June 9

Some places take their holidays very seriously.  In Denmark, EVERYTHING is closed on national holidays, including grocery stores (many restaurants are open, though), so you better have some food!   Well, apparently Austria is the same and we had planned to pick up some groceries for this day.  Gas station groceries it was for our hike!  We did a little more exploration of beautiful Gmunden, then headed up to hike.  Of course, we all thought it would be cooler in the mountains, but Austria was still having a heat wave.  It was not cool.  The hike was beautiful, though, and we found a very cold lake where we all took a dip.  We had reserved a hotel in Salzburg, so we headed there in the evening.

Schloss Ort in Gmunden....actually in the Traunsee Lake in Gmunden!  A 1000 year old castle. 

 Ice cold lake on our hike.  Felt great in 90 degree temps!  There was also a cafe/pub...we didn't stop for a beer, but the Austrians know what they're doing.

Trees!

June 8 and forward

Playing catch up.  Been too tired or had too crappy wifi to post!  It's been a great week.  We started by picking a spot on the map: Gmunden, Austria.  Beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.  You can't get much more stunning than this place.  Just add a couple of kids.

This was our view from the hotel....a splurge for my birthday.  Would you believe there were fireworks that night?  Perfect.

June 6 - 8: Vienna

Well, wifi here stinks, so I don't think I'll even try a picture.  Vienna impressions: meh.  Maybe we shouldn't have traveled from a small city to a big city; or maybe it was too many cities in a row.  Whatever the reason, I'm not in love with Vienna.  Maybe because it's been 90 degrees here and our hotel/hostel room is stifling hot.  Maybe it's because it's a huge city and crowded like a huge city.  Maybe because it has a huge city's dirt.  Maybe because I get tired of tourist hucksters asking me if I want to buy tickets to a Mozart concert.  

The buildings are certainly impressive.  Pompous, really.  You can tell this was the seat of a very wealthy empire.

The bright spot: the reason we came here - to visit the Hundertwasser museum and house.  The kids studies him with their wonderful Danish art teacher, and they really wanted to come see his stuff.  Check him out!

Visiting his museum was a good way to get us excited about the next leg of our trip: renting a car and getting the heck out of the city into the mountains, heading through Austria and Germany.  Nature! (and cooler temps, I hope!)!

Not sure what kind of wifi I'll find, so posting may be spotty.

June 4 - 6: Prague

Wifi is not good at our place in Vienna (essentially a hostel...a lot of scruffy looking college kids here), so few pictures.  But Prague...everyone says it's such a beautiful city...well, I didn't realize.  An amazingly beautiful place!  We arrived rather bedraggled after the overnight train (did I mention it was like sleeping at camp...on a train?) and proceeded to try to walk to our hotel.  Ha ha ha!!  Somehow I thought Prague would be smallish like Krakow.  Wrong.  Anyway, the weather was beautiful, the city was beautiful, we found great places to eat, and the exchange rate is favorable.  You really must go.  The only down side?  Holy tourists, Batman.

We saw the cool Old Town, Charles Bridge and astronomical clock with its scary figures glaring down at us; took a funicular up the hill to beautiful gardens and views; took the tram up to the castle grounds and St. Vitus Cathedral; met our friends Deborah and Jonathan from Grinnell for a great lunch and walk around less touristy 'hoods;  saw the Vysehrad castle grounds.  There is much more to do and see there, but I think we got a good taste.

 Charles Bridge and St. Vitus cathedral visible from the river.

An essential part of each stop.

June 3: Krakow

June 3: Last day in Krakow.  We started at my new favorite cafe in the world: Les Couleurs on Plac Nowy.  Go there!  We visited the armory and cathedral at Wawel Castle (no pictures, please!).  We also visited the Jagellonian University museum, which is a sweet little collection of random university items (Copernicus studied here), plus a glimpse into the oldest university in Europe: over 650 years old!  Did I mention that we saw the trumpeter of Krakow in St. Mary's church?  If you want, check that story out here.

I'm behind on posting because yes, traveling this can wipe you out.  We are trying to be conscious of that and to make sure we have down times.  But I'm also exhausted because I had the bright idea of taking the overnight train from Krakow to Prague.  It'll be fun, I thought!!   I had some Orient Express-like romantic notions.  Um, no.  As my friend, Deborah, said today, "Oh, that's rough." The rest of the family thought it was pretty cool, and I guess it kind of was.  But it was loud and cramped, and I pretty much didn't sleep.  Even if I was 20 years younger, it would have been rough!

Next stop, Prague!

My new favorite cafe: Les Couleurs in Kazimierz. 

Max on the overnight train.  It almost looks spacious here.

Maggie in the hall of the train.

June 2: Krakow

Today we went to Oskar Schindler's Factory Museum in Krakow.  Not much in the way of pictures, obviously.  They did a good job of illuminating life for Jews in Krakow before the Nazi invasion...and after.  We stayed in an old building in the Jewish neighborhood, Kazimierz, and it's sobering to know that whoever lived in our apartment was likely moved to the ghetto and then a camp.  P.S.  The scene from the movie "Schindler's List" where he dictates the list is not true; someone else prepared the lists.  But he did try to save his workers and their family and friends, including having children added to the list even though they were too young to work.

 The stairway to our apartment...wooden stairs, extremely worn.

 This is now a bookstore, but it has the feel of so many Kazimierz buildings.

 Krakow pastry break!  Helps lift the spirits after a rough morning.

 The Nazis tore this sculpture down during the occupation.  The Poles rebuilt it.

June 1: Krakow

 First up today...Wawel Castle high on a hill overlooking the Vistula (Wisła) River.  The grounds are enormous, so we only saw part.

 View of Krakow from a tower of the castle.

 In the Dragon's Den!!

 Cool-looking cheeses.  We got one of course.

 We luckily happened to be here on the day of the Great Dragon Parade.  The legend is that a dragon used to live under the castle (see lair above) and terrorized the area.  A cobbler's apprentice finally defeated him and got to marry King Krakus' daughter in reward.  (Why is the king's daughter always the reward??)  These dragons were built by schoolchildren, who marched in the parade as well.

For lunch, we were invited to the home of Marian and Dorota Lewandowski.  They both are scientists at Jagiellonian University, and Mark met them the last time he was here.  They served us a most delicious, traditional Polish meal in their apartment which overlooks the river.  Wonderful people!  For dinner, pierogis!! at Mr. Vincent's Pierogis which was decorated with Van Goghs: plum, curry, spinach, and potato pierogis.  Beer for 5 złoty, which is about $1.60.  Woot!