another whirl through prague

wednesday, our last day in prague, we hit old town again (well, it was close by and there was a continuous street festival) -- and i met this guy (the fascination with farm animals continues):

and we saw an easter tree.

and we consumed more beers and 'trdelniks' at the easter market. this is a 'trdelnik' pastry -- sounds like turd; tastes like heaven. its basically sweet dough wrapped around a fat stick and cooked over coals.

after partaking in too much czech goodness, it was time to head back to frankfurt to have dinner with susie-mom, jake, nicole and the kids.

since jake is employed (and not on vacation like most of the rest of us), it was an early night; he had to get up the next day at 5am to hike 12 miles with a 25 lb. backpack and 10 of his buddies in the rain (the army sounds tough, doesn't it?).

thursday, jeff and i spent a rainy day in amberg searching for frosty beverages and warmth -- score!

friday, we arose early to swerve back to frankfurt where we would spend our last day/night in germany with susie-mom. we also found a great irish pub there, but my camera was exhausted. here are a few pics of the scenery surrounding our hotel and old town frankfurt before my camera fainted.

susie looks so happy with me doesn't she?

to close out our germany visit, we got susie drunk at the hotel bar then stumbled off to bed. saturday morning we headed in opposite directions -- susie back to the sooner state, and jeff and i to the sandbox.

pics of the sandbox coming soon.

hugs,

tricia

hopping around prague

tuesday morning, we arose early in order to hit the starbucks we found in old town square (queue the angels singing) and hopped on the 11:30 bus tour around the city. we had a lovely tourguide originally from poland who had about 17 syllables in her name, so she just went by kate. she had just the right amount of snark and history to make the initial walk/drive to the prague castle, which is the biggest castle (still standing) in the world and took over 6 centuries to build it (man, that guy must have been really tired). here's wiki's take:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Castle.

while walking to our tour bus, kate pointed out some interesting sites to ooooh and aaaaah her followers.

here's the astronomical clock (the oldest one, built in 1410 - wiki has more incredible info; i'm just loving wiki today - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock):

here's the powder tower (where gun powder was stored during the war):

the municipal building:

first glimpse of the castle:

en guard!!!:

OK; enough with the castle. i'm sure i'm boring you with my fabulous vacation by now. but one more thing -- we stopped at a restaurant on the castle grounds, sat on their balcony for czech beers and watched an entire pig cook on a spit. i think this place was even called 'the royal pig'. there was a painting of a pig wearing a king's coat and a crown on the wall. the middle-easterners would perish on the spot. our tour guide told us the restaurant had originally been the 'playground' for the king's lions - http://www.prague.cz/lion-courtyard/.

we finally left the castle and toddled off to see more old stuff.

vitava river:

and i insisted upon finding the funicular (i LOVE these things). we didn't ride it though cause we were short 1 cz koruna (or crown):

here's that eerie sculpture of the victims of communism (from the back);

i almost fell down these 'stairs':

this is the frank gehry 'dancing house':

after taking in the sights via autobus and on foot for hours, we did the hokey pokey back to the intercontinental so jeff could enjoy a scotch and a cigar on their rooftop balcony.

signing off with the castle in the sunset.

the next day, wednesday, we go back to frankfurt to hang with the fam, search for irish pubs and find the best mexican food in germany.

xoxoxoxo

tricia the loser

is this confusing?

cause i'm confusing myself with my own posts (lies?)

the post from 4/8 was to just let everyone know we were out of europe and back in the middle east (and i was brain dead and didnt post much chatter.) the next two entries are an attempt to take you all through the following week of staggering drunkenness that remained our plan for the duration of our european tour. we had no fear of the polize or of wild pigs or of getting old. we just know that many beers needed to quaffed.

so the germany story starts on the blog dated 4/12 -- after that, they should be in some sort of loose sequence that can probably be followed by tipsy people.

maybe i shouldn't consume ambiens before writing these.

so there we were . . .

