Prague, Czech Repbulic

There was another holiday last week, so Tony and I took advantage and traveled to Prague for a few days...along with a few thousand other folks. (I am starting to rethink the whole "traveling over a holiday" idea.) Once again, we walked our booty's off.  I had NO idea that Prague had so many hills! It did make for some beautiful views, though! 

I am embarrassed to say that other than asking a few friends who had been previously about their trip, I did very little research about things to do in Prague. We had an amazing time, though! And now I have a long list of things to do when we return!

Old Town Square...Founded in the 12th Century

St. Nicholas Church at Old Town Square (1273)

Church of Our Lady before Tyn has the oldest organ in Prague (1673).

The Astronomical Clock is a very popular tourist spot!

I couldn't figure out how to share the video, but there are several things that happen at the top of the hour...

....including a skeleton ringing a bell. 

There was quite the crowd to watch it all go down!

We stopped by an Irish Pub in the square to "cheers" our friends, Jim and Laurie. They came last September and gave us this Czech Koruna to have a beer on them!

I loved that there were still markets going on!

That evening we took a boat tour on the Vltava River. This is a picture of the Charles Bridge. Construction began in 1357 and was completed in 1402.

The city was beautiful lit up at night!

The next day, we walked up to the Letna Overlook with views of the Vltava River and Old Town.

We rewarded ourselves with a beer after that climb!

Pilsner Urquell is the world's first known pilsner originating in Czech. Apparently the same recipe has been used since 1842. 

From there we walked to Mala Strana for some lunch and up to the Prague Castle (built in the 9th Century). The clouds and the rain started rolling in, so I didn't get the best pictures. Next time!

St. Vitus Cathedral is located on the castle grounds.

From the castle, we walked back down to the Charles Bridge. This is one of 30 sculptures that have been carved to decorate the bridge. The sculptures were carved between the years 1683 and 1928.

We had planned to walk over the bridge to Old Town, but the police had a different plan. No idea what happened, but we had to turn around. The rest of the sculptures will have to wait until our next trip. 

Looking down on the Certovka Canal.

We eventually made it to the other side and watched a beautiful sunset and saw the castle lit up at night.

The next day was the Prague Marathon....

....And we drank beer as the runners that finished passed us by!

We eventually made our way over to the finish line. We saw young, old, people in tuxedos and Darth Vader (May the 4th be with you). These three buds caught my attention as they held hands going across the finish line. Made me think of Ellis and his friend, Birch. They just finished a half marathon and have thoughts of a full marathon next year. If they go through with it, I hope to be there. 

Enjoyed hanging out with these two rockstars that actually did run the marathon. Kate (pink sweatshirt) insisted I wear her medal. I was so excited to pretend! HA!

See you next time, Prague!

Vienna, Austria

Easter Weekend

Tony and I, along with our friend Emile, made our way to Vienna for Easter weekend. I had my first Schnitzel. You won't see a picture of it because it was just "fine". We actually tried two..you won't see a picture of either. We also tried the Sacher Torte. No thanks. So basically you'll explore Vienna with me as we walked our booty's off, exploring churches and hitting the Easter Markets.  

BUT FIRST...we stayed a night in Krakow to see their Easter Market:

Rynek Glowny with Tony and Emile

I believe this is called Oscypek. It is a smoked cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. AMAZING!

The best "sausage dog" we had all weekend. 

The next morning,  we were off to Vienna. Emile may travel with us reluctantly from now on as it was quite a long walk to our first stop:

Schonbrunn Palace

These were real eggs that were painted beautifully!

In my opinion, Krakow won.

From the Palace, we made our way to the Burggarten Park. This area used to be the Emperor's Garden, but is now owned by the state. 

The Mozart Statue is on the grounds of the park.

With all of the walking, it was time to stop at the Palmenhaus Cafe that overlooked the gardens.

St. Charles Church: I look forward to coming back to this spot at Christmas.

The next day, we visited St. Stephens Cathedral. Mass was going on at the time and the music was breathtaking! We spent the rest of the day touring Easter Markets and the streets of Vienna.

St. Stephens Cathedral

Organ pipes in St. Stephens

It was really incredible!

Am Hof Easter Market

Altweiner Ostermarkt= Old Viennese Easter Market

The eggs were all over at each market. Some were wooden, but most were real eggs that had been drained.

