The Hilled City Of Tuscany

Arched View Of Torre del Mangia

Us On Top Of A Section Of The Duomo

I Wasn't Stuck, I Promise

Entry To The Duomo

The Altar Of The Baptistry

As has seemed to be epidemic for us in Italy, the directions to our lodging in Siena were more of a hindrance than an aid. After finally figuring out where it was we were going, we had to make the climb up one of the three major hills in the city in blazing sun…whoa is us. As we had two nights, we did what we typically do on the first night and got the lay of the land and planned our sightseeing. The sightseeing included Il Campo, the enormous shell-shaped piazza that is highlighted by the Torre del Mangia, which is a towering brick bell tower that looms above a matching civic museum. The piazza is also converted into a horse track twice a year to house a bareback horseracing bonanza. We then made our way up to the Duomo, which contains works by Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo; Splinter was commissioned to do one of the frescoes, but had to decline because he wouldn’t accept Parmesan cheese as payment…zing! The Duomo is complimented by a recently discovered crypt, which houses the original layout of the cathedral as well as centuries old frescoes. There is also a baptistery built into the hill below the Duomo, which was based on designs by Bernini. Finally, there is a museum housing relics of the church, including original façade sculptures by Pisano and medieval works by Duccio. We also spent about 2 hours in a doctor’s office, waiting to be seen for various ailments. When he didn’t arrive, we posited that it must have been his day off, but more on medical excitement later (nothing bad, more in line with being hilarious). We ended our stay in Siena at a very cool restaurant, and one that had newspaper clippings near the front door, so it had to be good. We feasted on bruschetta, bunny rabbit with some awesome sauce, pasta with wild boar sauce, and chicken smothered in a mustard-chili sauce. We ended the meal with a glass of the national Italian spirit grappa, which due to its intense nature needed to be chased with bites of crème catalana, which is much like crème brulee with a hint of lemon. At this point in the trip we are down to two more cities, first we are off to Naples and then the closer in the city of romance.

Mark and Kaylin

A Walled City And Our Twenty Minutes With The Leaning Tower And 20,000 Other Americans

A Snippet Of The Wall That Surrounds The Whole Of Lucca

Torre Guinigi

Side View Of The Duomo In Lucca

Alicia Keys' House

Kaylin Holding Up The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

When we arrived in the walled city of Lucca, we had zero clue as to the whereabouts of our lodging. As such, when we were introduced to the walls as we exited the train station, we weren’t sure if we were on the outside looking in or vice-versa. A quick trip to the tourist information office near the station straightened us out and we eventually got our act together. We visited the Duomo di San Martino, which was constructed starting in the 6th century. We also checked out the Torre Guinigi, which is the tower in the middle of town that is lined with trees along the top. Finally, we visited Piazza Anfiteatro, which is a giant circular piazza that actually played host to a fight between Apollo the Sun God and Hulk Hogan…okay, I made that up, but the piazza was neato.
As the population in the city is only 9,000, we figured it would be a nice relaxing evening, but boy were we wrong. We were in town for the Lucca Music Festival, which brings various performers to the city throughout the month of July, and just by a stroke of pure luck we were graced by the musical stylings of the one and only Alicia Keys. Those of you that know our musical tastes will attest to the fact that, well, ummm, we aren’t necessarily fans of hers, so we actually just went and got dinner during her performance. We were actually kind of bummed because we missed Chicago by a day and were ahead of Leonard Cohen by two days, but no tears were shed, as Lucca was everything we expected and a perfect one-night excursion.

Our next scheduled stop was Siena, but because we had to change trains in Pisa, it seemed fitting to take a couple hours to take a look at the old tower and its surroundings. We made it to the enclosed piazza to come face to face with what looked like Tomorrowland during the dead of summer, meaning a sea of sweaty Middle Americans surrounded us. After joining our sweaty friends in doing the cheesy “hold up the tower using super clever camera angles” trick we walked around the tower and the Pisa Duomo until heading for the bus. The bus was about 20 minutes late resulting in us missing the train we had hoped to catch to Siena, meaning we had to wait another hour which explains our 20-minutes of admiration turning into a couple hours in Pisa.

