DK Europe 2006

We're Back!

2006-05-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

We came home on Tuesday, April 4, and within a week or two I was able to rejoin the Pacific Time Zone. Since then I've been working on our photos, and I've completed a web site on Prague. Take a look: http://www.votaws.com

These blogs only work backwards, it seems. You have to start at the end of the trip and work backwards. If any of you can figure out an easy way to read this blog about our trip from start to finish, please let me know. In the meantime we can all read it from finish to start.

I have not yet published any web sites or photos for Berlin and Dresden. It took me a month to get Prague done and I'm behind on some other projects. So my Berlin and Dresden sites will be published later on.

Prague Day 4

2006-04-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

This morning I left before breakfast (!) to see if I could get some good photos of the Charles Bridge and some of the more popular areas nearby. It is so crowded during the day that photo ops are hard to come by. The photos you see here are some of the results. Assuming that it works...

Then I went and had breakfast. Karen did not want to get up early, so I was on my own. We had agreed to meet at the Mucha Museum at 10:00. I went over to Wenceslas Square and found a coffee shop, where I had an omelet and cappucino. Their omelettes are different from ours. The ham and cheese were not cut up and the egg mixture was not really stirred much, so it was kind of like a large crusty fried egg with a piece of ham and a piece of cheese. Not bad, really, but not what I was expecting.

Karen and Jane (one of our tour companions from yesterday) showed up on time to the Mucha. Alfons Mucha was a famous maker of posters and other art objects in the Art Nouveau style, in the first 30 years of the 20th century. He was most famous for his posters of Sarah Bernhardt. It was a lot of fun to see his works. You can see some at http://www.littlereview.com/gallery/mucha.htm. We bought some coasters, since they're easier to haul home than posters.

Jane and Charlotte left us to visit the Museum of Communism but we wanted to see the Jewish Quarter (a.k.a. Josefov). There we visited five sites, among them the old Jewish Cemetery where the third picture was taken. We visited a couple of synagogues and saw some beautiful items from Jewish communities all over Europe. When the Nazis were in power they confiscated a lot of beautiful Jewish items and brought them to Europe, because they had planned to create a museum here as a memorial to the former race of people who were known as the Jews. There is another building that lists all of the names of all of the Jews who were taken prisoner by the Nazis, and includes a display of drawings made by children who were imprisoned by the Nazis in the crowded ghettos and concentration camps. It's quite moving.

After that we came back for a rest, then out again to visit Prague Christian Fellowship. They worship every Sunday at 4:30 p.m. It's an English-speaking service, full of young people. I'm sure we were the oldest ones there. All of the songs we sang were songs that we knew from Salem Alliance. It was exciting and encouraging to see what God is doing in Prague, a city that is probably more than three-quarters atheist.

The service was good, and we worshiped the Lord, and that was good too of course. Then we took Jane and Charlotte back up to Old Town for a quick bite of dinner before we went to the Black Light Theater. This was a wonderful performance and will make a great memory for our last night here. We couldn't take pictures, of course, but you can see lots of them on their web site at http://www.imagetheatre.cz/index_e.asp.

Tomorrow we will leave after breakfast and take the train to Berlin. This will take about 5 hours. We are staying at the Holiday Inn in East Berlin, and I don't know if there will be any Internet available. So you may hear from me, and you may not.

Prague Day 3

2006-04-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Today we went with Sarka (the same wonderful guide we had on Thursday) and two women from Seattle (who were added to our tour at the last minute, cutting the price almost in half) down to Cesky Krumlov, a medieval town in Southern Bohemia. There is the second largest castle in the Czech Republic; the largest is the Prague castle. We got a tour of the castle, a wonderful lunch, and a chance to shop for some goodies at lower prices than we would find in Prague.

The trip was great fun. The two women are mother and daughter; the daughter is studying at St. Andrews in Scotland and the mother came over to meet her for spring break and a trip to Europe.

C.K. is a wonderful little town, very medieval and picturesque. Really, it's like you are at Disneyland or something. But it's quite real. The castle was absolutely freezing but lots of interesting things to see in there.

