"Well, I've finally recovered from jet lag - what a great trip! Lee and Sandi, let's do that again!(I wonder if Kimber missed me?)"
"Well, I've finally recovered from jet lag - what a great trip! Lee and Sandi, let's do that again!(I wonder if Kimber missed me?)"
With several days to kill in Praha we signed up for a couple of out of Prague excursions. The glass factory was quite an interesting place. They hand blown and cut the glass there. The factory is open 24/7 because it would take too long to get the furnaces heated up if they shut it down. It's only shut down after beaucoup years.
Any how - at the end of the video you can see they hand cut their glass using diamond saws. Each person only does one particular type of cut. It must get monotonous. Our guide said it's a dying art.
"I thought Pilzner was only a town in the Czech Republic, but after a long educational tour at the Pilzner Urquell beer factory I'm an educated monkey!
I even toured the old fashioned underground caves where beer was brewed in large wooden barrels.
The best part was getting a free glass of unfiltered, unpasterized pilsner beer out of the keg!
Lee and Sandi didn't like it but (smack, smack) I loved it!"
That's one big glass of beer!
Here we are in Neuremburg. Site of the famous Nazi war crime trials. We went by the courthouse where the trials were held and got an explanation of why they were held in Germany rather than Russia. (Russia just wanted to execute them rather than hold trials - which would have made justice a mockery)
We were dropped off on a square for lunch and I notice this sign above a jewelery store. I guess schmuck has no derogatory connotations in German.
Next stop Czech Republic.
"Hey, I like this Francian wine, give me a couple of glasses! (I'm not a lush!)"
"Hey, this big guy's ok!"
We had a side trip to Wurberg today. Viking cruises has been feeding us gourmet lunches and dinners non stop since we've boarded the ship. This was a change of pace. Our tour guide assures me that the German people eat all of what is on the plate.
For lunch we had a leg of a pig, cabbage and dumpling with gravy. 
Lee's is posing for the picture. This was before he actually took a bite. Fear not, he said it was good!
I asked for coffee with cream after lunch. This is not a picture of a condom but the back of the sugar packet. Our tour guide assures me that this is an ad for a sauna
Our next stop was Miltenburg, Germany. This is in the Bavarian provincee. I didn't realize that much of this area was a wine growing area.
Here are some typical pictures of the the small village here.
We turned off the Mosel river and are sailing up the Rhine. This is the section of river where there are a lot of "Castle" ruins. Many of them are empty but just as many of them have been partially restored.
We saw quite a few in the morning. The ones have been restored have been turned into - of course, posh hotels, but also many have been turned into youth hostels.
Here are a few of them.
"I think I'll go up to see Germania, the symbol of German empire here in Rudesheim. ..
Gee, I've never ridden a cable car before! I wonder if I can jump down and grab some grapes off these vines?"
"What - who is this? Cousin Gustave! How are you doing? How's biz? Who's that stiff looking German behind you? Can't you get some newer tunes?
Here we are going through one of the locks in the river. This is a pretty good system and it's amazing how fast we go drop down.
There are 15 locks on the river, we passed through about 5 of them before we turned onto the Rhine River.
Sock seen monkey Cinderella's Castle
Posted by Sandi at 6:00 PM Labels: Reichsburg Castle, Sock monkey
Sock Monkey was spotted at the Reichsburg Castle. He was caught climbing up the mountain and hanging off the gates.
"Wow, I wonder if Cindermonkey lives here?"
Here's a view of one of the buildings at Reichsburg Castle. I think this was the castle that Walt Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after. This castle was totally remodeled in the 1700's.
There was a coat of armor in the is room. Our guide told us that supposedly this guy was 8 feet tall and when he took the field the enemy ran away!
This was a typical street that we walked down. Take a look at the brown house. Our guide told us the floor inside was not different from what you see outside. 
Here's a self portrait inside the Castle - they had some beautiful windows.
Here's a self portrait inside the Castle - they had some beautiful windows.
They sort of rushed us through the tour at the castle, only about 7 rooms were open. Lee would have liked to stay longer!
