Prague, Czech Republic

Our trip to Prague started with a 3:40 am wake-up to catch a cab to get us to our 4:39 am train.  The good news was we got a cabin to ourselves.  The bad news was there was no first class or sleeping car and the train was old and pretty dirty.  There were three seats on each side facing each other but the seats didn't connect so the sleeping was REALLY uncomfortable but we tried.

When we arrived in Prague, we took a taxi to our hotel.  We immediately felt like this was the most foreign feeling place we'd been.  We know not a word of Czech!  No hello, thank you, nothing.  It also definitely felt more Easter European. 

Our hotel was the Alchymist Grand.  It was right next to the US embassy in New Town (which was founded in 1348 - not so new).  Right away we realized people wouldn’t speak as good of English as in other countries because even the people at a nice hotel weren’t as fluent - they were very nice and helpful though.  The hotel was very grand.  Beautiful chandeliers, extravagant art and furnishings.  Lots of gold.  Almost a little too gaudy.  Our room was smaller than the Sacher but really nice. 

Our hotel

On the steps in front of the hotel.

We showered and went to walk around.  Our hotel was just up the street from the Charles Bridge.  The oldest bridge in the city.  The entrance to the bridge is marked on both sides by towers.  Here is a picture from the bridge.  You can see Prague Castle in the distance on the top right.

The bridge has statues along both sides of Catholic Saints.  There are tons of artist and musicians along both sides of the bridge so it's a fun place to walk.  Scott and I bought some pictures and paintings to remember here to remember our visit.

The city has tons of Gothic and Baroque architecture.  Here I am in front of this beautiful Gothic cathedral with a baroque building in front of it.

I found this yummy dessert called Trdelnik.  They were so yummy and fun to watch them made.

It's really fun walking around because there are a ton of pedestrian streets in Old Town and they are windy with tons of touristy shops.  We walked around the corner and straight into this weird parade.  It was all these kids dressed in bloody, scary costumes and shouting.  So weird.  Scott loved it and so we had to follow them around so he could take pictures of them.  We tried to ask people to see what it was all about but never figured it out.

Here we are in front of the National Museum

I was giving Scott a hard time because he hates for me to take pictures of just him.  He usually just barely turns to the camera and looks blankly.  Here is one with his best camera grin.

We walked all over and had dinner and went back to the hotel and changed and went down to the "Relaxation Grotto" or at least that's what we called it.  There was an indoor pool, sauna, workout room, and lounge chairs.  It also had one of those Indian beds that is almost enclosed.  There were lots of comfy pillow so we lounged in our fluffy robes and read our books.  It was great.


Matt and Laurie came in late that night so we met them at breakfast the next morning.  Matt had a crazy story to tell about them missing their train and then not finding a working ticket machine so they almost got arrested for trying to ride the train without paying.  It was hilarious - at least after the fact.


We ate breakfast and went to meet the tour guide.  Some of the things we saw with the guide are the Jewish Quarter, Old Town,  the astronomical clock, lots of Gothic and Romanesque churches, the old royal palace and Powder Tower where they stored gun powder.  We also saw the dancing building –(Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire) by Frank Geddy, and the  national threatre. 


Here we are on one of the streets in Old Town.

With Matt & Laurie in Old Town Square.

Not sure why but Scott wanted a shot of us talking to our guide so here is our staged "candid" in front of the Astronomical clock.

The Astronomical clock was really cool.  It's on the Old Town Hall and every hour the doors on the top of the clock open and the 12 apostles come out and at the end the skeleton at the top rings bell.  (Scott's trying to be more smiley for camera)

Next we drove up to Prague Castle saw the monastery and government buildings and then went into the cathedral, St. Vitus  Cathedral.  It's huge and beautiful.  At the end of the church is the tomb of the Saint who was thrown over bridge for not telling the king his wife’s confession.  There is also a shrine to this Saint on Charles bridge and people stop and touch it for good luck.  

View of Prague from Prague Castle

Inside St. Vitus.  I just love ceilings of churches.