Mark and Kaylin

Seeing The “Five Lands” Meant More Exercise

A View Of Manorola From The Trail

Sitting In Our Designated Seats In The Tunnel Of Love

The View Of Corniglia From Our Apartment Window

A View Of The Oceanside On Our Way To Vernazza

View Of Monterosso From The Trail's End

I was lucky enough to visit Cinque Terre the last time I traveled to Europe. Kaylin had not yet reveled in its glory, so I knew it was a must see on our journey. Cinque Terre is composed of five towns sprinkled along the Italian Riviera within about a 6-mile stretch. We stayed in the central village of Corniglia, which was kind of nice as it allowed us to break the hike up between two days and spend a little more time in each of the towns. When we arrived at our apartment a gentleman who was in charge of hooking up our stove and refrigerator, and who also spoke zero English greeted us. This seemed to work in our favor, as it seemed every verbal exchange ended with him bringing us something. The first time he brought us beer and wine, and the next he brought us tomatoes from his garden along with olive oil and salt, to which we added some excellent buffalo mozzarella for a tasty caprese. I was afraid to alert him when the hot water didn’t work for the fear that he would turn over the keys to his car.
On the first day, we headed south for the easier trek to Manarola and Riomaggiore. The basic theme for all of the hikes is traversing elevated mountain trails dotted with lemon trees and vineyards, all the while staring down at the gorgeous rocky coastline. Aside from that, each leg bears its own characteristics depending on the town’s specialty and terrain. The one-hour hike to Manarola was probably the most straightforward as the vegetation was somewhat sparse, while the view of the ocean was never obstructed, leaving us with views of the various swimming coves for which the town is known. From there, it is only 20 minutes to Riomaggiore, but this short walk is considered to the most famous as it contains the “walk of love”. At the start of the tunnel, there is a two-person bench with designated seats for “lovers” to sit/have their picture taken. The tunnel is covered with various works of art, the sad thing is that amateur “artists” have pretty much scrawled all over much of it leaving only a few signs of what once was. After walking through the town, we hiked back and ate at the Pizzeria & Foccaceria that would be our base of consumption during our time here.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to tackle the 3-½ hour journey to Vernazza and Monterosso. These hikes were much more hikey, leading to a lot of sweat, turned ankles and stops to take in nature’s beauty. There were points in the hike where the path was merely one-and-a-half feet in width, with nothing but a nice brushy mountainside to cradle the fallen trekker. There were also opportunities for us to taste wild blackberries; at least we thought they were blackberries. Much to our delight, there were no Into The Wild occurrences, as the fruit did prove safely edible. We passed through Vernazza rather quickly as it is considered the upscale town and even the foccacia was out of our range. We eventually made it to Monterosso, which is the hub for the collective. It is also the town with the most accessible and plentiful beachfront. After walking through the town, which included a search for some amazing looking caprese that turned out to be futile, we decided to settle down on a private beach to bask in the sun and take a dip in the uber salty Mediterranean Ocean. We finished our stay in Cinque Terre by going on some self-led vacation home hunting; unfortunately there wasn’t anything in our budget of free and the owners were not willing to barter for bad jokes. Oh well, we will just hold onto our memories until we make another visit.

Mark and Kaylin

Putting Our Foot Into The Boot

Towers In Bologna

View From The Higher Tower

A Castle-y Street

Me And Julio Down By The Old Port (In Genoa)

An Original Entry Gate To Genoa, Christopher Columbus's House Is Out Of Frame To The Right

Our departure from Switzerland led us into the final country of our journey. In terms of Northern Italy, we decided to skip Venice and Florence, as we have both been before and know what it can be like in the middle of July in terms of the tourist crowds. We opted instead for the less traveled, but still renowned cities, with the first stop being Bologna. As for most of the trip, we booked our lodging in Bologna through Hostelworld, which is essentially Expedia for hostels. As such, we expected to find ourselves in our familiar hostel surroundings. What we were greeted by though was a 3-star hotel with all the fixin’s. Not to say we were engrossed in luxury, but having a stocked bathroom in an air-conditioned room was a nice change of pace. We gallivanted through the piazzas; saw the basin where Pontius Pilate absolved himself of Christ’s death, saw a pair of medieval towers (one with an 8 meter lean), saw a piece of the all-but-gone former city wall and moat, but most importantly we dined at a legit trattoria. Bologna is considered to be the gastronomic capital of Italy, so we decided we had to ditch our backpacking habits and dig in for a meal not handed to us over a counter. I took a minute to look up some restaurants on a food fan website and found that Trattoria Tony was very popular for its down home nature, good prices and excellent eats. The meal was fabulous, AMAZING Bolognese meat sauce, grilled eggplant soaked in olive oil and a plate full of boiled tongue and roast that absolutely melted in our mouths. Pair that with a nice liter of house red and an espresso to finish and we were two stuffed and extremely satisfied travelers. The only downside to Bologna is that we both started to feel the itch in our throats and the congestion in our heads as a nice cold has stricken us both, no worries though, I figure we can just ignore it for the next two weeks until we get home.

