National Houses' European Vacation

Update

2008-07-09T17:25:00.001+02:00

I'm moving my posts back over here.

Home Sweet Home!

2008-07-07T17:17:00.002+02:00

Well after an exhausting 10 hour plane ride and 2 hour drive home I made it. I arrived in Houston around 8:30pm and headed back home close to 10pm. I was tempted to sleep at Bob's house but I was just ready to get back home. And I was glad I did. It felt wonderful waking up in my bed for the first time in a couple of weeks. Plus I woke up to a wonderful surprise, Robert's phone call. It was great hearing his voice! This week I plan to take it easy and visit family.

Naomi's Last Day

2008-07-06T10:54:00.000+02:00

Today we took the shuttle bus from our crappy hotel to the airport where I dropped Naomi off for her flight home. The hotel was crappy because we ended up in a smoking room on the chain smoking floor -- it was pretty nasty! We used the Internet, and it cost us ten euros which is about what we pay for a month of it at home. On top of that, the shuttle was supposed to cost us five euros a piece, but by some stroke of luck we weren't charged for it.

I'm on the train back down to Innsbruck and it is pretty lonely. I have, however, had the fortune of private compartments -- let's hope that part keeps up. Traveling is much more fun in company than it is solo. I'm sure Naomi will be happy to get back home (where we do pretty much everything so much better!). It was sad dropping her off -- it's too bad security has to be the way it is. I'd like to have sat with her for a while before her flight left. I'm guessing she takes her dramamine and sleeps most of the 3851 miles to EWR.

2008-07-05T22:03:00.002+02:00

Reflection

2008-07-05T21:45:00.002+02:00

This trip has been awesome! We have seen so much in such little time. We took advantage of every moment here, even when I wanted to sleep in. On average, we got about 5-6 hours a night of sleep. But I wouldn't trade what I've seen and experienced for an extra hour of sleep.

The people have been very helpful and patient as Robert attempts to communicate in German. They appreciate the effort we were making. The food was really good and that's coming from someone who's really picky. There is probably one thing that I care never to eat again, Currywurst. I mean, yuck!

I look forward to our next trip, wherever that might be?

Mailbag (Reply to Comments)

2008-07-05T21:17:00.001+02:00

TP/Restroom:
While TP is not Mr. Whipple approved Charmin, it is alright and is not quite as wide as a standard US roll is is about the quality you'd expect to find in your standard public restroom.

The restroom attendant is actually waiting outside the restroom door -- you don't get in until you pay up!

I'd say Europe does toilets just a little better than Asia, but American toilets are second to none.

Food:
We have eaten a lot of street food (mostly because of my influence). It has all been very good. In Berlin my favorite was the Currywurst from Curry 36. In Innsbruck we both agree Magic Pizza is our favorite, where a slice of pizza is 1/4 the size of a large pizza. They also serve a tasty döner kebab sandwich.

Next year:
I think we're going to Buenos Aries.

Comments

2008-07-05T09:46:00.000+02:00

Thank you all for you comments, I'll have a response up here in a bit to the questions.

Tomorrow

2008-07-04T23:04:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is a bit of a sad day. I'm taking Naomi up to Frankfurt so she can catch her plane on Sunday. After that I'll come back to Innsbruck and start school on Monday.

Friday in Salzburg

2008-07-04T23:01:00.000+02:00

It was raining in Innsbruck this morning (rain actually started last night). We woke up, had some breakfast here at the hotel, walked to the train station, and rode to Salzburg. Salzburg is about two hours from Innsbruck.

In Salzburg we saw Hohensalzburg Fortress, Mozart Geburtshaus (Mozart Birthplace), Mozart Wohnhaus (Mozart Residence), and Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral).

Hohensalzburg Fortress was started in 1077 and completed in 1681. The place was amazing -- even had indoor plumbing.

Mozart's birthplace and residence weren't as impressive as I had hoped, but a perfectly preserved, ancient fortress is a hard act to follow. The apartment the Mozart family lived in at his birth was small, but not so bad.

The Dom was another highlight. We didn't get to hear the 4,000-pipe organ, but did see the pipes and the amazing interior.

Sadly, there was no interior visitation to the Glokenspiel, but we could hear the chimes as we boarded our bus back to the train station. Nor did we stick around for the Sound of Music tour -- oh well.

Second Photo Post

2008-07-03T23:23:00.001+02:00

This set is a little large, about 78 shots I think -- enjoy! We enjoyed taking them! Oh, and by the way: at Burger King in Europe it is a Whopper (you can even get a Texas Whopper here), and they still serve the Royale with cheese at McDonald's. In case you were concerned about those things, and to tie off that loose end from Pulp Fiction.

Free Internet Embargo: Day 2

2008-07-03T23:05:00.000+02:00

We are now two days without free Internet. We are getting by the best we know how, but times are tough.

Today we took a 2.5 km hike up to a ski lift (we later realized that could've been a 2.5 km bus ride for only 1.7 EUR), bought a couple of gondola tickets and rode to the top of the mountain. From there we hiked up a little bit further and were able to take some really great pictures. I will get these uploaded very soon. The view is almost unbelievable. I kicked myself the whole ride down for not bringing my bike with me. There are miles and miles of well groomed single track trail. This was at Nordpark, we rode up to Station Hafelekar which has an elevation of about 2,260m.

