Vienna Day Two - Happy New Year!

Spent the day wandering around the beautiful city of Vienna. We went to St. Stephen's Cathedral which is the must see of Vienna. It was breathtaking and haunting. From there we went to the Museum Quarter to the Leopold Art Museum. We studied the art and quietly made fun of all the snotty art critics! Saw works from artists like Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. We went to another museum looking for the Salvador Dali exhibit but it had moved. The woman working at the information desk could not tell us where it was now located so we will search around during the next day or two and see if we can locate it.

Tonight, New Year's Eve is what really topped it off. We went down to the Prater (giant ferris wheel) which was the end of the famous New Year's Eve Trail - the big party scene - and drank in a pub until nearly midnight. From there we took our champagne outside, and waltzed to Mozart directly under the most amazing fireworks display while the clock counted down to midnight. We wouldn't believe it could have been so perfect if we hadn't experienced it ourselves!

On that note, we want to wish those we love the most, health and happiness for 2006!

Vienna Day One

After possibly the worst train ride ever we have arrived in beautiful Vienna. The train was two hours late due to weather. To two Canadians it wasn't any worse than a cold day with blowing snow on the prairies but nonetheless we made it.

Randy switched our hotel to a more central location - on the New Years Eve Trail so we're right in the heart of Vienna. We couldn't ask for a better location. There is so much to do here it most likely won't be possible to see everything if you count New Years Day the majority of sites being closed and us being hungover!

Tammy, there is a huge Salvador Dali exhibit at one of the museums that is a must attend. I thought of you when I added that to our list of things to do-see.

And of course, to the best brother in law around, Brad happy 38th birthday! We're thinking of you but are too cheap to call! Hope you have a great day.

We have now had supper and a couple of beers so we're done for the night. Shouldn't have married the army guy - my liver is going to remain in Europe at this point.

Dave, Simba wants to eat all the time. We usually give him two cups in the morning and a couple of treats at supper. If you want to split it up, that's more than ok. We were in another cool place tonight for supper and of course there were dogs there. You definitely could score the girls if you lived in Europe with Doc! There was a gorgeous springer spaniel singing away to the radio which made us both miss our boy. Hopefully he has his genders sorted out and there have been no more disagreements.

Leaving Prague

There are a few things we should comment on that seem unique to Prague that we don't want to forget later. First, this may be the friendliest dog city in world. Everywhere you go, there are people walking with dogs. Dogs are welcome in the nicest restaurants, welcome to go around and visit with the customers. You can take your dog on the trams, they are welcome virtually everywhere. We can only imagine the day Simba is allowed to go into a restaurant and sing for his supper!

We've used to the tram as our means of transportation to get around the city. For as surly as the people are, all are quick to jump up and give up their seats to the elderly and those with children.

For a city that is incredibly clean, with no visible litter no matter which part of the city you're in, tourist or otherwise, there is an aboundant amount of graffiti. It is everywhere, on the nicest old buildings to trash cans. Never have we seen so much. Not offensive but "tagging".

Lastly, the way they eat. We suppose we'll discover if the rest of Eastern Europe is the same, but the food is very fresh and non fattening. To cut open an apple it turns brown right away which tells us there are no preservatives. The bread and the produce are very fresh given it's the middle of winter.

We're really enjoying people's comments. Everyone is making us laugh and we're happy to share such an amazing trip with those we care about most. Keep those comments coming! Off to Vienna we go!

Prague Day Three

Spent the day taking it easy and wandering around a bit. Nothing too strenuous. This evening we went down to Stare Mesto (Old Town) looking for this old Czech pub that President Havel had taken Bill Clinton; however, it was packed full of people and we couldn't get in. So we settled for a different spot for supper and of course the requisite beer. We tried a new dark beer that reminded us of Guiness but after the first taste or two it kind of grew on us.

