Day-17 On the Way Home

We departed Zurich and arrived in London.  The flight for the US leaves in about 1.5 hours.   So we were up at 4:15 Zurich time or about 9:15 PM Last Night in Dallas... so we get home at about 3:30 or 4:00 PM  Making a 19-hour day.... going out dancing on Saturday night is probably not in the cards.

Well, it was a good trip....  Until next time....

Day 16 On the train from Salzburg to Zurich

The train ride was pretty amazing.  I tried to get a lot of pictures but only a few were useable due to the speed of the train or just being able to see the shot and get it.  I have included a few here for your viewing pleasure.  The area around Innsbruck was stunning and I unfortunately didn't get any pictures…. But, here a few.

Day-15 Salzburg

Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens

hursday we visited Mozart's house.  Is was very interesting and much more historically accurate than the popular fiction about his life.  After reading some of the letters between him and his dad I have a better appreciation for their relationship.  L. Mozart tried to be a good father to a son who he realized had an exceptional gift,  In many ways the forces of mediocracy were aligned to try to crush the young A.W. Mozart.  It is only hundreds of years later that we can see these people as humans and truly appreciate the gift that A. W. Mozart had.  (bummer - no photography allowed, upside - they had an instructional CD on two pieces of his music that I got a copy of in the book shop… can't wait to try it on the grandkids)

Mirabell Gardens are almost next to the Mozart house.  The Mirabell Palace is only used for concerts and is otherwise closed.  But the gardens are beautiful.  It was cloudy part of the time but when the sun peeked out for a few seconds I got a few nice shots.  The gardens are actually more like several different gardened all strung together.  It is just barely sufficient to show a few photos and say that they are all beautiful, well maintained and different.

Salzburg from the Hill

Fortress

Clouds over Tower

Door Garden at Fortress

Old arches found during work on the building

After the  gardens we took a bus to the old town part of the city and walked around for a while.  There was still a bunch we didn't get to do due to time but we choose to take in the Hohen Salzburg Fortress on the mountain above the city for the great views.  There is a funicular that gets you to the base of the Fortress and then you can explore… The view is shown in the picture (you can click on a picture to enlarge it)  The site has been occupied since Roman times but the Fortress was started in 996 and built up over the years. About 1000 years ago it became an imposing and commanding military presence on the mountain above the city that no one attacked the city for almost 1000 years until the time of Napoleon.  Salzburg eventually came under Austrian control and the city was attacked again by American bombers in WWII.  Other than that They have managed a quiet, peaceful existence while most of Europe raged around then. 

We found this statue of a long dead king interesting,  The bronze was so old it was almost entirely brown.  But the message is clear he is the guardian of the city… and if you mess with them he has a mighty sword.  By the time we had explored the hilltop, we were ready to get some dinner… As we cruised back through the old town we decided that Die Weisse looked better and we had barely touched the menu.  So we caught a bus to the Bahnhof and then one to near the hotel and headed for the restaurant.  Spinach dumplings and Chicken Cordon Bleu later we finally headed back to the hotel.  If you get to Salzberg ,Die Weisse is at 10 Rupert Strasse, The food and wheat beer is excellent.  (By the way water costs 4.80 euro and beer 3.50 euro - so drink beer to save money.

The Bronze King

Friday we are headed back to Zurich on the train.   

Day-14 On to Salzburg

We managed to get up, pack, go to breakfast, hop the underground to the train station and still got there an hour early.  That was OK, it gave us some time to figure out what o do with the last of the Florins.  So I decided to get us a couple of sandwiches for the trip and they were 550 Florins each… but I only had 900 and some euros…. I tried to talk to the lady in the shop and she spoke NO English.  There was another customer and I asked if she spoke English and she said a little.  So I explained to her what I was trying to do… which was pay with the Florins and then the rest in euros… but I didn't have that many euros coins either… Hmmm.  Between the three of us we finally figured out that I could use 600 Florins and a two euro coin for the sandwiches and were set, I used the last 300 Florins to get a .33dl coke.  Perfect, I got rid of all of he Florins.

So we finally find our car on the train, the last one, and get abroad.  There are four people sitting there and they all turned out to be from the Dallas, Texas area, and we had a good time comparing notes on traveling.  They used a travel agency to preplan everything and have a car meet them in each city and take them to the train. Come to think about it that is pretty nice.  It is similar to what we did in Prague.  They also had tickets to the Vienna Philharmonic and some other stuff set up for the next day through the agency.  I like the freedom we have to do what we want, but the coordinated tours and connections to the transportation sure would be nice.  Maybe we will have to try that on one of our trips.  We got the name of their travel company… We'll have to look into it some day.

