Susan Womble's Adventures: March 2012

Germany week 31 Amanda at Alps and Munich and Prague

Dear all,

One thing about going to places that don’t have the Euro- the exchange can get pretty confusing. We had to exchange money in Venice and Prague this week. Let’s face it these people are in it to make money. So they give you a bad exchange when you trade it and worse when you sell it back. The only way to do it right is to guess at the amount of money that you want to spend and try to stick to that. Also the only places really to trade money are ideally the bank on post but they only can do Euros to dollars. That leaves you at the mercy of the train, airport or hotel. Never on the streets those people are crooks. Amanda tried to exchange money on the streets of Venice and they were really trying to get her to just give them her money. Another good way to spend with lots of different currencies is to use the credit card. Let them sort it out.

The first of this week consisted of me working and Gregg and Amanda staying at the Alps and Edelweiss. They had a great time. Funny story. Amanda was standing on Hitler's place at the first Olympics in Garmisch and Gregg told her to do the FSU chomp. Unfortunately she got a lot of looks as here was a blonde girl doing what the foreigners construed was Hitler’s salute. Anyway she realized it and stopped right away. I’m sure they were aghast. Oh well live and learn!!

They had a great time on the Alps and they visited Dachau on the way back.They also went to Gregg's golf course. See pictures below. Plus they got to do things at a slower pace since I am a schedule freak and make them do everything on a schedule. But they got to see what they wanted to see. Friday, they picked me up at work and we all headed to Munich. We were going to go to the actress's play but we got in a little later than we thought and we had to choose between seeing Munich or the play and Amanda wanted to visit Munich which was loads of fun. We hung out in the city center.

She flew out Saturday morning and we high tailed it to the train station just making out train to Prague.

The train to Prague was a little different has the trains actually crosses traffic so a few times the train honked its horn and traffic was waiting. Made me remember Mulberry and the many times I was stopped by the train. In most of Europe the train doesn’t travel the same path as the cars. The trains go over or under the traffic.

We Loved Prague. Booking.com came through again with a good choice of hotel. We have been very lucky lately on our choices. Hope our luck holds out. The hotel that I picked was right on the main drag and it seems that there is another celebration. These Europeans love to celebrate and have a reason for street markets. The Europeans celebrate first Oktoberfest, then the Christmas markets and now Easter Markets are in full swing. We stumbled upon the first day of the Easter market. See pictures below. We also saw all of the Prague city center offering including the museums, which included the Sex museum, the Museum of Communism and the Museum of medieval torture device. Those people from Prague are something else. The view from our window of the city was phenomenal. We also saw other museums, Salvador Dali exhibit and the astronomical clock and many of the other building shown below in pictures. We had eaten at little café in Munich where you could see your food and order it. We had wonderful food there- as long as I can see it and know what I am getting, I am good. The Prague menus consisted of real Czech food and they listed pig’s knuckles—okay so I was chicken we went to TGI Fridays. We had unsweet tea—no refills hey we are in Europe but the food I recognized and even had sweet potato fries. They were delicious. We did try the gelato ice cream again- delicious and even tried a pretzel looking circular delicacy that was like a glazen raisin minus raisins cooked over an open fire. I took a picture of them. The breakfast at the hotels in Europe are great- that is where I hydrate myself with orange juice an d grapefruit juice and breakfast foods to die for. Even the coffee in Prague was to my liking-- not too strong. Although I have learned to ask for hot water to cut down the coffee in most places. One of the big differences between Germany and a lot of the European nations and Prague was that most of the people did not speak English. Gregg said it was because they were communist not too long ago. Maybe so?? Hey, it made sense to me.

They had a concert of classical music, but alas no Amanda so I couldn’t talk Gregg into going. We hit up some casinos instead. Gregg is going to have the distinction of playing in casinos in most of the big towns in Europe. LOL Most of them he won a little something. But when you go to a casino you have to show your passport and they take a picture. I guess in case you win big or are a professional gambler. I am beginning to wonder about Gregg. LOL

Prague would be another must on any trips to Europe any of you wish to take. Every time we visit a town we always say, this is a real surprise and when we stumble upon things or things work out for us we call it Forest Gumping. Well, we have been Forest Gumping our way through Europe.

Enjoy the pictures. I actually wrote this blog on the train trip back from Prague. I am trying to time mange. LOL We finally are on daylight savings time. So now we are 6 hours ahead again. For a couple of weeks we were just five hours ahead. Plus spring is here finally. Weather is fantastic.

With that I will close.

Until next week.

Hugs form Germany,

Susan

PS Once again a little problem with the train- got in an hour late, but still a good way to travel. Gregg is happy not to drive.

Olympia Garmisch

Kaymer course record golf course

Gregg's golf course

score card at Gregg's golf course Germany

Munich

Czech

Train

Munich

Prague here and below

Easter Market Prague

Germany Week 30--Amanda--Venice and Verona

Dear all

Sorry this is a bit late. I got in late last night and did not feel like writing it since I had to work today.

It was so exciting seeing Amanda, she got in Friday and her Dad picked her up at the airport. She came back to our house and rested a bit. Then she came to school. My students love to see her. Anyway we went out to eat and caught a train back to Munich where we caught the night train to Venice. The night train was great. See pictures below. We had our own compartment and three beds right on top of each other. Amanda took the top me the middle and Gregg the lower bunk. It was a wonderful sleep I slept very hard with the train lulling me to sleep. We had a little pull out cabinet that had the sink and stuff in it and I even took a shower in the morning. It wasn’t big enough to dry your hair but it was pretty fabulous. Then we got out of the train at 6:45 in the morning before anyone got up and dropped our luggage off at the hotel and went all around Venice before anything was opened or before the crowds had come out. It was great.

We loved Venice. The water taxi was wonderful and we took it everywhere. They had a 48 hour pass which was well worth the money where we could walk or ride when we wanted to go anywhere. We walked all around and visited all of the churches and museums. We at pizza at an Italian restaurant and it was fabulous. Amanda and I went to an opera that night where they had a orchestra and they had opera singers who sang and acted out many scenes from various operas. Even though I could not understand what they were saying it was wonderful. Their voices were unbelievable. Gregg went to the casino and won so he was happy.

The next morning we got up to a wonderful breakfast and then went through the streets again. We of course rode the gondola and Amanda wanted to shop so we shopped all over Italy. We visited the Murano Glass factory and watched how they made the masterpieces there in their factory. It was a great ride over to the Murano Island. We ended that night with a lasagna meal and gelato ice cream and Amanda and I did more shopping and venturing out and Gregg went back to the casino.

Venice was just lovely. I would recommend it highly to anyone who has not come. And I think the pictures speak for themselves.

The next day we had a layover from the train in Verona so Amanda and I took a taxi from the train to the Juliet house with the balcony and took pictures. See below

Then we got into the train to come home. The train for the first time ever had mechanical problems and we were held up 3 and a half hours. We jumped on another train that was a straight shot and ended up sitting in a compartment with an actress from London who is doing a play in Munich so that was great fun and we are going to see her play this Friday before Amanda goes home. Anyway that made the time go faster. We got home about an hour later that we thought we would.

Amanda and Gregg took off for Edelweiss today and they plan to ski the Alps. I am here at the house for a few days by my lonesome so I will probably do a bit of house cleaning and catch up on my sleep.

With that I will close. Have a great week!!!

Hugs from Germany,

Susan

Train