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| Walking around to find Paul a brat before our Rhine River cruise... |
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| A German statue of me and baby Drew! I miss my nanny job already! |
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| Mouse Castle on the Rhine River, we have a lot of video too! |
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| Soaking up the sun on the Rhine River, Germany. |
Three nights ago we stayed in Wurzburg, Germany and were able to catch dinner at the hotel. First I made sure to go down to the front desk and tell them that the power in our hotel room was out. She looked at me annoyed and told me to put the key card in the slot to give the room electricity. This was the first time I volunteered to ask the front desk something, and it serves me right, because Paul didn’t embarrass himself yet, and I surely did. We got a good laugh out of that.... also of Paul not being able to fit in the shower... slanted roof room, best one in the hotel, ha!
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| Paul's just a little bit too tall... Classic. |
The meal was traditional German food (much of it found at our Wisconsin potluck parties) which Paul and I weren’t too excited about, but the food was great! German food has a lot of roasted meats, sausages, potato salad and sauerkraut. I was able to find bread, cheese, and noodles I covered in parmesan. It turned into my classic dinner that I’ve been having in Europe. We didn’t venture into town of Wurzburg with the rest of the group that night because Paul was going to get up early and run. They walked down to the bridge and took a picture of the castle on the hill (and made sure to show us the nice pictures the next morning). We stayed back to swim, but of course the pool closed about 10 minutes after we were done with dinner, whoop.
The next morning we ventured from Wurzburg further into Germany and stopped in Nuremburg for the noon hour. We spent a few hours in the city center on the square window shopping. We walked up to the castle and then back down to the square. The highlight of the trip was our grocery shopping and deal searching, of course. Paul managed to land a cheap bottle of wine at one market, then we went across the square to another supermarket and found 0.5L beer for 27 Euro cents. We of course picked up a few and continued our walk. Another deal we forced was our bathroom break, or as people in Europe call them, water closets. It costs 0.50 Euro to hit the WC per person, so we cleverly went into a restaurant, bought a pretzel for 0.50 Euro and both hit the restrooms! Hah, we saved 50% and got a pretzel for it. Nuremburg was really pretty, and the center was calm and not yet buzzing with tourists. It was a refreshing change.
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| Nuremburg Castle, inside the stone arch walkway... |
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| Another Nuremburg building downtown right off the square... |
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| Paul in front of the gates, he looks tiny! How's that for size perspective!? |
From Nuremburg we got back into the coach and onto the autobahn, were the coach is only allowed to go a maximum of 100 Km/hour. We were getting passed left and right by nice cars, but it is still fun to say that we were on the highway with no speed limits. As they say, there are some nice cars in Germany, so it’s a shame to let those beautiful engines go to waste. Our destination for the night was Prague, Czech Republic. We took a pit stop on the side of the highway for people to use the WC and grab a snack. Paul and I decided against using the bathroom so we could save a Euro, and we also decided against buying a snack because it looked nast and we were pinching pennies. We sat and watched everyone eat while talking with our guide about her experience as a cruise ship crew member. I am sure that’s the only reason why she can tolerate all of these different wild people at once. We were asked to get back to the bus in 30 minutes so we could get on the road, but of course, our 30 minute bus stop turned into a 1 hour bus stop with Paul and I waiting on the bus for everyone return for the last 30 minutes of it. It was ridiculous and we were fuming as our tour was being wasted at a dirty gas station. After everyone finally got back to the bus and argued with each other about their seats for the next 5 minutes, we finally got back on the road. Paul and I are by far the youngest people on the tour, but sometimes we find ourselves the most seasoned, or perhaps the only people who use our watch, haha.
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| On the coach, Paul is smiling despite his knees rammed into the seat in front of him... |
Once we checked into our hotel we exchanged some USD for CZK Krouns and went to get Paul some food at the food court. The hotel was connected to a shopping mall, and there was a metro stop right outside the front doors. We were going to venture downtown on the metro to see the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge, there was another Cosmos group going downtown, but we tried to avoid that, ahah. In the process of avoiding traveling with a group of 20 flaming tourists, we went to the super market and bough cheap beers, cheese, bread, and a snack for $5.68. Prague is known for pick-pockets and petty theft, so we were not so hot on traveling with cameras around our necks in the evening. We decided to be party poopers, and google a picture of the castle, while drinking our cheap beer in the hotel room. We were told there was a pool so that influenced our decision to stay back. We went to the front desk in our swimsuits, and were told that it’s only open for free from 10AM-5PM, so we were out of luck. Our plan backfired and we were to bed, defeated. Of course the rest of the group made sure to show us the wonderful pictures they took of the castle at night.
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| Our make-shift cooler... Beer in the bathtub trick! |
This morning we went to Prague and had a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter, downtown Prague, Charles Bridge, and the astronomical clock. Unfortunately the clock was out of order, so we weren’t able to see the noon procession, but we had a good time in the city center. Paul and I were trying to spend all of the Czech Krouns on souvenirs so we didn’t lose again on exchanging the Czech money back to Euros. It was fun trying to combine the right amount of trinkets for money. We ended up buying a coffee mug, and a toothpick holder, a perfect set of useful things for Paul and me. We also sat down for a cup of coffee, a chicken and tomato pastry, and I got a salad to go. There was a mix up and they didn’t charge us for my salad, because they thought I handed them 200 Kc, when really I got a salad and they gave me 50Kc in change. I thought everything was fine, until I found 100Kc in my purse on the bus, that’s when we realized the mix-up. We decided it made up for the youngster short changing Paul on his pretzel in the market, he stiffed us. We used the 100Kc to buy a bottle of wine in the gas station before crossing the border.
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| Astronomical Clock - out of order, of course! Prague |
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| Old Town, Prague |
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| Charles Bridge, looking out at the Prague Castle, the largest castle complex in the world. |
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| Me and the Castle in the background. |
All in all for our $35 USD exchanged into Czech money we got:
Chinese Food
5 (0.5L) bottles of beer
4 buns
4 slices of cheese
Candy bar
Coffee
Chicken/cheese/tomato pastry
Chicken Salad
Coffee Mug
Toothpick holder
Postcards
Wine
Pretzel
Pretty good deal for Europe. Prague was a bargain!
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