2008 Xmas Trip Europe - Blog

Here are some new links to new pics I have put up on Kodak.  Most of them our Prague pictures.  Going to upload Jeffrey's pics too, he has some good ones, but his mission was street signs and modes of transportation.

Enjoy

Jeff's pics Munich to Vienna

Gianna's Munich to Vienna pics

Jeff's Prague pictures

Gianna's Prague pictures

Jeffrey's trip pictures (all cities)

I managed to get a couple videos on our video page

I really need to do some updates here on the site, finish up about Prague.  I have just been so busy since we got back.  I am even still promosing to put up our videos.  I will I will!!  I am going to try this weekend.  I am in LA today for family stuff, but maybe when I am home I can get at least the sleigh ride video posted....

By the way, when you look at my photos, I blur the stained glass ones on purpose.  Did it once on accident and liked it.  I went in to Kodak tonight and put descriptions of our photos, so when you watch the slide show it tells you the city.

Happy 2009

Since I can't get pics to load on this free website, I had to use Kodak.  Here are links right to our slide shows....

Jeff's pics Munich to Vienna

Gianna's Pics

So I can't say that Prague turned out to be our favorite city.  In fact I feel a bit let down by Prague.  We heard about this city, the best preserved city because it was never bombed in the war.  We have mixed feelings about that.  There are a lot of neat things to see in Prague and explore, but the people of Prague do not cherish their city.  It is dirty, a lot of homeless people and the amount of grafitti is HORRID.  In fact Jeff told me he saw a tag on a wall that said "we don't want a clean city."  So I can't say it was a beautiful city, but I can't say it is a bad place to visit.

Once we figured out how to use phones and get cabs in Prague we moved on to laundry night.  That is how we spent our first night, in doing laundry all night long with a European washer/dryer combo that couldn't dry clothes.  Prague seems to be a challenge no matter what we try here.  LOL

The next morning we ventured out and the first thing we encounter, a old homeless man who has decided to stop during his morning stroll to pee in the drain on the side of the street.  Right out in the open in broad daylight.  I guess if you have to go, you have to go, but........

Oh my I just drew a total blank on where we went that day.....I will have to ask Jeff, however him and Jeffrey seem to still be getting back on track and everyone is in bed......

I can't get pictures to load for some reason on this website any more....what do I expect for free.  So I am loading pics to our kodak gallery right now and I will put up links to the albums when they are done loading......

I can tell you we did a ton of walking in Prague, in fact I think in the end it really wore me out.  I had a down day in Prague and the guys went out on their own adventure for part of that day.  Ok I will fill you in more later on.

Tags: prague

I have a bunch of blogging to catch up on and I need to update our days in Prague.  We got home late on the 30th and today we got back on track with time.  Tomorrow Jan 1, 2009 I plan to update photos, videos and our blogs.  Prague was an adnveture and we didn't have a computer in our apartment.....

I plan to do an overall blog post for our entire trip, so saty tuned!

Tags: europe christmas 2008, prague

Well what an adventure this has been so far, getting to Prague.  Wow I am not so sure about this, but we will figure it all out, we have done good so far.  Let's see, we will start with the train ride here.  Very poor is really all I can say, I felt like we were going through some war torn third world country on the way here.  The houses, some shacks, look very run down and poor.  There is farming every where and you can tell not much income.  I took some video of some of the towns on the train ride, wow it is sad, you will see.  Even the trains that we rode on were run down compared to the ones in Austria and Germany, but I was expecting that from what I had read.  So we get off the train in Prague and figure out right away we are at the wrong train station.  So I go to an info window and ask a lady for info on how to get to the other train station, she said it so fast in english with this heavy accent I did not understand her.  I had to ask again and I still had no clue what she said.  I walked back to Jeff and told him to go ask, he said let's just take a cab.  So we walked out to where the cabs are, no cabs to be found.  So we some how found our way to the metro tram, bought tickets and got on.  The launguage is like greek to us.  I just looked at my paper work, found the same name on the map, we counted the stops and crossed our fingers.  We managed to make it to the main station.  Ok so now we have to call the lady from a pay phone.  Dial, doesn't work, try dialing again, doesn't work, Gianna goes and asks how to dial the phone number on the pay phone, comes back tries again, yeah we did it.  So the apartment lady tells us to take a cab to our apartment, she says call AAA cab, so we call them, ummmm that didn't work out to well.  I tell the cab lady on the phone we are at the main station, she says where at the main station, I say I don't know, she says she can't come get us if we don't know where we are.  I say have a nice day and hand up, then we go looking for cabs.  Jeff managed to find us one.  We have no idea where we need to go or how to get where we are going, we tell the driver the address and we were there in a few minutes....

