Day 55– Saturday,
August 10. Vienna, Austria. After
leaving Bratislava we had a short (less than an hour) drive to get to
Vienna. We had a little difficulty
finding our hotel. It is located next to
the new central train station that they are building in Vienna, and there is
lots of construction and changes in roads from two way to one way, or even
change in direction on one-way roads from what our GPS said. We got close and then Matthew and I went
walking to find it. After we found it
Matthew walked back to tell Karen where it was while I checked in. Our hotel was new, the rooms were nice, but
the room was extremely hot. When we
checked in it was about 90°F (32°C) in the room. Like many windows in Europe, they are
designed to either swing fully open, or tilt open a few inches at the top depending on how
the handle is turned. The window in our
room had a lock on the bottom, preventing it from swinging open. Presumably this was to prevent people from
falling out, but it restricted the window to only tilt open ~3 inches at the
top. The room would have been unbearable
to stay in with the temperature that high and no air circulation, so I used the
screw driver on my knife (always pack the 10 essentials!) to remove some screws
and make it so the window could fully open.
With the right side now free to open, we could also open the left
side. Even with the window opened it
took a long time for the room to cool down, and as soon as the window was
closed the temperature quickly returned to the upper 80’s. I think this was because it had been over 100°
F the prior days and the whole building had heated up to that temperature and
the large thermal mass of the building took a long time to cool down. I have no idea how people in the other rooms
could stand to stay there unless they also succeeded in removing the window lock like
I did. Note that when we were leaving on
Tuesday I did re-install the lock.
Day 56– Sunday,
August 11. Vienna. We spent the full
day in Vienna. We bought 48 hour transit
passes, and in 15 minutes we could get from our hotel into the core part of
Vienna. The trains here were uncrowded,
potentially because they ran the most frequently of any place we have been to
date. It is interesting how the
different cities deal with fare enforcement on mass transit. For example, Paris has turnstiles and you
cannot get down to the subway platform without having a valid transit ticket or
pass. Other cities (like Vienna), rely
on the honor system and on fare inspectors as there is no need to show your
ticket to get on a train. In our two
days in Vienna we were never asked to show proof of payment, and in fact didn't
see a single fare inspector.
On the other hand, in other cities that rely on fare inspectors we were
asked at least once to show proof of payment.
Portland (where we live) also relies on fare inspectors, and I have
never been asked to show proof of payment in all the times I have ridden the
light rail. They supposedly are
increasing inspections in Portland, but I have seen estimates that a large
percentage of people ride for free since historically they didn't even fine
people that are found without a valid ticket, they just provided warnings. In any case, Vienna’s transit system was
fast, efficient, and clean.
We spent the first part of our day doing a self-guided walking
tour through Vienna. We started at the Opera House, zigzagged our way north
along Kärtner Strasse (a mall like pedestrian only street) to Stephansplatz,
then worked our way west and south to Michaelerplatz (location of Hofburg
Palace), and then back to Opera. Along
the way we enjoyed the architecture, the numerous fountains, and people
watching. We also stopped at St. Stephen’s
Cathedral. Karen and I went in the
Cathedral while Matthew and Elizabeth climbed the stairs up to the top of the
450 foot south tower. We also had lunch
along the way.
In the late afternoon we split up. Karen and Elizabeth went to the Kunsthistorisches
Museum which contains the Hapsburg’s collection of art, while Matthew and I
went back to our hotel room to rest.
While the ladies were looking at art (pieces by Raphael, Rubens,
Vermeer, Rembrandt, …), the guys watched the track and field world championships
on TV. We met back up at 6:15 PM for
dinner at Vapiano. This has become our
favorite restaurant on the trip. There
are some in the US, but all on the east coast.
On this trip we have had dinner at Vapiano in Tallinn, Vilnius,
Budapest, and now Vienna. We ended our
day with a Strauss concert in the Kursalon.
This location is where Strauss directed popular concerts 100 years
ago, This two hour concert included an orchestra
performing a number of pieces by Strauss, as well as a couple of pieces that
included ballet dancers, and a couple of pieces with opera singers. The
performance got over at 10 PM and we caught the train back to our hotel.
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| Opera |
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| Vienna Fountain - one of many |
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| St. Stephen’s Cathedral |
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| Plague Monument |
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| Hofburg Palace |
Day 57– Monday,
August 12. Vienna. We spent a second
full day in Vienna. We started out with
a 40 minute horse drawn carriage ride that took us past some sights we had seen
the prior day, but mostly through areas of town we had not seen yet. We then walked through the Hofburg Palace
gardens to the Parliament building, and then to the Rathaus (City Hall). In front of City Hall they had a large number
of food vendors, and there was a large screen for the open air film festival
that takes place during the summer.