We rode the bus down and had some lunch and took a rest before going to the Stadtturm [built in 1440, sits adjacent to the Goldenes Dachl). From there to see Leopoldsbrunnen (statute of Archduke Leopold V, and dates to the early 1600's) and Rudolfsbrunnen (Fountain built in 1877 to celebrate Tyrol's 500 years of statehood).
Pictures to follow when the embargo is relaxed.

Video on Spending Euros

2008-07-02T23:00:00.000+02:00

Public restrooms in Europe are few and far between. When you do find one you are lucky if it is free, and you are even luckier if it is not a port-a-let. This was one of the nicer locations we had the pleasure of use (save of course the ever presence of pungent urine ambrosia), it was at the Sony Center.

By the way, what a great day to be behind a golden microphone!

Innsbruck

2008-07-02T22:53:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Innsbruck today around four today. The train left Berlin early this morning and because of this we really didn't get much sleep. We wandered around Innsbruck for a few hours, took a swim in the pool at our hotel [Hotel Innsbruck] and are now getting ready for bed.

One of the biggest disappointments (of the hotel) so far is the lack of free Internet. In this day and age it seems to me they should be giving the stuff away, at least as an incentive to stay. On top of that I have already broken commandment one of hotel staying: thou shalt not drink the beer from thine mini-fridge (lest ye want think eyes poked). (What they don't know is I'm going to hang the do not disturb sign on the door until I can go out and buy a replacement from the store -- at a somewhat more reasonable price.)

Innsbruck seems a little more touristy than Berlin to me, but you really can't beat the scenery. It sure is a case of a destination coming to great geography. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can get them streamlined so as to not use up all of our precious Internet time.

Naomi informs me that the lack of an Original Donut Shop remains her biggest complaint on Europe.

Last Night in Berlin

2008-07-01T22:17:00.002+02:00

Tonight is our last night in Berlin. We're staying in a different hotel tonight in East Berlin. There is still a very noticeable difference between East and West. We walked a few streets and got a look at the communist architecture. Very square, cool, and ugly looking buildings (I'll post some pictures later). We'll be up early tomorrow morning, around six, to go catch a train to Munich. In Munich we'll take another train over to Innsbruck. It will be an all day affair -- which sucks a little bit, but I'll be doing some reading so I don't have to sweat it before school starts. Naomi will be catching up on some sleep. I haven't been letting her sleep in or take naps, so she is a little behind in that department. ;)

Monday's Video

2008-06-30T23:34:00.001+02:00

Photos

2008-06-30T16:37:00.000+02:00

Here are some shots I've taken so far. I'll try and put titles/descriptions on them soon, but I'm on vacation right now!

Monday Morning

2008-06-30T08:33:00.001+02:00

We just got up and are about to go get some breakfast here at the hotel. After that we're going to see if we can rent some bikes. We're going to go ride over to the Reichstag (the German Parliament building) to try and go in its dome -- we'll let you know how that goes later today!

Bike Tour

2008-06-30T00:22:00.002+02:00

Today was one of the most exciting days here in Berlin. The weather was wonderful and the Espen look-a-like tour guide was informative and very entertaining. During the tour, we'd stop at the popular tourist hot spots where Linus, the tour guide, would provide history about what we were looking at. The tour started at 11 a.m. and ended around 3 p.m.

After the tour, Robert and I walked over to a food stand where we had Bratwurst with spicy mustard and currywurst. It was sooo good!! We had planned to stick around for the game too, but realized that it wasn't going to start for another three hours. Exhausted by this point, we headed back to the hotel. We rested for about 2 hours before venturing back out to the craziness. Tiergarten, where the game was going to be shown on several flat screens, was overwhelming. There were people everywhere! I've never seen so many people before in one location. I didn't have a good time after being pushed and rubbed up on while watching the game. So we left and watched the rest of the game at a restaurant.

Tomorrow, Robert and I plan to rent bikes and visit Checkpoint Charlie and another part of the Berlin Wall.

Today's Video

2008-06-30T00:18:00.001+02:00

Sunday Morning

2008-06-29T09:13:00.000+02:00

It's about 9 AM here, we just finished breakfast, and are about to go walk over to the bicycle tour starting point. The tour is free, so you tip your guide. [New Berlin Tours]

I'll get some pictures up when we get back to take a break for lunch.

Video

2008-06-28T21:12:00.001+02:00

Greetings from Berlin -- We're here!

2008-06-28T13:28:00.000+02:00

So after about 24+ hours of travel, which included 2 cars, 2 planes, 2 Eurail trains, 1 elevated city train, 1 underground city train, and 1 taxi, we are here in Berlin.

After getting here we checked into our hotel and walked a few blocks to buy a currywurst and a döner kebab. They were very good and we were very tired and hungry. So after walking around for a little bit more we went back to our hotel, took a shower and went to bed. I couldn't even keep my eyes open to watch South Park in German.

We slept in today and it's a little rainy out. We'll probably walk over to the Brandenburg Gate and stop at Sony Center along the way. [More on Sony Center]

Date Change

2008-06-20T04:07:00.003+02:00

Originally we set the arrangements to leave on Friday June 27 but we've made a slight change to our itinerary. We are leaving a day earlier, Thursday June 26. With less than a week to go, I haven't prepared anything yet. The fact that we'll be leaving the country hasn't sunk in. I have mixed feelings of excitement and uncertainty.

New Adventure

2008-06-02T21:26:00.001+02:00

Hello everyone! Robert and I created this blog so that you keep up with us as we travel around Europe. We will post pictures of the places we've visited as often as possible. The fun begins June 27 and sadly will end for me on July 7. Robert will stay behind till August in Austria (no fair).