Now we are here, in another apartment for a short time, because the apartment lady did not have the key to our apartment, she is coming back between 6 and 7, we'll see.  So while we are sitting here the guys decided to try their luck and venture to McDonalds so we could eat.  While they managed to do that and find their way back to our apartment, I figured out how to use a computer that is all in Czech......

So at this time I am going to post photos and get that done.....and then if I have time I will type more.  We have made it to Prague......Merry Christmas! 

Ok I managed to uplaod some Vienna photos, only took me like 3 hours to do on this Czech computer.  Here let me give you an example of typing on this thing:  M.ppf Jdpcoymao  that says Merry Christmas  let me say goodbye irrexf;

Tags: prague

Well our final and last day in Vienna was another great day.  We rode the underground train out to Schönbrunn today and we had the best time.  We toured the palace and it was wonderful.  The palace is enourmous and we only toured a handful of the rooms open to the public.  Then we went outside and they had a Christmas market there.  I had the best hot chocolate ever and apple struddle with vanilla cream sauce.  Yummy.  Then we walked into the gardens and found the zoo.  So we decided to go into the zoo.  It had been years and years since any of us had been to the zoo.  It was great fun.  We watched the polar bears swim and play with each other.  We saw the pandas, the lions, the tigers, the hippos and the rhinos.  It was a lot of fun!  We kept saying how pretty we thought the grounds would be in the summer here at the palace and the huge park that surrounds it.We gave ourselves a reason to come back to Vienna again at a different time of year.

Once again we did a lot of walking here, but it was well worth it, trust me.  When we left the zoo it was getting dark so we decided to head back to town.  We rode the underground back and even figured out how to change trains to go to a different area in town.  It was not as busy out as it has been and most everything was closed.  We found a small place to eat dinner that was open.  The guys had their cheese pizzas and I had goulash.  It was very good.  Then we took our ride in the horse carriage (Fiaker Ride) to end our last night in Vienna.  It was a nice way to see the city.  It would have been a good way to start off in Vienna and learn where the sights where, but we did that by foot the first night we were here.  The carriage ride was nce and the driver told us about all of the buildings as we rode by them.  It took about 40 minutes and then we were done.  We headed back to our hotel.  

We will be heading out on the train tomorrow for a four and a half hour ride to Prague. We leave Vienna around 10am and get to Prague about 2.30pm.  Tomorrow we plan to get some laundry done and relax when we get there.  We were going to go to midnight mass tonight, but I think we are all wiped out and we have to get up early tomorrow, so we are going to pass.  I hope everyone has a very mery Christmas, be safe and we will update again soon.

Tags: fiaker ride, shnbrunn palace, vienna, zoo

Well today I think we are all a little worn out and my cold is getting the best of me as well.  So we said we were going to take it easy today, yeah right...LOL  

We had a nice breakfast and then ventured out in search of a place to do laundry. The girls at the front desk sent us on a wild goose chase on foot looking for a laundry mat.  They are not easy to find here in Europe and the one they sent us looking for was no where to be found.  We only walked about 2 miles with our laundry.  When we could not find that place, we headed back to a dry cleaner we saw earlier, no luck they are closed tomorrow and could not get our stuff done today.  We knew this might be a dilemma, glad we have a washer and dryer in Prague for some clean clothes.  Ok so after that adventure we brought our laundry back to the hotel and headed out to as tourists.  

We went to the Palm House at the Hoffburg which is where they have butterflies.  I had read the place was kept at 80 degrees and 88% humidity, they were right. Come in from the freezing cold to the tropics.  We saw some really pretty butterflies, but a lot of them were not out of their cocoons at this time.  We got some cool pictures of what ones were there though.  Now if I could just share those pics with you.....  

