Bill and Nancy

A walk in Šárka Valley from Divoká Šárka to Jeneralka I spent the entire day on Friday proofreading doctoral dissertation chapters written by various PhD candidates. This is work I really enjoy doing but by the end of a week of Masters and PhD papers with the sun shining outside, the temperature in the low 20s Celcius (low 70s Farenheit) I find I am just about too lazy to do ONE-MORE-THING. So along about 15:00 or 15:30, I decided it was time to give up the fight to stay awake and head to the room for a nice nap. I went to the library to find Bill but he was not where the others thought he was. A student caught me and had me help him find some books he needed to work with over ... read more

Breakfast A huge breakfast bar greeted us when we entered the dining room early in the morning. There were coffee, tea, a variety of pastries, a good selection of cereals as well as eggs, bacon, ham, fried potatoes and other hot foods and finally a good selection of fruits. There would be no excuses for going away hungry. I had not realized the hotel was large until I saw several tour groups already at breakfast. I am the breakfast eating champion it seems. I hesitate to say how many times I went back to the buffet to enjoy all the delightful foods on offer. Hurrah for good breakfasts! We had a good long day ahead of us. As soon as we finished breakfast ,we went to our room and got ready for the day. We decided ... read more

Up Early Our day began early because the train we had reservations on was scheduled to arrive in San Sebastian at 08:30 and leave at 08:32. Our experience in Europe has been that if the schedule says a train is to leave at 08:32 there is about a 99.9 percent chance that trail will begin moving at 08:32. To be a minute late is to be left standing on the platform. We really did not want that to happen as it would certainly mess up the entire day. Breakfast -- Yes this is breakfast We had breakfast in the restaurant that is part of the hotel. My impression was they are separate businesses located in the same building. Breakfast was about 5 Euros each, something over $6.00. And what do you get for a breakfast? I ... read more

Up Early and Out Into the Cold Today, Christmas Day, we decided to visit the Basilica of the Sacred Heart or the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre its actual French name. Again, thank goodness for subways as it was a long way from our hotel to the basilica. Though it might be possible to take a bus a simple, easily understood subway system is just right for a first time visitor. Christmas Morning It was a cold morning. Even on the subway it was chilly. Because of the holiday it was not surprising that there were few passengers and no crush of people. All of us were bundled up and a fair percentage of the riders looked like they would prefer to still be asleep. I noticed that some of the passengers held small Christmas presents ... read more

Doesn't everyone visit ........... Is there anyone who has visited Paris as a tourist and not visited the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe? I cannot imagine the reaction we would have gotten at some time in the future if we answered that question with, "No, we didn't." Well, perhaps I can imagine the reaction and it probably would not have been printable in a public travelblog. So to reassure you, "Yes we visited both and then took a long walk down the Champs de Elysee". Thank Goodness for Subways Subway systems have helped us greatly in various cities during our travels and Paris has a great subway and bus system. This day it was the subway that made our day possible. Once we had plotted the route by subway from our hotel to the ... read more