Madrid with the Family

As I said in the previous post, we had an early flight. I mean early. We left our place in Vienna at 4 or so in the morning to get to the airport on time. Well, that afforded us a full day in Madrid!

One thing before I talk a little about Madrid. We were sitting in the Vienna airport at our gate and found out they had wireless. For free. Awesome! That actually isn’t the important part. Due to the free wireless Hill was able to access the internet with her iPad and the first piece of news we read that morning was OSAMA WAS KILLED!!!

Thrilled, I told my mom, “Hey Mom! Guess what! They Osama is dead.”

Shocked, she pauses for a second. She then turns to my dad and says solemnly, “Gary, the president is dead.”

It is unfortunate how close their names are.

Our three goals for Madrid:

1. Meghan wants sangria.

2. Dad wants paella.

3. Mom wants tapas.

We get into Madrid at around 8 or 9 in the morning and head to the place we are staying, Hostal Pez Azul. It is in this really eclectic and interesting part of Madrid, right next to Gumbo, a Cajun food restaurant. I am not sure if I mentioned that Hillary’s family is from New Orleans in my post about her, but she was really excited about this fact. Too bad it was closed that day. Next time.

Okay, so we check into the room and then head out. For what? Another Sandeman’s free tour! Yes, that makes my Sandeman’s Free Tours count up to five: Dublin, Berlin, Munich, Prague, & Madrid! You might actually think that I enjoy these tours.

Well, I do. But after already having been on another Madrid free tour, having a flight at 6 in the morning and just being overall exhausted from so much travelling, by the end of the tour I just wanted to pass out. And after accomplishing goals one and two at dinner, I get that opportunity, as my family wants a siesta. Instead I stay up though, planning out Porto details with Hill.

After a few hours siesta (not the way actual Spanish do it by the way), we knock off number three on the list on Cava Baja, this street lined with great tapas restaurants. We end the night with some churros.

I would say, all in all, a good end to a good family vacation.

Vienna Cont

Vienna, day two, was a pretty easy, relaxing day. I don’t recall too much what we did, in fact. I know first off we went to the schloss. Yes, I got my fill of schlosses on this trip. Schlosses in Potsdam, Fussen, and now Vienna. How enchanting.

This schloss is one of the biggest of them all, coming in at 1440 rooms, large, beautiful gardens, I believe one of the first zoos in the world (and googling confirms that the zoo, founded in 1752, is indeed the oldest), mazes, statues, a giant green house, need I go on?

Well, I have seen my share of fancy pants palatial rooms and didn’t see the point of entering. Instead, we explored the grounds. I never cease to be amazed by the gardens kept by palaces. The things they get plants to do are really impressive. The gardens at the Schonbrunn Schloss had walls and arches stretching forever formed entirely by trees, the flowers and bushes were perfectly maintained. On a nice day I could definitely lose myself in these gardens.

Hungry, we left in search of food. More family fun ensued and we ended up on the other end of the city. First we failed at a café where we were all hoping for chili.

Lies. First we got yelled at by a guy in German. This guy must have been crazy or anarchist or something. We were walking along the street, looking for an ATM. We found one, but there was this guy shouting at it and at people around. We crossed the street to a different ATM, thinking we would avoid this guy. The guy comes across the street and starts yelling god knows what at my dad, inches from my face. None of us know what to do. Eventually he just leaves, but waits around the corner. We wait a little, hoping he actually walks further away. We get our money and put distance between that man and us. He was not stable.

So after that, we fail at the café. They really just had no food that they had on the menu. Chili con carne? No. How about the goulash then? Nope. And the soup? No dice.

After finally eating at another restaurant that we found after walking for at least an hour, we go to the music museum. YAY MUSEUMS! I bet you are all thinking it. A museum about classical music? How could that be even remotely interesting? Let me tell you, it was so much fun. I highly recommend it. It seems like it could play to children, but if you really like interactive museums, it is great. You can conduct a symphony. I made my own waltz by rolling dice. I also tried to paint with sound, but that wasn’t exactly working correctly. I did, however, get to feel like I was in a womb in this one room. Fun!

