Day 2, Nuremberg & Prague

My apple breakfast



Wow, I'm so tired! In a good way, but exhausted nonetheless. I can barely put together sentences -- in English much less any other language although I did break out some pretty fabulous Spanish tonight. More on that later. So, here's a fragmented, bulleted version of our day.

We started the day in Nuremberg. Got up early. Walked around a bit before most stores opened (at 9 or 10 a.m.). Grabbed some breakfast -- a sugar-coated apple. Yum! Explored a few parts of town we didn't see yesterday by foot. Bought a few souvenirs -- including some scrumptuous Elisen gingerbread for ourselves, which of course, we had to "test" right away. Headed back to our hotel. Checked out. Drove to the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds, an incredibly moving, somber and educational accounting of Hitler's rise to power and resulting atrocities. The museum is on the site of unfinished site where the Nazi party rallies took place in Germany.

 

The view of Tyn Cathedral from our room

 

Then, we headed to Prague. It was supposed to be a 3-hour drive to our hotel, but we left Nuremberg a bit later than expected and hit rush hour. Then, our hotel is located in a pedestrian only zone. We passed the parking garage where we intended to park and getting back around amidst heavy traffic (cars & people) and one-way streets took forever. We finally got settled in around 8 p.m.

It was difficult to get up and moving again, but we knew we'd be grumpy if we didn't eat soon, so we went out to explore the city. We're right next door to Tyn Cathedral and one of main squares in the old town where there's an astronomical clock (the 3rd oldest in the world, and the oldest still working). We grabbed a bite to eat -- proscuitto di praga (Prague ham) -- from a street vendor along Wenceslas Square.

Tyn Cathedral from the Square

There, a couple from Mexico City with their grown daughter joined us at our high-boy table, so we chatted for a bit. This is where I got to use my Spanish. They had just arrived today as well.



We walked and walked and walked some more to explore the city. It's such a lovely place. I'm looking forward to a full day tomorrow. I'm sure we'll log a significant number of steps on the pedometer; we've got to balance out all the food we're indulging in.

We've arrived - Germany day 1

It's been an exhausting 24 hours. We left Atlanta -- out of the new international terminal, which opened in mid-May -- Sunday afternoon Atlanta time and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany just before 8 a.m. local time. It was about a 9 1/2 hour flight, which went relatively quickly thanks to free inflight movies and a couple of meals. We tried to sleep a bit, but didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked.

We rented a car at the Frankfurt airport. We had reserved an automatic, but they only had manual's left when we arrived. I hear that's pretty common here  (to not get an automatic even though you've reserved one). We typically take trains between locations when we travel, but with relatively limited time here, we didn't want to be reliant upon train schedules. Anyway, Scott drives manual, so it wasn't a problem. And they drive on the same side of the road as the U.S. and the steering wheel is on the same side, so it was a pretty easy transition. Our car is a 4-door diesel Ford C-Max, which I don't think they have in the U.S. It's a little bigger than the economy size car we reserved since they gave us a manual.

With the car rented, we headed to Nuremberg. It was rainy the first bit of the trip, but cleared up about have way. It was just over a two-hour drive, but you could probably do it in two hours if you aren't driving at rush hour which we were this a.m. We took an autobahn most of the way, with the exception of a scenic detour through a small town and forest area, which were very pretty. The autobahn is a lot like U.S. interstates. Despite the myth that there are no speed limits on the autobahn, there are speed limits in many places and speed limit "recommendations" in others. Most of the time the posted speed limit was 100 or 120/kmh (60-74 mph), but we certainly saw plenty of speed deamons on the road.

Our private balcony at the hotel

We arrived in Nuremberg around noon; checked in; put our luggage in our room; parked our car; then went for a brief walk. We grabbed a bite to eat -- a Nurenberger Mit Sauerkraut (a few, small Nuremberg style sausages with sauerkraut on a hamburger bun size role) -- from a street stand. Yum! Then, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.  After our nap, we walked around the Old Town again. The autumn market (Herbst Markt) is going on here now - September 13-30 - as is the Nuremberg Old Town Festival (Alstadfest) - September 13-24. The market has some foods and handmade items as well as other miscellaneous goods for sale in a series of stalls. The festival is like a scaled down Octoberfest with lots of tables set up under tents around restaurants serving sausages and various German food...and, of course, beer! We ate more Nuremberg style sausages, sauerkraut, potato salad and cole slaw. Scott got a beer and after we walked around and shopped a little, I got an Amaretto crepe.

Cute restaurants on the way to the Alstadfest

Shops close up around 7 or 8 p.m. here, so we headed back to the hotel a bit early to rest up. It started raining on us just as we were heading back -- reinforcing our decision to call it a night. Scott's pedometer says we took more than 6 miles of walking today -- pretty good for our first day in country, with very little sleep.