After the butterfly house we ventured over to the Stephans Dom (church) to get some pictures of the inside during the day.  Both times we have been over there the place is so busy with tourists, today was no different.  We went over there not only for pictures but to take a tour of the catacombs below the church.  When you start out on the tour it takes you to where the bishops and cardinals are in their coffins, nothng really special.  Then they take you in to the old part of the catacombs below the city streets.  They have been there since the early 1300's. People would pay to be put in the catacombs in their wooden coffins, but the wood rotted and what was left?  The bones, layers upon layers of bones.  Some of the rooms had been cleaned out of the bones and used for bunkers during the war. They were running out of space, so instead of putting people in their coffins they would simply stack all of the bones.  Jeff took some picturs even though he should not have had his camera on.  The also showed us a room full of bones from the plague, the black death.  Jeffrey was a bit taken back by all of this and I found it a bit creepy as well.  They stopped stacking the bodies down there because of the smell it would put in the church during mass.  I couldn't imagine the stench, yuck. Also, the internal organs of the royal family were there in urns.  Remember I said we went to the royal crypts the other day and that parts of the bodies were in other places.  So the skeletons are in the royal crypts, the internal organs here in these catacombs at the Stephans Dom and the hearts are in the Albertine chruch on the other side of town.  We have been to St. Albertines as well, but I was not aware the hearts of the royal family were there.  We might go to xmas eve church service tomorrow night at St. Albertines which is located next to the Hoffburg palace and was the church of the royal family.  

After this adventure we grabbed some sea food at a fast food place called Nordsee and then headed back to the hotel and made it an early night.  We went to one of the grocery stores on our way back and got some snacks and junk food to sustain us through the night.  Tomorrow we are off to Shönbrünn Palace to take a tour and then walk through the Christmas market they have there.  Then we plan to go to church at midnight.  Not sure if we will make it online over the next couple days. On Christmas day we will be riding the train to Prague for our final leg of this trip.  So merry Christmas to everyone.  We will catch up soon.

Today we slept in a bit, had a nice breakfast in our hotel and headed out around noon.  We walked for 7 hours today, my feet are so sore.  But Vienna is well worth it.

Our first stop was the Royal Treasury to see all the jewels that belong to the royal family of Vienna.  Some of the pieces were just breathtaking.  Jeffrey was amazed by the unicorn horn that they have there.  It was really neat.  

After leaving the treasury we explored a couple of the churches while we searched for the Royal burial crypt.  We got a bit turned around, but finally found the crypt.  The royal family is actually kept in several places, not just in one place.  Tomorrow we will head off to the other church where the rest of their body parts are, but the crypts that we saw today were really spectacular.  The art work that went into designing and building the burial crypts was very labor intensive.  I have a ton of pictures I can share, but the PC in our hotel is a MAC which is getting the best of me and to top it off everything is in Austrian.  

After the crypts we decided to venture to the Pratar to ride the ferris wheel.  Jeff wanted to walk and I said no way.  So we ventured on to the underground train system and found our way.  The pratar is in an amusement park on the outskirts of Vienna.  The place is really old time and has a lot of the old carnival rides.  A really neat place.  We rode the pratar and the views are incredible from a top the Pratar.  After that we walked around the park, a lot of the rides are closed, but we managed to find a few things that were open.  Jeffrey and I rode the bumper cars, then all of us went on the haunted house ride and then the boys raced the go carts.  It was a lot of fun!  By then we were hungry and tired so we headed back towards town.  We rode the underground back to the Stephanplatz and found a cute little Italian place to eat pizza and then headed back to our hotel.  

So we are in for the night, which is a good thing because both Jeffrey and I have managed to catch colds.  So we are going to rest up tonight and head back out tomorrow.  I am going to try and post pictures soon of Vienna so you can see what an awesome city this is!  Good bye for now.