Isn't this a beautiful door.

We walked back down from Prague Castle and Laurie and I went to get another Trdelik.  This time the place I went smoothered the inside with hazelnut. It was SOOOOO good.  I don't know of many things that aren't better with a little hazelnut spread on it.  

That night we went to a really nice "modern" czech restaurant called the Blue Duck (in english).  Everyone got duck except for Scott who got Salmon. It was very good.  We were all dying laughing at the end when the Maitre de was helping helping us all with our coats and Matt with his hoodie - Had to be there. We walked around a little and went back to pack up.  We had to say goodbye to Matt & Laurie that night.  We always have so much fun with them.  We've vacationed with them almost every year we've been married, I hope we can keep up the tradition!

Salzburg, Austria

The Hills Are Alive!!  

We arrived in Salzburg around 10:30 Thursday morning.  I was so excited to be there.  This was definitely the part of the trip where Scott was indulging me and my love of the Sound of Music!!!  We took a taxi to our hotel and the taxi driver was the best we’ve ever had.  It was like having a little tour on the way there.  He pointed out sights and gave us a little history.    Who knew the guy who owns Red Bull is from Salzburg and there is a big factory there.

We arrived at our hotel the Hotel Sacher and it is amazing.  A big step up from where we’ve been staying.  White robes and slipper, turn down service, pillow menu, their signature cake as a welcome present in our room, staff that will do anything for you, etc.  I love it!  We rest in the room for about an hour then shower and get ready.  Scott grabs us some sort-of kebob sandwich tastes like gyro meat on a big round roll with lettuce and tomato.  It was really good.  The van picks us up and takes us to meet the bus for our SOUND OF MUSIC tour! 

I’m so excited for the tour!!!  We had the best tour guide ever.  He was hilarious.  Might have gotten the most laughs out of Scott this whole trip, not as much as when we're with Matt and Laurie but a close second.  He is very dramatic and is quoting and acting out scences from the Sound of music but as soon as the mics off, he this normal man.   Very funny.  The tour took us to see the outside of the house, back yard with lake, row of trees they hung from in their clothes made of curtains, glass gazebo, church they were married in, etc.  He also pointed out some historical Salzburg sights.  It started raining a little after the tour started.  It’s too bad because we couldn’t see the mountains but the scenery was still AMAZING. 

Here's me in front of their actual house, it was the backyard in the movie, you could see the little gate where they canoed up and the fell out.

The glass gazebo.

I could just see the kids hanging from these trees in their play clothes made of curtains!!!

Why yes, that is crisp Apple Strudel!

These are both in the gardens where they sing doe-rae-me.

The next day was great and probably the most relaxing of our whole trip.  We slept in, ate breakfast, worked out and went out to see more sights.    Our hotel was walking distance to all the sights.  We saw Mozart's birthplace and where he grew up, and walked all around Old Town, Hohensalzburg Fortress and saw the cathedrals and looked in all the cute shops.   We ate dinner at a great German restaurant that I wish I could remember the name of but we had wiener schnitzel and spaetzel which were both really good.   And of course, we got a frankfurter from a street vendor.  I’m glad that Salzburg is still quaint and not overly built up like I was scared it might be after seeing places like Cannes.  

This is Hohensalzburg Fortress that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the city.  It's so beautiful perched up there. 

Cool Bread store.

There were all these cute houses in Salzburg with cute little yards.   

I told Scott once we retire, I’d love to come to a little town like this and rent a house for a month to see what it’s like to live in Europe - I think I've said that about a million locations! 

Southern France

We caught and early train for Nice on Tuesday morning.  The train was very comfortable and I slept a lot of the way.  The train took us down to Marseilles and then along the coast to Nice.  We got to our hotel and checked in and went out for lunch, the little place we ate was good but not great except for the cauliflower gratin that Scott had which was AMAZING!! We met Matt and Laurie in Nice and it was so great to see them.  We caught up and headed over to Cannes for the night.  We were in Cannes the night before the film festival so there were all these tents set up, etc.  We were really hoping for a star spotting but saw no one.   Here we are in front of the stairs where you always see the stars interviewed.

