On second Czech...

I start by saying it was pointed out I forgot the link for yesterday's pictures. Here it is again. 

the day began w a trek to the grocery store to get (wait for it) laundry detergent. then we did laundry. ever try using a machine w instructions in an unknown language?! my 🇨🇿 Is still Prahaha 😂 I got it going & we left the apartment as a big  dryer.

Today was Prague Castle, which rises above the west side of the city. There are 8 museums there. We did 4. The best was clearly the cathedral -- maybe the best example of gothic cathedral I've ever seen (& I've been to both Chartres & Salisbury). Here's one pic that show up on mobile versions display:

The Palace is impressive & 14th c, having survived two medieval fires. But there are no real furnishings. I'll also add that all the signage abt "land rolls" could put a guy to sleep. I know they were important, legally, but geez. You don't have to roll in them.

Next was the Basilica of st George. As you can see, Romanesque & much smaller. W OC a statue of George & the dragon. OC.

We sat & had lunchtime ice cream:

In case you were wondering, this is a "traditional Czech" treat, a trindl'k. Or something. They are almost as ubiquitous as curry stands in Berlin. & much tastier. 😃 it was more than any of us could eat. One thing: the thing to do, that makes it authenticate, is you cook the pastry on a double in the front of the stand. I don't understand either, but there you have it. [Ed's note: EH (this is how she got the nickname 😃) did some research & the 'net doesn't think they are either Czech OR traditional! Supposedly they are Slovak (uh oh, war coming) AND didn't show up in Praha till abt 10 years ago 🤦‍♂️).
Before we left the castle, you'll see a procession of Czech soldiers. I like their unis 🙂. We pointed out they were hardly a threatening force: we just had Trump's 4th for heaven's sake!
.   Also, b4 leaving, we hit the WC (the Continent had taken the British take on this -- one wonders if this is in the Brexit agreement. 😂You have to pay to get in. I didn't have the right change& the attendant stopped me --  "no, 50 euros!" I went, got change, handed her 20 zlotnys & she says "no change, go away." I was by now abt to wet myself so I said "i don't need change" & got an "you're an idiot" shrug, but she let me in. 😃
Dinner was at a pizza & pasta place (See pics) in old town (almost). The women had tickets to see Swan Lake. I wrote this.
I'm out of room. Manana

PraHahahaha

 We made it to Prague. Ass-crack of dawn & all.

After easily finding the place to dump our bags at train station (Hlavni nadrazi in Czech, which we are learning) we walked abt 5 miles doing this:

• Lunch was from those small huts outside the train station -- haute cuisine. 
• The Jerusalem Synagogue (see pics here) was right on our path to wherever. It was spectacula ; reminds  how tough they had it there w Nazis, then Stalinists. Synagogue survived WW2 bc it was warehouse for Jewish confiscations 
• Then Henry's Tower, 1 of 120 towers in Prague. Paid to go to 10th story, great pics. 
• Then coffee & a box of 10 assorted macaroons from a street fair booth. Note how many are left (& then there were none)
• The highlight of the day was the Mucha Museum. I took a photo of the entry ticket since you wrest supposed to take them inside. 
  
  Seems Sarah Bernhart made him famous in 1894. His stuff is quite good. 
     Then back to the train station to get bags. It took a few mins to find taxi stand; EH later read never do this 90% of the time you'll get screwed. Like this time. I paid 20€ for what KH timed as 6 mins. Oh well. 
     The apartment. KH booked the 2 long stays. The flat in Berlin was good. The codes to get in worked. But we're missing a 2nd bedroom (their are bunks for EH in the one). & it's not "within 400 yards" of anything significant. KH called but was told there were only 1 bedrooms here. ☹️
  
  
    Dinner. This place, Kuchyň (kitchen in Czech) was on a top ten in town list (& we could get in). As you can see, the views of city are spectacular. 😃 their thing is they take you to the stove, open the pots (like you're in someone's kitchen) & you get to pick your dinner from that! No menu! Here's us doing it:
  EH & I had the goulash (when in Central Europe, do as...) & KH had peppercorn beef. We had both bread AND potato dumplings (again, central  Europe). It was v good.
  One dogfight was me writhing on my Czech. I tried to say "thank you"to our waiter. She ignored me. EH tried to use the internets to see how to pronounce dekuju. Finally, we made friend w the couple next to us at the table (all Czechs love NHL) d asked how to say it. He did & we laughed. There were no u's in his version! I told him how I said it & they laughed & laughed, but said "maybe it'll catch on". 
  & For the title: that's the check word for this city. Isn't it funny?! Hahahahaha

