A Nest of Evil. July 5th

We say goodbye to Munich with mixed feelings. The food was great. The town is beautiful but I have mixed feelings about the people. Better than the Austrians I have met. We get out of Munich very easily since it is 7:00 am on a Sunday.  Stop on the outskirts for coffee and danish.  Our first goal is Hitler's Eagle's Nest south of Salzberg but still in Germany. GPS takes us onto Austria to go back into Germany. No problem. Well not really. As I get off the Autostrada, a policeman signals for me to stop. I was not speeding so maybe a documentation check. Rental car so I am good. Well not really. To drive on the Autostrada, your car needs a special sticker.   Mine doesn't have one since I rented it in Italy. Of course no signs in English explaining this or has anyone said anything about it in all the other places I drove in Austria last week. Chalk it up to a speed trap. On the spot payment via credit card. 120 Euros. No allowance for rental cars. They acted like they had just won the war.
Anyway we get to the place where I can park the car and take the bus up to the Eagle's Nest. One lane road built in 1937. The Eagle's Nest was a birthday present to Adolph Hitler from Martin Borman in 1938. The road ends and one has to take an elevator through solid rock to reach the small building on top of the mountain known as the Eagles Nest. Views are spactacular. We stop first to have some beer and an early lunch before the real Sunday crowds arrive. Great weather, nice breeze, great company. Life is good. At least for us. Have to remember all the evil just these two men brought upon the world.

 Eagles Nest is up there. Can you see it?

 Tunnel to elevator. 

 Waiting for Elevator. 

 In The Elevator. Can you see me?

 On Top Eating Lunch . 

 Mary Ann enjoying the Eagles Nest. 

Our Lunch at the Eagles Nest.  

The Eagles Nest. 

 Couple Enjoying The View. 

click to see the view

The Ride Down. 

We leave the Eagles Nest for the short ride to Salzberg and our hotel. But we cant find our hotel. Maybe a good thing because it isn't in one of the nicer sections of town. We drive around and finally settle on the Salzberg Crown Plaza for 109 Euros a night. Quick shower and up to the 6th floot terrace cafe for beer and to do my blog. View isn't  too bad either. 

View From Our Hotel. 

We don't go far. Mary Ann meets me for drinks, then we eat at the 6th floor restaurant in the hotel. Hotel food what can you expect?  Tomorrow we chase Julie Andrews.

From the roof of our hotel. 

Independance Day. July 4th.

Today started with me walking to a second hand store looking for lederhosen. Thought I could get a deal. Oh Yea. 300 Euros and up. New ones from 150 Euros. Forget that. We then drove to Dachau. See previous post.
Drove back to Munich and ate a light (is there such a thing in Bavaria) lunch. Went to buy early Christmas presents but Mary Ann ran out of gas. Back to hotel and Mary Ann resting. I went out for a beer and to do my blog.
First place I stop at doesn't have Internet. Second place I should have known better. Bar packed with locals who ave been there a while. They have a good laugh that I cant speak German.  I order a beer and try to log on. No luck. Owner is not simpathetic. I leave and try several other places but no free internet. Free? No internet. So much for German engineering.
Walk down to Munich Town Square and get on their free WiFi . I can now post my blogs for today. Interesting I am posting a blog about Dachau near the spot where it all started. We are going out to eat tonight but it wont be at the bar with no WiFi.

Walked back to hotel and bought a hat pin and a couple of presents that I can't name in a Blog. Still not real hungry. Shower and go to bed early with Mary Ann reading her book. So much gor a last night in Munich.

 Where I did my Blog today. 

 Blog Heaven. 

 Blog Cafe. 

Nice Fountain. 

Dachau July 4th

No Words Enough.

Blog assembled in Munich town square where it all started.

The Motherlode July 3rd

 Got an early start out of Prague with our destination Munich. We will make one small stop in Plzen as I have heard there is a brewery there. We arriive in plenty of time for the 10:45 tour in English. Have to buy a few things and take a few pictures. I got a pin for my hat, a golf shirt, a ball cap and a mug. Tour was great and there were only 11 of us in the group. We learnt the history of Pilsner Urquell, got to taste raw toasted barley, oats and hops (very bitter) and see the bottling plant as well as the old underground caves they used to use to control the temperature. And oh yea, taste some of their special brew that was served straight from the barrel unfiltered.  I was in heaven.

At the Motherlode. 

In a nice Place. 

The secret stash. 

 Straight from the Keg. 

Some of our group. 

The Secret Brewing Process Reveiled. 