Another beautiful church!

Strandbar Hermann

Strandbar Hermann was basically a beach on the edge of the city.

Sacher Hotel: A really cool spot with the largest chocolate bunny I have ever seen and also the worst chocolate cake.

I add this photo only to make fun of us for flying. We are a four hour drive away from Vienna. When I laughed Tony asked, "Do you want to drive?" From then on I kept my laughter to myself because, NO, I hate driving. And before you ask, this was a last minute trip and EVERY train was booked. 

I plan to be in Poland next year for Easter Monday so that I can write about the Smigus-Dyngus celebration. Do yourself a favor and look it up!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen...I am in love! Of all the places we have lived and visited, Copenhagen ranks right up there at the top! Don't worry, it is too cold there to convince Tony to ever make a permanent move! Why do I love it? Mainly I love it for the lifestyle. Bicycles, trains or your feet will get you anywhere you need to go! No need for me to get behind the wheel! The other night at dinner, the General Manager of the Copenhagen FLUOR office was asked, "What do you do in the winter when it is cold?" She answered, "The same thing we do in the summer." It is true. I have seen it. People walk, jog, ride bikes and SWIM!

Me bundled up in front of the swimming platform while they swim in their swimsuits or perhaps their birthday suit. (I refrained from those photos.)

The first time we were in Copenhagen was in November. Tony was off at site and I had planned to just hang around the hotel and read. The sun came out, though, and the day looked too beautiful to stay inside. I bundled up, laced up my shoes, turned on my maps...and got lost! (Just me, isn't it?) Only this time it was a wonderful adventure through Kastellet, Copenhagen's military fort. Apparently the Kastellet is free to visit, but I was a little worried at the time as I was the only one in the area besides the guys in camouflage holding guns. 

He seemed friendly!

This beautiful church greeted me as I exited the gates!

The entire area was absolutely stunning!

Fast forward to when we were there for work last week. I laced up my shoes again and hit the streets. What I have found is that if you bundle up enough and keep moving, the cold isn't so bad! I made my way back to the park near the Kastellet to see The Little Mermaid statue. I didn't even know she was there on my last visit. 

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, 

she was donated to the city in 1913.

From there, I walked over to the Amalienborg Palace (Danish Royal Residences). 

I didn't get a good picture of the entire area, 

but here you can see the Danish flag flying meaning one of the Royals was at home!

Just outside of that area is the Marble Church. Funny enough, it isn't made out of marble. Construction began in 1749, but there were many bumps along the way. The church finally opened its doors in 1894. I guess marble had gotten expensive after the 145 year pause, so they switched it out for limestone.

I eventually made my way to Nyhavn. 

Hans Christian Andersen lived and wrote 

several of his fairytales in this area.

The other thing I love about Copenhagen is that one of my first and dearest friends from our Australia days lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. She has been my wonderful tour guide these last two visits! This time she took me on a boat tour.  It was a bit dreary this day, so my photos didn't turn out great, but I did get a few. 

The Royal Danish Opera House

Our tour guide said the top is the size of three football fields.

I don't know what they were filming, 

but I do know it was freezing!

I don't know how the boat captain managed going under 

this bridge without scraping the sides!

After our boat tour, Joy took me to some places around town that I would have never found on my own. She also introduced me to some traditional Danish food.

Fastelavn is their equivalent to Mardi Gras...

only it sounds much more family friendly. 

The fastelavnsbolle is a bun filled with cream or jelly. 

You can only find them this time of year around Fastelavn.

This translated to a fish meatball and a fish filet. 

Not quite my favorite, but I had to try it!

Joy and Me

Back to the lifestyle...

the market area where we ate had the most 

amazing looking fruits, vegetables and flowers!

On our last day, Tony took me in to see his office. He may have made a mistake. On super cold days, I could just go up there and people watch!

The FLUOR office is up on one of those floors.

View of the public swimming platform.

Tony tested it out back in October. I would 

give a lot of money for those photos!

They swim day or night, with or without a swimsuit! 

Remember, y'all, it is literally freezing! I read that the

warmest the water gets is around 64F...in AUGUST!

It is possible that Tony may find me in his office watching the sunset on future visits!

Nah....they don't serve beer.

Well, maybe I will try to convince Tony to move here.

I'll take one of those apartments, please!