Tags: pratar, vienna

This morning we caught the train from Salzburg to Vienna, it took about two and a half hours. Most of the ride was through the country and small towns.  It wasn't a highspeed train, we reached a max of 200 kilometers per hour.  We pulled into the west train station and caught a cab.  As we drove in the cab I started to wonder about Vienna and wether we were going to like it here.  We arrived at our hotel, checked in, went to our rooms and turned right back around and went to the computer in the lobby to book a different hotel.  Trip advisor is not always right! The hotel wasn't horrid, but more like a motel 6 that stank like smoke, YUCK!  Now I was really starting to wonder about Vienna.  We had picked this hotel because it was close to the main area in Vienna, but we did have another one we liked, so we booked our rooms there and left this one.  We grabbed a taxi and headed over, much better!  We are now staying at the Mecure  http://www.josefshof.com/mercure.aspx/de/hotel  

We got into our rooms and then headed out to explore the city.  We walked about 5 minutes and found the main Christmas market.  WOW!  It was so pretty and very crowded.  I was starting to feel a bit better about the city.  There is a link on the front page to the Vienna xmas market webcam on the front page of this site, you should take a look if you are awake when it is open.

The guys said they were hungry, I spotted McDonald's so we headed there.  What a mad house, there wasn't even a place to sit.  We ate and then headed out for more exploration.  The further we walked, the more we fell in love with Vienna.  Stunning!  The buildings around us were incredible!  We found another xmas market and then continued from there.  Every where we walked got better and better.  We walked to the Hoffburg Palace, then the Stephansdom Church where the bells were ringing.  We went inside and it took my breath away.  This is one of the prettiest chruches I have ever been inside.  We continued to walk down a wide shopping area and it was gorgeous.  There are lights hanging a top of the streets, ones that even look like chandaliers.  I can't wait to post the photos from tonight.  I will try to post a bit later tonight.  I think you will see instantly how beautiful of a city Vienna is.  

I am so glad my first impression was wrong.  We can't wait to head out tomorrow and explore more.  We plan to take a horse and buggy around the city for a tour and then I am not really sure what else we will do, there seems to be many places to explore.  We must have walked five miles tonight and I am sure we will walk plenty more.  

We will post more soon!   

Tags: vienna

The limo picked us up at 9.30, we drove about an hour south of Salzburg and arrived in Filzmoos where we were going to take our sleigh ride.  The guys didn't know what we were doing until we got there.  The drive down in our limo was very nice...however the limos here are very different from the states, it wasn't a stretch limo, but a S550 Mercedes (it was soooo nice and plush).  The limos here are smaller because of the narrow roads.  Trust me, no way you are getting a stretch limo down the streets here.

Our driver was so informative, as we drove he told us all about the area, the history of Salzburg and of the other areas that we drove through.  The small town of Filzmoos was covered in snow and the little inn we went to for the sleigh ride was very nice and family owned.

Our sleigh pulled up out front to pick us up, our driver, Matias, was a lovely older gentleman, born and raised in Filzmoos.  I don't have any pictures to post right now of our sleigh ride, only video and I can not seem to get it online from here.  Anyhow, we rode in the sleigh for about an hour, we climbed up about 500 meters and went about 6 kilometers.  We arrived at a old hunting lodge that has been there and family run for about 300 years.  We had some lunch and met the locals.  Jeff ate fries, I had a bowl of pea soup and Jeffrey had schnitzel, it was all very good.  As we were eating, more people came in from their sleigh rides, it was really neat.  I can't wait to share the videos.  I think Jeffrey has a few pictures on his camera, I will have to see if I can grab them.

We got back from our sleigh ride and we were pretty tired, but we kept going.  We went out and walked around Salzburg for the rest of the evening.  We had some dinner and headed back to the hotel pretty early.  It was raining on us, we were a bit wet, cold and tired.  We all had a great day.  Jeff said I did good with our little adventure!

Tags: filzmoos, salzburg, sleigh ride

We woke up today and decided to walk around Füssen a bit more this morning.  What a charming little town, we really liked it there.  We went to the bakery and got some treats walked around near the river and explored around the fortress on top the hill in town.  Then we headed out in the car for Salzburg, we were going to stop at Linderhof Palace, but we got a bit of a late start so we bypassed that and headed straight for the Zugspitz to ride the cable car.  Can you say scary....oh the entire mountain was in a cloud and we rode up not able to see a thing...a little freaky!  I have video and will post it later tomorrow trust me you will see....The ride down it cleared up a bit and I think I am glad I really couldn't see going up or I might have had a heart attack.