Tomorrow, we're going to check out a few more things in Nuremberg, then head to Prague, Czech Republic. That should be about a 3-hour drive. We'll be there for 2-3 days. We'll do our best to provide daily updates.

PS. I've discovered I can't easily upload photos from my camera, but can from my cell phone. So, today's photo selection is rather ppor.

2012 Vacation Planning: Germany & Prague

We've finally booked our 2012 vacation. This year, we're headed to Germany and Prague. Croatia was also high on the list but because we are going in late September / early October, we opted to forgo Croatia this year and wait until a year when we go a bit more in the summer season. Maybe next year.

It's been a bit more challenging and frustrating to book this year's trip for 3 reasons:

1. Because of various other activities, work schedules, vacation days, etc., it took us a while to pick a date and we had to fit it in between a couple of other activities we have planned in the U.S.
2. There were a couple of festivals that we want to attend. If we were to plan our trip without this in mind, we could make a nice logical loop through Germany to Prague and back. Instead, to make these festivals, we are back tracking a bit along the way and not going in the order that makes the most sense geographically.
3. The day before we had locked in the exact dates for each location, I selected one to two top hotels for each spot. The next day when I went to book, every single one was booked for the dates we wanted. To make it worse, at least one of the online booking sites tells you when the last available room was booked. All were booked within the past 24 hours, so it was even more annoying to discover that some locations we had selected were booked just 7-10 hours prior. I think I could live without that feature.

I hate getting my heart set on something or making a plan in my head, then having to redo everything. We've now booked all our hotels and all would be absolutely perfect if I hadn't seen the ones we originally selected. :-) But I'm getting over it. And focusing on the fact that we'll be on vacation for two weeks. I can't wait.

So, that's my vent about vacation planning. More next time about where we plan to go.

Wrapping up the trip

Originally written 10/13/11, but just now posting:

We got back a week ago, so I figured I'd do a concluding blog post to report on the trip back home since I haven't written since we left Glasgow.


We flew from Glasgow to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Atlanta with a 3-hour layover in Amsterdam. With no direct flights from Glasgow or Belfast to Atlanta, we had to fly the "wrong" direction to get back home. So, it was a long travel day.


So, we started off our day at around 7 a.m. (local time, 2 a.m Atlanta time) and got to the Glasgow airport around 8 or 8:30, where it began to hail while we were dropping off the rental car. Our flight wasn't until 10:50 and there's not as much advanced arrival required when flying between European countries, but we weren't sure of how long it would take to get to the airport, the check-in process, the airport layout, etc., so we figured better safe than sorry. The rental car return took a bit because the family in front of us took forever, but everything else was quick and smooth.


The Amsterdam airport was phenomenal--lots of shopping options, a free mini-art museum, even a casino. We grabbed a bite to eat and milled about for a while. We had to check in at the gate an hour before boarding there, and it's an airport where you go through security again before being let into the glass-enclosed gate area, where you can't get out to go to the bathroom or anything without going through security again. As we waited at the gate for the hour before boarding, I noticed several guys in dark suits all with the same or similar lapel pin follow the pilots onto the airplane, and I thought, "Boy, they're serious about security here!" It turns out they were U.S. Secret Service detail and former President Jimmy Carter was on our flight. He came around and shook everyone's hand before we took off.


The flight back was long 9-10 hours in flight, but it passed rather quickly thanks to the personal TVs on the plane. KLM is great. There were tons of movies, TV shows, video games and such. I think I watched 4 movies on the way back. We landed around 8:30 p.m. (local time) in Atlanta, but by the time we got to the terminal, went through customs, walked to baggage claim after the airport "train" broke down, etc., it was after 10 p.m. And traffic to and around the airport was tough, so it took Scott's brother Tim a bit to get to us after we picked up our luggage. So, we were glad when we finally got home.

Almost our last day

We woke up this morning and after picking up coffee and scones headed to Edinburgh. We spent most of the day at Edinburgh Castle. The weather was very windy, but mainly sunny. It began to drizzle a bit just as we left. It was an easy drive to get there, but we had a bit of trouble getting out. After a few turns and turnarounds, we finally got on the highway.

We stopped along the way back to Glasgow to get a small bit of gas, but apparently not enough. We almost ran out of gas. All sorts of signals started going off in the car as we got really close to our hotel. Fortunately, the guy who manages the car park was very helpful in pointing us to a gas station. He gave great directions, then we filled up a bit more than we wanted to since we'd pre-paid for gas at the rental car company, but better safe than sorry.

We made dinner again at our "apartment"--gnocchi and salad. (Lunch was another great soup--Scotch broth this time.)