We walked to the end of the harbor and found this tiny pedestrian street.  It was so great.  It was really steep and windy and there were tons of cute restaurants and little shops up and down it.  We found a cute little restaurant and had dinner.   The food was good, not great but the atmosphere and company couldn't be beat!

Here is a picture of a part of the street, I couldn't capture its charm, but atleast I can kind-of remember what it looked like.

The next day Scott and Matt scheduled a tour for us.  We went quickly to grab something for breakfast.  We found a little grocery and got some fruit and yogurt along with some other snacks.  I got this fig yogurt that was soo good.  We also hit a bakery and a boulangerie for snacks for the road.  We got lots of yummy stuff.  I got a small onion pizza (someone that Scott works with had told him these were good here) the onions were caramelized and delicious.  I also got a apple tart (the pastry was AMAZING – the tart was sooo delicious), some plain crepes (they were smaller than the ones you buy on the street in Paris and didn’t have any toppings), pain au chocolate, a baguette and some other treats.  

We drove about 45 mins outside Nice through Grasse, the perfume capital.  It was very cute but we didn’t get out.  Scott loved it and kept saying maybe we should renew our vows in Grasse.  Then we wound our way up the hill further to Gourdon, this tiny Medival Village.  There are only like 115 people who still live in the village.  It was the quaintest little place.  They had these cute candy stores and linen stores and carved wood things, etc.   It was so fun walking down the little alleyways and finding cute little shops.  Everything was stone and had the cutest doors and shutters.  I got Addie a couple of pillow shams for her bed at a couple of the little linen stores.

Here is Gourdon at a view point on the way up.

Everything looked like this stone and cobblestone, etc.  So great.  My camera died during the trip so I don't have pictures of all the towns but we also walked around St. Paul de Vence and  Tourrettes sur loup.  Everytime we turned a corner it just got more beautiful.  There were some cool stores but it was mostly fun just walking around looking at the cobblestone (every village would have different patterns) and the beautiful doors and shutters.

After our tour Scott and I hoped on the train over to Monaco, it's only about 20 mins. from Nice.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  It's built up the hill so lots of the streets were steep and windy.  Scott and I walked all over.  

Here is a picture of the Harbor.  The boats, I mean yachts, were out of control, like none I've seen before.

Inside Monaco-Ville, part of the old town close to the Prince's Palace.

We were in Monaco the night before the Grand Prix.  Scott is standing in front of some of the stands.  The race goes through the city streets so we got to walk some of the course.

Paris, France

Scott and I have been trying to plan a trip to Europe with the Romneys for a couple of years.  We had it penciled in for a few years ago and things came up so last time we were with the Matt said "Scott, I think we really owe it to the girls."  Laurie and I held them to that! 

Scott and I flew in a few days early to go to Paris. We arrived at 7:30am on Saturday morning.  We took the train in to our hotel.  Our hotel, Hotel La Perle, was on a small side street in the St. Germain area.  Close to where Rue Bonaparte and Rue Du St. Germain intersect.   It was the perfect location.  We dropped our bags and headed out to find breakfast.  We found a little indoor market and a great bakery called Gerard Mulot.  We had yogurt, fruit, cheese, a crossiant, and the yummiest quicher Loraine!

We then walked through St. Sulpice (it was in the Da Vinci Code as having the Rose Line running through it) which is right next to our hotel.  We took a quick nap to refresh ourselves and went to tour the Musee d'Orsay.  We LOVED it.  It houses tons of impressionist art , it was so fun seeing original Monet, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gaugin.  Here I am in front of the Musee d'Orsay.

On a bridge over the Seine with the Louvre in the background

 After the Orsay, we walked through the Tuileries Garden and then onto the Champs-Elyees.

On the Chanps-Elyees we went to Laduree and saw the Arc de Triumphe

We stopped at the Eiffel Tower and got one of many, many crepes.  Banana Nutella - YUM!

