Prague – First Full Day

Today, we went for a walk in Prague. First we walked down to the Charles Bridge. This is the big famous bridge in the city that has many great views and a bunch of artists that put up shop on it during the day. The statues on the bridge were fantastic and it was nice to be able to walk down it and see what all the merchants were selling. We didn't buy anything, but many nice pictures were to be had. The bridge was having some renovation done to it, so it was partially closed. However, this allowed you to see how they were restoring it (you could see all the original stones labeled and stacked as well as the inner guts of the roadway).

After the bridge we walked up to the Castle District and did the tour. It was quite a climb up the hill with the final portion being at least 120 steps but once you got to the top, the view was incredible. You could see the entirety of the old and new towns of Prague as well as some of the districts up on top of the hills. Entry into the castle got you access to 5 sites (we saw 4... The Cathedral, Basilica, Golden Road and Palace). Some of the sites were closed, but the St. Vitus cathedral was amazing as well as the Basilica and Palace. We rented the audio tour gadgets that let us know what we were looking at as they didn't have descriptions at the sites.

After a light lunch and a walk around the rest of the area, we walked to the tram to take advantage of our 5 day pass. This let us get on and off whenever we pleased so we went to to the metro and took the train to the Baby Tower in the west side of Prague. This is a very large TV tower that has some viewing platforms and a restaurant. It also has about 10 very large babies crawling up the side of it. Contrasted against the gray sky it really looked like a testament to the Communist era absurdity that created it. The district that the tower was in was the first really poorer area that we saw in the city. During the day it seemed safe, but at night I do not think I would want to walk alone there. Needless to say we found a cool pub called the Cool Pub that had really cheap beer. We also found laundry soap that was not over priced so we can use the washing machine and have non-petrified feeling socks. There was also a Petro-Canada station, which was a very strange thing to see in the Czech Republic.

We then took the train back to a shopping district and visited a Prague department store. We found a new mouse for $10 (so nice to have). We considered getting a cellphone for $12 with 200 minutes but decided against it. Rea bought a new pair of jeans (Cherokee brand). We then bought some beer, sandwich fixings and other food for our trip tomorrow (more to be explained later in the post).

For dinner we went to the Moon Chinese restaurant and had some hot and sour soup, beef stuff, chicken stuff and rice. Not bad for the price and kind of a neat small feeling setup.

Tomorrow we are going to Kutna Hora which was the whole inspiration for this Europe trip. The town has an ossuary in it that has all sorts of things made from human bones. I imagine it will be the size of a small bathroom so I bet I will be slight disappointed, but since it was what set us off for wanting to come here in the first place, it will be nice to see none the less. The town is an hour out of Prague so we will catch the morning train and make a day trip out of it. There is also a Gothic cathedral to see and a silver mine, so I am sure we will have lots of fun there. Lots of pictures to follow...

Pictures brings up another topic. The Internet here is very slow, so it is hard post photos. Hopefully in Venice we have a better Internet situation and we can get posting again. Right now, I think we will have to deal with just text updates unless someone hits the Turbo button on whatever router we are tapping in to.

Follows are some more thoughts on Prague...

I think that everyone here has a Weiner dog. I have seen at least 20 since I got here and many of them run around with no leashes on in the park (other dogs have them on). Maybe Weiner dogs run free here and this is the natural habitat. Maybe they eat the pigeons...

The transit system is awesome. Best I have seen yet in Europe (which has only been Amsterdam, but whatever). There is no reason to use a taxi as the transit can get you to within a 5 minute walk of where you need to be.

Prague also has some shady characters. More than Amsterdam. Keep an eye out for them.

5 days will not be enough time in Prague. Plan to spend at least a week or come back (which I hope we do some day).

Your beer comes with a head on it. Don't worry about it as it is part of the experience. Beer head tastes better when you are on vacation. Also, don't buy beer in the tourist areas unless you like to pay more then you should.

The cobble stones are very slippery when they get wet.They also hurt your feet after a week and a half of walking on them.

Czech Crowns are kind of hard to deal with. There are about 10 varieties of paper money and many coins as well. It is very easy to get your head turned around with it when you are not really paying attention. The iPod Touch has a currency converter program on it that makes figuring out what stuff really costs a little easier, but the rule of thumb is 100 Crown is equal to around $6 CDN. At least that is the ratio I use.

That's all for now, folks!

On the train to Prague...

