Bratislava, Slovakia

We hopped on the train and in only an hour we made the trip from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia. I'm starting to learn that you cannot judge a city by it's train station. No matter what city you are in, the train and/or bus station will be the worst place in town. Bratislava was a good example. Once we caught a bus into the old town, we found a beautiful cobblestone center, a "mini-Prague" as the guidebooks would say.

This bridge is known locally as the "UFO Bridge" due to the revolving restuarant at the top of the span. It crosses the Danube and divides the picturesque old town from the massive soviet style apartment blocks of the new town. Bratislava became the capital of the newly independent Slovakia in 1993, following their "Velvet Divorce" from the Czech Republic.

We had an adventure finding our lodging here. We opted to rent a private apartment for the first time. We found the building easy enough, but the front door was locked with a big panel of buzzer buttons next to it. We had no idea what button was the one, so we tried several. We got a few polite "wrong number" smiles, and finally one old lady really chewed us out for dragging her out of her apartment. We sat on the stoop in dejection and were about to give up, when I noticed a button off of the main panel in big letters APARTMENT MUZEJNA. We got in and the place was excellent.

We had a fun night in some of Bratislava's pubs and found the cheapest beer of the trip; 97 cents for Budvar.

Vienna, Austria

Today we slept in and then caught a minibus to Austria. Actually, since we were the only people on the minibus, it was more of a taxi. We got a ride through beautiful, green Czech countryside to the Austrian city of Linz. I recall that Linz was Hitler's favorite city. Hmmmm. From Linz we caught a train into Vienna.

We spent two chilly days in Vienna. The renaissance architecture here is really fantastic. There are so many huge ornate buildings, even the 50th best building in Vienna would be noteworthy in any other city. Above is the Hofburg Palace.

The one tour we did was the Schloss Schonbrunn. This palace is simply MASSSIVE. Franz Josef the First, last of the Habsburg monarchs, reigned here during the end of the great Austrian empire. He lived here and was the big guy in charge for 68 years! Ruling from 1848 to 1916, he passed on before seeing his empire be dismantled after picking the wrong side in WWI. Seeing how these people lived was quite fascinating.

In contrast to the Schloss Schonbrunn; our Vienna hotel was the smallest room considered fit for human habitation Ive ever seen. I've seen bigger walk-in closets. Vienna is a beauty, though we wouldnt rank Austrians as the most friendly people in Europe. We were ready to move on back into Eastern Europe for cheaper prices and better weather.

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Today we travelled via bus to the tiny town of Cesky Krumlov. We heard it had the 2nd biggest castle in the Czech Republic (next to Prague's) and since we love castles, we had to go.

Here is the view from the top of the castle. It was sizeable and we got an informative tour from a Scottish educated Czech man with a very difficult Czech-Scottish accent.

Ahhhhhh Budvar. If you don't know, Budvar is the original Budweiser. The Anheuser Busch company stole the name, slapped it on it's crappy beer, and sold it like gangbusters in America. Now the original (begun in 1265) must sell its beer as "Czechvar" in America. Budvar dark is like a lighter version of Guinness. My personal favorite beer on earth.

The best part of our visit her was staying in this 14th century tower! We had a cozy room at the top, for just $55! I love eastern Europe.

Prague, Czech Republic

Typical Czech house address sign.

The Prague Metro has some great modern art. We rode it all over.

The Czechs were more or less given away to Hitler by the French and the British in 1939. The Nazi's swept in and had control of the country practically overnight. With no support from the soon-to-be allied forces, they had no chance and it was a bloodless takeover. Luckily for us today, that means all of the gothic achitecture of Prague still stands, unlike so much of Europe which was devestated in the war.

Prague is truly magical. It is our consensus favorite city we've seen.

Prague, Czech Republic

Today we hopped on the train to Prague. This was our first experience with train travel in Europe, and it was really enjoyable. The train is more comfortable then a bus or a plane. You can get up and walk around and stretch your legs. You get to look at all the scenery with out having to stare at another vehicle. There are no bumps in the road, just the clackety-clack of the rails. Flying is faster, but you miss everything along the way, and you arrive feeling confused and disconnected with your destination. For me, train travel is the best form of transportation ever made.
This trip was also exciting as it was our first trip across what once was "The Iron Curtain". Intellectually, I knew the Czech republic was part of the EU and NATO, and fully westernized but I still wondered if there would be some strange problems at the border. I would have the same nervousness before each successive border, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey. All would end up being easy transitions, I think you never completely lose that nervousness at borders no matter how much you travel.