On the way home we stopped off for a photo session at Castle Hluboka, and I will try and upload a picture for you. Hluboka is one of the prettiest castles in the Czech Republic. It was built late in the 19th century so it had no purpose except to impress everyone, and at that it is quite effective. It's like a fairy tale castle. Finally, there it is, the picture at the top of this post.

Karen said I should tell you one funny thing about our hotel room at Dresden. Our room was rectangular, but the bathroom was created by putting up a curved arc across one corner. This curved wall was covered in nice wood-grain paneling. There was a table attached to the paneling; if you pulled on the table a section of the panel would swing out and there was the closet. Another section of the wall was the bathroom door.

The light switches for the bathroom were on the outside of the room. There was also a large square window in the wall, next to the door. The window was fogged over. But if you pressed the light switch on the inside of the bathroom, between the wall and the window, the window would clear up - transparent both ways! So you could have a little peep show, I suppose. It was really pretty funny.

There, I got a second picture to upload. This is part of the castle at Cesky Krumlov. I'm really glad we went there. It was a great day!

Prague Day 2

2006-03-31T12:54:00.000-08:00

Today we walked around Prague on our own. We took a tram from the stop nearest our guesthouse up to the hill above the castle. They have lots of trams - we never have to wait very long for one. And they are always crowded.

Our first stop was the Strahov monastery library. This is a fantastic collection of really old books in a wonderfully beautiful rooms. They don't let you touch the books but you can see them. Karen's camera has the pictures so I can't upload any here, unfortunately. Since she does bookbinding she was interested in the old methods. They also had collections of insects and small animals and fish, all preserved in wooden cabinets. It was pretty strange.

From there we went to the Loreta, a sort of outdoor church that was one of the early Bohemian (pre-Czech) missions of the Capuchin order of the Catholic Church. It's not really outdoors. Like many cathedrals, the building is designed in the shape of a cross. There are little chapels down the sides, each with their own pew or two and an altar. But in the middle, where you would normally have the nave (pews, aisles, and a roof) it's open to the sky. There are covered walkways along the chapels. In the center, where the two arms of the cross meet, they have a beautifully decorated building with a statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus. This is said to be a miracle chapel and there are stories about the people who have been cured here.

There is a second floor above one row of chapels where they have the church treasury. This holds many beautiful objects, among them several "monstrances". I had heard this word but never knew what it meant. Now I know. A monstrance is a large decorative holder for the communion bread. The priest uses it to serve communion during the mass. These were quite large and very beautiful. Lots of jewels, pearls, even coral was used to decorate them. (We saw beautiful things made of coral in Dresden too.) The most famous one had over 6000 diamonds in it. It was shaped like a sunburst, with rays of diamonds coming out from the center.

Our visit to the Loreta was a little strange. We ducked in there just in time to avoid a major rain storm. The street artists were putting away their wares and running to escape it, that's how scary the clouds were. We got inside and a sign said they were closed for lunch, beginning in five minutes. So we were packing up the camera and zipping up the jackets when we were told "buy your tickets or leave". It turned out that we could buy tickets and be in there during lunch, but not stand in the entryway. But there was this guy, a BIG guy, in an official-looking green overcoat, with an official-looking badge on it, who followed us around everywhere we went in there. Mostly he just closed doors behind us. When we sat, he sat. When we got up, he got up. He never spoke to us.

After the Loreta we went to lunch. We ate in a very nice restaurant. The food was wonderful, except for the dumplings which were simply fillers without any particular flavor. Neither of us had tried them and we wanted to find out what they were like. Karen had regular dumplings and I had potato dumplings. Both of them came out sliced, like bread. Karen picked hers up and ate them with her fingers, and mopped up her sauce with them. I would have been embarrassed but we were the only people there! As I said the food was great, so I don't know why it wasn't more popular.

Then we took the tram down to the St. Nikolaus church, just below the castle. It's one of the few baroque churches in Prague. Apparently baroque was associated with the Hapsburgs, and the Czechs didn't get along with them. There was this 30 Year war between them that killed off a lot of people in Europe. It started in 1618 when the Czechs (Protestants) dropped two Hapsburgs (Catholics) out of the window of the castle, intending to kill them. Unfortunately they survived and went back to Vienna to fetch their armies.