Tomorrow a.m., we head to the airport for a 10:50 a.m. flight to Amsterdam then home to Atlanta by the evening. It's going to be a long travel day. Something tells me we'll crash pretty hard the moment we get home.

Kintyre & Glasgow

Our flight from Belfast to Glasgow on Sunday was canceled due to mechanical problems, after we tried to take off a couple of times, so rather than departing at 10:30 a.m., our 30-minute flight left at 1:05 p.m. But at least they gave us meal/refreshment vouchers.

Once we got to Glasgow, we picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel in Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula. We drove along Loch Lomond (the largest lake in Great Britian) and through the Argyll Forest. Both were gorgeous. It was an incredibly beautiful drive! I don't think our pictures will do it justice. We passed our hotel because we were distracted by some sheep that had escaped their pen and were running down the road. Another great sheep photo opp! ;-)

The Stonefield Castle Hotel was very stunning as well, particularly as it seemed to pop up out of nowhere as we drove along a narrow drive. It overlooks Loch Fyne, and we took a stroll around the property Monday morning after breakfast and before heading on a drive further south on Kintyre. The drive along the coast was very pretty (on the west coast on the way down and on the east coast on the way back, with a stop at Westport Beach and in Campbeltown midway).

Campbeltown was once home to more than 30 whisky distilleries and once proclaimed itself the whisky capital of the world, but the industry has died down. No, we didn't do any whisky tasting here. In fact, we haven't yet tasted any Scotch/Scottish whisky and likely won't before we leave. All tasted out, I suppose.

Anyway, the trip south was very smooth and while I thought the roads were a bit narrow, they were pristine compared to the trip back north which was on a one-way road that had passing spots periodically along the way. At least it was daytime.

We stopped in Inveraray on the way back to Glasgow today. I bought a couple of wool scarves in the woolen mills there.

We had a bit of an obstacle driving through the one-way streets of Glasgow today, but found our hotel without much trouble. The place we are staying (Glasgow Lofts) is different than a typical hotel. It's more like an upscale Residence Inn in the U.S. It's a modern-design apartment with two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, dining area, living room. In fact, it probably is the size of my former apartment, and it has a great view of Glasgow.

We're near a pedestrian shopping district, which has tons and tons of shops including a number of clothing stores popular in the U.S. (Gap, Diesel, Abercrombie, Urban Outfitters, etc.) and others that we've seen in our time in Ireland and the U.K. Good thing our suitcases were pretty much full from the get-go or I could have spent the day shopping. It was a chilly, drizzly day, so what better to do than shop, right?!? But, I resisted. We picked up some food for dinner tonight and tomorrow--simple pasta, sauce and salad. We about over eating out. We'll still grab coffee, tea and a scone in the coffee shop within our building and lunch out, but dinner in will be nice.

We're likely heading to Edinburgh tomorrow. We feel as if we've seen much of Glasgow already. Despite historic buildings, one city seems much like another after a while. It's only about an hour drive to Edinburgh, and while we've been driving quite a bit the past several days, we think it's worth a hop to the other side of Scotland while we're here.

It will be nice to have a few days at home before having to return to work.

Driving around Northern Ireland

Today was a driving day--just checking out the scenery in Northern Ireland for the most part, except for a snafu with our hotel reservations in Glasgow the final two nights. Fortunately, we got that sorted out and got booked in a different hotel. What a fun start to the day learning that news. Fortunately, we had internet and cell phone to help get it worked out while we ventured around the country.

Once again, I'm tired after a long day of driving, so here are a few highlights:

Went back to Dunluce Castle. It wasn't raining but was rather chilly. We took a number of photos there. The castle is built right on the edge of the cliff, so you have to wonder how many people fell off the edge over time.

Then, we drove along the coast and ventured to a spot were tall trees come together over the road. I spotted it on Google maps using the photo overlay. Some call it the Dark Hedges; I don't know if that's an official name. We got a couple of photos, but didn't travel all the way through as a wedding party was getting their pictures taken there. We didn't want to disturb that, of course.

We took a mid-day break in Ballymoney and ate at a small pub called Molly's. A cup of soup sure hit the spot. It's a very cute town.

Then, back in the car we went--driving through the Antrim Hills, past Slemish Mountain, then along the coast from Glenarm to Larne before heading to our hotel in Templepatrick, which I booked thinking it would be near the airport, but then we ended up flying out of the Belfast City Airport instead of Belfast International and couldn't change the reservation. So, we have a 10 mile drive to the airport in the morning. Fortunately, it's Sunday so there shouldn't be much traffic as we cross through Belfast (or at least the northern end of Belfast). Hopefully, I didn't just jinx us by typing that thought.

That's about it.

Tomorrow, we fly to Glasgow then drive to the Scotland countryside where we'll stay for a couple of days.