After looking around the area we caught the subway back to Opera. I rested while the rest of the family went
shopping. We then went and had one of
Vienna’s special treats, chocolate cake at Café Sacher. We finished the day with a visit to Haus der
Musik. This high tech music museum has extensive
displays on the life of each of the prominent Austrian composers (Beethoven, Hayden,
Mahler, Mozart, Schubert, and Strauss) plus they have a large number of interactive displays. These interactive displays help to explain
the science behind sound, and how we hear and perceive sound and music. It was very interesting, but to understand
all of it you had to understand some physics as well as music theory. I think Elizabeth was the only one in our family
that understood all of it. In any case,
it was very interesting and was a good mix of music history along with the
science of music, with interactive displays to keep people engaged. At the end there was an opportunity to pick
up a baton and become the virtual conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. If you screw up, the musicians put down their
instruments and ridicule you. We let the museum about 9 PM, had dinner and
went back to our hotel. While we were in
the museum it started to rain, but it had stopped by the time we left. About an hour after we got back to our hotel
it started to rain, and during the night it rained very hard. We were fortunate with the timing of the
rain.
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| Carriage ride |
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| AnchorClock |
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| Matthew as a guard - note crutch being used as rifle |
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| Rathaus |
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| Eating chocolate cake |
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| Elizabeth directing the philharmonic |
Day 58– Tuesday,
August 13. Český Krumlov, Czech Republic.
We left Vienna mid-morning to head to the Czech Republic. We had about 3.5 hours of driving today, most
of it in Austria. The day started out
cloudy, with a couple of very light showers, but got progressively nicer. By the time we entered the Czech Republic the
temperature was ~ 70° F (21° C), and partly sunny. We crossed the border at ~ 3 PM. Total distance driven in Austria, 185 miles (300 km). Total distance
driven to date, 6520 miles (10490 km). I
will cover our favorite things in Austria after we complete our second jaunt
into Austria in a few days.
The first
thing we saw in the Czech Republic was casinos, four or five casinos (all
fairly small) within the first mile of entering the country. We don’t gamble, but apparently they must have
more relaxed rules on gaming than neighboring Austria and hence the Casinos
locate themselves by the border to attract people from Austria. After a short drive we arrived mid-afternoon at
our destination for the night, Český Krumlov. We checked into our pension, and then walked
the ~500 m into the core part of the old city.
Český Krumlov is a cute compact town located on a sharp bend
on the Vltava River. While it is prospering today, it had a challenging
50+ year period in the 20th century.
When Czechoslovakia was formed after World War I, this predominately
German area was included in the boundaries.
Initially the German minority and the Czech and Slovak majorities got
along. However, in the 1930’s, the vast
majority of the ethnic German population voted pro-NAZI, and pressure resulted
in this area being ceded to Germany. Non-Germans
were expelled using whatever means necessary.
After World War II, this area was placed back in Czechoslovakia, and it
was time for retaliation. The Germans
were driven out using whatever means necessary in another round of “ethnic
cleansing”. In both cases, families that had lived in the area for generations were forced to leave or face death. During the Soviet occupation,
the area suffered from a high level of pollution and general neglect. Fortunately, lack of money meant that no new development
took place in the old town, and during the 90’s money from tourism
reinvigorated the town. Today it is a
vibrant town. Even though tourism is its
primary economic engine, it does not feel over commercialized. We
spent a couple of hours strolling through town before dinner, and then some additional
time after dinner before returning to our room. We enjoyed the views from 4 of
the bridges, went to the town cathedral, the main square, and took in the views
from the upper part of town across the river to the castle.
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| Vltava River |
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| Narrow streets and castle tower |
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| View of castle across river |
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| Buildings on Main Square |
Day 59– Wednesday,
August 14. Prague, Czech Republic.
We spent a few additional hours in Český Krumlov before departing as we
had a fairly short drive to Prague. One
of the big activities in Český Krumlov is to float down the Vltava River. You can take longer trips, but most people do
a short ~1 hour float around the core part of town in either rafts or kayaks. The river is shallow, but there is a little
bit of white water, particularly in a small chute that bypasses one of the two
small dams (the other you need to portage around). Most people navigated the water with just a
few splashes, but I did see a couple of kayaks flip over. Karen and the kids took this short trip in a
raft while I took photos. They survived
with just a few splashes. After the
river float, we had lunch, and then crossed the river. We went up the hill to the castle. One of the unique features is that they have
bears in the pit under what used to be the drawbridge entrance to the
castle. We then worked our way back
through town to our car, and headed to Prague.
We arrived at our hotel, checked in, went out to dinner, and then got
caught up on email (the internet did not work in Český Krumlov).