The Benjamin Button of Cities

Yes, Gentle Reader, we are in Dresden. "How to do Dresden in one day, for Dummies, on $6000CZH" 😂
we left Berlin at what EH called "the ass-crack of dawn" (9 am) after a classic family exchange on the platform. We got to discussing train trips thru Europe &  I  said the trip in '17 from Bratislava to Budapest was a chicken away from totally primitive. EH disagreed, saying it was the trip TO Bratislava that was like that. So she looked it up on this blog! I am the Boswell of such things! Meta- blogging! Best part was I used the same chicken 🐓joke in the blog entry about B to B 😂🤦‍♂️
It was hard to top that. The train to Dresden was painfully full, but we got here in good time & the flat is v near the train station & tram line. My good.
The title comes from EH. You see Dresden had rebuilt since the horrific 1945 bombing, where 70% was destroyed (see Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5). So all these sandstone buildings that look old wee rebuilt after '45. As our cab driver this morning said "the old town is really new & the new town old as it wasn't destroyed by bombing."
But it's a beautiful city. We loved the Zwinger (Ger. 4 fort) so here are two pics from the inner courtyard.
Here's the link to more.
We saw at least the outside of the main sites: 2 churches (there are no pics allowed inside the one, but it is almost gaudy ornate), 2 palaces, the tiled wall "procession of princess," the Buhl Terrace overlooking the Elbe. We were happy w that & have tickets at the "ass-crack of dawn" train to Prague in the morning.
Dinner was at a place labeled "vegetarian German". As you can see from pics, they had some meat. Ironically, again, I was the only one to abide by the description - I had their delicious potato soup (w all kinds  of cheese & stuff in it).
Finally, I lost my guide status. 😩 we were on the way to dinner & I @) got on what was really the wrong tram , b) assumed which way to get on & ended up on the wrong side of the Elbe. There was unhappiness abt how I recovered, too. I was told I was too  scrambled (you might see this as insensitive 😥) to trust. EH is now our guide. Good bless us.
Tomorrow from Prague!

Walls, wind, crankiness & food fusion

Monday morning bright many changes in our little world in East Central Berlin. First, the traffic increased multifold. Then there was an alarm at 530 that took 10 minutes for someone to turn off. Then there was a small line (& people seated) at Starbucks after 2 days of being the only one there.

& then there's the 3 amigos (-as): feeling tired, sore & a bit cranky. KH did a nosebleed over breakfast, then EH pulled up lame (exaggeration) going up stairs.

Today's picture from the morning site is of the Wall.(here's link to more pics)

It's not much now, but it was 150 km. They've kept this to remember. &, as a visitor I'll tell you they don't let you forget. Even though it's been down longer than it was up, it is mentioned constantly. Or the partition is. Checkpoint Charlie is still a thing.
What we did:

• Started with the "Topography of Terror" museum. Nope, not what you might think. It's all abt how the Nazis came to and held power. & killed millions of people. Panel after panel depicting Nazi this & these people being led off, etc. It's rather amazing.  The site is where the SS headquarters was. I never saw it, but I suspect the Allies turned the former palace into rubble. 
• Next it was to the Neues Museum, which houses... Old stuff. Ok, there's a part of 3rd floor on ancient Berlin. Part of first floor is Egyptian. Part of second floor is Huns. There's a whole wing on Schliemann's work & robbing of the Troy dig. The highlight is Neferti's head, which you can't photograph. But I liked the recreation of the temples.  They seemed to be big on dragging whole walls back from the middle east. 
• Then we looked at the cathedral, but no one was up to climbing the stairs to the walk along the outside of the Dome. 

Other notables:

• We breakfasted again at the bike place. They replaced spinach in scrambled eggs, W some unknown greenery. I had their version of an English breakfast, which failed multiple ways -- the baked beans weren't right (multiple colours of beans) & as Sheldon would say, the bean to egg ratio was off -- too many beans. 
• We found a local chain for mid morning coffee, but it was so cold we had to move inside to drink it. It was 60 cloudy & windy.
• You can see from the photos we had ice cream for lunch.  😋
• OMG! It was supposed to be Tapas for dinner at a place that had 4.7/5. Yeah, come to Germany, eat Spanish. But, despite having av reservation, there were no tables inside (& it was chilly remember?) & the tapas reminded us of Madrid (code for "not good"). So it was EH & KH tried to find a nearby alternative: one wanted a "safe burger" the other Vietnamese food. I sulked. ☹️ they ended up finding... Wait for it...a Vietnamese place that served burgers! NS. Ironically, I was the only one to get Vietnamese food (pictured). A fusion food ending. 

Tomorrow, early, dresden. 

Do I Make the Baroque joke or is that too Abstract?

OK, today begins w this caveat: your getting just a page (or what my ipad thinks is a page) & 1 picture (& link to more) bc... Well ipad + Google app = issues.
For the 3rd day the lead photo is food porn: we ate dinner at Grill Royal, oh some top 15 lists in city. We all had cow but this strawberry tart dessert was a winner

Okay, here's what we did today:

• Started w Gemaldegalerie (Old Masters) where KH wanted to see the vermeers (not many places have 2); EH hates V. I like the guys w cigars (#jk)
• Saw Charlottenburg Palace, begun in 1701 -- some baroque rooms survive the bombing in '44. If you look at photos, there's quite a pottery room. & Queen Sophie Charlotte's (yes, the palace & town are named after her) harpsichord was impressive (she could play, I hear)
• The Bregguen Museum was across the street, in what had been "the officers' casino" (so the sign translated it) for the palace, which has the world's largest collection of Picassos & Klees. The world is completely different after seeing that. 