Next up the drive to Munich which was uneventful till we tried to find the hotel in downtown Munich. Someone had enteted the wrong address in the GPS. After a few short words and asking someone on the street, we get back in the car and find it despite Munich's Friday evening rush hour traffic. Tonight we will walk to the town center for a German meal and beer. Did I mention that the hotel bar is closed till Tuesday because the bar tender is sick. Only selling bottled beer and after Pilsner Urquell, I am drinking water.
Showers and rest and we are ready to walk the 10 minute walk to the main Platz in Munich. Strange how every 10 minute European walk takes us 20 minutes. Well I guess they have a different system of weights and measures so there must be one for time I don't  know about. But we walk until we get to the clock tower. It is 6:54 so we wait till 7:00 to see the figures move as in Prague. 7:00 o'clock no movement only bells from other churches. At 7:05 we move on. So much for German engineering. We eat a great meal at the Ratskeller House. Have a nice walk home and to bed. Tomorrow we visit Dachau

 Non working clock. 

 Mary Ann at the Ratskeller. 

 My Meal. 

Munich at twilight. 

Last Day in Prague. July 2nd

Slow start to today as I am still recovering and Mary Ann is under the weather. Off to Starbucks to post my Blog and then bring back sandwiches for lunch. We head out to the National Museum to see what it has. After several Metro transfers we find it, buy our tickets and go to see the exhibits. Wrong. This is more like a natural History Museum for children. We exit quickly and are shown where the Prague History Museum is. More our style. We find it and it Is what we were looking for. The history of Prague and its inhabitants from stone age to present. One really cool exhibit is a model of Prague in the 1800's on a 1:480 scale. It is made of cardboard and wood and took the librarian Langweil (1791-1837)  11years to create. It takes up 20 sq meters. In 2009 they digitized the entire model and made a 3D movie of it which we saw before we left. 

Next up was my climb Of the old clock tower we had seen on our first day. Mary Ann would sit and wait forme in a cafe. Renai where are you now?  I buy my ticket and go to the entrance and see elevators. Maybe they go to the base. 100 steps later I am at the base and there is another elevator. Not for me. But instead of stairs going up, it is ramps going up. Really a piece of cake after the other climbs. View from the top was great and though pictures can't portray the view I will post them anyway. 

Do you see the restaurant on top?

I am back down and have a glass of wine with Mary Ann. Had hoped to eat at one of the places roasting a whole pig on a spit, but couldnt find it again so we ate on the way to the Tram home at a sidewalk cafe. I had pigs knuckle which was great. When we sat down there were   pretzels  hanging on every table. Not till I had had my beer and two pretzels did I find out they are not free with the beer. Oh well. 

Back home to the apartment to pack. We leave for Munich tomorrow. 

One puzzling thing about Prague. Everytime I was at a restaurant and call for the check, people would turn towards me and raise their hand. Quite strange. 

. 

Czeching off The Must See Sites July 1st

Another day and more beautiful weather. Woke up early and had breakfast and went to Starbucks for juice and WiFi. That way I could post yesterdays Blog. Tablet still doesnt work in apartment. Cold is much improved. I blog

I am still trying to get tickets to Pilsner Urquell for friday morning. Only so many available is what I hear. You will know if I get the tour or not by the tone of my Blog on Saturday.

Today we are going to see the must see sights of Prague. Prague Castle which includes St Vitus Cathederal and Charles Bridge. Metro out towards Castle but its the wrong stop so we have to walk up the hill to the Castle. Now some weeks ago Mary Ann hurt her foot and has trouble walking long distances. This limits us a bit. But we get to the Castle, buy the appropriate tickets and proceed in. Well not quite. On the walk in the entrance We saw a women talking to a policeman about missing her friends. We saw her again in the ticket office explaining her problem. She had become separated from her husband and old Mother in law when the tram doors shut on her and she didn't make it onboard. Today was the day she didn't have her cell phone, money , or credit cards since they would always be together. So I let her text her husband. No reply. Then call him. Left voice mail. I am guessing she found them because she wasnt there when we came out ofthe Cathederal. Gave her an old but still good tram ticket I didn't need but no money. Charity has to end somewhere. 

St Vitus Cathederal was great. Very nice stained glass that our old friend Berney would have loved.

St Vitus was killed by the Romans in 360 AD for not giving up Chritianity. Supposedly the bones from one of his hands in the Cathederal. Who am I to judge?

