Germany week 31 Amanda Alps and Munich and Prague

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