Today is a day of mostly travel. It turns out that this train is the milk-run that eventually ends in Prague, so a 4 hour trip is what we're looking at. Already, simply transitioning from Germany to the Czech Republic, I can see a difference in the architecture and certainly the condition of the train station/train. It's not as bad as it could be, but it's grimy.

I'm being a little antisocial on this ride, so I shut the curtains to our cabin. It doesn't mean people can't join us, but it has deterred company so far... plus the train has only about one cars worth of people taking up 8 cars, so I don't feel like I'm accruing any real bad karma from it all... yet...

Rothenburg was a lovely stop for us. As quaint as I remember. The food was good, the sights were beautiful, and even though the room had the toilet down the hall, it wasn't much further that it would be in most homes. We were ironically only one street further than where our family stayed 15 years ago when my parents brought Carmen and I there. I even showed Jon the garage door that I was amazed had space for 8+ cars under the building.

I can imagine that the place would be SO much busier in the summer. There were Zimmer's Frei (free rooms) everywhere we looked, and we could have easily stayed out of the walled area and saved $20+/night, but the Adams Family atmosphere of the Raidel guesthouse we were in certainly helped make a memory or two. I'd ask for a room on the back of the house next time, as horses and cars going by echoed perfectly into our room amplifying the sound as it bounced it's way up to our third floor window.

Arrival in Prague...

Jon got it right – the countryside is a lot more bleak than it seems to be in the city. There is one thing that was neat to look for in particular though... there are little 'cabins' of sorts called chatas, which look to be generally no bigger than one small room. These are apparently a tradition of Praguers so they can have a project to work on, a way to express themselves, a place to garden or even mushroom hunt (according to wikitravel.org anyways). This tradition started long enough ago that many are pieced together and will be anything from a shack to a multi-story dwelling. I guess some people even take to living in them for longer amounts of time so they can rent out their city flats to people who can afford to pay inflated prices.

These little huts are so darned cool! Like a grown-ups playhouse of sorts. They were the highlight of the trip here.

I'm guessing that all the windows we see are actually the windows of offices and stores, as 95% of them are dark right now. The stained glass structure looks like a series of vertical windows topped off with a geometric dome. It's lit, and if it stays on all night will serve as a bit of a nightlight in our flat.

This apartment, by the way, rocks. It's newly renovated, has satellite TV (we have yet to find anything in English, mind you) a little stereo/cd deck, coffee maker, kettle, two burners, inset counter fridge (2x3), hair dryer (YES!), tub, futon, and an ikeaish bed/furniture set. It's awesome. The elevator is one that would scare Mom, and the 40 stairs may be necessary if someone is in it... I did indeed refuse to go in it WITH Jon and all our bags, and cursed him as he left the door open which means it wouldn't come back down. He learned.

We are no less than 50 steps from Old Town Square. It's amazing. The spires, statues, astronomical clock, churches – all mashed into one large square. Then, it's only a short block to Wencesles Square, which is more of a long rectangle, which has some great window shopping, clubs, eateries, finer restaurants, and souvenir shops. I already want tons of the jewelery, but will have to restrain myself.

Our tour temptation: 3 hour Segway Tour of Prague. Oh yeah. Jon would be SO giddy. It's worth the $100 each, right?

Also, maybe a massage. I could totally write that off with the part of my health care that accomodates massages etc, I'm sure. I'm so sore from lifting the backpack up onto my body (carrying it is fine, it's the off/on process that's killing me) and my wrists/hands feel like they are in full carpel tunnel – I thought not being at work would cure me of my ever constant tendency to carpel tunnel, but NO. I'm WORKING on this vacation – it's my body doing the work dammit. Thank goodness I'm in Europe or I'd be all whiney ;-)

This is a city where stores/clubs/restaurants recruit their business. It seems already that a solid (stereotype?) trend is that this recruitment is carried out by, likely underpaid, Eastern African men. We were invited to a club with no cover (still! You think I'd pay!?) and to a Karaoke bar, and then Jon had some flowers shoved in his face so he could be all romantic for me – he told the guy I hated flowers. There were others too – so we've decided to come up with witty but not nasty retorts and to make it a bit of a challenge this week.

Jon's improved retort for the flower guy (of course thought of later) was that I would eat them and because of that the purchase would be a waste. I think the two+ beer helped him come up with that one. I'm sure we'll get to try it out again.