The train ride from Budapest to Wein was the reverse of the trip we just made a few days ago.  But, this time we are on our way to Salzburg two more hours past Wein.  Other than the train and bus trip to Prague this is our longest travel day.  We get in about 3 PM.  The weather has been overcast the entire trip… but we can always hope.  

The more rolling hills… the towns of western Austria are quite nice.  They are starting to harvest the crops… Some of the fields were just starting to get mowed down.  And the days are just a little shorter even after the two weeks we have been in Europe.  I'll check the sunrise and sunset sometime when I get internet access.  Right now I am just blogging on the train.  I just had an interesting experience… we went through one of those tunnels under the mountain and when we came out the other side the sun was out and the sky was blue.  It is like we teleported to someplace totally different.  But, it makes sense that the weather  on one side of the mountains midget be different than the other side… but, what a surprise… to actually see it happen.

We are zipping across the country side at 200 kph, which is a pretty good clip, toward Linz.  The train is two minutes behind schedule….  That may explain the speed up.  Until now the train was doing about 170 kph or less.  This was the first time he really put the pedal to the metal.

Finally, made it to Salzburg, it is overcast again, and i got lost trying to find the hotel. (Hey, there was some construction and there were no street signs visible.) But, we finally made it.  Checked the e-mail.  Skyped Ricky. And asked where the locals go to eat.  The hotel manager said, "Die Weisse" and showed us how to find it on a map.  Just as we stated to go there was a slight misting of rain…. discretion being the better part of valor… Nancy, ran in and got the big umbrella.

Die Weisse was excellent.  They have their own brewery, good Austrian wheat beer, and wonderful Austrian food.

Good thing we went back and got that umbrella it was raining when we left the restaurant…. We came back to the room and crashed.  Tomorrow we take on Salzburg.

Day-13 Buda

Rick with St Stevens Background

We got going early and went up to Castle Hill in Buda this morning.  It has a great view over the city and the Matthias church.  We took took a bunch of pictures of the church and had a great time just walking around the hill top.

Matthias Church Exterior

Matthias Church Interior

We took a bus and tram to the Hungarian National Historical Museum. No pictures but it was very interesting looking at their history from their viewpoint.  The museum starts out about 200,000 years ago when Homo Erectus and Neanderthal both occupied this part of the world.  They have amazing collections of artifacts and early tools from sites in Hungry.He museum then proceeds chronologically to the year 2000 AD.  

Historical Museum (with Nancy)

It was really interesting to see the contrast in the description of the same events from the Austrian and Hungarian descriptions.  Each has a bit of truth in it but the spin mostly from the Austrian side was visible.  The Hungarian side has a little fatalism going for it, too.  Nobody did anything wrong, shit just happened…. Like World War I, and World War II… To be fair the Hungarians did own up to their part in these events but there was that ever so mild, well we were surrounded by Axis powers and what could we do?

The section on the period after World War II to 1989 under Communist rule was veery interesting, too.  The marxist government jailed 563,000 people for "political cleansing."

Then the very last section was on Hungarian Scientists and Noble prize winners.  That was excellent (I almost missed it just before the exit) but they have contributed a lot to physics, mathematics and medicine.  Many had to leave Hungary for the US or the UK to do their work but they were Hungarian and many kept contacts or re-established them after the fall of the Communist government in 1989.

Day 12 - Pest

We got up and went down to the restaurant in the hotel for a Hungarian breakfast.  It was somewhat surprising.  Scrambled eggs and French toast were familiar.  Then there 12 types of cheese, 15 types of bread, four types of fish, stewed vegetables, and another dozen things I didn't even recognize.  It was interesting that they also had desert for breakfast.  So I had to try a little piece of cheese cake. 

Now that we were charged up, we headed for the internet cafe to check the e-mail.  The cafe was supposed to open 30 minutes before we got there but no one was there and the gate was locked.  His loss, we pressed on to the Parliament for the tour.  Nancy waited in line for almost an hour to buy a ticket, then we waited 40 minutes for our scheduled tour to start.  The building was very nice and the English speaking guide told us a lot about the history of the building.  After getting out of there we stopped for a torte and expresso and I had a coke. ($7)  Then we headed to Liberty Square, to St Stevens, and then to the opera house.