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| On the river |
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| Going down the "rapids" |
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With our trdelníks (read more later)
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| Soviet era furniture (gray concrete) |
Day 60– Thursday,
August 15. Prague. Matthew work up
at ~ 5 AM sick to his stomach. He would
end up throwing up several additional times during the day. I stayed back at the hotel and took care of
Matthew while Karen and Elizabeth went to explore Prague. I walked to the grocery store to get a few
things, but otherwise stayed in the hotel room, did some laundry, read, got
caught up on the blog, and watched some of the track and field world
championships on TV in addition to helping out Matthew. Unfortunately the hotel Wi-Fi only worked in
the lobby (and we were on the 11
th floor), or I would have done more
things on the internet.
Karen and Elizabeth headed into Prague for the day. They stayed there all day, returning to the hotel
about 10 PM. Their summary of Prague was
that it was a very nice city, but much more crowded than any of the other
places we have visited on this trip.
Some of the places were so crowded that they just walked past versus
trying to push their way in. They started
their day in the Castle Quarter and worked their way back to Old Town through
the Little Quarter. In the Castle
Quarter, they enjoyed Golden Lane, which is a group of colorful small (~6’ by
12’) houses where historically the servants for the castle lived. These houses had been built into a narrow space next to the castle walls. They also went to St. George’s Basilica,
Prague’s best preserved Romanesque church as well as St. Vitus Cathedral. St. Vitus Cathedral is an old church from the
14th century but it has stained glass windows from 1931 designed by
the famous Czech artist Mucha. The
windows were supposed to be a big draw, but they didn't seem any nicer than the windows in other churches we have been in. They also went to the Royal Palace and the garden. The Castle Quarter is on a hill overlooking the
rest of the city, and there was a nice view of the city from the gardens.
After the gardens they walked down a series of stair to get
to the Little Quarter. In the Little
Quarter they walked by St. Nicholas Church.
This church has a green dome, and there is another St. Nicholas Church
with a green dome designed by the same architect located only ~ 1 km away in
the Old Town. Not sure if the church got a two for one deal or what, but it seems
odd to have two identically named churches such a short distance apart. They also walked by the Lennon wall – a
block long wall filled with high quality graffiti and paintings. When John Lennon was killed in 1980, this
wall was spontaneously covered with memorial graffiti. The police kept painting it over, but the graffiti
would keep reappearing. Today artists paint
over exiting works, resulting in a ever changing canvas. They then crossed the Vltava River that flows
through Prague on the Charles Bridge.
This bridge was built in the 14
th century and for 400 years
was the only bridge crossing the river.
Today it is lined with statues from the 19
th century. Elizabeth says they are all ugly. There are also lots of street vendors selling
all sorts of items on the bridge.
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| Houses on Golden Lane |
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| View from Palace Garden |
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| Vltava River from Charles Bridge |
After stopping by the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a pin, they
headed to Old Town Square and had dinner.
They enjoyed the large number of street performers – a person levitating, a puppeteer on stilts, a person making giant bubbles, etc. They marveled at the Astronomical Clock that
dates from the 15
th century. The clock shows time of day, phase of
moon, sunrise/sunset time, patron saint of the day, zodiac sign, and much more. There is also an elaborate display on the hour. They also got a trdelník, Karen’s new favorite
treat. We had these in Český Krumlov. A trdelník is a pastry treat that is made with
long strips of dough, wrapped around a metal cylinder, rolled flat so it forms
together, and cooked on a spit in front of an open flame. When it is still hot it is dipped in your preferred
coating, cinnamon and sugar for us. The result is a crisp pastry in the shape of
a hollow cylinder, about 6 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. They did
a little more sightseeing before heading back to our hotel, including visiting
the other St. Nichols Church.
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| Street performer in Old Town Square |
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| Astronomical Clock |
Day 61– Friday,
August 16. Back to Austria. By morning Matthew was mostly back to normal,
just tired and weak from not eating for a day, and sore from throwing up so many times.
We left the hotel mid-morning to head to Salzburg, Austria. Much of the way was backtracking the same
route that we had taken two days before on our way from Český Krumlov to
Prague. Originally we were not planning
to go to Český Krumlov, and instead visit a town east of Prague after we left
Vienna. That route would not have
resulted in backtracking, but when our plans changed we couldn't change the
reservation in Prague so we ended up with a slightly sub-optimal route. We crossed back into Austria around 1 PM. Total distance driven in Czech Republic, 260 miles (410 km). Total distance driven
to date, 6780 miles (10900 km). Our
favorite things in the Czech Republic were:
Karen – trdelník, Matthew – rafting, Elizabeth & Mike – walking
around Český Krumlov.
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