Prague To Vienna

VIENNA

We left Prague on Tuesday and headed for Vienna. We took the train and all in all it took us 4 1/2 hours to travel between these two Sister Cities. The train was OK. While we were in First Class, it was not one of the newer TGV trains like you might ride from Amsterdam to Paris. It got us there though and for the €50 fare it was worth while.

The Prague Express

Austria was cold. It was 1-2 degrees every day and there was a pretty strong wind. The wind chill temperature was something like -10 to -15 degrees. We had a mini blizzard the last day we were in town. Here is some of what we did in Vienna and some pictures.



This is a main shopping street in Vienna. It is near the Opera and is one of very few "Closed" streets. It has a variety of shops but most were of higher end and designer shops. There were the obligatory "Mostly Motzart" stores that sold the basic Austrian Souvenirs.

St Stephens Church




Here are 2 shots of St. Stephens Church. Every city we have visited has a huge gothic church in its city center and Vienna is no different. We visited the church and took a tour of the Crypt where thousands are buried. During the Black Plague they dumped bodies by the hundreds every day into holes dug around the church.

The Hofburg Palace

The Hofburg Palace was our next stop and let me tell you pictures can not tell the story. This palace is as big if not bigger than Versailles in France and its in the middle of the city. Inside there are displays of the things the Royals used in every day life....and it was an overwhelming display of largesse. Need silver to seat 15,000, they have it on display. Need china for the same numbers, no problem and gold.....the Austrians favored it. Unbelievable table displays. Sets of china and gold plates to travel with....for 500 people! It also housed the Royal Apartments, State Treasury Building and the Spanish Riding School. It was a cool place.



The Palace










The Emperor's Cape




A Tunic made from Gold



Gold Pitcher and Platter


Crown and Scepter



A gold table setting



A portrait of Franz Joseph the Emperor


Horses

The Palace houses the Spanish Riding School and the Lipizzaner Stallions. We went to see their Practice Session. You were not allowed to take pictures and I got yelled at by some old lady for taking one that didn't turn out. I got back at her though...I took some video. Here is my clip from the practice session.




SCHONBRUNN PALACE


We went out to the Royal's Summer Palace, Schonbrunn Palace. It made the Palace in the city seem pedestrian. We wandered through about 40 of the rooms open to the public. The Gardens outside are huge and had it not been freezing we would have stayed a bit longer and explored.







The Opera

Our last big stop in Vienna was to the Opera. Our hotel was a block away and we had passed it about a hundred times. They have a 2PM tour and we went in and looked around. We were so impressed that we bought 4 tickets to the Friday Night show of The Flying Dutchman. We were in the first box in seats 1, 2, 3 and 4. We had a fantastic view, overlooking the Vienna Philharmonic and a perfect view of 95% of the state. We couldn't see the very back left....but nothing happened there so it was perfect. I had my camera confiscated by a very diligent wife who didn't want a repeat of what is now referred to as The Riding School Incident. We did get a few shots before and after though. It was a lovely experience.

All in all we liked Vienna, though it could have been 10 degrees warmer.

See you in a bit.

Here are some more pictures from Prague







The Famous Clock In Old Town Square. Hard to tell what time it actually is.

Another view of the clock

The Jewish Cenetary in Prague. They told us there are 12 layers to the cemetary. People burried on top of people. They fix about 400 head stones a year.

Another view of the Cemetary.

This is a view down the street in the Josef Quarter in Prague.

Stained glass in the Old Castle in Prague.

More Stained Glass in the castle

The Castle was filled with Statues

This was a huge silver statue commerating someone in Czech history....I dont remember who.

Prague February 2008

Prague - Winter Break 2008

We are back on the road. We are in the midst of a weeklong Prague-Vienna trip. This post covers Prague. I'll follow up with Vienna later.

We liked Prague, although it wasn't the best place we've been to. There were a lot of nice historic sites to see and we had some great meals (Goulash, Beer, Sausages). In town we found too many and, I mean way too many, souvenir shops selling junk. The Old Town Square has hundreds of them....very few nice boutiques.....lots of junk. But that said we did like the city. Here are some of our photos.





We flew on Czecz Airlines to Prague. It was actually one of the smoothest trips we have had in years. On time, pleanty of room and nice people. The Meat Pies for breakfast did leave a little to be desired though.





The Powder Tower is the entrance to Old Town. It was a couple of hundred yards from our Hotel. We went under this old gun powder tower a hundred times.