I can tell I'm going to enjoy Prague. It's just stunning – and hopefully continues to be even though it is threatening to rain. Off to bed now!

Now in Prague

Today we traveled for about 7 hours on train to get to Prague. I think there were 6 transfers in total with 4 hours of it being through the desolate wastelands of the rural Czech Republic. I have to say that it looks exactly how I expected an ex-communist Eastern European country to look like... dreary. I saw one valley that had at least 5 cooling towers for what I think was either old nuke or coal plants (I couldn't see other buildings as we were too far away). Many train stations were worse for wear and many of the people looked just plain tired. I guess maybe it was the 6 hours on a train at that point but I was wondering what we had got ourselves into.

Once arriving in the city and negotiating the metro system (buy the 5 day pass, totally worth it in my opinion) I can now see that Prague is very beautiful. Prague's outskirts were just changing leaf colour so it was quite nice to see. The city is very bright and filled with lots people this evening, so who knows what it will look like tomorrow! Many are sitting in pubs and cafes drinking coffee, wine and beer and just watching people walk by. I think tonight we might go out on a pub crawl, or just crawl ourselves to a pub and drink some beers.

The apartment we have rented for 70 Euro a night is about 200 square feet with a kitchen, big bathroom and living/sleeping room. It is right off the Old Town Square so it is close to all the downtown sites. It also has a washing machine, which at this point in our laundry situations is like the holy grail. Just lets see if there is washing machine detergent. Check out Vodickova Apartments if you are going to be here and want to stay in a place that isn't a hotel or guest house. It seems like a really good deal...

More to come tomorrow when we actually do something here!

Day 2 in Rothenburg ODT

Today was our second day at Rotheburg ODT. Since it is a small city we managed to get our bearings and do the self guided tour last night as well as the Night Watchman's tour that is recommended by Rick Steves. The Night Watchman's tour was OK. It was funny and somewhat informative but it was not really very authentic as it was built for North Americans and didn't have too much real history involved. I would recommend it for a first time here, but not a second.

Food in Germany and costs in general have been a lot less expensive then in the Netherlands. We can have a huge dinner for under 30 Euro here and all the tours are cheap as well as the entrance to the museums. I guess a big city would be different, but for a tourist town, I am impressed with the prices. Beer is under 3 Euro for a large glass in all locations and can be found for 1.5 Euro in some.

Today we did the wall walk. This walk takes you around the city's wall and through some parts of the moat. It was interesting to think all the people who lived and died by the wall. As Rotheburg is one of the few walled cities left in the world, it is a rare experience to see such a thing. After the wall walk, we had lunch and then went to the Christmas shop, which was very cheesy and overpriced. They were selling dollar store classes ornaments as well as craft things for lots and lots of Euro. Some of the stuff was nice, but overall it felt like a tourist trap.

After the Christmas store we went to the Crime and Punishment museum which was totally worth it. For 4 Euro each, there was a 1 hour walk that displayed all sorts of torture and humiliation devices from the middle ages. As well there were numerous art exhibits from the same time and a neat collection of wax seals. This was one of the top museums we have seen thus far on the trip.

After dinner we sat in the square and watched the locals make fun of the Night Watchman. I guess he is sort of considered a bullshit artist around here, but he makes so much money off the Americans and Canadians I bet he doesn't care. After he left a bunch of boys came and played their bands songs acoustically. We sat and listened to them for about an hour and I have to say it was a wonderful experience. This is what traveling lets you do, experience how other people live and what they do on a Sunday night.

I think Germany will have to be re-visited in the future. There is so much we didn't get to see just visiting these small cities. Next time Berlin and Munich I suppose!

Tomorrow we are off to Prague, so I will update the next time we get internet!


Auf Wiedersehen!

Hotel in Rotheburg OTD

I have edited this post to reflect some changes that I discovered in the morning when we woke up! Apparently the owner is still alive an well (we assumed he was not here anymore as we didn't see the guy described in the Rick Steves book) and the confusion around our reservations was figured out. Read below...

We are staying in Gasthaus Raidel in Rothenburg. It is in an 600 year old building so it is quite "authentic". We have a shower in our bedroom but not toilet. The toilet down the hall (the only one in the building that I can see) has no toilet paper, so it is quite challenging to go to the bathroom. I am not sure what is going on, but this place was recommended by Rick Steves' book. Later on we discovered more toilet paper, so I think they just got behind (haha) on it yesterday.