So after that adventure we got back in the car to drive to Salzburg.  We hit some heavy snow fall on the way and it took a bit longer than we thought because of the snow and traffic, but we got here.  We are staying in Hotel Sacher and it is so very nice.  www.sacher.com

We walked around town a bit once we got here, got some pizza and then walked around the christmas market.  The market here is much better than Munich.  So far I love it!  So our hotel was unknown to the guys and so is our adventure for tomorrow.  Let's see, we have a limo picking us up at 9.30am and taking us about an hour away for a 3 hour sleigh ride in Filzmoos, Austria.  Jeff and Jeffrey don't know what we are doing, Jeff might have a slight idea....we'll see!

Filzmoos Sleigh Ride

So I finally got pictures posted, so check them out!  Bye for now!

Tags: austria, filzmoos, fssen, salzburg, sleigh ride

I am on a German computer and can spell Füssen correct for the first time because the keyboard has a ü!  Yeah!  Well today we ventured out, got our rental car and drove in circles around Munich until we figured out the navigation system.  It wasn't bad really, just a few wrong turns, but we made it to Füssen.  What an awesome little town and the castles here are breath taking.  I am trying to find a way to put up our photos, but all the computers I have been on so far are locked down.  Any how we made it here, the entire area is covered in snow and it is beautiful.  The castles were awesome, a lot of climbing stairs....we we lazy Americans and decided not to kill ourselves walking up the hill to Ludwig's castle, instead we rode up in a horse carriage.  We are now in our hotel for the night, it is laundry night, yippee.....so while I am waiting on the spin cycle I am down here trying to post pictures.  No luck so far   I will keep trying though.  I heard it snowed in Vegas....Yikes! 

Well tomorrow we are off for another day of driving, we will visit Linderhoff Palace, ride the cable car up the side of the tallest mountain in Germany and maybe stop in a couple towns on our way to Salzburg.  I am not so sure the boys will be down for my surprise on Friday, as they were complaining about the cold today.....We'll see...

Bye for now! 

Tags: fuessen, fussen

Well today we walked all over Munich. We went to the Hofbrauhaus and Jeffrey got a beer...he didn't drink it all, but said it was good. We went to many of the churches in Munich, Jeffrey had to take pictures of St. Michaels church for an assignment from his history teacher. We walked through the Christmas market and all over the shopping areas. We rode the sBahn (the underground train), that was an experience, very busy and crammed on the trains. I ate while we walked through the Christmas market, sausages and other good stuff.  The boys ate at McDonalds - how boring - or should I say how American. Tomorrow morning we head out for our road trip, we pick up our rental car and drive south. We flew over the alps coming in to Munich and it looks very wintery....Today we only saw fog, very foggy. We are having a great time here! Hope to update again soon.

Tags: munich

The three of us, Jeff, Jeffrey and myself are getting excited about our trip to Europe for christmas.  I am hoping that we will be able to update and blog on this site while we are gone.  So I am practicing now and getting started.

We have been busy planning our trip, shopping for WARM clothes.  I am the official itinerary planner, I have things planned for every day.  We will see if we get every where.  I have a couple cool surprises for the boys, but shhhh I can't tell you here.

Want to see the weather or time in the cities we are visiting?  Click this link to go to my world clocks, to see the weather for each city click the city name above the clock.  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html?cities=168,223,259,204

So here is our itinerary:

• December 14 Sunday:  Leave Las Vegas at 10:50am, fly to LAX on Southwest arrive at 12:10pm, leave for London on British Airlines at 5.30pm fly all night (10 hours), arrive in London at 11:30 am on Monday the 15th.
  
• December 15 Monday:  Fly from London at 1:55pm arrive in Munich, Germany at 5.00pm, Munich is nine (9) hours ahead of Las Vegas time.  We will grab the Sbahn (city tram) at the airport in Munich, ride over to our hotel and check in.  Our hotel has a Sbahn stop right under it, so I'd like to jump back on the Sbahn and head to the Marienplazt (main square) and I hope we can go walk around for a while at the first Christmas market of our trip.  We will see how fast we can figure out riding the sbahn and getting out of our hotel!
  