Anyway, there aren't many baroque churches. But this one makes up for that by being pretty spectacular. The second and third pictures here are from the interior of that church. The top picture is looking ahead toward the Charles Bridge as we're walking toward it after leaving the church.

We did a little souvenir hunting, then came home for a break. We went out again tonight to see the Mozart opera "Don Giovanni" performed by marionettes. It was sort of "Mozart meets the Muppets in South Park". Pretty crude in some parts, but very well done and most of it quite enjoyable. Lots of humor. The place was full, mostly with Asian tourists.

Tomorrow we going to Cesky Krumlov. Sarka is picking us up at 8:00 so I have to get some sleep.

Prague day 1.5

2006-03-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am skipping Dresden in this blog, not because it was bad, but because I can only remember as far back as yesterday. Actually we loved Dresden and wish we had scheduled more time there and less in Berlin.

We arrived in Prague on Wednesday afternoon and passed up 5 money exchange offices in the railroad station to join the long queue for the ATM. Actually you can't say ATM here, they won't understand; you have to say "Bankomat". The Bankomat didn't like my WAMU card so we used another one to get our money. They use "crowns" here - the Czech word is "koruna" - and there are about 23 to the dollar. So we figure a crown is worth about 4 cents plus. Things are a lot cheaper here than in Germany.

After we got our money we headed for the metro. I had specific instructions as to which metro to take, which stop to get off, etc. so I was confident about that. But getting the tickets was made more difficult by a taxi driver who wouldn't take "no" for an answer, kind of like a Turkish carpet salesman. He expressed doubts about our ability to get anywhere without him, especially after he heard where we were going. I was trying to read the ticket machine and he finally sent me away to the tobacco store since they could sell me metro tickets there too. That was helpful and we were on our way.

We found our pension (B & B) without any trouble and the host was the most gracious, kind man we have ever had for a host. He spent lots of time with us and gave us plenty of advice and time for questions and answers. The room is fine; the only weird thing is that there is a big bathtub and hand-held shower but no shower curtain. So I am trying to be careful while cleaning.

After we set up our room we walked over to an old castle by the river for some fantastic views and sunset. We walked the walls around the old castle keep. I used my new telephoto zoom lens for the first time and it is really nice.

Yesterday morning we were met at 9:00 am by Sarka, our personal tour guide. She has a degree in philosophy and knows lots about history and architecture. She was great to spend the day with. She gave us a whirlwind tour of Prague: Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square with the astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge, the main castle area, St. Vitus cathedral. She never stopped talking, either to us or on the cell phone. We had booked her last December, because I knew she was popular, and people were calling her for tours that day! She has 20 other tour guides that work for her and an assistant who manages all of this touring business. Anyway, she was a delight and we were fortunate to get her.

Last night we went to the opera. We saw "The Marriage of Figaro" at the Estates Theater, which is the theater where Mozart himself conducted the premiere of "Don Giovanni". We got the last two seats and they weren't together; we had to wave at each other across the space from balcony to balcony. There are four balconies full of private boxes and each of us shared a box with some other people. The people in my box left after halftime so Karen finagled her way past the door ogre and came to join me for the second half.

I didn't expect to enjoy the opera, just the music and the setting, but the opera was a lot of fun. It's a big farce. I've never seen this opera before so I don't know if their rendition was normal. Can any of you opera fans tell me if there are usually food fights in Figaro? Besides the comedy there was wonderful singing and good costumes; the sets were rather plain but that was okay.

I will now try and post a picture or two. Last time it didn't work, so this time I'll upload these comments first, then edit to add pictures. There! Finally got one to work. It took about 10 minutes to upload. This photo (at the top) is the interior of St. Vitus Cathedral. It's in the middle of the palace complex in the main castle in Prague. The style is "vertical Gothic" - designed to impress you with the majesty of God and direct your thoughts toward Him.

No time for more pictures now, sorry. Web site to follow.

Considerations on Berlin, and travel surprises

2006-03-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm posting this on Wednesday night; we are in Prague. But I am taking up where I left off. In our last episode, D & K had just completed the "Langes Nacht des Shoppings" before setting the clocks forward one hour, thereby depriving themselves of even more sleep. We take up the story on the next morning, which was last Sunday.