This crew looks like they've tasted a few bottles of wine! We're here at Bernkastel, Germany. It's a very picturesque and touristy town. It's Pentacost holiday and many of the stores are closed, but not the Vintek Winery.
We had a guided tour - that's the agenda on this cruise. Here is at the town center where they used to chain the miscreants to the wall.
They didn't get Lee but got me!
"This is the most relaxing spot on earth!"
"I wonder if I'm getting a little pink?"
We spent the morning in Trier which was the starting point of the cruise. I'm not much of a history buff, but this place is pretty incredible. This was the seat of power for Emperor Constantine before he moved it to the famous Constantinople capital. The Palace behind us was built for a famous bishop, but part of the structure is the original forum where Emperor Constantine wowed his subjects.
This is the Porta Nigra - an old Roman gate that has survived the centuries.
Lee's really enjoying the history in this area. There was a lot to see. The ship has a really slow connection so I'm not uploading my pictures to my flickr site until we get somewhere else (that may be home).Sock monkey seen hooking up with an old folks group
Posted by Sandi at 9:05 AM Labels: Sock monkey, Verdun
Sock Monkey seen sitting on a tour bus headed out of town.
He's checking his progress through Europe. Next stop Verdun where there is a large WW1 Cemetery.
He is very impressed with the Old City gate at Verdun.
We met up with our tour group today and they gave us a 3.5 hour bus tour. It was too bad that they didn't let us out to take pictures at the monuments that they drove us by. It's understandable as it would have doubles the time the tour took.
One thing that Lee finds really funny is the way the bathroom are set up. Here's a picture a one of the nicest free public restrooms that our tour guide took us to. Yes, there was Lee doing his business, while I was standing in line!
This is also a picture of a couple of doors on the stalls. Pretty nice eh?
This just in: Errant Monkey spotted wandering around with a group of Japanese tourists at Notre Dame and the Effiel Tower.
Guards at the base of the tower verify the slippery chimp ran past them into the trees and disappeared.
They are all rather thin - hence BIG ugly American gains another new meaning. You can tell an American tourist by size and dress. The people here (may be it's just because we're close to the city center) all dress rather neatly.
Another thing we've noticed in our wanderings is they tend to eat while walking down the street and riding in the subway. It was funny to see the people walking along with their foot long baggette in hand. They've also been rather patient with us as we stumble and mangle their French language.
We purchased a day pass for the train. The ticket agent was very nice to us, although when we went to the wrong platform and ran back to ask him "Where?" we didn't need to speak French to read his exasperated expression on his face as he pointed us the right direction.
We visited Notre Dame and The Eiffel Tower today. Everything is so HUGE!
Wow, Versailles is amazing. No wonder the French people overthrew their monarchy. Just looking at the grounds and spending literally hours walking those marble halls, one can just image the amount of money and manpower it took to create the palace! Boy! we were pretty pooped when we got back.
Lee and I found more local restaurants near the hotel than you can shake a stick at! This particular street we went down had all kinds of Creperies.
I think this must be a typical French type of a meal. We picked one at random (letting our noses - ok mine, since Lee's big schnoz doesn't seem to work well) choose the restaurant. We both ordered buck wheat crepes. They were FANTASTIC! And amazingly filling!
So far we've had very good food on this journey!
I don't remember the names of the crepes we ordered, but mine had chicken in it and Lee's had ham.
Jet lag is a fantastic thing! Lee was awake at 4:00 am local time. By 6:00 we were downstairs figuring out how to get to Versailles. We rode the RER (about 50 minutes) to get there. (I'll let you figure out which pictures I took first.) But the Palace didn't open until 9:00. We hung out in the Gardens - which were beautiful and very peaceful.
Becky, I noticed a lot of runners training (actually groups of them), bikers and a few on horses riding through the garden. Wouldn't that be a fabulous place to work out?
7:00 AM: Sock Monkey was last seen carried around by a rather tall good looking American gent.
7:25 AM This appears to be the missing Sock Monkey sitting atop of an urn at the Gardens of Versailles.
. . . Yes that does appear to be the missing chimp.
. . . Yes that does appear to be the missing chimp.
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