Then we went to the Rue Cler area and had dinner at Petite Cler a restaurant Donna had recommended.  It was delicious and just as you imagine small sidewalk cafes in Paris.

The next day we started the day with a yummy breakfast of yogurt, fresh squeezed oj, crossiants, veggie quiche, a pain au chocolate and a chocolate eclair.  The eclair was amazing.  It had chocolate filling and was DELICIOUS!  We headed out to Versailles.  Of course I already had blisters from wearing flats that had not been broken in and then I forgot to pack my comfy converse so we had to stop and get a pair of tennies on the way to VERSAILLES!

I've dreamed of going to Versailles ever since I studied it in French class in 10th grade.  I loved it!  It was especially fun seeing the Hall of Mirrors and the gardens in real life.  It's hard to believe someone called this place home.  We spent most of the day there.

Scott especially loved this picture of Louis XIV with his tights and dancing shoes.

After Versailles we hit another Crepe stand and picked up some goodies at Laduree for later that night. YUM!

On our last day in Paris, we of course got some crepes (nutella, nutella & banana, and sugar and butter).   I really liked the sugar and butter - I didn't think I'd like that one as much.  Then we walked to Notre Dame.

After Notre Dame, we went to Saint Chapelle.  We waited in line for a little bit and then had to pay something like $20 a piece to see this tiny chapel.  The stained glass was amazing but because it was cloudy the colors weren't as vivid.  After we were in there for about 5 mins, I was ready to go but Scott said he wanted to get his money's worth.  I asked him hadn't he heard of "sunk cost" he countered with haven't you heard of "spreading out your fixed costs" I countered with haven't you heard of "opportunity costs."

Here is Scott "spreading out his fixed cost"

We then went to what was my favorite store of the trip, E. Dehillerin.  It's a kitchen store Sarah Caine told me about.  Her mother used to shop there when they lived in France a long time ago.  It was the best.  It's a small store with the best kitchen things.  There are no prices on things, you have to go to the end of the isle and look things up in a book.  It had everything.  I could have bought so much but had to settle for a really nice crepe pan, some mini fluted tart pans and a rolling pin.  I love them!!  We ran into Elizabeth Smart and her companion (she's on a mission in Paris).  Her parents were also there and were very nice.

Here are some strawberry tarts I made with my tart pans.

We then headed to the Louvre.  I hate admitting this, especially in writing, but it wasn't our favorite.  It was sooo big.  I actually enjoyed the architecture of the Louvre the most.  It is an amazing building.  We of course hit the hit lights while we were there.  Here's Scott in front of the Mona Lisa.

After the Louvre, we had a quick snack of tomato and prosciutto Panini & another crepe.  We had to video the guy making a nutella crepe for Owen to see.  Owen is obsessed with crepes so we had to let him see how the real ones are made.

We then took the metro to Sacre-Coeur.  This was one of the sights I'd never heard of before we got there but it was BEAUTIFUL.  It's definitely in a sketchier part of town - Montmartre.  The basilica is huge and you hike up a long steep hill to get there.  At the top there is this beautiful view of Paris.  It is only 130 yrs old so it's really new for a church in Paris.  Inside the cathedral there is a huge painting of Christ on the ceiling.   While we were there, Nuns started singing is was wonderful.  We just sat in the back and listened until the finished.

We took the metro back got ready for dinner.  We walked through Luxembourg Gardens to the restaurant.  It was beautiful.  We had dinner at Colliers des Lilas, an old school Parisian restaurant.  The food was good but the cheese plate was WONDERFUL!!  A great way to end our time in Paris.

Mother's Day Tea

Owen's preschool had a Mother's Day tea the Friday before Mother's Day.  It was the day we left for Europe.  They had made us these adorable hats (industrial size coffee filters painted with water colors). 

They sang us a few songs, one being skidamarinky dinky doo.  It was so cute.  He was really loud and looking right at me singing "I love you!"  Owen is at such a cute stage.  He's so tough and such a boy but he really sweet and loving too.