The plan today was to visit the Alliance church in Berlin. Their web site said that they have services at 9:30 and 11:00. We had to check out of our room by 12, so the 9:30 service was our only option. We took S-bahn and U-bahn to the church and got there by 9:25 (a small miracle!) only to find that the early service had been cancelled. This was a big disappointment. Why can't churches keep their websites up to date? :)

So we went back to our room, checked out, and went to the OstBahnhof (East Train Station) to get our train to Dresden. They have special weekend rates of 30 euros for up to 5 people for as much travel as you want, in one day. So we got on the train to Dresden. There was one stop on the way where we would have to change trains. On the way we talked about Berlin. Karen did not really enjoy Berlin as a city. We didn't really get to relax there; we were always zigging about on an S-bahn and zagging on the U-bahn, going from one destination to the next. Much of the city is old Soviet-era multi-story apartment houses which are quite ugly and depressing. There are many reminders of the war, including the Jewish Museum, the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, and the damaged buildings. There are huge, strange new buildings and construction everywhere you look. Everything seems big and impersonal. I enjoyed the destinations enough that I overlooked the journeys. But Karen likes the journeys - walking through town, talking with people, relaxing - things that are not easy in Berlin. I suppose that they have that in bars and taprooms, but those are not places where we feel comfortable.

We were talking about this on the train when the ticket collector came by and asked us our destination. I was surprised because she had already been by to check our tickets. I told her "Dresden" and she shook her head and said "That's very bad" in German. She tried to explain and after a while I caught on to the fact that the train from our transfer stop to Dresden was not operating. She explained an alternate route. We would have to go from the transfer point to another transfer point (Riesa) and then to Dresden. This would add a couple of hours to our trip.

We arrived at the first transfer point on track 3 and I checked the schedule there. The train to Riesa was going to be on track 1. So we hauled the suitcases down the stairs, through the tunnel, and back up the stairs to track 1. It was pouring rain. We went into the station to wait for the train. A station official approached, asked our destination. I told her "Dresden" with some fear and trepidation and she asked me to follow her - out of the station and into the rain. I followed reluctantly and waited in the rain for her to come out of another door. Eventually she did and handed me a paper with a written timetable that we were to follow. And then she said that the train was on track 4! So we grabbed the bags and went over to track 4 where the train to Riesa was waiting. We got on there, switched again at Riesa, and finally got to Dresden at about 5:00.

We were so tired from the trip and the short night on Saturday that we skipped the vespers at the Frauenkirche. We decided to go on another day. After a rest, we took a little walk and found dinner at XFresh, where we had delicious pasta (mine with beef, Karen's with salmon) and fruit drinks. At 8:30 we went to sleep!

Berlin to Dresden

2006-03-27T12:26:00.000-08:00

When I came back from the last blog post Karen said "We forgot something." "What?" I said. "Tonight is the long night of shopping." I had spotted this event on a website while planning the trip, and in a moment of foolishness I told Karen about it. "Lange Nacht des Shoppings" happens twice a year on Kurfurstendamm (street) when they change the clocks. (Germany's clocks change a week before they do in the U.S., I think, so - if I'm right - for this week we're 10 hours ahead.) On those nights they have a big shopping event on that main street with live music, food and craft booths, and all the stores stay open until midnight or later.

But I didn't need to worry. She was already in bed. I mentioned this fact. "You're not ready to go." "Yes I am!" she cried, flinging back the covers. She was fully dressed. "How about if we just go to KaDeWe?" "OK," I said, "but I want to see the Kaiser Wilhelm church too." "Deal."

So we got back on the U2 train at 9:30 p.m. and went clear down to Kurfurstendamm. We had to change trains once and it was well after 10:00 when we came up from the station to the street. Across the street from the station we saw the KaDeWe store - the largest department store in Europe, they say. KaDeWe is short for Kaufhaus Des Westens, literally translated "Purchasing house of the West". West Berlin, that is. You pronounce it Kah Day Vay.