St, Steven's church is an excellent example of opulent design.  Marble and gold leaf, and then more of everything, statues, frescos, and a separate chapel with the right hand of St Steven on display as a "relic."  The building is beautiful and the form and design reminded me of the Roman buildings we saw in Italy.  Pictures just don't really do the place justice.  While it is not as grand a St. Paul's in Rome… it gives you the same feeling.

The opera house tour (in English at 1500) was interesting.  The mini operatic concert was an extra 500 Florins each and the photography license was another 500 Florins.  ( I think she had x-ray vision and could tell how much cash I had.)  The opera building is beautiful and the history is pretty amazing, The  building is 140 years old and never had a fire or got bombed in two world wars or the 1956 revolution.   So, almost all the building is original.  The architect was very forward thinking.  It was the first building of its size to have central heating an cooling.  There are vents below each seat to provide airflow and hot air is vented out the top of the dome by convection.  Central cooling was provided by big blocks of ice which would cool outside air by 4 or 5 degrees to make the opera more comfortable.  When refrigeration air conditioning was invented it was easy to retrofit and it became the first air conditioned opera in the world.

We hopped a bus back to the tram, then took the tram back toward the hotel.  While were looking for a pay-as-you-go SIM card for the phone we found St Michaels was having a concert that night.  We went to a pizza place, we found walking around before, for dinner.  It was good and reasonable.  Dinner with desert for two was 3210 Florins or about $15.  Then we figured out that they had free WiFi and used the iPhones to Skype and check the e-mail.  

While we ate we decided to go to the concert.  But, I had to get more cash.  With Florins you feel like you are spending a lot of money… the concert was 13,000 Florins or about $65 for both of us.  The church is an  odd mix of old an new.  Repairs were sometimes uneven, and there was no stained glass in any window.  There were areas that clearly were still needing repair.  But, when the string orchestra started playing I understood why this was the location chosen for the concert.  The smaller church had beautiful acoustics and each note was deep and rich and vibrant. Just hearing the beautiful sound in that building was worth half the price of admission.  The program by the Duna String Orchestra easily covered the other half:

J. Pachebel  Canon

A. Vivaldi  The Four Seasons - Winter

J. S. Bach  Air

G. F. Haendel  Water Music

A. Vivaldi  Gloria (three movements)

W.A. Motzart  A Little Night Music

A. Dvorak  Slavonic Dances

E. Grieg  Holsberg Suite (Prelude, Sarabande, Air)

F. Liszt  Hungarian Rhapsody

And, that was the end of our day in Pest, tomorrow it is off to Buda on the other side of the Danube.

Day-11 On to Budapest

After getting up and getting ready we had time to go down to the breakfast at the hotel.  It was excellent and we enjoyed the time to get ready for yet another day of travel.  The day is beautiful again as we leave Vienna… We are off to bring the rain to Budapest today so we will have achieved a perfect record of rain while we are on the trip.  The U-3 underground dropped us right at the train station so we made it to the train in plenty of time and found our seats in the First Class car.  It is pretty cool we are facing each other across a table and we have our own window.  

For about 40 Euros per person extra we could have upgraded to Premium Class on this train.  We would get lunch and free drinks for the three hour trip…  Didn't seem to be worth it, so we just went 1st Class.  As you can see the seats aren't bad… even in 1st class.  

One of the hardest  things to manage is the public transportation system when you don't know the language.  But, there is  a standard that mask this workable, "The direction is shown by the last stop on the line."  That saved us again in Budapest.  We bought a three day ticket to cover our entire stay (about $18 each) and headed for Astoria where our hotel is located.  The room is huge.  Since we got in early… we took off toward the Danube and took a river cruise.  That was a great idea,  We got introduced to the city from the English language commentary on the boat and came up with a few ideas for our must see list.

We rode the tram to the end of the line just exploring and looking for a place to eat… After that we headed back to the general area of the hotel and found a "shopping" street a couple of blocks off the main street that had stalls and restaurants.  We picked one and had dinner.  The presentation was so unusual I took a picture of it.  We wandered back to the store and picked up a large bottle of water and finally headed back to the hotel as it was getting late.

Internet access is going to be a problem for the blog.  I may have to write and then post when I can get access.  

The burning question on Day-10

Large Bowl Carved from a Single Piece of Agate

I have been asked, what is the piece that impressed you the most... 

and with so many it is very hard.  But, my favorite was this Agate 

Bowl.  It is more than 2 feet across and carved from a single stone 

with incredible skill and precision.