Our next stop was Genoa, a city synonymous with the creation of Pesto, as well as being one of the most notable port cities of old Italy. There was a tad bit of frustration in locating our hotel, but again the presence of air conditioning in the room came to the rescue. On the first night we just strolled around a bit, ate some pesto pizza and planned the next days itinerary. We awoke the next morning, took advantage of the hotel’s free breakfast and set out to see the city. At one point, Genoa was walled-in, so we started the day by checking out some of the remaining fortification and gate, as well as the residence of Christopher Columbus which was nearby, quite weathered, but definitely still intact. We then made our way down to the port that is awash with fish markets and eateries, as well as the largest aquarium in Europe and a full-sized pirate ship. We then found ourselves meandering through the streets and alleys of the old town, which our guidebook said was beautiful but eerie. That description was right on the money as the alleys were very narrow and dark, yet from time to time opened up into piazzas full of people and beautiful architecture. We definitely ran into a giant rat (think R.O.U.S’s) in one of the alleys, which was enough cause for us to turn around and take an alternate route, I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that I uttered a less than manly noise upon almost kicking the creature (It wasn’t a scream, just a weird utterance). It was very neat, but Princess Buttercup and I agreed we wouldn’t make the trip after hours. We eventually made a visit to the most glorious of the palazzos in the city, Palazzo Reale, there are palazzos at nearly every turn in this city, but this one is the crème de la crème. It was basically a much smaller scale version of the main palace at Versailles, including a hall of mirrors that was designed to resemble the same hall in Versailles, though the artistry adorning it was quite different. There were portraits of the most noted Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Austrian emperors with corresponding frescoes depicting the reason for the fall of their empires. It was even cooler because you could see each depiction as a mirror image, so you sort of got both points of view? We also saw the outside of some amazing churches, but because they were closed when we were there, we had to move on with only a view of the façade. Our next stop will be the gloom and doom of the Italian Riviera.

Mark and Kaylin

The Peace, The Serenity, And The Trials And Tribulations Of “Climbing” An Alp

View From The Gondola On Our Ascent

The "Town" Of Gimmelwald

Some Buff Guy Wearing Shorts And A T-Shirt In The Snow

The Two Of Us At The Birg Peak (The Mountains Jumped Into The Picture At The Last Second)

Kaylin's View From Atop The Mighty Schilthorn

Much like our castle visit, the ever-ambitious Kaylin spurred our trip to the Swiss Alps and the town of Gimmelwald. Beyond having a chance to be surrounded by some of natures finest views, when she saw a hot tub overlooking the Alps on the hostel website she was sold. As our train got closer and closer to our destination, it was actually very exciting to see the mountaintops continue to peek out from the horizon, some snow covered, some with lush forest. After a nice steep gondola ride up to the town (Elevation about 1,300m from sea level) we were in absolute awe of what we had gotten ourselves into. The mountains honestly looked as though they were painted onto a giant canvas and dropped right in front of us. There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE, careening down the entire face of each and every mountain. Upon first sight we had completely forgotten about our day starting at 5am, as well as our 9 waking hours of transport, as it was by far the most pleasing natural surrounding either of us have ever experienced. The hostel itself was full of character, very much a giant log cabin, and because there was not really any food offered, every meal was to be prepared in the community kitchen, which at times resembled the trading floor of the NYSE at the opening bell. Because we arrived fairly late, there would be no sightseeing for us on the first day, so we sat in the common room and got to know some of our hostel mates before catching some shuteye for what was sure to be a big day. The main hike from our location was Gimmelwald to Schiltorn, which is a 4-5 hour hike up to the peak where For Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed; the restaurant that is there is the one that is blown up at the end of the movie, though they used schnazzy 1969 visual effects to accomplish the feat (this was relayed to us by a gentleman at the hostel, so if it is inaccurate take it up with him). Anywho, after a few setbacks (me forgetting stuff), we eventually got on our way. At times the trek was incredibly intense and very steep, not to mention the cows and sheep blocking our path at various points. There were ice-cold rushing brooks at every turn which we constantly filled our water bottle with, throwing caution to the wind, casually ignoring the fact that there could be a cow pasture directly at the source. When we finally got a good head of steam going, about an hour from the second highest point of the hike, an old friend visited. I (Mark, which I think is apparent by now) began to experience intense leg cramping to the point that my legs were completely locking up. Because we were closer to the next point, we just trudged along, stopping every few minutes so I could stretch and massage enough so we could inch our way up. We eventually made it to Birg, which is about 2,600m above sea level and at that point I had to tuck tail and take the gondola back into Gimmelwald. Kaylin decided that she felt great, and went ahead to conquer the rest of the trail. She succeeded and made it up to the 3,000m peak, and when she got to the top in her white T-shirt and jeans, she was given quizzical looks by the folks adorned in jackets and hiking boots. Issues aside, it was still on of the best experiences we have ever had. That night, we made friends with a few of our hostel mates and took full advantage of the hot tub despite the fact we were in a torrential downpour. We watched people come and go, including a Fireman from Fountain Valley, until we realized we had been in the tub for an hour and a half. Gimmelwald was certainly worth the effort, the scenery was out of this world, we played and almost fell into the snow, we struggled for oxygen and suffered from extremely sore legs in the days following, a definite two thumbs up.

