Prague photos

Charles Bridge

Jim outside St Vitus cathedral

In the Castle plaza

Astronomical clock

Prague

I still love the city of Prague.  It has such gorgeous architecture and scenic streets and buildings.  Everywhere I look, there is something that is interesting.  We had a nice city tour today and it brought back a lot of memories for me of my trip here with Janis. But that trip was in the winter and this time it is summer with lots of people and lots more souvenir places to browse.  We started off up on Castle Hill and went in St Vitus cathedral and it has such gorgeous stained glass windows. My camera will not do these justice.  We enjoyed just wandering around and taking it all in.  Then Jim and I went outside and walked around the castle grounds and enjoyed all the views.  We did not go into the castle but had plenty of time to see the changing of the guards and the area around the castle.  From Castle Hill, we went down by bus and got out near the old town. We walked across the bridge and walked through the Jewish quarter.  We saw the Jewish cemetary and moved on to the Old Town in time to see the Astronomical clock go off at noon.  It was crowded in the old town square but was neat and we could see it well.  The tour ended there and Jim, Marylou and I went off on the trek to see where Janis and I stayed on Wenceslas Square.  We did a little shopping for all the ladies in our family and had a really good pizza for lunch. Ahhh how I love to eat in Europe where they make pizzas without the garlic and onion!  We wandered around-found a nice market and browsed there and ended up at the Charles Bridge which was very crowded and by that time we were hot and tired.  We are fairly certain that our surprise tour tomorrow will include that so we decided to head on back to the hotel.  They gave us metro passes for our trip back and we found one without much problem.  Jim and I got off at the big mall one stop before our hotel and got us some snacks.  We got back on the metro and went on to our hotel and it felt very good to relax and take our shoes off!  I have a lovely blister on my big toe that is not real happy with this much walking, but it is not slowing us down so far!

Bratislava and going from Budapest to Prague

We are at our last destination before we fly home on Wednesday.  We spent a day traveling from Budapest to Prague and we stopped for a long lunch stop in Slavakia at Bratislava.  It is a lovely town with a big castle that overlooks it.  We enjoyed stretching our legs and walking around some after an included lunch.  Because it was a holiday and a Sunday as well, we made it to Prague in record time.  Our hotel is out of the town center but a metro station comes up literally beside the hotel so it is really not inconvenient at all.  However, internet it not included so big bummer there.  Hence why we waited til today to buy some time to update and check emails. 

Bratislava castle

Bratislava

Bratislava

more photos

the market from the pedestrian plaza

view from the funicular

view from the boat on the Danube

photos of Budapest

riding the cable car

walking across the chain bridge

cable car

Jim at old roman ruins near our hotel

Heroes Square

Free Day in Budapest

Jim and I opted out of the optional excursion to the Danube Bend. It was supposed to be by boat, but instead, they have changed it to be by bus. As you have gathered, bus is a nasty word to me on this trip. So instead, Jim and I took the hotel shuttle to the old town and then we walked down to the boat dock and took a sightseeing boat tour on the Danube.  It was lovely and just enjoy to enjoy it.  We did discover that they have some pretty aggressive mosquitoes here in Budapest too!  After we left that, we took a tram ride back to the Chain Bridge and walked across the bridge which was neat.  Then we took the funicular up to see St Mattias church and the Fisherman's Bastillion that we saw yesterday but we wanted to go inside the church.  It was very pretty.  We took the funicular back down the hill and took the tram back across to the Pest side of the river. We had been to the market yesterday so instead we walked along the pedestrian plaza and window shopped.  There really is not anything that we really want here since we have already bought a couple of small things for our travel wall at home.  We were hunting for a McDonalds as they have different colored Coke glasses here that are neat. Maybe they have them in the US too-we never go to McDonald's so we wouldn't know. But we thought they would be a neat souvenir for us from here and so did Marylou so we went there for lunch and got one for her and one for us.  Then we took the metro back across the Danube and got on the commuter train and went up one stop and walked over to Margit Island.  It is really a lovely park with huge trees and lots of peaceful spots to spread a blanket and have a picnic and enjoy being out in nature in the midst of a large city.  It is about 2 miles from one end to the other so we walked and enjoyed the afternoon.  We had to do some maneuvering to get the tram back to the hotel but we did it and were quite ready to come in to the air conditioning and rest.  We went back to our little 100 yr old restaurant next door and are now suitably stuffed for the evening.  We are packing up as we leave tomorrow for Prague. That is one of my favorite cities and if we survive the long bus ride, we will enjoy it, I am sure. I have secured me a seat on the front half the bus thanks to changing seats with a family from Bham that prefers to sit on the raised back seat so they have more leg room.  Here's hoping it will be a good day.

photos of Budapest

Yum

Just back from a wonderful dinner at a small restaurant near our hotel.  I ordered turkey with cheese sauce and Jim ordered a cottage cheese pasta dish which turned out to be awesome as well.  We shared and came back stuffed for under $10 apiece.  Think we will head back tomorrow night!  Then we walked over to the nearest grocery store through the tunnels under the big artery highways in that direction and stumbled across Aquincum, the roman ruins from the 1st and 2nd century.  So even though the grocery was already closed, it was a productive walk and we walked off at least a few of the calories that we had inhaled.  Now to watch the next World Cup match.

Budapest and a better day

Yesterday had best be forgotten, from my point of view.  We had the LONG bus ride through the mountains to get from Krakow to Budapest.  The air conditioning on the bus broke and it was our turn to sit on the back.  Heat and bumps and curves make one carsick Madge.  Fortunately, today was much better. The air conditioning is fixed and while we still have to sit on the back-the other side-we were getting on and off the bus so I fared fine.  And I have already talked to the couple from Bham that likes the bench seat on the back and I can swap with them in the front of the bus for the long day from Budapest to Prague. If I make that, I will be ok.  The way the program director has us rotating seats, we will never get in the front half of the bus ourselves.  According to our program director, the reason you get motion sickness is a vitamin B deficiency.  hmmm never heard that one before and since I used to be car sick even as an infant, according to my mom ( I ruined all the Sunday afternoon drives) I don't see that being the cause but whatever. 

The city tour was good and it is fun to see Budapest in the summer because when I came before, it was snowy and cold. The good thing about that is that there were no tourists but us. But it is not too bad and it is a beautiful city to see.  We saw all the things we needed to see today and had a good time doing it.  Tomorow Jim and I are not going on the all day optional tour (I am so glad-it is on the bus...)so we are going to go do some things that we want to do on our own timeframe.  Budapest is a pretty city-lots of it is not new but it is so scenic and if you like paprika, there is a lot of it here:) I don't remember there being a charge for us to go through the Fisherman's bastillion when Janis and I came but there was today and we did not have much time either.
We are back at the hotel and watching the world cup game of Brazil and enjoying being cool and relaxing.