Day 10 - Museums in Vienna

Hapsburg Gold Center Pieces

The Art Museum

Egyptian Room Vienna Art Museum

We got up early and had breakfast.  Then headed to the museums.  We saw Imperial Palace.  It was of course huge and the first part of the museum was dedicated only to all the dishes, china and centerpieces the Hapsburg royalty used.The center pieces were all in gold and then and there I decided I needed to spice up my table at home, perhaps with a huge gold centerpiece.  We then saw the Sisi museum, dedicated to the empress Elizabeth, the mother of the Duke who killed himself and his mistress at Mayerling. Sad. It is too bad that they didn't have any way of treating depression a hundred and fifty years ago. But of course we moved on to see the royal apartments. They were in very good shape and gave me a few decorating ideas. (for the new wing of the palace in Texas when we get around to it.)

We then toured the royal treasury and saw crowns and jewelry and other items that made the monarchy the richest in Europe.   We then crosses the street to the art museum and the time we had left we did not do it justice. We have to come back here, there is too much to see. The building was incredible and all marble.  Feeling tired, we headed back to the hotel to watch prime BBC TV,which is no great shakes but it was either the BBC or Law and Order in German. Tomorrow on to Budapest.

Day-9 On to Vienna Austria

Parliament Building

Kursalon Concert Hall in Vienna, Austria

We had a taxi pick us up at the hotel and deliver us to the train station as we were not that keen about trying the metro to get there on time.  Once there, we asked one of the local "train" people where Platform 3S was located and ran in to the first person we can remember who spoke NO English in Prague.  It was amazing now that I think about it.  We had absolutely no communication problems in Prague.  When I stopped to get a crepe the other day there were a group of Danes there that spoke English to communicate because that was their common language with the Czechs.  Fortunately, we found a mar of the train station and figured it out ourselves.

The train ride from Prague to Wien was beautiful.  The southern Czech Republic was just beautiful.  Amazing views of little streams in narrow valleys and beautiful forests on the hills. [ I'd like to come back and drive through that area some day. ] 

We arrived in Vienna and then took a local train to the Hilton Vienna which is located just outside of the "Altstadt."  We hen headed out to explore the "Old Town" and take a few pictures.  We picked up some Tram tickets after walking a mile or two and followed the "Ring Road" around the Old Town for a while.  We stopped for a sausage and then headed back toward the Hotel.  All in all a pretty good day.

Old Town Vienna at Night

Night -8

Nerudova Street

I went out after dark and took a few pictures of the streets and city at night.  Prague is really a pretty nice place.  Very old world in many ways and yet new and exciting in others.  Worth a visit if you get a chance.

Prague Palace at Night

The Road from the Palace at Night

Downtown Prague at Night

Day-8

This is the room at the Castle Steps.  Pretty nice.

I got an early morning call from my friend Kent who didn't know I was in Prague this morning.  We just had a great old time talking on Skype which is about the coolest thing ever for traveling.  I am not a pitchman for them, but if you ever do a lot of travel and you can get internet access Skype will save you a ton of money.  Kent, called me on the cell phone at about $1/minute and I called him back on Skype for about $ 0.05 a minute.  Even in Switzerland where the internet costs ran $ 0.40/minute it was cheaper to use Skype.  Anyway, we had a nice chat and I decided I need to go to Las Vegas for a long weekend or something to see him… before he moves to someplace else.  

Well, the rain has returned to Prague,  I think i'll be using the umbrella to go to breakfast today. We went down and got tram tickets.  We jumped on the tram going the wrong direction and ended up having to back-track to get to the Charles Bridge.  The bridge is 650 years old and has been undergoing repairs since 2007.  A lot of it is done but they are working on it a section at a time so tourists can still see most of the bridge and walk across it. This is looking back toward the bridge Gatehouse from the first part of the bridge.

Once we got into Old Town we went to the Kepler Museum.  It was very small but actually very interesting (It only cost $3.00 for entry) and fun.  We learned a few things we didn't know about his life.  One interesting portion was a compendium of quotes from people who knew Kepler well, like Goethe who said that among other things Kepler was a really nice guy, who laughed a lot.