Our travels through Switzerland also took us into Lausanne…we saw The Incredible Hulk there…’nuff said.

Mark and Kaylin

Internet Has Again Been A Tough Find

As such, we are in an internet cafe and thus cannot really post any blogs that meet our standards. There will be a deluge of information the next time we can get wifi, so stay tuned you millions of readers you. Currently in the Italian Riviera, what a drag.

Mark and Kaylin

Bob's Google Mapquest...And Pictures From A Month Ago In Paris

Pumped To Be In Paris

Skulls In A Cross In The Catacombs

Jim Morrison's Grave (The Head Part Wasn't There)

Us In The Hall Of Mirrors In Versailles

One Of The Views Of The "Garden" In Versailles

Thanks to my cousin and Kaylin's "brother" Bob, we have a schnazzy(?) map to detail our travels. Whomever said the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, was, well, probably right. 

Bob's Handy Work

When You Wish Upon An Ill-fated King

View Of The Castle From Our Hostel

A Picture Of The Back Of That Guys Head, With The Castle In The Background

Water Falling Behind The Castle (Much Bigger Than It Looks Here)

King Ludwig II's Bathing Area

View Of The Castle From Marienbrucke, A Gnarly Suspension Bridge Above The Waterfall

During the planning of this trip, Kaylin made it known that we were going to see at least one cool castle. Up until now we have stumbled on to some pretty cool castles and fortresses, but now it was time for a one-night visit to a city for the sole purpose of seeing a neat-o castle. Castle Neuchwanstein was the fourth and final castle project by King Ludwig II, not final because he was sick of building palaces for\ himself, but rather his mysterious death at the age of 41. His death also occurred before the castle was finished, and no more than 6 months later it was open to the public. Of more significance to us American folk is that Walt Disney handpicked the castle to be the symbol for his own empire. When we arrived at our hostel, we could actually see the castle in the distance perched atop a mountain. Being that it is elevated, there are different options available for the ascent; we as frugal backpackers decided to hike the trail, as it was free. We are certainly glad we chose this route as it afforded us the opportunity to take in the absolutely stunning surroundings. Thick forest, an occasional waterfall and glimpses of the castle as we progressed made the walk far more enjoyable. When we reached the top we were privy to a panoramic view of the entire valley including pristine blue lakes and beautifully rural countryside. Then, we took in the castle in all of its fairytale glory. It was definitely a spitting image of Cinderella’s Castle complete with an effective tourist operation meant to turn and burn through mandatory guided tours (It was the only way to take a look inside). We definitely enjoyed the castle itself, but the tour was very rushed and extremely rehearsed, but worth the money to see the inner workings and learn a bit about the history. After the castle visit we toured through the Old Town, grabbed a bite to eat, and called it an early night as we had a 5:51AM train to catch to make our way to the Swiss Alps.