The room would be better but the lamp is broke so we are using the nasty overhead light. The lamp is apparently under repair, so who knows if it will come back to use for the evening. The floor is squeaky (fine with me as it is an old building). At first we thought they lost our reservation, but then we discovered that I had clicked October instead of September on the reservation form, so they had us booked for next month. Luckily they had a room, but I think it is the 'room of last resort' that they give to dumb asses such as myself. Our 'real' room for next month apparently has a complete bathroom in it and non-squeaky floors. However, we won't be able to take advantage of that as we won't be here! I have to hand it to the hotel on the ability to adapt to my mistake, but I guess in the worst case scenario we would have found another room down the street.

On the Train... By Rea

Out of breath
Wow – that was close! Our train to Mainz from Bacharach was 10 minutes late, and by pure luck our next one was too. It was the second time now that we've had to walk from one end of a long train to the other to find 'first class' (which our eurorail passes are booked on – they won't let people over 25 get a 2nd class pass) car. In hindsight, literally, the other end of the train was probably closer... but Jon read the train's sign on the side SECONDS before the doors shut. We hopped on, not caring where we sat as long as we made it onto the train. Now I'm sweating from the workout – it's not pretty watching two overly backpacked non-skinny people waddle through a narrow train aisle (not unlike on a plane) slapping people with a variety of straps and bag corners... I was saying my excuse-me's as pardons so as to displace the dirty looks with stereotypes of France instead. :-)

Waiting to catch the train...
Our last few minutes in Bacharach were sunny & misty, as the Rhine is warmer than the air (4 degrees Celsius this morning). It takes until after 11 for the mist to burn off revealing a clear blue sky and lots of bright sun. The leaves on the shrubs and trees are all changing colours, so there is a rich mix of deep green with reds, oranges, and yellows. Next week it would have been even prettier, I bet.

Jon waited at the train station while I bopped around the main street for a few minutes, taking more Doors of Europe photos for my future home-made poster... certainly the colours of the doors aren't as vibrant as they were the last time I was in Ireland and England, but the character in them is still prevalent.

Memories come up and are added to in the weirdest ways...
The home of Ingrid and Helmut was a nostalgic experience – the fine points of German architecture and home design are what I grew to expect of expat homes in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, though I never really knew where the influences lay except that I knew they were European. Little things like the light switches, the layout, the door locks, the door handles, even the toilets reminded me of my youth overseas. It's funny what you forget you remember.

Good B&B Eats!
The breakfast that Ingrid made for us this morning was again splendid and too much – the buffet of buns, cheese, meats, fruit, tomato and cucumber slices, preserves, soft boiled eggs, flavoured cream cheeses, yogurt, coffee, juice... stunning and daunting. After all the white wine last night (which gave me some harsh indigestion which lasted into this morning) it was hard to eat, but hard not to! She even gave me a little plastic baggy to take a bun away with. One bun in particular would have made Mom drool – mashed into sunflower seeds on the bottom, crusted with flax and sesame on top, and all of it throughout. I got my fiber this morning!

Wine tasting and random conversation with other tourists...
Our mission upon returning to town after the long day in St. Goar was to try out some wine tasting. We *think* the place we ended up at was the one that Rick Steve's recommended, but regardless it was tasty. The whole place fit 5 tables of 6, and was awkwardly quiet when we first sat down. We stumbled with the choices until we saw the English menu at the back of the menu booklet and decided on the sampler that had everything from dry to sweet. As neither of us generally drink white, it was overwhelming to see 6 single numbered glasses set in front of us with only two large pieces of Rye bread to nibble on as we proceeded. I wanted to order food, but the lady was a little short and didn't seem to have patience or interest in double checking if we wanted food... it didn't help that I tried to order the Thursday special (Jon said it was Thursday!) on a Friday. A gentleman from Berlin tried to help us decide on something to eat, and from there our conversation with him and his wife began.

He was close to 60, or just over. He stopped now and then to translate summaries to his wife, and had a few moments where he was shy of his grammar yet his English (like Ingrids) was fantastic. As we say, WAY better than our German. We learned a few neat things:
-Most Germans start a job with 21 days of holiday per year. That's 4 weeks.
-6 week holidays aren't uncommon
-To visit the USA or Canada typically costs a minimum of $15K,
which at this point I can relate to from our perspective :-)
-retirement wages are somewhere around 1600-2000 Euro per month, which starts around age 60, and as such is not enough to travel with typically
-This gentleman really enjoys watching foreign news to get different perspectives, and doesn't like George W. Go figure.