 St Vitus Cathederal

 Stained glass inside

Mosaics outside Cathederal 

Saint John Nepomuk Crypt. 2 tons of silver

Nextup was The Prague Castle home to the rulers of Bohemia and surrounding lands from the early 600's till 1917 when they were on the wrong side in World War I. Thats when Modern Czechslovakia came into being. Like most all Castles outside of England, it is bare of most furniture and paintings but just enough to let you know it was a nice place to go to in its time. Nice views of the city below as one would imagine of a castle. They do have the Kings crown and septer on display with such large jewels on it I mention to Mary Ann that large jewels look fake. On reading a little furtuer I see that these are copies made in 1995.

 Prague from the Castle

Mary Ann on Castle Terrace

Next up lunch. But after so much deer or goulashs I am looking for something different. Low and behold the one cafe there has curry chicken and rice. Add a nice beer to that and you have lunch. The cafe was small so seating was hard to come by. We lucked out and some people were leaving just as we got there. We order and I see this couple about our age looking for seats so I ask them to join us. The table seats 4. They are from Michigan, but he is a Notte Dame fan. His alma mater. Sits on the board of one of their committees so he knows everything about Notte Dame sports. And he doesn't like U of M. Ok hes a nice guy. We talk about traveling through lunch and say our goodbyes. Two ships passing in the night. Next up is the smaller St George Basillica. Smaller and not as ornate as St Vitus. You know all about St

George the Dragon Slayer and this is dedicated to him. 

Beside this Basillica (which ismore like a chapel) there is an exhibit of 70 photographs taken by Czech solders during WWII. 10 for each year. Told a nice story of the Czechslovacians that fought against Germany in that war. 

Mary Anns foot is hurting so we skip the last thing on out ticket as well as the gardens so she can get home and rest. We take a tram down the hill to catch the Metro and end up at Charles Bridge. The one with all the statues that is solely pedestrian now. Along with the mimes,sketch artists, singers and Bands playing music. A car wouldn't stand a chace on that bridge. But Czech one more aire off the list. And I should mention that the statues are all reprodutions with the real ones in a museum. Does it still count?

Charles Bridge

Prague from the bridge

We catch the Metro home with a stop in some Church of no renown. And we

Are home. A glass of wine for me and a book for Mary Ann. We will see what happens for supper. 

We eat locally and I have Pizza. Maybe I am ordering the wrong things but goulash and the other heavy gravys just dont appeal to me. Home early and tomorrow we hope to see the national museum.

Cold in Prague. June 30th

No not the weather but me. Woke up with a cold. Runny nose cough. You get the picture. But this is Prague so I must muster on. Hosts son is not coming by to look at the WiFi till noon so Mary Ann and I head over to Starbucks for coffee and WiFi. While I am doing my thing Mary Ann asks about a nail salon which she desperately needs. Low and behold there is one just 4 trolly atops away. After purchasing the all day ticket, she heads off to some Mall and a nail salon. I finish Sunday's blog by noon and go back to see the Hosts son. He basically renames the network and gives it a new password. But my tablet still doesnt see the router. IPhones work OK so I guess Ill have to live with that. After he leaves I head back to Starbucks to meet Mary Ann. She arrives and I am able to finish Mondays blog. The nail salon she found was one of the few she has been to not run by orientals. They did a ctapy job for a lot of money but she will be able to hold out till we get homr. We pick up mustard and butter and go back to apartment to eat some sandwiches and rest. We will go to the old town later today.

A nap and we are headed into town via the metro. We get a 24 hour ticket validate it and go into the Metro. Except it is the honor system. No turnstyles. Just dont get caught without a valid ticket. I wonder what kind of gamblers the Czechs are? Downtown and off to the old Section of Prague with its Old squares and beautiful architecture. Could take a lot of poctures here. We arrive just as the clock in the square is about to strike 6:00 and show off the figures in the clock tower. How nice. Then time to sit for a beer in the square and people watch.

 Prague street 

 The Clock Tower

 A City Square

 Beer Time

 Prague Street

 Old Jewish Cemetery 

 Prague Street

Beautiful buildings are the Norm. 

We wonder through the old Jewish neighborhood that also has very rich stores in it. Read Prada, Gucci etc.  waunder waunder waunder. Thats what one does in Prague. We stop to eat at the 7 Angels Restaurant and we are shown to their Garden atrium. 3 tables in an area surroundwd by buildings. But we stay anyway. No one knows why it is called The Srvrn Anhels Restaurant. We have some snails and venison, pay the bill and walk to the Tram which we ride home to our apartment. Nice to be home but wish it was air condituoned.