'll leave you with that because I'm beat and tomorrow is my busy day of the week with German in the morning and work in the afternoon. The one Czech word we were excited to use never came up so I'll use it here: "Ahoy" (hello) as in "ahoy to my bed, good night to you."