Just when I thought I could handle no more wine...
So even though I was intimidated by the quiet of the restaurant and the volume of wine, we ended up finishing those 6 glasses and another two simply to continue the conversation. The restaurant filled, chatter took over the quiet, and I never did get to order any food. It was a chilly 20 minute walk home, but a great day. Ingrid and Helmut offered us a glass of Rose and a sit in the living room for chit chat... complete with a DVD of a fire burning for atmosphere. We talked about languages and barriers of learning them, which was spurred by a funny innocent contextual mistake – Ingrid made the statement that we have enjoyed our vacation until today, rather than saying up to today... the look in our eyes wondering what doom was in store for us gave way to laughter about the splendid change in meaning depending on the words used.

I guess that concept doesn't exist in German language :-)

Some thoughts on European views of Coffee, Alcohol, and Smoking
Coffee has a different philosophy attached to it in Europe. It's expensive, and drank in tiny amounts and rarely, if ever, to go. I can understand why Dad has portable-coffee making down to an art, and trusts Starbucks with his and Mom's lives when abroad, as a Caramel Macchiatto is the same, usually, no matter what country you are in. I probably would have brought my sealable Starbucks mug and some coffee packets and a boiling water thingy (wand) if I was that concerned (like Dad would) but so far we've understood coffee as an expense that is worth it for the consciousness & energy it brings, familiarity, and hydration... sort of. Plus, on train rides like this, it gives Jon something to do.

Alcohol also has it's own philosophy. It's way more acceptable to drink beer anywhere (especially at the park & on the train), so we've made sure to get a couple of 'tall ones' at the corner store when not in pursuit of coffee :-)

Smoking is undergoing a legal transformation right now. As of July 1st Germany has regulated almost all smoking... like we saw in Japan, there are marked out smoking zones on the train platforms, no smoking in the trains, any restaurants or bars, just like Calgary really... one guy we met on the last train was talking about how in his town all the bars are now private smoking clubs with memberships. Only a couple of them are non-private and thus smoke free. In contrast, there are still cigarette vending machines at train stations, near markets, and randomly placed elsewhere. We haven't been around a lot of teenagers at all, so I can't tell if teens smoke a lot, but I did notice that Converse running shoes and leather knee-high boots are all the rage. And scarves – LOTS of scarves.

It was the same in the Netherlands, though ironically the coffee shops could let people smoke pot as long as it wasn't mixed with Tobacco. Weird. Also, ironically, the coffee shops had cheaper coffee (probably because they were making their money elsewhere!).

Since I wrote this I have retired my jeans.
So I packed two pairs of pants. One pair of jeans, and one pair of Superstore “Joe” yoga pants. I should have trusted my instinct when examining my jeans for wear and not brought them, as they are now totally split in the inner thighs where my legs touch. HOT. The Yoga pants are working out better as a result, but slip down a lot resulting in me crafting a makeshift belt from my pink silk scarf. We hear that Prague has lots of clothes shopping, so hopefully I can get a new pair there or it will be ALL yoga ALL the time.

Uh oh - aka Oh Shit?
Jon's wondering if we're still on the right train. Sometimes some cars go to one spot and others split off at stops, to there is indeed a chance that we're totally off course, but thankfully we've got two nights in Rothenburg so I'm not worried – our Eurorail pass let's us make mistakes and as long as it's in the same day ticket's included... small benefits to spending the extra cash on the pass! He's off to find someone who may know better, and then we'll likely have to stay on until the next big town to switch back. The trains are probably the most confusing thing we've encountered, and there's no shortcut.

Ok it's correct. Thank goodness.

(PS - it was the correct train, but again we had to run down stairs, up others that would get us to the right train all with tons of weight on our backs and sore legs from the castle climb the day before. The whistle blew as we were running down the stairs. I attempted two stairs at once and nearly died. The conductor literally waited for us and an old lady - but again for less than 20 seconds. Holy crap. We were panting for what seemed like forever. THANK GOODNESS we didn't have drag-behind-you luggage, or we would have missed at least ONE of those connections. Yay backpacking!)

Amsterdam Hotel

We forgot to post the hotel that we stayed at in Amsterdam...

It is:

The Downtown Coffeeshop

It ironically served no 'coffee' as the other coffee shops did in town. It is in the gay district in town, but don't consider that an issue. Edwin is happy to have all people of all walks of life stay there and considering the cost, it was a great deal for Amsterdam.