Mark and Kaylin

The capital of Bavaria and even more German history

The Dom

Marienplatz Glockenspiel

Our Friends And Us At Augustiner Restaurant (Kaylin took the pic)

Surfin' The Munich Park Wave

She Is So Beautiful...So Is Kaylin

Before arriving in Munich, we knew two major facts about the city: 1) It is considered the beer capital of the world, and 2) The tragedy at the ’72 Olympics (Thank you Steven Spielberg). The Bavarian region of Germany and Austria is known to be extremely traditional, to the point that men definitely still sport lederhosen as everyday attire. Our first night was spent at, well, a beer garden of course, namely the Augustiner garden, which is one of the 6 traditional Bavarian brews. We then turned in early in anticipation of our walking tour the next morning.
The night before we had heard from another backpacker about a certain tour guide by the name of Ozzie, and she could do nothing but rave about how great his tour was, but followed that by saying he wouldn’t be doing the tour the following day. Lucky for us, she was ill informed as a group of 45 of us were greeted by the boisterous bank of useless but awesome information. Ozzie is a Canadian-born German citizen, and told us that before his Father’s birth, his German Grandfather became ill and “came down with a case of jungle fever”. He also told us that he would probably be the only black guy we would see in lederhosen, and especially the only black guy yelling about Nazi’s and Hitler on the streets of Munich…needless to say we were in for fun and untraditional tour. We were taken to all of the sights in Munich, Marienplatz with the Glockenspiel, St. Michaels Church, The Dom, Hofbrauhaus, The Opera House, The Royal Palace, and more. The great thing was that Ozzie didn’t just spit out years, events and facts, he tied all of these figures and events into something everyone on the tour could relate to, whether American, British, Australian, Canadian, Brazilian, etc. He also aimed to tie the events into emotional and social themes, which we thought he did with ease. When it began to rain, he also said not to worry because “this chocolate doesn’t melt”. Facts, emotion and political incorrectness, suffices to say it was an amazing tour. That night, we met up with some of our tour mates and eventually Ozzie in the hostel bar. He then escorted us to the Augustiner Restaurant for some traditional Bavarian fare. We shared the mixed plate, which consisted of crispy pork knuckle; roast suckling pig and duck with pickles and potato dumpling. Upon Ozzie’s urging, we also ordered a bowl of the pig lung soup. This was all washed down of course by liters of Augustinerbrau. Everything was ridiculously tasty, but our favorites had to be the pork knuckle (think super salty and greasy pork rind, mmmmm) and the lung soup, which was much like a meat sauce with a touch of vinegar for a nice tanginess. We spent the night chatting it up with Ozzie and the rest of our new friends until hitting the hay in anticipation of setting out to see the city on our own.

While it was nice to take Munich in with Ozzie’s soundtrack, it was equally nice to walk around at our leisure. We went back to some of the sights we saw the day prior, only because some of our picture taking was a bit rushed or forced to be taken from a bad angle. The object of the day though was to see the English Garden, which is the largest metropolitan park in all of Europe, 3x the size of New York’s Central Park. Our first sight at the park was the surf wave that was one of the few things pointed out on the map. Surf waves are typically manmade creations that create an artificial surfing experience and are usually found at water parks and inland areas; as such this is what we expected to see. Instead, we came upon the source for one of the rivers that flows through the park to see a gushing water flow, that when coupled with a manmade rock formation, created a steady and consistent surfable wave in the river itself. There were about 7 Munichers, Munichians, Munichites….errrr, Munich locals donning wetsuits and actually surfing the wave with some skill, it was one of the most interesting things we have witnessed so far. We only made it about halfway through the park, but even that was about a 4-hour endeavor. We did make it to the Chinese Beer Garden, which was outfitted with an enormous Chinese tower and flowers for the full effect. Of course we had to stick with the Chinese tradition and order a Bavarian pretzel that was legitimately as large as our heads combined. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and looking toward the calm portion of the trip. Up next, Fussen, home to Castle Neuchwanstein, the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella castle.

Mark and Kaylin

P.S. – Just as a side note, it is actually in the Munich constitution that citizens are allowed 1 liter of beer throughout the workday. This has caused many employers to stock up the office with beer in order to keep employees in the office while still enjoying their rights. Also, Ozzie said that beer is considered a food in Munich, so Munich doesn’t have alcoholics, just a bunch of people with eating disorders. That part might have been Bavarian humor though.