Wait, I am going completely out of order! I know, I am typing this so I could really just go back and write this in the order it actually happened, but that isn’t how I am doing it. Deal. Before we went to the museum we ate sacher torte at Sacher Café. Yep, the original hope of the sacher torte, which is really just chocolate cake. I was disappointed. It looked perfect, but it was too dry for me. And seriously, how much was that? Like 5 euro for a slice of chocolate cake? Not again.

So after the cake and after the museum we are ready for what we have all been waiting to eat since being in Vienna: Weiner schnitzel. My dad and I found some places recommended in our guide book that were nearby and went to one. Yet, it seemed the theme of the day would be restaurants not having what you order. Yep! This place was out of Weiner schnitzel! Why me? Oh well, the pork schnitzel was delicious, too. One plate could have definitely served two though.

That ends day two in Vienna. The next morning we fly back to Spain EARRRLYYY in the morning.

Vienna

So I left off at least a week ago with my very uneventful first day in Vienna. I mean, I guess that eating a ton of great falafel really doesn’t count as uneventful, but seriously, I am in Vienna! The capital of classical music, Wiener schnitzel, and Hapsburg happenings. I need to take advantage of day 2.

And I would say I did.

The fam + Hillary heads into town on the metro after a good breakfast of pastries and fruit. Why Hillary and the family? Where is Hillary’s family? Well, they actually stayed back in Budapest to catch their flight back to the US of A.

Side note: The Hillary/Richard family departure was pretty entertaining. My family had seen all it wanted to see in Budapest (well, all we could fit in on our last day, there is definitely more I want to see but would need more time, oh, and definitely more paprikash to eat) so decided to catch an earlier train. I texted Hillary and got no response. At the train station we were bumming around, waiting for the train and wondering if we should wait for Hillary. Fifteen minutes before the train’s departure I spot Mrs. Richard, frantic. Hillary dashes across the platforms to buy her ticket. In a matter of minutes we are running for the train as Mr. Richard snaps pictures of the farewell and Mrs. Richard runs after Hillary. Classic train departure scene, I would say.

Anyways, our first real experience of Vienna is a great church with a tiled roof like the one in Hungary. Here, instead of saying a church, I will look up which one it actually was. Okay, it was definitely St. Stephan’s. So we exit the metro at Stephansplatz or something like that and see a beautiful church. Okay, so that’s done.

One more thing: We are doing this tour on our own. There are no free tours of Vienna. Hey New Europe Tour Company, get on that. Really Sandeman’s? A tour of Hamburg and not Vienna? The guide book two day tour will have to do. Thank you Lonely Planet.

Then we head in the wrong direction. My mom was in charge of our DIY tour at this point. We happen upon Mozart’s house. Only in Vienna do you get lost and happen upon Mozart’s house. We correct our direction and that takes us towards the Hapsburgs’ winter palace, the Hofburg. Their palace is right in the middle of things. Usually a ruler’s castle or palace is situated a little bit outside of the city, to keep the plebs at bay. Berlin had Potsdam. Paris had Versailles. Really Hapsburgs, you gotta displace yourselves from the commoners a little bit.

Well, we see the palace and emerge on the other side to see some towering gothic spires and neoclassical buildings. The neoclassical buildings are part of the Museum Quartier. Boring. (Actually, I would’ve loved to see any of the museums I missed on this trip, but like my parents and friends keep reminding me, save some things for when you come back. Fine.) We head for the gothic spires instead.

Some of these spires are part of the Rathaus. Others belong to maybe parliament. The Rathaus is the city hall. Sorry I can’t remember what the other spires belong to, but really, does it matter too much?

The Rathaus is pretty impressive though. It even had music emanating from the grounds. Turns out we happened upon a fun run that ended at the Rathaus. Why can’t I ever be a part of an event that ends at a building like that? There was music and food and all these fun activities geared towards children smack in the middle of the grounds between the Rathaus and the National Theater of Austria. Well, I guess that would be like partying it up on the National Mall in D.C. Some day.

After mulling around the area, we happen upon a nice church. Again, all these churches are blending together sadly. I couldn’t tell you the name of this one. It did have a nice tiled roof though. I guess that is pretty much what I notice.