Pictures are forthcoming.

Bacharach Germany

Typing on a German keyboard is strange as the Y key is in the lower left hand corner.

Anyhow...

Bacharach is very nice and beautiful this time of year. We are staying at a quaint little bed and breakfast Ferienwohnung Kachel that is about a kilometer from town. Our room is very large and has it's own bathroom.

Town is good just like all the little village pictures said it would be. The region is famouse for it's white wine and we have drank lots of it (especially tonight which makes this German keyboard even that much more challenging). To the South is St. Goar, another small town which has a castle that we visited today. There will be lots of pictures coming soon, when we have our own intertubes again.

Tomorrow we leave for Rothenberg and don't expect to have internet there either. Maybe in Prague?

Rea has a big update as well, but we will await more North American keyboard patterns and free wireless.

Amsterdam Final Day

Today was our last day in Amsterdam. We did the museum thing and visited the Amsterdam Historical Museum and the Anne Frank House.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum was very interesting as it mixed a blend of paintings with the cultural side of things as well as a lot of archaeological displays with artifacts from 1000 years ago to modern times. I would recommend this museum to anyone who is not interested in pure art museums (as I am not).

Later in the day, we decided that since we had some free time we would visit the Anne Frank House. It was quite a moving place with it\s empty rooms and quotes painted on the walls. It was hard to think that so many people hid from the Nazis for so many years in such a small place. It is worth a visit, especially since it costs so little and means so much. As well, down the street is the Homo Monument that is dedicated to all gay people who have faced oppression in the past. It is 3 large pink triangles embedded in the ground. Today someone had placed flowers on the one by the canal.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Bacharach on the Rhine in Germany, so hopefully we can find internet and update the blog when we get there!

Day 3 in Den Haag and Delft

Instead of sticking around Amsterdam today, we took one of our bonus days on the rail pass and traveled down to Der Haag to visit Madurodam (the biggest little city in Holland). Even though it was a kids themed park it was really cool to see all the sites in the country in miniature. The trains were really neat to see travel around the park and it had a real working lock system on the canal. It was 15E each to get in, so although it was a little expensive it was totally worth the expense. Traveling on the train also allowed us to get to understand how the pass worked as well as the rail stations and trams.

After Madurodam, we went to the Den Haag torture museum. The presentation was in Dutch but the building was cool as well as the instruments of torture. We also ran into a couple who spoke a little Dutch and could translate into English some of the speech. It also happened they were from Calgary, so it was a little bit surreal. They live in Glendale and were visiting relatives in Den Haag.

Compared to Amsterdam, Den Haag is a very modern city. The trendy looking buildings and shopping area was really cool to walk around and it seemed to have a slower pace then Amsterdam.

After that, we were recommended to visit Delft (where they make the China plates) so we went there. Delft is very close to Den Haag, so it was only a few minute train ride away. It is a really quiet smaller town and I quite enjoyed it. We found a pub called Kobus Kuch that had pints of beer for half the price of what you can get it anywhere in Amsterdam (2.5E). We asked for some authentic Dutch snacks (not nachos) and got some weird internal organ tasting meatballs and a plate with cheese, liverwurst and raw ground beef. I ate pretty much everything and have to say it was pretty good. The beef was a little bland and I still don't like liver but it was not bad. After dinner we walked around the town a bit more to look at the square and the churches as well as the windmill. After that we headed home on the express train back to Amsterdam. I would have to say that Delft would be a town I would want to visit for a few days whenever we come back to the Netherlands. I was really impressed with its cool things to see and small town charm.

Tomorrow I think we will try to hit a museum (not sure which one) and then go to the big shopping centre they have in town to look at what a Dutch department store looks like.

Amsterdam Day 2

From Amsterdam Day 2

Today, we walked all the way to the Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo. It was more of a 'classic' zoo then what you seen in Calgary and it was very interesting. Lots of animals that were out of their hiding places as well as tons of kids with their parents. The walk was probably about 2 miles, and then another mile walking around the zoo.

From Amsterdam Day 2

From Amsterdam Day 2

From Amsterdam Day 2

On the way back, we circled around to the train station and then back through the shopping district of Amsterdam. The stores were open today, so there were lots of places to stop and look (while our feet recovered). We stopped at a cafe on the street and had a pint of beer with fries and a 'snack' sized sandwich. Overall, it was kind of expensive, but reasonable considering the location.