Well, The Czech Republic is very pretty, and old town Prague is simply amazing. We had never been to a city with a true old town before, and we really spoiled ourselves by visiting Prague first. Cities all over the world are characterized as "The New Prague" and for good reason. It's brightly painted, perfectly preserved 17th century buildings, surrounding cobblestone squares, linked to the 14th century Charles Bridge makes for a magical place.

Berlin, Germany

We were interested to see how the Germans have memorialized WWII. The Holocaust Memorial was particularly moving. The stone columns of varying size clearly resembled gravestones, but with a beautiful yet haunting simplicity. We spent a while walking among the columns, and found that once you get to the center, they reach heights of over 7 feet, thus completely surrounding you.
Berlin has almost no monuments of any kind mentioning WWII. Germany has outlawed any public denial of the Holocaust, and also the sale of any Nazi memorobilia. It stuck me as a city with no history, as if it just rose from the ashes in 1945, and doesnt want to think about anything that happened before then.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, all Soviet monuments on the east side of the city have been dismantled as well. That makes East Berlin a city trying to erase 50 years of history.
Checkpoint Charlie still stands and there is even a guy dressed as an East German soldier who will stamp your passport for 2 euros.
It can be difficult to tell where the wall once stood. Since East Berlin was so economically backward under communist rule, it's ugly soviet style concrete apartments have been the first buildings to be demolished and replaced by stylish new architecture. Berlin is still a city spread out among many different neighborhoods with empty space, parks, and loads of graffiti in between. Tiegarten Park was wonderful, probably the best major city park for running Ive ever seen.

Berlin, Germany

We got our first experience with discount airlines today. We flew out of Stansted Airport on Air Berlin for the fantastic price of $60 one way. The down side is that there is no way to get to Stansted airport, 50 miles out of central London, by 6am, other than hiring a taxi. A $90 taxi fare later, we arrived at Stansted. The terminal was littered with backpackers sleeping on benches and on the floor, apparently overnight after getting there on the last bus the previous night. While at Stansted Lindsey's Mastercard would be copied by a shoe store employee, her identity stolen, and $5500 in fraudulent charges rung up within 48 hours. We did not discover this until two weeks later, when on a rainy afternoon in Romania, I decided to check our statement online. Luckily the good people at Citibank refunded us the full amount. Whew!


Blissfully unaware of our credit card problems, we flew to Berlin. While London certainly saw a lot of destruction during the blitz, WWII completely obliterated Berlin. Other than one half-destroyed church left standing as a reminder of the past, every building in Berlin is lass than 60 years old. The giant crane is definitely the official bird of Berlin.

London, UK

Since London is one of the the three most expensive cities on the planet (behind only Tokyo and Osaka, Japan according to the Mercer 2005 survey) we were very fortunate to be able to stay with Josh who has a posh flat on Hyde Park. He braved the pouring rain to see the usual tourist sites with us.

"Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!"


-Clark Griswold














Later we visited Buckingham Palace. We caught the changing of the guard, but the Queen wasn't home. I think she was busy bailing her grandson Prince Harry out of jail.
It rained most of the day, but we enjoyed seeing the green gardens of Hyde Park and St James Park.
Popped into the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone. Walked by the Moulin Rouge, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square.

London, UK

Indeed this trip would mark some changed priorities for us. We had cancelled a planned trip to Italy in 2004 due to Lindsey's acceptance to Business School. Then we cancelled a purchased trip to New Zealand due to our move to Hawaii. At long last though, after 2 new jobs, a 4000 mile move, and an MBA, we were finally embarking on our trip to Europe. We were long overdue for an extended vacation.
They do have Starbucks in London (though a frappucino runs about $7) and we desperately needed it after some 28 hours of travel from Maui to LA to DC to London. Lindo had to survive a double redeye, while I managed to get some sleep in a Dallas motel in between flights.