The night was cold and foggy - you couldn't see the tops of the buildings - but the streets were jammed with people. We stepped into KaDeWe and there was a pop band singing American hits from the 70s (mas que nada?) The sign said No Cameras but everyone was shooting pictures, so Karen took some movies. You'll all enjoy them, I'm sure. I asked "What do you want to buy here?" and she said "A Thermos, so I can pack coffee in my backpack". OK, so we went up to the 4th floor where they have housewares of every description. This is a very upmarket store, more like Harrod's than Target. We found our thermos - a very nice one - and have been using since then.

Then we went up to the 6th floor which is where they have food. Lots and lots of food. And several whole departments on that floor are devoted exclusively to chocolate. So we "kaufed" some chocolate. Then we went down to the street and walked over two or three blocks to the Kaiser Wilhelm church. It was one of the main churches of Berlin, and it was bombed out in WWII. They left the ruined shell as a memorial, just like the English did with Coventry Cathedral. An artist in each city (Berlin and Coventry) fashioned a cross from iron found in the ruins of the church, and after the war the two churches traded crosses as a measure of peace. Each displays the other's cross today. But the Berlin church was closed at midnight, so we walked around, peeked in the windows, and went home. We got home at around 1:00 pm, set our clocks forward an hour, and went to sleep!

That was my diary entry for late Saturday. I can't post any more right now, but will try and get a couple of pictures up with this. We are now in Dresden, it's Monday night, and we like Dresden a lot. But Internet connections are hard to come by. So I'm not sure when I'll post again, but I'll do it as soon as I can.

The picture is from Dresden; it is part of the Zwinger palace.

Berlin: Day 4

2006-03-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

The title is not really correct - we spent most of the day in Potsdam. That's because Frederick the Great wanted to get out of town to build his castle retreat Sans Souci which means "without a care". This is really an elegant little palace (you know, only 16 rooms or so) built in the middle 18th century in the Rococo style. Rococo means every wall and ceiling surface has gold decorations attached. These are not painted on, they are 3-dimensional leaves, shells, fruits, flowers, etc. all connected with curves and lines. They tend to pile up in the corners, where the sculptures get more elaborate. The wood furniture was beautiful inlay and the floors were wood parquet (walnut, linden, oak, and more) in fancy patterns. Other floors are marble, and some of them are works of art if you could only get up high enough to see them. Walls are either marble or covered with beautiful fabric. Lots of paintings. Formal rooms have marble columns with Corinthian capitals, fountains, alcoves with statues.

We saw two palaces. The second is called the New Palace and it's at least twice as big. The second picture was taken on the way from Sans Souci to the New Palace. This is a frozen stream. Spring has not yet come to Potsdam. Today was freezing cold, foggy, and drizzly. I'm sure that this park is lovely, but not today. In the distance you can see the Chinese pavilion (not quite the right name but that's the best I can do right now). It wasn't open but the outside was nice to photograph.

There were life-size statues, all in gold, of Chinese musicians all around. I got this shot for Cheryl Hastings, our percussionist. Maybe one of you can show it to her.

The New Palace was more than twice as big. Oh, I forgot to mention, because of the fancy floors, we all had to wear these huge floppy slippers in the palaces. So instead of walking we kind of swooshed around. The "we" refers to our tour group. They don't let you in the palace alone. Of course the tours are all in German. For those of us who can't sprech Deutsch they have printed descriptions.

Anyway, the New Palace is really better than Sans Souci so I'm glad we walked the mile to see it. Did I mention it was freezing and my feet hurt? Unfortunately they don't let you take photos in the palaces so y'all will have to wait to see the lovely pictures in the books we bought.

Last night's dinner in Gendarmen Market area was really fancy. We had traditional Viennese food but it was prepared really well. Karen wanted me to pass on to you a bit of wisdom: if you are in a fancy Viennese restaurant, don't sprinkle the grated parmesan generously all over your Tirolean ham appetizer. That's because it might be fresh horseradish.

Tomorrow we are going to try and find the Berlin International Church (Alliance) in time to attend the 9:30 service. Then we will collect our bags and hop on the Deutsche Bahn (train) to Dresden. We have three nights there, then we go to Prague on Wednesday.