. . . driving to prague - well, i was driving. on the autobahn. all those cute little german towns start to look the same after a while when you're flying by them at 160km per hour.

as soon as you cross the border into the czech republic, you have to stop and buy a toll-tag sort of thing (i'm not sure how they'd know you didn't stop to buy one - although i guess we did have to put this sticker thing in the front window - but i'm sure the polize are not completely focused on that). anyway, we fueled up at the same time and it was over $100 for 3/4 a tank of gas. yes, the europeans are blaming president obama for the sky high fuel prices there too. my personal assistant (jefferson) pumped the gas, then started to pull the car over to park next to the 'bavarian rip off palace' to pay. and the attendant called the police thinking mr. sanders was fleeing the scene. then jeff got schooled in czech by some little bald dude in a janitor's uniform. border excitement, right there.

upon arrival in prague, we made our way to old town square in search of our first frosty beverage. there was another easter festival/market going on, so it wasn't hard to find liquid hops (get it?).

view of old town square from the clock tower:

the 'harry potter' church:

after consuming some exceptional cz beer and a stale, giant pretzel, we decided a bit of exercise would be in order and climbed to the top of the clock tower with a hundred other tourists. alright -- that's a lie; we took the elevator:

then we saw some indians (well, AN indian -- and i mean that in the nicest possible way):

then i forgot to keep taking pictures and we went back to the intercon and passed out.

next day -- hop on, hop off bus tour! the easter theme continues!

more pics of old, european sh*t tomorrow.

auf whatever,

tricia

those wacky germans . . .

. . . its like they have a different word for everything.

jeff, his mom and i arrived in frankfurt last friday (two fridays ago? i can't remember) and proceeded to haul ass on the autobahn (where there is mostly no speed limit) for 3 hours to get to where jake (jeff's nephew who is stationed on an army base there in germany), nicole and their two incredibly cute kids, dylan and hayley, live. they're in a small town/large army base called grafenwohr about halfway between frankfurt and prague. the drive there was scary cause jeff was driving and scenic - rolling hills, cute little bavarian towns dotting the countryside - you get the idea.

after a long flight and 3 hours of being a white-knuckled passenger on the autobahn, we dropped susie off at jake's house and drove 30 more miles to check in at our wee little german hotel in koenigstein.

koenigstein:

saturday the lot of us let jake drive us to nurnberg for a castle tour, the easter market and the toy museum. the tour of the nurnberg castle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Castle - is not actually a complete tour; they only let you see the museum part - which is filled with suits of armor and weapons of singular destruction. off to the easter market which was mostly like a street fair, except with way more barbecued pig smells. while the fam went off to visit the toy museum, jeff and i opted to drink (yes, i know this is totally unbelievable).

castle:

nurnberg streets:

after a full day in nurnberg, we headed back to grafenwohr (kids and adults a tiny bit grumpy).

sunday, we opted to hang at jake and nicole's house and barbecue some pork (germans LOVE their swine, unlike the middle-eastern set). first we had to visit the 'px' for supplies (i have no idea what 'px' stands for, but i believe there is one of these on each army base). this place had everything (except starbucks) and was quite fascinating; such an interesting mix of people. it was kind of like being at the state fair. i believe we were in there for hours (at least that's what the knee-biters said - 'can we GO now????').

monday, jeff and i continued east to prague to drink for two days - and that's another blog.

in doha now until the 19th; its only 85 degrees here!

xoxoxo

tricia



no snark, just pics

made it back to the sandbox in business-class style with a bottomless glass of champagne, cheeses (enough for 3 sir!), glenfiddich and a new addiction to 'downton abbey'. won't bore any of you with details of trip yet (cause i can't remember at the moment), but here are a handful of pics chosen at random:

mr. sanders in front of our quaint little hotel in koenigstein, bavaria (which is in the middle of NOWHERE):

the streets of nuremberg (or 'nurnberg' if you swing that way):

me, hayley, nicole, jake (the nake), susie-mom and dylan at the castle in nuremberg:

the 'harry potter' church in prague (or praha if you're really old):

freezing on a bridge in prague:

cathedral in old town prague:

memorial to the victims of communism in prague:

metronome for giants:



in amberg:

overlooking the water in frankfurt:

happy easter!

tricia

smelliopoly/sadness in seat 20h

you think you know people, but you are wrong. an airplane is like the dmv with wings. HOW on earth can these people afford to fly? they obviously cannot afford soap, water and deodorant (damn you proctor and gamble!!!). 

i didn't make it to business class on my way to frankfurt (in case you haven't been able to tell thus far). and the difference is really not just the leg room, the swanky reclining seats, the free booze, the warm nuts, the rubber chicken grill marks, the "real" silverware", the cashmere blankets and down pillows  (ok -- that is a blatant lie); its the way you are treated. the 'stewardesses' man "the main cabin" (as the airline of the americas likes to call it), and the 'flight attendants' work the front of the plane (and you better not use those pristine lavatories, mr. and mrs. commonfolk). i'm in the back where they pee on the floor (obviously) and eat with their bare faces. we 're living like dogs back here - someone help me.