Borka borka borka
Hi from Prague! We're actually at the train station almost ready to board our train for Berlin. Thank the heavens I get to fly HOME at 6AM tomorrow morning! I am definitely ready to go. I think the Whitman's Sampler Europe tour is not really a good way to go, but I am glad to know now the few places I know I wish I had more time, and the places I know I could skip easily.
Scotland -
I wish I'd had time to experience Scotland outside of Edinburgh. I spent the time I would have spent in the Highlands at the Kotei, so next time I will assuredly check it out more. Food was meh, a lot of weird animal parts being served as delicacies. Nothx.
England -
London was a drag, the only fun time was when we had a local that Fritz knew take us out for drinks, and it was so damned expensive it was hardly worth it. I would go back on go to medieval England, see stonehenge and bath, and Segaworld. Food was ridiculously bland and unexciting. A lot of places did tend to carry "jacket" potatoes, as they called them, which are baked potatoes. Those were tasty, but not any more than ones at home.
France -
OMFG I could totally live in Paris if the waiters weren't so generally rude XD No really it was a great city with LOTS to see and do I would definitely go back. French food was surprisingly boring. I had some pasta and a lot of bread, and proceeded to not find any cheese I dug. Oh well.
Germany -
Completely skippable. As a non-beer drinker, I think I was on the short end of the stick for Germany. The castles were cool, but even then they were not close to the big cities and were all very touristy. German food is sausage and more sausage. As I am not a big sausage fan, I had to dig pretty deep to find any decent meals. All very greasy and fattening as well. Though HofBrauHaus did have some mighty tasty broccoli in Hollandaise sauce.
Austria -
Salzburg was a waste of a day in my opinion. A little town that banks too much on the fact that Mozart was born there, it was very over-exaggerated and toursity. Vienna might have been nice, but the torrential downpour made it tough to see much in the one day we were there. It beared too much resemblance to Germany as far as food goes, and was not really my type of food.
Czech Republic -
This place is awesome. It's not so far into its tourism that everything has become campy, and there are still lots of local shops and eateries that are preserved. They are not on the Euro yet which means things are slightly cheaper than everywhere else in Europe, but still more expensive than home due to the deterioration of the American dollar. Prague is a helluva town and seems to be up all night on the weekends! We saw as much as we could in our short time. Food! Prague has given me the most consistently GOOD meals out of everywhere we've been. Good pork, chicken, potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, corn, eggs and toast and tea. I will definitely come back here as soon as I can before they get sucked into the rest of European tourism.
As far as souvenirs go, I haven't really gotten much. I didn't have money to throw around until Prague really, but I did get this stuff:
Austrian chocolates for Katie - they have popular German fairy tales depicted on their wrappers.
Belgian chocolates for Katie - Jasmine flavored chocolate bar. Should be yummy.
Belgian chocolates for me - Green tea flavored. Haven't sampled yet.
Mucha art coasters for Kelly and Meg - we went to the Mucha museum. Never has a museum gift shop had SO MANY things I've wanted to buy before!
Mucha art poster for me - it's purty, we'll see how it survives the flight home.
Antique carved wooden box for Kelly - from Prague, at the tiny antique shop across the street from where we stayed. It was a steal too, I love bargaining. A good one for her collection.
Lastly, a big bottle of ABSINTHE! for Paul and Rifty - I tried to find a little bottle but they had none, so it's a medium sized bottle, I would say at least 30 oz. it cost roughly $17 American. We'll see if it gets confiscated, but I am putting it in my checked bag. Either way it wasn't so expensive I'd be upset. It sure is pretty, though.
That's my recap for now. Will post as much more in-depth as I can later this week, as well as link to my to-be-uploaded photo gallery at some point.
I can safely say one place everyone should TRY as hard as possible to get to if you come is Prague. It's a spectacular city.
See some of you soon!
Also - Kelly and Katie, I need your addresses to send souvenirs to. Thx!
Scotland -
I wish I'd had time to experience Scotland outside of Edinburgh. I spent the time I would have spent in the Highlands at the Kotei, so next time I will assuredly check it out more. Food was meh, a lot of weird animal parts being served as delicacies. Nothx.
England -
London was a drag, the only fun time was when we had a local that Fritz knew take us out for drinks, and it was so damned expensive it was hardly worth it. I would go back on go to medieval England, see stonehenge and bath, and Segaworld. Food was ridiculously bland and unexciting. A lot of places did tend to carry "jacket" potatoes, as they called them, which are baked potatoes. Those were tasty, but not any more than ones at home.
France -
OMFG I could totally live in Paris if the waiters weren't so generally rude XD No really it was a great city with LOTS to see and do I would definitely go back. French food was surprisingly boring. I had some pasta and a lot of bread, and proceeded to not find any cheese I dug. Oh well.
Germany -
Completely skippable. As a non-beer drinker, I think I was on the short end of the stick for Germany. The castles were cool, but even then they were not close to the big cities and were all very touristy. German food is sausage and more sausage. As I am not a big sausage fan, I had to dig pretty deep to find any decent meals. All very greasy and fattening as well. Though HofBrauHaus did have some mighty tasty broccoli in Hollandaise sauce.
Austria -
Salzburg was a waste of a day in my opinion. A little town that banks too much on the fact that Mozart was born there, it was very over-exaggerated and toursity. Vienna might have been nice, but the torrential downpour made it tough to see much in the one day we were there. It beared too much resemblance to Germany as far as food goes, and was not really my type of food.
Czech Republic -
This place is awesome. It's not so far into its tourism that everything has become campy, and there are still lots of local shops and eateries that are preserved. They are not on the Euro yet which means things are slightly cheaper than everywhere else in Europe, but still more expensive than home due to the deterioration of the American dollar. Prague is a helluva town and seems to be up all night on the weekends! We saw as much as we could in our short time. Food! Prague has given me the most consistently GOOD meals out of everywhere we've been. Good pork, chicken, potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, corn, eggs and toast and tea. I will definitely come back here as soon as I can before they get sucked into the rest of European tourism.
As far as souvenirs go, I haven't really gotten much. I didn't have money to throw around until Prague really, but I did get this stuff:
Austrian chocolates for Katie - they have popular German fairy tales depicted on their wrappers.
Belgian chocolates for Katie - Jasmine flavored chocolate bar. Should be yummy.
Belgian chocolates for me - Green tea flavored. Haven't sampled yet.
Mucha art coasters for Kelly and Meg - we went to the Mucha museum. Never has a museum gift shop had SO MANY things I've wanted to buy before!
Mucha art poster for me - it's purty, we'll see how it survives the flight home.
Antique carved wooden box for Kelly - from Prague, at the tiny antique shop across the street from where we stayed. It was a steal too, I love bargaining. A good one for her collection.
Lastly, a big bottle of ABSINTHE! for Paul and Rifty - I tried to find a little bottle but they had none, so it's a medium sized bottle, I would say at least 30 oz. it cost roughly $17 American. We'll see if it gets confiscated, but I am putting it in my checked bag. Either way it wasn't so expensive I'd be upset. It sure is pretty, though.
That's my recap for now. Will post as much more in-depth as I can later this week, as well as link to my to-be-uploaded photo gallery at some point.
I can safely say one place everyone should TRY as hard as possible to get to if you come is Prague. It's a spectacular city.
See some of you soon!
Also - Kelly and Katie, I need your addresses to send souvenirs to. Thx!