Since we skipped the Museum Quartier we were about done with the day’s worth of itinerary so I thought the Naschmarkt would be a good choice to waste some time at. On our way we spot another impressive church or cathedral or whatever. This one happens to be unknown to me again. This time I will google it for you all. Okay, so it turns out this one is St. Charles. The other one? Votive Church. And it was under restoration like usual. At least it was right next to Freud Park. And the part that was already restored looked really nice, so good for them. Restoration is worth it.

Naschmarkt is mainly a flea market plus a fresh food market plus a flower market plus a cheap tourist goods market. I only got some falafel, but really enjoyed looking at all the steins and some of the lederhosen they had for sale. Sadly, all of the cool lederhosen that I liked were too small for me. Bummer. Also, all of the steins were still expensive. I want a nice five euro stein, I am not going to buy a stein for 20 euros at a flea market. And when I try to barter with you by offering 10 and you come down to 18 but won’t budge from there, that is just annoying.

After the market another fun family adventure for food begins. It is impossible to please all the Wachtl’s. Really, we are mainly indecisive and cannot for the lives of us make a decision. My mom is usually the only one who is a little picky but tries to say she doesn’t care. Then when we find somewhere she finds a reason not to eat there. Eating on family vacations therefore is postponed usually an hour. This is ever more common when we are in a foreign country. By the end of our epic adventure across town in search of the perfect restaurant, I turn to Hillary and say, “At the end of this I am going to be eating Doner and my dad is going to be annoyed.”

We get off the metro and my mom announces we are going to just get Doner. Fine. I was ready for this. Anyways, it is my pre opera dinner anyways.

That is right, I saw opera in Vienna. After lunch, which really became my dinner because of the time it took to find a place, Hillary and I go to the Staadtoper, or the State Opera House, to see if we can get tickets. We waited in line for probably an hour and quickly bought our standing room only tickets for, brace yourselves, Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Finally, a real opera, none of that American opera bull. But again, I felt really classy in my flannel as I mingled with the upper class of Vienna.

The opera was good, but having standing room only after a long day (and long past two weeks) of walking was exhausting. It was hot and the opera was 3 hours long. I could have left at intermission and would have been happy. That was just too much for me. Don’t get me wrong. The opera was outstanding and the music itself was impeccable. I was just too tired to enjoy it fully.

That concludes day one of Vienna. One more day left.

Hungry in Hungary Day 1

Hillary's dad asked her when we arrived in Prague, "So Hillary, why am I here?". I could only imagine what he was thinking when we arrived in Budapest (pronounced BudapesHt).  Although a fairly well known destination, it probably doesn't normally make it on the travel itinerary of many family vacations.  Many have compared it to Prague, and I do agree, they have their similarities.  They were both part of the Hapsburg rule.  They both have great architecture and food.  Their histories are very similar too, especially in the past century, being Nazi and Soviet occupied for the vast majority of those years.  Yes, the cities are very comparable, but they are also very different.  Prague seemed almost surreal with it's clean perfect gothic architecture dotted around the city while Budapest is admittedly a little less polished, a little more run down.

Yet, it does have it's jewels.  The parliament building is outstanding.  They say it is supposed to be built with the London parliament as inspiration.  To be honest, I like this building better.  It is beautiful.  The red domed roof and the white facade shining over the Danube is quite a sight to see.  And the perfect view is from across the river on Castle Hill up by St. Matthias Cathedral.  The cathedral is a view itself.  It has a colorful tiled roof that makes it look like a patterned carpet.  Up near the cathedral is the Fisherman's Bastion which some say is the inspiration for Disney's castle.  That is probably the fourth castle like structure I have heard this about.  From the bastion you can see St. Stephen's Basilica and the chain bridge.  Both are spectacular examples of architecture.

Well, we saw all of this on a free walking tour.  Yep, we love our free walking tours.  While this wasn't the most informative when compared to Sandeman's New Europe Tours, our guide was probably the most entertaining.  She was great, very excited about everything, especially the food and the drink.