  
  
  
  
• December 16 Tuesday:  Spend the day in Munich visiting the Marieplatz and visit the New Town Hall and the Old Town Hall.  Jeffrey had to do a report on Roman and Greek art, while we were researching we found a few pieces that are kept in the museum in Munich.  Museum with the art Hoping we get there! He said he wanted to go see them. We may jump the highspeed train in the afternoon and head to Nuremberg, which has one of the largest and best Christmas markets in Germany.
  Nuremberg Market
  Munich Pictures, Old Town Hall, Xmas, New Town Hall, and Marienplatz
  
  
• December 17 Wednesday:  Get a rental car in the morning and head south towards the German alps, to a small town called Fuessen.  This is where we will visit King Ludwig I and II's castles, Ludwig II's boyhood home and the castle he had built.  His Neuschwanstein Castle is the one that Walt Disney designed his Cinderella's castle after.  We will stay one night in Fuessen, we will go to the xmas market that evening.
  Neuschwanstein Castle
  Our Driving Route
  
  
• December 18 Thursday:  We will drive from Fuessen, Germany to Salzburg, Austria.  We will make a couple stops on the way, Linderhof Palace (belong to King Ludwig II), then drive to the Zugspite and ride the cable car up the side of Germany's highest peek.  Then we are driving on to Salzburg Austria, I have booked a hotel I have not shown the boys and we have a couple secret things to do here....
  Salzburg Info
  
  
• December 19 Friday:  Secret day.....later in the evening going to the Christmas Market at Hellbrunn palace.
  More Salzburg with Hellbrunn Palace
  
  
• December 20 Saturday:  We will walk around Salzburg, visit a couple churches, the Residenz and then ride the funicular train up to the Salzburg fortress.  They will have a christmas market there, as well.
  Salzburg Fortress
  The Residenz
  Salzburg Fortress Pictures
  
  
• December 21 Sunday:  We will now be on the train for the rest of our travels, we turned our car in at Salzburg.  We will be taking the train from Salzburg to Vienna Austria this morning.  It is about a 3 hour ride.  I would like to get there mid morning so that we have the afternoon to go explore.  I'd like to head over to St. Stephen's Dom (church), go in for a tour.  I love old churches. I want to try and find the Monastary where the burial crypts are, they are near the Dom.  Then I'd like to grab a fiaker ride and take a tour of Vienna.  Plan to visit the Christmas market I am sure.
  Vienna Pictures
  St Stephen's Dom
  Burial Crypts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• December 22 Monday:  I really don't have much planned for this day.  On Mondays, things are closed in Europe.  I thought we might go over to the Judenplatz and visit the old Jewish cemetary.  This day is open for us, may be a laundry day.
  
• December 23 Tuesday:  Today we are headed to the Spanish Riding school to watch the horses practice.  From there we are headed to the Imperial Treasury.  I know we have a couple things planned for this day, I will have to grab the calendar.
  
• December 24 Wednesday:  We will visit Schonbrunn Palace today. I know we will be going to church this night, I am thinking at Stephen's Dom to midnight mass.  I have never been to mass before and I don't think Jeff or Jeffrey has either.
  
  
  
  
• December 25 Thursday:  Travel on the train to Prague, CZ.  the train ride is 4 hours long and this is Christmas day.  Not sure what we will do when we arrive since I am sure everything will be closed.  We have rented an awesome apartment here that is all glass and modern.  We might just end up wandering around the city.  I really haven't done too much planning for an itinerary for Prague.
  
• December 26 Friday: Prague
  
• December 27 Saturday: I think we will take a river cruise this evening.
  
• December 28 Sunday: Side trip from Prague to Kutna Hora to see the Bone Church
  
  
  
  
• December 29 Monday: Prague
  
• December 30 Tuesday:  Leave at noon and fly home

Well thats it, our trip in a nutshell.  Here is a link to my trip planning website where you can look at more info on the places we will be visiting.  http://travel.yahoo.com/trip-view-1226675;_ylt=AhbABUnb68hoP1bVRMg.lXy0jYt4

Tags: christmas, christmas market, europe, fuessen, munich, prague, sacher, salzburg, sleigh ride, vienna