       

We ate lunch a an overpriced place near the old town square then saw the chapel where the Hussites worship. They are sort of a cross between protestants  and Catholics. Then we went to the design museum and saw glassware and fabrics and caught several trams going is various directions in an attempt to get back to the hotel. We stopped for spaghetti and gnocchi on the way back. So here we are, packing again for a trip to Vienna tomorrow.

Day 7 - The Castle in Prague

Today September 1 we began the morning by walking uphill for several blocks to the breakfast area for the bed and breakfast. The establishment has several buildings and I guess they feel that everyone needs a good walk uphill before breakfast. After that we went further up the hill to the monastery and then spent the rest of the day at the palace. It is a huge complex at the top of the hill and the current Czech president lives in part of it. The cathedrals one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The palace is also one of the largest. 

One interesting experience was that like many places we visit photography is prohibited, but the Czechs are creative you can by a license to photograph in the palace.  So, rather than just say yes or no they figured out how to make a few bucks out of it.

We had to take a break and get a bite to eat and drink, so we just stopped in at a little cafe on the hill and had a sandwich and some water.  Rick tried some Czech dish that was sort of like scalloped potatoes with ham… very interesting. 

After wandering through cathedrals and convents and art galleries for another couple of hours, we called it a day. The picture of Nerudova street is the street where the bed and breakfast is located. Wish I had spent more time on the stair-master.  For dinner we went back to the same little restaurant as last night.  We are creatures of habit.  It was also close to the B&B and it was raining.

Day 6 Getting to Prague (Pahra)

Well first we had to get to the train station.  Jamie took us in her BMW 335.  You know in "Deutchland" a girl just has to have a good ride.  We left 10 minutes late and got to the train station 10 minutes early.  Well, that worked great.

We got the train to Frankfort and then the train from Frankfort to Nuremberg.  That was very nice and fast.  There is construction on the Deutche Bahn and so we had to take a bus to Prague.  In a little over 4 hours the bus arrived at the train station one minute late (in crazy traffic) and then we met our prearranged taxi to get to the hotel.  That was a good move as we were tired and and just a little cranky by the time we got to Prague.  
We settled in the room, went looking for a cash machine for another currency Czech Krowns and finally went to dinner.  We chose a little Czech place right up the street from where we stayed and had a nice dinner for two, three courses each, two large bottles of sparkling water for about $40.

Day 5 Getting to Germany

We took the train which was very nice (we found an open compartment in First Class and bagged it…) We didn't go up or over the mountains but instead  through a series of tunnels from one valley to the next.  The ride was smooth and fast.  The train was about half full so we ended up with a compartment to ourselves.  Nice reclining leather seats.  We picked up lunch at the train station before we left Zurich so we had a sandwich and some fruit for the trip.  The weather in Zurich was pretty nice, but by the time we got to Germany it was overcast.  At Karlsruhe it started to rain…

By Heppenheim is was nice again.  Steve picked us up at the train stations and we went to visit the Heidelberg Castle which was about 30 minutes away.  It was started in the 1400's and never actually finished… In part because it kept being knocked down in wars with France.  We made it just in time to catch the daily English Language Tour so we were able to go inside and see the interior rooms.  The guided tour was well worth the 4 Euros and we had a great time.  They are restoring the castle as they get money and while it may take a 100 years it will have much of it's previous splendor returned some day.

We went to dinner in a little out of the way German place in Heppenheim.  It was excellent and after Zurich wow it was such a deal!

Day 4 - Notes from Zurich.

 TRAVEL TIPS

Number 1: bring lots of money. I am constantly amazed how expensive things are here.  If you use a credit card they will offer to convert your bill to US dollars but the exchange rate is about 1 CHF = $ 1.02.  You can elect CHF and take the daily bank rate.  My credit card adds 3% so if the bank rate is less than $0.98 to the 1 CHF you will actually do better to let your bank do the conversion.

Number 2: If you have an unlocked quad band GSM phone bring it.  I picked up a Lebra CH SIM card and 5 CHF credit in the train station for 5 CHF.  The phone now calls the US for $0.28 for the first minute and $0.09 for each additional minute.  This is a better deal than the pre-paid phone card I used in the past.  This also gives you a local phone number that you can use.  So much better than the phone card in this respect.  The deal in other countries is worse than using my US AT&T phone on international roaming so I will have to look for inexpensive SIM deals in each country I visit.  Two weeks to go and we will have to see how that works out.