Berlin: Day 3

2006-03-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry no pictures today. This computer cannot handle my memory card. Also I apologize for messing up the comment feature. The problem is that the site only displays in German here and it makes it hard for me to know what I am doing. Even more so than usual...

Anyway I think that the comments should be working now, or maybe starting with tomorrow. We can hope.

Thanks for asking about the concert, Sandy! It was amazing. The concert hall was like a small basketball arena with perfect acoustics. Very tall ceiling with a weird shape. Karen says if you imagine looking down into the hull of a ship, that is the shape that you see looking up at the ceiling. It was built in the 1960s with lots of sharp angles. The orchestra plays down in the center and the audience is seated all around at all different levels. Its like they stuck seating sections to the wall at random places around the room. We were looking towards the conductor, over the shoulders of the first violins.

The music was beautiful. I do not have the experience to compare orchestras but I can say that I never heard better. The concert was Schubert Symphony #5 (sounded like Mozart) and #8 (sounded like Beethoven). At the end the audience applauded for 15 minutes - even after the orchestra got up and walked out. The conductor had time to shake hands with every player during the applause. But it was not a standing ovation. Apparently that is not done here. Instead they shout Bravo! over and over.

Today we slowed the pace a little bit - only 7000 steps so far on the pedometer. We went to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie. Amazing stories of escapes and escape attempts. Lots of pictures of the Wall and newspaper accounts. We saw flying machines, inflatable boats, cars with hiding places, even surfboards and speaker cabinets that were used to hide people. We saw lots of pictures of tunnels and read the stories.

Then we went to the Jewish Museum which is very difficult to describe. The experience of going through it is somewhat disconcerting. It covers the history of the Jewish race and all that has happened to them. It is extremely well done and very impressive.

We shopped and ate at Lafayette Galerie, which is pretty amazing for its architecture and incredible food selection. We toured the Gendarmen Market and stopped by the Hugenot Museum (my ancestors were Hugenots). And now we are going out to eat. We plan to go to Sans Souci castle tomorrow.

--Dave and Karen

Berlin: Day 2

2006-03-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our second visit to the Gemäldegalerie, one of the major art museums here. There is a lot to see! They are open on Thursday nights so we had a second chance. On the way out we stopped and took this picture. The blue roof is the Sony center. The taller building next to it on the right is the DB - Deutsche Bahn building. To the left, the yellow building, is part of the Philharmonie, where the Berlin Philharmonic plays. That is where we went last night, and it was wonderful.

Today we went to the Antiquities Museum where we saw things from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The famous Nefertiti bust is there. Then we went to the Pergamon Museum, which I wrote about here before we left. The Pergamon altar is amazing. There they also have the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. I have uploaded one picture of it here.

This morning we saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - a fascinating design. It is a huge grid of concrete blocks, about the size of caskets, ranging in height from 12 feet down to 0 feet. The heights are lower on the outside and the taller ones are in the center. The effect is like rolling hills, because of the gradual rise and fall of the blocks by height.

Then we walked up to the Brandenburg gate, saw where the Berlin wall went right by it, and then over to the Reichstag (government) building with the famous clear dome on the top. It is a major tourist attraction to climb up in the dome but unfortunately it is closed this week so we cannot.

The weather is getting warmer and the sun was shining all day today. Karen has a pedometer and it says we have walked 22,000 steps today.

Berlin: day one

2006-03-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

Today we visited three museums: an art museum, a musical instrument museum, and an arts and crafts museum. I think that the musical instruments museum was my favorite. Here you see a vertical piano - one of several there. They also had a Wurlitzer, and someone played it while we were there. Fantastic!

The other museums were much larger and we spent several hours at them. It takes a long time to upload photos so I will not do that right now. By the end of the day both of us had sore feet! Karen is getting along pretty well and the weather is not really a factor. Today was partly cloudy, cold and windy. But no rain.

On the way back home from the museums we stopped at the Sony center - a very interesting piece of architecture. The picture you see here is of the roof. There is a four-story Sony Style Store there with everything that Sony makes.

Tonight we are going to the Berlin Philharmonic. And I need to get going... See you tomorrow.

We Made It!