The Old Church In Prague

This is the most dominating feature of the Prague skyline, particularly from Old Town.










This is Old Town Square



One of the 2 main churches in Old Town Square



The Old Town Square Facades and Restaurants



More Of The Facades in Old Town Square




A look from above, from the Clock Bell Tower




The Old Church at night from the Old Town Square.

Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge links Old Town to Little Town across the Vltava river. The Prague Castle is on the other side of the river.

Joan, Chris and Andrew at the bridge. The Prague Castle is across the river in the background




















Looking back across the river at Old Town

One dominant feature of the Charles Bridge is a series of statues every 50 meters. Below are 3 of them.



























































U Pinkasu

U Pinkasu is one of the oldest and original bars in Prague. Joan heard about it on TV and we went on a quest to find it. We walked down Wenceslas Square looking for it and came up short. We asked for directions at a hotel and got a "finger point" up the square. We were off. We looked in and around back alley ways and finally found it.

The beer is crafted from an original recipe from the 1300's and it is poured as it was back then. Could we tell? No but it was cold and strong and we liked it.




Success, We found it!

Beer Drinking all around. (Andrew had Hot Chocolate!)

One Satisified Joan.....after her beers.



















Another Successful Trip!

THIMUN 2008

THIMUN 2008

Chris recently participated in THIMUN, The Hague International Model United Nations. It is the Woodstock of Model UN. It’s the biggest Model UN in the world. There are over 5,000 Delegates from around the world descending on The Hague for a week of Teenage Debate on real world issues.

Chris was the delegate from Sao Tome and Principe, a small island natin off the coast of Africa.

During the opening ceremony the Delegation was addressed by Bill Clinton and Ban Ki Mon, the current Secretary General of the UN.

He and his team were located for debates in the offices of the OPCW (Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons). OPCW is a real live Non Governmental Organization (NGO) located in The Hague. It is next to The International Court of The Hague.

Chris and his team were charged with coming up with a resolution, socializing it around other delegations and getting it passed in front of the THIMUN General Assembly.

The resolution that Chris and his team developed, debated and got passed was related to the non proliferation of Weapons by Organized Crime and Para Military Organizations. There were hundreds of resolutions developed during the week Chris and team were one of the few whose resolutions were debated and passed. The resolution will be sent to Ban Ki Moon for further consideration by the UN

We are very proud of our emerging International Statesman. Go Chris.

The Closing Flag Cermony

Update February.....OOOOOps! Congrats Giants

CONGRATS TO THE 18 and 0 PATS

Thinking About Summer

Its Winter In Holland And We Are Dreaming About Summer

Below are a few photos from this past summer. We can dream can't we?



This is Annies. It is at the convergence of the New Rhine and Old Rhine rivers in Leiden. The floating docs has seen the Sullivan clan many evenings when the sun shines to 10PM.



A couple of shots of wind mills from the water. Tis working windmill is along one of the canals north of Leiden. We went boating on the canals a couple of times this past summer.

We rented the canal boats from a marina on a lake 15 km north of Leiden in Woorburg, NL. This raft up reminded is of our sailing weeks on the Cheaspeake.

In September we took our bikes to Amsterdam on the train. The top 2 pictures are in Vondel Park in the middle of the city. Its a mini Central Park like setting with trails, lakes, a concert center and a number of restaurants. The bottom is of Chris and Andrew biking back home from Leiden.

Lets Go Summer!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Its 2008 mnd time to wish everybody a Happy New Year. We had a great holiday season over here and are now ready to get back at it.

The crazy thing about a Dutch New Year is the fireworks. For 2-3 days a year they are legal and the Dutch have a blast with them. Our neighbors started around 9am with a keg of beer, €3,000 worth of fireworks (from small to giant by the way...they sell these crates with 96 shots of fire work in them...... 5 minutes of exploding fun) a canister of gun powder and several jerry cans of gas. Think that makes for a fun time? It was a bit crazy, dangerous and at times just a bit over the edge.....but they are professionals so we were all ok (professionals in the fact they have been doing that for 8 years running without a problem)

At midnight all of the other Dutch Crazy's set off their big ones and the sky was ablaze.

Today on my way to work the streets were litered with bottle rockets, boxes of 96 shot, firecracker paper and the like. Check out this news paper post @ http://www.nlplanet.com/almanac/topic.php?id=45

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR and next year we'll take video.