And oh, the food.  Here the goulash is a soup and is so savory.  Ad I know that everyone thinks goulash when they think Hungary, if they think anything, but the paprikash is even better.  It is this creamy stew spiced with paprika, the country's favorite spice.  This dish is good.  I had it with a side of dumplings and cleaned the plate.  Besides this, langos is the dish to try.  It is fried dough covered in garlic, sour cream and cheese.  Yeah, Hungary is a pretty healthy place.  Add to this delicious pastries and a good selection of beers and wines and you will never want to leave, or go on a diet.

Munich

Successfully navigating the public transportation we make it to our place which is considerably outside of Munich.  It's in this quaint little area that had a particularly good beer garden where we had some great traditional German food.
After lunch we make our way into the city.  Up until now, I have been particularly impressed by the metro stop in Milan that exits right onto the plaza in front of the duomo.  It is just such an incredible sight to welcome you into the city.  I a, not sure Munich topped this, but the metro that exits onto Marienplatz is pretty outstanding.  You have the new town hall and the old town hall welcoming you as you climb the stairs from the station.  Yes.  Two town halls.  One old, one new.  Actually, they are both pretty new.  The new town hall being from 1903 or so and the old town hall being from... well, was built about sixty years later.  What? Yeah, the second war was pretty hard on many German cities.  Berlin was ninety percent destroyed or so.  Munich was bombed pretty heavily too.  A lot of it had to be rebuilt after the war.  Which causes you to have the old town hall being rebuilt after the new one.

Either way, these buildings are nice.  Especially the new town hall.  It is this outstanding neogothic structure towering over the square.  And one of the most important parts, again, probably Meghan's favorite, the Glockenspiel.  If the astronomical clock sounded in incredible, you would probably also be let down by this clock.  First, there is a jousting match.  Except this jousting match is quite slow.  Actually, exceptionally slow.  Slower than walking pace.  The Bavarian knight always wins.  Figures. Following this thrilling bout, there is a nice little cooper dance.  This comes from the time when the plague was over the coopers all went to the streets and danced to show that it was finally safe to go out again.  Other than that we saw a few churches and checked out the steins and called it a day.

The next day we started off in Viktulien Markt, the main fresh produce market of Munich.  Everything was so fresh.  Oh, and there were a ton of meat stores.  A ton.  All selling weisswurst and bratwurst and pork knuckle (whatever that is).  We grabbed some fresh pastries and headed for the free tour of Munich.  

The tour took us to a few churches, some beer gardens and halls including the famous Hofbrauhaus, and some sites from the beginning and formation of the Nazi party.  Apparently Munich was the city in which it all started.  Hitler used to give speeches at beer halls around the town.  I wondered if he ever spoke at Oktoberfest.  Talk about a buzz kill.

After the tour we went for food.  I tried leberkase (sp?) which supposedly means liver cheese.  It is neither liver nor cheese.  It is compressed pork or something along those lines.  Yea.  I don't know why any of this made it sound appealing.  Anyways, it tasted like a hot dog in patty form.  Yum.  Really no.  Save yourself the time and the money.  And the space in your stomach for more German food.  Also, skip the currywurst.  It is essentially hotdog and curry powder with some ketchup.  A huge let down.  Well after the food we tried out a beer hall.  Augustiner I think it was.  After a half liter we went to the Deutsches Museum.  Sadly we were just a few hours too late.  We missed the opening times.  Well, just another reason to return to Munich again (if you are keeping track, the first reason is to come to Oktoberfest.  I hope this was implied.).

Disappointed and dejected, my dad and I decided the only thing to do in Munich to make things better was to drink heavily.  Really, we just joined Hillary and her brother Steve on a beer challenge guided by the same tour group as the free tours and the castle tours and essentially anything else we have done while traveling.  The challenge brought to a number of beer halls, beer gardens and bars where we drank our liters and learned German drinking songs... Ein prosit ein prosit...

Well, after a good amour of liters and just being extremely tired, my dad and I caught the U3 instead of the U2 metro.  Mistake.  We finally realized our mistake when we made it out to the BMW museum outside of the city.  We waited for another metro in the other direction but nothing came.  We the. Tried walking around.  There is nothing even close to the museum, and so had no luck finding a cab.  Back down to the metro.  Back up to the street.  Finally we catch a cab by some god given luck and make it back to the apartment.
Luckily tomorrow I get to wake up early to go on a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle.  Europe is full of good choices.

