Today was pretty busy, too, but I'm thinking I may want to go sleep it off rather than write about it all night. ;) We started off with our new favorite tram #8, which zips us from our flat in Florenc right into Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square) and the old town. We started with an unexpectedly large meal ("rich breakfast" on the menu might have been a clue) at the Obecní dům, an Art Nouveau municipal and performance hall with a lovely café in front. The mad tourist rush when we arrived was not to be believed, but even more amazing [View Full Entry]

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Those of y'all who know me, this is no surprise. But it's interesting, I was reading elsewhere here that some intrepid young traveler has arrived in Prague for a 12-day stay. I just cannot imagine staying in one place for that long! And, of course, with the surprise windfall of two extra days next week, I've every intention of cramming in at least one more city. :) Stay tuned. Yesterday we saw more of Praha (Prague) than I ever imagined possible. We headed off to Pražský Hrad (Prague Castle) with every intention of spending the entire day there. On the way, [View Full Entry]

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Well, I was just about to extol the virtues of the much nicer internet café we found, but the proprietor announced he's closing momentarily so I've got to run. It's not like I believe any of you people are reading anyway. Where are my comments?! ;) Full Praha update later.... [View Full Entry]

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Well, we're getting by OK not speaking the local language, but there sure is a difference (for an English-speaker) between not speaking German in Germany and not speaking Czech in Czechia. No, I couldn't understand a word of spoken German, but at least I could make some sense of signage and the names of stores. In Czech, nothing looks or sounds familiar (I don't remember enough Russian to get into any kind of Slavic groove), so there's no faking it. Even if the workers in all the shops speak excellent English (as is widely claimed in guidebooks), we'd like to figure [View Full Entry]

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In Dresden we are hosted by die Familie Schröer, I must say some of the kindest and most interesting and fun people I've ever met. Lifelong Dresdners, they've lived here through the war, the firebombing, the DDR, the fall of socialism, and now the rebirth of their extraordinary and beautiful city. We've seen and learned so much more than I could have hoped on my own (even though they were pleased by my hyper-planning, and pulled out a guidebook wherein the published list of must-see sights in Dresden matched my list both in content and in order of significance). Thanks to [View Full Entry]

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Today we sandwiched a day trip to Leipzig on our way from Berlin to Dresden. This seemed like a really clever idea until we arrived and realized it was a Montag (Monday) and there was a strong chance that the Gedenkstätte Museum in der „Runden Ecke“, the entire reason I wanted to come to Leipzig in the first place, might be closed for the day. My Lonely Planet guidebook seemed to confirm that it would be. We saw the Nikolaikirche (site of regular freedom demonstrations before the Wall came down) and Tomaskirche (resting place [View Full Entry]

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I got to attend Gottesdienst (worship-service) at the Berliner Dom today. The Dom is immediately adjacent to some upscale hotels and shopping, so I guess they get quite a bit of tourist traffic and although they do offer English translation in the balcony, I skipped that and sat with the Germans. I figured I wouldn't really get any less out of the sermon than I do in English. ;) I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a woman in the pews whipped out a noisy 35mm camera and took flash photos of the choir-and-organ-loft during the opening. Great things about the [View Full Entry]

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We discovered that we both have a museum limit of one per day. Standing in one place reading all the exhibits really wipes out our feet and makes the rest of the day a lot less fun. Fortunately, we discovered this after we managed to see most everything we wanted. We started the day with a leisurely breakfast in our neighborhood near the Haeckescher Markt (no, for some reason, they don't use the "ä" on any of the signs for it). We then revisited the Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz for some better photos (I had camera-battery issues yesterday), plus a [View Full Entry]

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Or, perhaps, eine Ostberlinerin. (I can do the grating Boston accent, too, y'all know I can.) We have a spectacular studio apartment on Linienstraße in East, yes East, Berlin. Words cannot even describe how cool it is to be in the East and how ridiculously normal a place it is. The proprietors are Rick-approved and we're pretty sure he has steered us well. Today we took the IC from Bahnhof Altona in Hamburg to Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten in Berlin, a little over 2 hours. Bf. Altona is definitely the way to go if you want a seat on this train. Poor [View Full Entry]

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I forgot to mention that we saw Chris Rock walking down the Unter den Linden today. No, I am not making this up, and yes, we are both 100% certain it was him, and no, we didn't chase him down for autographs or photos or anything so you will just have to take our word for it. [View Full Entry]

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