2006-03-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

We spent Sunday night with our friends Arden and Janet in Battleground WA. They took great care of us - it was like a deluxe B&B. Here we are just before eating a fabulous breakfast.

When we got to the airport in Seattle we got some good news - our seats were on the aisle! We had been told by Travelocity that we were in the middle of a five-across row. The plane was the best we have ever been on - brand new, with individual color screens for every seat. At your left was a remote control that you could pull out of the seat arm to control the screen.

We had our choice of movies, music, games, maps, and a few other choices. It turned out to be fairly easy to crash the system. When that happened we were told "Please wait while your seat reboots." The games were fun. The music was excellent quality. We had about two dozen movies to choose from. And all of it was individually controlled - we could choose to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to do it.

We landed in Amsterdam at about 7:30 and transferred to a Berlin plane. At Tegel airport in Berlin we bought all-day transportation passes that get us on the buses, the S-bahn, and the U-bahn. The public transportation here is fantastic. We took a combination of transport systems to our guesthouse (pension) which is in the Prenzlauer Berg area of Berlin - in old East Berlin, north and east of the center.

After dropping off our luggage at the pension, we took the S-bahn across town to the center of West Berlin and caught Bus 100, which goes right past many of the main landmarks. We got off in the middle of the Tiergarten which looks like winter has it still in its grip. Actually the weather is much better than we expected; Karen is not having to wear boots and while it is a little nippy, we are doing fine.

We walked around for a while and got some other photos, then got back on the bus. By this time our room was ready so we went back, unpacked, and slept a bit. We walked a block to a nice little shopping center by the U-bahn station and found a grocery store there. So we are set for lunch tomorrow. We are very thankful to be here, and that Karen has not had much pain with her sciatica.

What do geeks take on trips?

2006-03-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

No, no, no. This is NOT what I'm taking on the trip. This is what Karen THINKS I'm taking.

Actually I make it a rule never to take a computer with me on our trips. They are too big and heavy, and we pack really light.

She thinks I'm addicted to computers, and that's not true. Really. I just pop into Internet cafes every day while we travel so that I can keep in touch with friends and family. And on this trip we will have to keep up the blog. Really!

I am taking my new camera that I just got. I'm pretty excited about that. Oh, and the extra telephoto zoom lens. And my iPod. It's great for storing my digital photos, and listening to books and music. My iPod has a Bible on it too so that may come in handy.

Karen is taking her iPod too. And her camera. Both of them are smaller and cuter than mine. This is entirely appropriate.

I have to pack a Flash card reader so that I can upload pictures to this blog. And a little monopod to support my camera during long exposures, and for panoramas. An extra battery and a charger are essential. I've stuck in this cute little table-top tripod (handy for taking pictures of us in a restaurant!), and a remote control so I can snap the picture when I am ready.

We bought a cheap little cell phone that's tuned to European frequencies so we'll be able to make emergency calls if we have to. We've got cables and connectors and AC adapters. I can store photos on my iPod! I can recharge batteries on 220v power! I can plug my camera into a TV and see the pictures!

I can strain my shoulder carrying all of this stuff!

Prague - then and now

2006-03-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my first post that I was in Prague in 1968. Here's a picture that I took at that time. It's a picture from Old Town Square. The two spooky-looking towers are part of the Tyn (pronounced "teen") Church.

The year was 1968. I believe that we were there in late July or early August. I was one of a group of 50 high schoolers, students who had taken German, from Whittier High School District in California. We were near the end of our seven-week tour of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, as it was then known.

When the trip was being planned we didn't know that the summer of 1968 would bring a student-led revolt (known today as the "Prague Spring" not for the season, but for the hopes that it raised) that would be crushed by the Soviets. As we approached Prague, Soviet tanks were massing at the Czech border, ready to use force if necessary to quell the uprising. It was touch-and-go as to whether we would be allowed in the country or not.

I was hoping NOT. I remember being very nervous, and would cheerfully have passed up that opportunity to visit Prague. My memories of the city are that everything was dark, dirty and brown. The city square was full of people, shouting and waving banners. All 50 of us American teenagers were required to stay together at all times - we could not wander off on our own as we had done in all of the other cities we visited. I didn't like Prague, and was glad that we were there for only a couple of days. I have very few photos - I was so afraid of my camera getting taken away if I shot the wrong thing that I didn't use it much. I wish I had taken photos of the crowds but I'm sure we were told not to do that.