Prague, Czech it out

So I have to stuff the last two or three days or so into one post.  Whattt??!  Yeah, it turns out that I haven't had as much time to update since arriving in Prague.

So once off the train from Berlin we have a driver waiting for us.  Talk about a huge change.  I go from waking miles to avoid a metro fare to having a driver pick us up directly from the station.  Nice.

Before I forget, I should make a list of things you should bring to Prague to ensure an industrious and efficient visit.  I will touch upon this list as I go along describing the trip.

1. Sharpie or spray paint
2. A lock
3. Paper and pencil for the Jewish cemetery

Okay, so that isn't too long of a list, but it is important.  Like in Paris, there is a bridge (this one is a lot smaller) full of locks symbolizing love and throwing away the key.  Right next to this bridge is the John Lennon wall, a wall that is covered in graffiti calling for love and peace and living in a yellow submarine.

Okay, so our driver takes us to the apartment.  This place is nice.  A large flat screen.  A iMac on the desk.  Nice hardwood floors.  Really comfortable mattresses. Ikea everything.  Way nicer than a hostel.  How am I supposed to go back?

After walking around a bit we stumble upon the old town square.  It is probably one of the nicest squares I have seen.  Really, Prague is one of the nicest cities I have been to.  All the architecture is so old and really is something.  The city is beautiful.  Gothic and renaissance and neogothic and neoclassical and modern all coming together for a distinctly different city.  I finally sense that I am no longer in western Europe.  Anyways, the square has this really nice astronomical clock on a large tower, some nice buildings, and most importantly, a very prominent gothic church that towers over the square.  It really is impressive.  And since it is Easter, there was also an Easter market on this square among others.  The market consisted of small stands selling easter eggs and twig whips, random knickknacks  and food like sausage, pastries, potato pancakes and grilled smoked cheese.

Our free tour left from here.  Filip, this young Czech guy brought us around the city.  Apparently here they love King Charles IV.  He's the guy that built the famous bridge, the cathedral inside the castle, the first university, probably one of the theaters or opera houses, and a lot more.  Basically he made everything that draws people to Prague... except maybe the beer.

It's hard exactly to say everything that I saw.  There is just too much.  We saw the Jewish Quarter and its synagogues including the cemetery that is about 12 meters high and holds between 12000 and 100000 bodies.  The plot of land is no bigger than a standard size class room.  It is apparently the inspiration for the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.  We spent the rest of the day eating from stands at the market and walking along the river and up to the castle. 

The next day we slept in a bit and headed to the old square to watch the astronomical clock.  Let me tell you, it is impressive... or at least Meghan thinks so. First a skeleton rings a bell.  Then some sinners shake their heads.  Then a rooster crows.  Then a trumpeter trumpets.  This happens every hour on the hour between 9 and 5 or so.  Pretty high tech stuff eh?  Well in the 15th or 16th or whatever century it first was made this was a pretty big deal.  Apparently this was voted one of the most disappointing attractions in Europe.  This was Meghan's favorite thing in Prague.  Right.

We spent a little more time at the market and then it was time for the castle tour.  Fun fact: the Prague castle complex is the biggest in the world.  In Potsdam each emperor would just his own palace.  In Prague they just added on to the existing one.  Now the president lives and works there, but let me tell you, this place is huge.  It has a gigantic cathedral on the inside.  I will post pictures when I am back in Santander, but there is something a little off about this cathedral.  You don't really notice it when you are far away or just not looking for it, but the top of the tower on the cathedral just looks plain dumb.  The tower is all gothic except the last part at the top which is renaissance.  Once you know this you just notice it all the time.

The rest of the castle was nice and pretty extensive, but the best was saved for last.  We stopped at this great monastery, the Strahov Monastery, where they brew their own beer.  The Richards and the Wachtls sat down to enjoy a well deserved beer after wandering the grounds of the castle complex.

After a small snafu of taking the tram the wrong way to the outskirts of town and struggling to have enough money for the trip back, my family went to a restaurant for great Czech food.