Today's highlights:

• We took too long to find the bus stop outside our flat 1st thing this AM bc a) Google maps didn't know where the stop was, b) you can't just ask Google what a bus stop sign looks like& get a decent response! (An H in a yellow circle)
• I want to go to the zoo & see the panda; I was told I'd already seen them in SAN Diego & DC. "But I want to see a European panda" wasn't a winning argument 😩
• When I told them what kind of souvenir I wanted KH said "of course you do." When I  said that was her words but EH's voice, they laughed & laughed
• KH had beer for lunch. See pic -- "like they know how to pour beer here or something"
• At lunch, a young American w stroller came up to me & said "good shirt... My baby is wearing one just like it. He loves the Dutch." I was wearing my Dutch Soccer (aka flowers) shirt (v orange)
• In KH's continual struggle to do more, she said "I didn't know the museums  were open last night  till 8." 😂🤣 it was pointed out we had dinner at 5, napped, then went out for ice cream & then to bed. Where  was another museum fitting in there?
• Google maps didn't know where the bus stop was on way to dinner either 😠
• In discussion of painting, I stated the obvious: Picasso liked naked women. Even the blue guitar has a decapitated breast in the corner. 😂

And texting the link doesn't work. So I'm emailing it. Enjoy. 

Not the Wurst Day in Berlin

For the math challenged, today is our first full day in Berlin. 

It began w one of the highlights -- brunch at a place called Einstein's. As EH pointed out, every German country tries to claim him: she & I breakfasted two years ago at an Einstein's in Vienna. Here's your food porn:

The day in a nutshell:

• After brunch, we went to Pergamon -- Berlin's antiquities Museum. The highlight was Nebuchadnezzar s blue wall. Picture

(Nevermind, pics not working with ipad now 😠)

• Let’s be clear: the Pergamon is neither the Louvre OR especially the British Museum. When you admit some of your statues are copies of those in the British Museum, you have to admit you were only a second-class colonial tomb raider. 😂

• Then we stopped for a drink at the cafe there, where we remained invisible to wait stash for over half an hour! The bus-person told us they were "very busy," which seemed an exaggeration considering it was a Saturday in tourist season. 

• Then one building over to the Alte National Gallery. Their poster child is this painting, which is NOT a Renoir!

• The highlight here though was two-fold: I was wearing a Minnesota polo & held the door for people, several of whom asked me directions – in English!!! Then EH & KH BOTH got busted for carrying their purse wrong! By the same docent! I was told it started w KH pointing too closely to a statue. 😊

• It was raining outside. We waited. We found the right spot to hop on the off & on bus. We saw all of Berlin, including TWO Irish pubs & many Starbucks!

• Dinner was at Vapiano. If you don’t know the chain, it serves Italian food in a strange way – you have to stand at a counter & watch then prepare your food. Quips were made abt it not being a good food service day. ☹️

• We had Hagen Daz (there’s a retail store next to our local Starbucks) for late dessert. We had a six half scoop sampler, onto which “the chef” (Ice cream shops have chefs?!?!) added special toppings 😊 It was gone before anyone thought of a picture. But we’ll prob be back. Oh yeah I’m suppressed to remind you they were HALF scoops 😂

So far the weather has been spotty, with annoying afternoon showers both days & the famed German efficiency had been little in evidence – tho more than one German near us has mumbled “it’s Berlin, you expect it.”

Ich bin ein Berliner!

Yes, I'm back. Was told I had to blog "so we knew where we've been." 🤷‍♂️

Yes, we are in Berlin. For 4 nights. Three full days, starting tomorrow.

This will be "brief." Highlights of trip over & (part) day 1:

• A kid on the plane wailed the first our. I think it was "too tight " over & over, but maybe it wasn't English (did I mention we were 80 mins late taking off?)
• A woman on the flight had tattoos up her leg to her ass crack. How do I know, you ask? Bc she was wearing the smallest pair of denim cutoffs in history. As one of companions said, "you rode 8 hours on the plane w a constant wedgie?!"
• The street food thing in Berlin is currywurst. Yes, a brat w a sauce made of ketchup & curry. Really. I had it for dinner. (Pictured?)
• 
• We did a third of a bus tour on & off thing b4 two of three were asleep (names withheld to protect the old & infirm). 
• But what we saw was a constant reminder of a) it used to be a divided city (we are staying a block from the line) & b) the Allies destroyed a lot in WW 2
• Brandenburg Gate is impressive (US Embassy is right next to it) 

Well, that'll do for today. My Fitbit says I got 2 hours & 9 mins of sleep 😥