Vienna Pictures, Post Below

Stephansdome, Now With More Tower (Actually, just being renovated)

View of Vienna From Atop The Tower

The Best Mime We've Ever Seen (Can actually play the violin very well...for the right price)

Two Weirdos in Front of Karlskirche

Austria and the supposed Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium

The Graz Clocktower

Looking For Arnie's Stadium

View Of Salzburg From Our Hostel (Fortress on top)

Inside The Fortress At A Medieval Restaurant

View Of Salzburg From It's Oldest Beer Garden

Because we made a fairly quick jaunt through Austria, we decided to lump our 3-city tour into one post. Our first stop was the capital and self-proclaimed coffee kingdom of Vienna (though they admit the gift was brought to them by the Turks). Because of a clerical error on our hostels part, we were put into a one-bedroom apartment at no extra charge. We had our own bedroom, living room (with a TV that went relatively ignored) and a full kitchen, definitely a “Bank Error In Your Favor” type of deal. As always, we set out to see the sights, including the Hofsburg Palace, Stephensdome Cathedral, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Karlskirche, and finally the Hoher Market to see a really neat clock that depicted a famous figure of Austrian history as each hour slowly ticked by (Arnold was not present). Stephensdome is a fantastic and very large gothic cathedral that is essentially the mascot for the city. We decided to make the spiraling 350-step trip to the top of the tower and were rewarded with an amazing view of the city, as well as sweat soaked attire. That night, we went to café on the recommendation of our guidebook, and as we were doing our standard “walk by the place to see if it was cool” routine, we were coaxed in by an Irishman named Ian, who was actually living in Vienna until he could scare up enough dough to get back home. We then met up with a Canadian gentleman named Dave, whom we stole from another group on our way to a bar that Ian recommended. The set-up was very cool; the main bar was outdoors with seemingly endless seating along the river. There was also an indoor club, but we decided to skip paying a cover and spent our night chatting it up with random folk from Germany, England, and Chicago, as well as our aforementioned friends. When the clock struck 4am though, we decided it was time for us to head home, and since we had no idea where we were, we had to succumb to paying for a taxi. It was a great way to close out Vienna and move onto Graz.

Graz was certainly a change of pace, and because we had only one day there, we decided to spend it at the main draw Schlossberg, the remains of a fortress atop a mountain that overlooks the entire city. The touring was completely free, and even better was supplemented by historical readings explaining the significance the fortress held and continues to hold for the city. The city’s symbol, an 800-year-old clock tower is the first thing you see as you enter the fortress area, as well as any souvenir shop…it’s amazing how well they can paint a clock tower onto a piece of chocolate. The views were stunning in all directions, some might even say panoramic. There were also diagrams pointing the tourist folk into the viewing direction of all of the city’s significant structures. Most important was the diagram pointing us towards Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium. Though we strained our eyes into the distance, neither of us could find it, but we don’t doubt for a second its existence. Rumor has it a soccer team from California plays there…awful, I know. After a traditional Austrian dinner of Turkish Kebab (for us it has actually been a traditional meal in every country), we made our way to Graz’s oldest brew house for a quick nightcap before readying ourselves for Salzburg.

Salzburg is the city in Austria that we heard the most glaring reviews for, and as such our expectations were raised a bit. Our hostel was nestled up against the Salzach River, which made for a quick and easy river walk into town, though I (Mark) initially sent us in the wrong direction for a 15-minute walk into the Salzburg residential district. Kaylin holds the map from now on. Salzburg is an absolutely beautiful city. The winding river coupled with rolling green hills and the Bavarian Alps as a backdrop were enough to merit the visit alone. For the second city in a row, a mountaintop fortress beckoned, though this fortress is the most well preserved in Europe, as it was never successfully attacked. After a day of weaving in and out of towers, chapels, residences, torture chambers and viewing platforms we relaxed in a 600-year-old beer garden at the foot of the fortress to enjoy some traditional Austrian fare consisting of cabbage strudel, bratwurst with sauerkraut, potatoes and of course beer. The next day we decided to check out Mozart’s Residence before catching a train to Munich. Being that he was born in Salzburg, his face is everywhere and there are actually three separate museums devoted to him, as well as one of the town squares. The visit to his residence was well worth it, as we were treated to an unflinching look into the man and his family during his years spent in Salzburg (sounds like a 60-minutes preview). After that, we hopped onto a train and headed for the capital of Bavaria, both in full agreement that Salzburg was our favorite stop in Austria.