Easter Sunday was very leisurely.  My dad and I took a morning walk to see the Dancing Houses, this really modern structure partially designed by Frank Gehry, and walk along the river.  We then reunited with the rest of the family and walked across the Charles Bridge.  There are certain things you are supposed to rub while walking across the bridge, and we rubbed them all.  We rubbed one statue to ensure our return to Prague.  We rubbed another plaque for good luck.  Finally we rubbed one statue for seemingly no reason at all but to ensure ourselves something extra from Prague.

Once across the bridge we walked to the John Lennon wall and by the padlock bridge that I mentioned earlier.  Yeah so I did that.  Then we went to the Jewish Quarter where number 3 comes in.  The myth is that if you write a wish and place it in a specific gravestone the wish will come true. Well the line was king and it was a little pricey so we didn't end up going in.  Instead we hiked up a hill to see the metronome that replaced the large Lenin statue that used to watch over all of Prague.  After a while we just hopped from pub to pub to play cards, drink beer and eat dinner.  A perfect end to our stint in Prague.


I want to mention, I know I switch tenses all the time.  I even do it within the same paragraph.  I hope none of you care too much.  I also hope I don't change tenses in the same sentence, but wouldn't be surprised if I did.  Also, I blame any misspellings I have had lately on the iPad.  It is hard to type on an iPad, but luckily convenient enough to allow me to update my blog almost daily.

Odds and Ends of Berlin

And now that I am looking back on my first experience in Germany, trying to recount anything odd or peculiar or interesting or anything of that sort, one thing immediately strikes me.  The Germans drink beer everywhere.  I don't mean everywhere as in just odd restaurants like McDonalds or Burger King, but really just everywhere.  You can see people drinking on the metro or on the bench in the park.  And I am not saying this is a once in a while type of thing.  It Is very common.  Every time I was on the metro after noon I saw groups of twenty or thirty somethings with Becks in hand, casually drinking a bottle of beer like an American would down a bottle of soda in public.  They were not being obnoxious and were not drunk in public.  They were just enjoying their beer while going about their day.
Also, everything in Germany has been on time.  Typical.

Oh, and everything in Berlin is a replica.  I forget if I mentioned this, bit after the war everything had to be rebuilt.  Communist Russia wanted to show that their way worked better, capitalist Britain, USA and France wanted to do the same.  So buildings went up.  Fast.  They were all restored in their former style and made to look old, like they had been there all along.  Well, I can't complain.
Also, the Berlin wall is small.  Well, smaller than I thought.  The part that was remaining was pretty short, thing and raggedy, and not very imposing.  Apparently the barbed wire was removed because it only made it easier to get over.  It was something to grab onto.  Can you imagine?  When the wall was still standing, there were apparently actually two.  The space in the middle was the difficult part.  It was heavily guarded, there were a lot of watch towers, and there were obstacles.  All just to keep people in East Berlin.  Oh, and I know I said it was small, but that really was just in regards to the height, because it was long.  Remember how I went to Potsdam?  Well that is about 25 km outside of Berlin.  The wall went around that.  It measured 155 km or so.  That is almost 100 miles long.  Wow.

Berlin to prague train

That was mostly a lie.  I am bored and have another hour on this train until we get to Prague.  There is only so much Angry Birds I can play and I feel like I should write about what I am seeing.

Really I am torn between staring out the window to enjoy the view and writing about it, trying to capture what I am seeing in words since I can't through pictures.  I guess I could get out of the train cabin and take pictures, but photos through glass just won't do it justice.  Besides, I can't get any good angles from a train.  When I ride on trains and busses I always wish I could ask the driver to stop so I can get out and snap a few of the countryside.  I couldn't tel l you how many times in southern Spain and northern Italy I desperately wanted to document the scenery I was seeing, and until I can road trip through Europe with my own car, it will continue to happen.

Anyways, like I mentioned before, what's on the other side of the window has been very distracting.  The rolling tree covered hills and the river twisting in and out of them is almost perfect.  Add medieval cathedrals, castles or random residences crowning these hills every so often and you may think you could be on the verge of a fairytale, minus the damsel in distress (or charming prince in tights for you lady readers).  This just gets me more excited for Munich and Neuschwanstein castle in the Bavarian Alps especially.