WHAT TO DO

From the main train station take the S10 train to Utilberg. This train will give you a beautiful ride up the mountain near Zurich.  When you reach Utilberg you can walk up the trail behind the train station to the top of the hill (about half a mile).  There you will find a spectacular view of the city in the valley below.  There is also a Hotel/Restaurant that we stopped at for lunch on Sunday.  They were having "Swiss Adventure" for kids up on the mountain that weekend and there were hundreds of kids zip-lining throughout the trees and dropping off the communications tower on a rope and harness.  They were landing right next to where we were having lunch on the patio.  The weekend is family time and the train that runs every 30 minutes during the week between Zurich and Utilberg runs ever 20 minutes on the weekend.  Many people come up and just wander on the beautiful and well maintained trails that cover the mountain.  Many trails were like small roads and there were lots of mountain bikers.  Just a fantastic place for outdoor sports.  Along one of the trails there is an educational exhibit about the solar system. It starts with a model of the Sun and as you hike the trail you come to Mercury and Venus and so on all the way to Pluto.  It is amazing to feel the physical distance and see the relative size of each planet from this presentation.  As a physicist I know these things as facts, but the actual physical presentation really brings it home with a sense of proportion better than any other presentation I have seem.

We visited the Museum for Design Sunday afternoon after we got back from the mountain.  Just two stops on Tram 4 from the main train station… drops you right in front of the Museum (well you have to cross a small park) but you can see the building.  Interesting but smaller that I expected.  Two curated exhibits both well done.  Entrance is 12 CHF/person and we sent about 90 minutes on the exhibits.  If you are interest in design you want to see it just for the design of the exhibits. 

So tomorrow we pack up and leave for Heppinheim, Deutschland.  So far this has been a great experience.

Day 3

We took the tram downtown.  By some good fortune we ran into a young woman from the US who is going to school ere and got the lowdown on how to use the Zurich transport system.  We ought a 24 hour ticket at the hotel and headed done town… but the trick you need to know is to put he ticket from the hotel in the slot on the machine at the tram stop to validate the "start" time of the 24 hours.  This allows travel anywhere, by any public transport means (tram, bus, ferry) for a full 24 hours.  So if we get up and get going downtown early enough we won't have to buy s pass until tomorrow afternoon and that one will cover us to get to the train early Monday

I talked to the international rail travel folks at the Main train station and we are set for Heppenheim and then to Prague the next day.  We had to pay extra for a Bus reservation, even though they took the trains down… But we have a confirmed time and we expect everything will work out.

We spent the day at the Swiss Landesmuseum learning all about Swiss history.  It is pretty interesting.   Lots of well done displays and a few in English.  We had the Audio Guide in English and that helped a lot.  Between Nancy's French and my German we were able to figure most of the stuff out.  Stopped for tea after the museum… Then took a tram down to a street faire going on in the "old town" area.  After walking around for awhile we stopped and had Fondue for dinner… It was very Swiss and very filling.  Hopped a tram to the train station, Picked up some Croissants and Bananas for breakfast (I like bananas)  And a few more Granola bars for snacks….  Then back to the hotel and to the blog… All in all a good day.

Day 2

Well we made it to Zurich and it is raining like crazy.  The airport was easy we went and got a couple of hundred Swiss Francs to have come cash.  Learned that we wanted to go to the international reservations center to get the Eurail pass activated  and that they ca make reservations for the trains there.  We found out that getting to Prague will be a problem.  Seems the Germans are doing rail work all over the country but particularly in the east so everything north of Munich and south of Berlin is closed and we may end up on a bus.  All of a sudden the rental car solution that would have been a 4:40 drive has turned into a 9+ hour train and or bus trip.  We will actually have to get to Germany to see what the connections are like the Swiss train company has limited information and really couldn't advise us. 

We planned to see Steve Reynolds in Germany but the connections to Prague could be a problem.   We have booked a taxi to meet us at the train station in Prague to get us to the hotel at 6:26 PM so we may have to make some adjustments in our plans.

We did get the reservations on the train for Prague to Vienna and Salzburg to Zurich as those are high-speed trains and need the reservation for First class… but the peak travel season is over and the other trains shouldn't be a problem.

Day 1

Well we made it to New York and are hanging out in the Flagship Lounge (it is nice to be Executive Platinum) while we wait for the flight to Zurich.

About ready

Finishing packing, document check, file with all the reservations... OK we are good to go.  This will be the adventures of Rick and Nancy Exploring Switzerland, Austria, Germany, The Czech Republic, Hungry and anyplace else you can get to before we have to come back to the States.

So enjoy