Mark and Kaylin

Czeching In With An Update From Prague

Fantastic and unpredictable play on words to be sure.

Old Town Clock Tower

We dun got rained on

A view of the castle from Charles Bridge

Watching the Euro Cup final in Old Town Square

'nuff said

Anywho, we just completed our amazing five night stay in Prague. While the hostel we stayed in for the first 3 nights was a solid 20 minute walk into the New and Old Towns and even further to the castle, it did allow us to view the enormous HBO banner adorning one of the larger office buildings at least twice a day. Getting past that, Old Town Prague was great. The Old Town Square was the sight for Euro Cup 2008 viewing, and with the end drawing near there were thousands watching every match. Our first journey into Old Town was on a travel day and meant to be sort of a quick introduction to a few of the main draws. It definitely started out that way until the ominous cloud cover began to emit a slight rainfall. Rather than hopping into a cafe or something of that nature, we figured we could make the 20 minute walk without much fuss. Of course, the slight rainfall turned into a heavy shower, which led Kaylin, Alex (an American who was at our hostel in Dresden and happened to be at our hostel in Prague) and I into what some might have suspected was the 5000 meter Czech Olympic trial. We eventually made it home, smiles on our faces and soaked from head to toe. Prague: 1, Kaylin & Mark: 0.

The next day, with eyes to the sky, we set out to see the city. We made our way to Charles Bridge, which is the famous bridge that connects the castle area to the Old Town. It was once the path the royal family would take into town, but now it is the path where musicians and artists petal their wares as you walk. We eventually made our way to the other side to start our 2 day journey into the Costa Mesa sized Prague Castle. Though the grounds have been modified with newer buildings, the castle itself is one of the largest and most well preserved in all of Europe. St. Vitus's Cathedral is the centerpiece and is full of amazing art and quite a few dead kings. We also made our way through the Great Hall, an awesome prison/torture chamber, the Royal Garden, the execution yard, and a medieval street with a few of the houses preserved from the 14th century. 

We closed out the first day of our castle visit at a medieval bar consuming cheese and pig internals (not sure which internals they were, but neither of us got sick) and then watched the Spain-Russia semi-final at a Beer Garden. The second day of our castle visit was closed at an incredible bar/maze. Seven different rooms, zero techno music, all sorts of amazing. Each room had its own theme, from wine, to cigars, to a beer pub, etc. all in what felt like an old brick basement. Also, we saw a TGI Fridays.

On the fourth day we made our way to the Jewish district which was hit hard by Nazi's in WWII, but was kept intact by Hitler because he wanted a life-size museum of an extinct race. There are a number of synagogues-turned-museums that depict Jewish history in Prague from the 13 century to modern times, as well as a cemetery where people are buried standing up, which made for an interesting burial ground with tombstones from wall to wall. After that, we took a tram 20 minutes outside of town to move to the famous Boathouse Hostel. The hostel is nestled right up to the Vtelva River and immediately upon entering you are treated to collage after collage of hostel goers enjoying a familial party-like atmosphere; the only problem is that the most recent collage we could find was from 2001. That being said, "The Ladies" as they are referred to, were still on their A-game and treated us as one of their own. The home cooked dinner was a welcome change that we still rave about.

Our last day in Prague was spent in the New Town, which is a relative term as it was established in the 14th century. We visited the memorial to the two students that set themselves on fire in the National Museum in defiance of Communism and spent a few hours in a rose garden preserved by Monks, saving our energy for the Euro Cup 2008 final. We watched the game in the Old Town Square amongst several thousand fans clearly defined by their German or Spanish colors. We were rooting for Germany, but had to keep quiet as we somehow ended up in the Spanish rooting section. Spain won anyway, and now they are our favorite team. Viva Espana, Na NaNaNa NaNa!!!! Doesn't look too good on paper, but believe us it was a catchy tune. We capped off the night at a recommended River bar (no, not Kokomo's) and a quick visit to Frank Gehry's Fred and Ginger Building (look it up, because our camera is ill-equipped for night shots). I also managed to sneak my way into a pay-per-use toilet without paying; Prague: 1, Kaylin & Mark: 1. 

After hearing so many great things about Prague, we were delighted to find that they were all true. Now if we could only find a way to make the rest of Europe switch currencies to the Czech Crown....

Mark and Kaylin

P.S. - Honestly, we saw a TGI Fridays.