Dave, we're sorry our dog cannot distinguish the difference between boy golden and girl goldens! Actually, we're sorry that our dog thinks he runs your house five days into his stay. Poor Doc must be feeling so displaced in his own home. Only our dog would decide to show he's dominate in another dog's territory. Please discipline him as needed! You can tell obviously that he runs our house! It's not his fault -- he's an only golden child!

Tomorrow is our first travel day as we're hopping the Euro train to Vienna, Austria. We're very very excited for New Year's there. Randy scored us an amazing room right down where the action is so the next few days should be very exciting. We'll blog again from the next country.

Prague Day Two

We saw the most beautiful cathedral this morning. St. Nicholas Church was beyond words. Opulent with painted ceilings, and statues everywhere. From there we went to the National Museum which has to be world class. You could spend days going through every exhibit and discover new things all the time. After that we found a museum more our style, the Sex Machines Museum. It wasn't even 1/10th the size of the national museum yet we found ourselves there for twice as long. It had everything from silent movies that were "porn" to things like anti-masterbation machines from France in the 1920's all the way up to current S&M fetish stuff. The world is a crazy crazy place!

Spent our first full day touring Prague. Everything is as breathtaking as we had hoped. We saw Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and all of the other requisite tourist areas. Capped our day off with a visit to the Communist Museum. Randy swears there was a tear in my eye when I discovered I could be in a city with that much history combined with such cheap beer! It is hard to imagine that 15 years ago this was a completely different country with a completely different way of life. Such resilient people. The theme of the museum is "The dream, the reality, the nightmare" which is sadly the case. Ironically, Randy and I have been laughing all day because the museum is located conveniently above a McDonald's! Oh how Marx is rolling over in his grave!

Prague Day One

Off for our first full day of playing tourists. No wonder Eastern European people are known to be so sour. Everything is starched! From the bed sheets to the towels. And to top it off the toilet paper could be used to sand a deck! Our hotel is beautiful with a fantastic breakfast.

We went out walking last night to find a meal and a beer and went walking by an upscale restaurant. We originally kept walking but then decided to stop and look at the menu to see what was on it. Imagine our very pleasant surprise when we discovered that a meal of the best homemade pasta either of us had ever eaten, two beers each, along with a good tip (always the waitress!) cost us all of about $21CAD. This is a beautiful country!! And yes, the beer is as good as rumour has it.

Thanks for posting Dave. It took more impulse control than I normally have not to call you from the Calgary airport before we had even left the country to see how Simba was doing. We're so grateful to know how well taken care of our boy is. We don't love him enough not to ditch him for foreign countries during our first Christmas as a family but you know, we're happy all the same.

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments. The internet is an amazing thing. Will try to write more tonight but if beer is as cheap all over Prague as it is around our hotel it may not happen!

We're Here!

We have arrived after a very long flight complete with screaming babies. Birth control to last us a lifetime. Prague is beautiful, a bit rainy which just adds to the romance. We're very disorientated due to the time change but hopefully a meal and a pint of famous Czech beer will cure all of our ails! Only been here an hour or so, so will report more later. Czech drivers are a scary bunch and we have already seen our lives flash before us once or twice!

Christmas Itinerary

Our Itinerary (click on the hotel name to see where we are staying)

25 Dec ----------------------- Depart Calgary for Prague
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26 Dec - 30 Dec ----------- Prague, Czech Rep – Belvedere Hotel
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30 Dec - 2 Jan ------------- Vienna, Austria – Hotel Nordbahn
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2 Jan - 5 Jan -------------- Budapest, Hungary – Medosz Hotel
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5 Jan - 8 Jan -------------- Bratislava, Slovakia - Hviezdoslavovo
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8 Jan - 9 Jan -------------- Prague, Czech Rep – Belvedere Hotel
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9 Jan ------------------------- Dep Prague for Calgary

Welcome to our Euro-honeymoon

We will be updating this site often and we will be uploading some pictures so you can see what we are up to (I will keep them G - rated, I promise!!)

Please feel free to add comments as you see fit, by clicking on the comments link under any of our posts.