So I am posting this picture here today, and planning to post a current one for comparison in a couple of weeks when I return to Prague, 38 years after my first visit. I expect to enjoy the city a little bit more this time around.

One week before the trip!

2006-03-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

Well, eight days. We're leaving next Sunday. We'll drive to Battleground WA to stay with friends, then catch a flight from Seattle to Berlin on Monday. It leaves Seattle at 1:15 pm and we will arrive in Berlin at 10:50 am on Tuesday the 21st. There's an hour and 25 minutes provided for us to change planes in Amsterdam, which should be interesting.

Our flights are on Northwest, and they're having a labor dispute. I was really nervous about a strike. It's not settled yet, but it appears as though they won't strike before our trip is over.

In Berlin we're staying at a place called Apartment Guesthouse Berlin. Its quality is somewhere between a hostel and a cheap hotel. It's located in Prenzlauer Berg, a neighborhood which is supposed to be up-and-coming. The subway station is close, and that's the main thing.

One of the main sights we plan to see in Berlin is the Pergamon Museum. There they have the Pergamon Altar, which was brought to Berlin in the early 20th century from Pergamon (in Turkey). The altar is supposed to have come from the temple of Athena in Pergamon. We toured the site of the ancient acropolis in Pergamon in 2002, and here you can see my picture from the temple of Athena.

After five nights in Berlin we leave on Sunday for Dresden. We're taking the train - it's only a couple of hours, I think.

In Dresden we're staying at the Art Hotel, right in the city center. It promises to be an interesting visual experience. Here's a photo from their website. I think it's a staircase.

We plan to tour the Meissen porcelain factory, several museums and palaces, and attend a ballet at the Semper Opera House.

On Wednesday the 29th we'll take the train from Dresden to Prague, where we're staying at another guest house, Lida. It came pretty highly recommended, as did a private guide we have hired to take us on a half day photography tour on Thursday, followed by an all day excursion to Cesky Krumlov on Saturday. We are hoping to get tickets to the opera house in Dresden where Mozart premiered one of his most famous operas.

We leave Prague on Monday the 3rd, taking a train back to Berlin where we'll spend our final night before flying back to Seattle on Tuesday.

Today I am putting together our trip book, with all the maps, confirmations, tickets, addresses, etc. that we will need. I'm going to pack a flash card reader so that I can download pictures taken during our trip and post them here.

In which the reasons for this trip are revealed

2006-02-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

I got the travelling-to-Europe bug at the age of 15 when I spent most of the summer (of 1968) in Central Europe. (That's me in the picture, standing by a war memorial near Freiburg, Germany.) Ever since then I've wanted to travel to Europe. But until our kids were grown and gone it wasn't possible. Now we put aside travel funds whenever we can, and so far it has worked out that we can afford a trip every other year.

In 1998 Karen and I made our first trip together, to Germany and Austria, visiting many of the sites I'd seen in 1968. In 2000 we went to England, and in 2002 we got to go to Turkey. Our Turkey trip has a website.

After 2002 we decided that our future trips would feature longer stays and less travel from city to city. In 2004 we went to Rome, and yes there's a website.

So here in 2006 we're going to Berlin, Dresden, and Prague.

Why Berlin? In my reading (I do a LOT of travel reading) I've learned that Berlin has become an incredibly popular destination. It offers a unique combination of ancient and very modern architecture. People seem to really enjoy this city.

Why Dresden? Dresden is celebrating their 800th anniversary this year (2006). They've just rebuilt and rededicated the Frauenkirche (the main church in town) after it was bombed to rubble in 1945. It's halfway between Berlin and Prague.

Why Prague? Like Berlin, Prague has a fantastic reputation as a destination. Plus, I was there in 1968, and I want to see what the city looks like now that the Russian tanks aren't positioned at the border. The Czech Republic is now free of Soviet rule, and they have prospered. They just joined the EU, but they don't have the euro yet, so it's an interesting point in their development as a nation.