From Amsterdam Day 2

From Amsterdam Day 2

Further on, we went into one of the local grocery stores and bought a dinner of ham, cheese, bread, tubed mustard and mayo, meatballs, skewers of goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and some other snacks. Considering the lack of refrigeration we have too much, but I guess we can just eat it. Oh yes, we did buy pudding cups because we can use the cup parts as wine glasses later on!

Tonight I believe we might take the evening canal boat tour that is just to the south of us. It is a 90 minute tour with a live guide (big deal apparently), so it should be interesting.

From Amsterdam Day 2

Tomorrow possibly is The Hague (to see Madurodam and other sites) and another town that is fairly close. The weather might be rainy, but that is OK.

First Day

Today was our first day in Europe and in Amsterdam. I didn't really sleep on the flight so I was totally zonked by the time we arrive.

From The trip to Amsterdam via Chicago

After managing to get my bag and on a train we made it to the Amsterdam Central station and figured out how to get on the tram to our hotel. We didn't have enough cash, but the conductor took what we had and was very nice about it. In all reality we could have walked to the hotel with our GPS assistance but it was nice to tumble around in the back of the tram for about 2 minutes.

Later on we went for a an unintentional walk down to Vondel Park. We wanted to head towards the centre of town, but instead went West and found this awesome park. It was very green and lots of people were out enjoying their nice and warm Sunday in Amsterdam.

From The trip to Amsterdam via Chicago

After that we went back to the hotel for a nap and woke to go for dinner at an Irish pub for fish and chips. After that we walked to the red light district. The red light district was kind of lame actually. I am not sure what I was expecting, but other than the occasional girl in the window, it was all tacky sex shops and peep shows. I hear they have been cutting back on the number of windows available, so maybe that is why I guess it sort of felt old and touristy.

From The trip to Amsterdam via Chicago

On our way back we bought some groceries for breakfast and lunch. We purchased some croissants, pancakes, fruit, nuts and wine. Overall, prices have not been obscene but they are definitely more expensive than in Canada for the same products.

Tomorrow is possible the Zoo and more of the downtown core since we now have our bearings.

Our place in Amsterdam

We are in a room above a little eatery run by Edwin and friends. He has a couple of rooms that come with tv, DVD's, a nice double bed, and a shared shower/toilet. It's lovely! The stairs up to the room are a tight scary spiral :-)

A few doors down is a hopping gay bar full of chatter more than music - it's oddly soothing actually!

Pictures soon.

From The trip to Amsterdam via Chicago

Chicago.... For a couple of hours anyway.

We have been through this airport before, but not for international stuff. It's a long airport with lots of concourses and terminals, lit largely by skylights and huge domed halls - much like you may have seen in Home Alone, as I recall.

I'm sitting on a vent next to the rent- a-carts taking advantage of an outlet and the free (ad supported) wireless. It smells like cookies and McDonalds, and the people watching is pretty standard for an airport. Some kid just zipped by on a skateboard - that rebel.

Time for a nap. My body has to fast forward, as it's midnight in Amsterdam. Melatonin here I come.

Cheers!

And.... we're OFF!!!

Here we go. Off to the airport.

Woot.

Welcome friends & colleagues!

This little blog will host our thoughts, pictures, videos, stories, and anything else we can think of for this and future trips.

There's a feature at the bottom that lets you 'follow' along, though I haven't checked if you need to be a blogspot member or not... and of course your comments are always welcome as we post tidbits along the way.

I'm a little giddy :-)

First stop: Amsterdam & The Haag, The Netherlands
Second: St. Goar & The Romantic Rhine, Germany
Third: Rothenburg, Germany
Fourth: Prague, Czech Republic
Fifth: Venice, Italy
Sixth: Cinque Terre, Italy
Seventh: Paris, France

No really, I'm working!

This last day at the office is turning out to be oddly productive.

Go figure.

Almost all packed!

One backpack each. The daypack. My purse. The camera. Some cloth bags for shopping for picnics etc.

That's it.

That includes just the basics in clothes and toiletries, knowing we could pick stuff up along the way...

Rick Steves for the win!

Welcome to the Traveling Sauters!

Hey everyone!

We will be visiting Europe over the next month (September 20th until October 15th) and visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and France. This is our first trip to Europe so we are quite excited.

T-Minus 2 days and counting!