To begin, I have given up on trying to post photo's to this blog site. The computers don't seem to like the server for some reason, so I'm posting photos to the snapfish site. Look in your e-mail. Let me know if you didn't get it.
So, where was I. Down time in Vienna. Well we caught the overnight train to Bregenz. It was very nice, car to ourselves with beds, and coffee and tea served to the room first thing in the morning.
Arrived in Bregenz and couldn't get into the apt. we rented until 14:00 so we wandered around town for awhile. Found a cable car that took us up the mountain about 1100meters. Great view. there's pictures in the snapfish. (unfortunately I can't title the pictures so you'll have to guess what's what) but it's pretty obvious. It's where I got the picture of the owl. There's a photo of the apt in Bregenz that we rented. really nice, except for the ringing of the church bells right next door. Why Bregenz, cause it was centrally located off the train line to other locations. Or I guess I could say...why not Bregenz, we don't know anything about where we're going until we book the trip. Generally no more than 2 days before we decide to leave.
Wandered into Vaduz, Lichtenstein for the day, if your going to visit, plan a day, there's not much to see, it's a tourist stop, and expensive. There were a couple of other towns nearby that might have been interesting but we didn't find out about them until we got to Veduz. We did find a nice winery, the wine was so, so. We also made a trip a short distance around Lake constance (the Bodensee) to Lindau. If your going this is a really nice little tourist resort town with hotels and restaurants on the water, and picturesque little alleyways/lanes.
Saw fireworks in Bregenz (after standing in the cold and eventually rain which stopped just before the show). You could easily spend a couple of weeks wandering around the Bodensee, but again we didn't find that out until we were there. We might have to go back, shucks.
We then headed to Zurich- EXPENSIVE. We only spent 1 night and really, unless you plan to shop, there are better places to be (see linlithgow, lindau, bregenz, czech repub and even Bern). If you're planning on going to Switzerland, go to Bern skip Zurich and then head south into Heidi territory.
The train trip to Italy went through some beautiful areas. But you could tell when you were in Italy. So Bern to Milan and then Bologna, why Bologna (see above). We had to wait 2 hours to get our apt. Then the rental agent didn't show up when he was supposed to. Deb calls them, they can't find the reservation, speak just a little english. Fortunately their office was nearby. They ended up renting us an apt that usually sleeps 6. It was a little farther away from everything, but as it turned out, that was good. It was quiet. So 5 nights in that apt. then we had to move to the original apt that we booked for the last night. Worked out well because it was closer to the train station and we could catch an early train to Rome.(It's turned our really nice to be able to cook for ourselves in the apartments. A nice plain dinner is really appreciated after all of the dining out).
So figuring out the schedule for meals took a bit. Restaurants close at 15:00 and then re-open at 18:00. Alot of the museums and stores also keep the same hours, closing 2 hours for lunch. You have to plan your day in order to visit the museums. Well I'm tired of writing and sitting in this internet cafe. Deb and I haven't gotten our 300 stairs, and 3-5 miles of walking in today. So we'ìll say goodbye for now.
çiao

Well we've got a little (about 9hr's) of down time in Vienna. We thought we'd arrive in Vienna and find a hotel spend the night and then leave for Bregenz first thing in the morning. No way Jose, no hotel cheap enuff, so we've booked the 10:20pm train to Bregenz (the overnighter oooh) which leaves us in an internet cafe and well.... it looks like we've got a chance at posting some pictures (my german's better than my Czech) so without too much fuss. Here goes.

We were looking for the muffin man
didn't find him. (Found his wife though)
This is the court of Justice, apparently some folks thought I might be spending time here so I thought I'd check it out.

(above) We were this close to Superman






Right -Linlithgow palace birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.
Left - kinda how we felt after a few days in London (courtesy the British museum)

And this guy, well he was just one of the many wonderful people we met along the way. Kinda epitomizes the whole english attitude.

Anyway, looks like this might work. But I can't tell as I put it together how it's going to look in the end so bear with me while we try to figure out how this works and....

Where are we going.
How will we get there
Can we find scotch, oh yea, and a bed?

Til the next time
Auf Wiedersehen

(it's time to find a scotch :-)

Just a step back for a moment. For those of you that don't know, the German and Czech rail ticket works on the honor system. You buy a ticket punch it and ride. Every now and then some plain clothes guy comes by and checks to see if you've actually purchased a ticket. If you haven't an immediate fine is imposed. Deb and I purchased a ticket the other day that was good for five stops. We were asked for our ticket and at that time we were just coming into our station, the fifth stop. We weren't sure he was going to let us off the metro. Yee ha fun in Prague. Nice city, but extremely crowded. So after a coupla days we called it quits, but not before an: organ and oboe recital in a 15th century church, a wander through the Prague castle, another trip down a river and some excellent food.

We're now in Cěskě Budějovice, the home of Budweiser beer, {the original}. It's a good spot for wandering into other locations and still be able to get on to the next destination. It was a little strange when we got into town though. Saturday afternoon and they were basically shut down for the weekend, except for food. Anyway we survive. Yesterday we went to a small town called Hluboka which as a matter of fact had a castle called, wait for it, Hluboka Castle. Very nice. Fully furnished, looked like the owners just left for the weekend, and its been around since the 14th century. Today we wandered {always by public transit, it reallÿ works here in Europe} to Třísov and then had a very nice 2km stroll through the woods to the Dívcí Kámen ruins {again 14th century, but nobody took care of the place}. Then a really nice 3km stroll along the Vlatava river to Holubov where we caught our train back to Cěské B. Tomorrow we're off to český Krumlov to tour some more old stuff. Then it looks like we're going to Vienna for the day{we've been twice so we're not sticking around} so that we can catch a train to Innsbruck, hopefully. The idea is to get to Lichtenstein. Why, cause we can, and it looks like the trains run that way.
Til next time
Just remember,
One day we too will have to return to the rat race. But for now, Nanananananana na
Me and Deb
I thought I finally figured out how to post pics but I'm having trouble with the czech language and keyboard. Maybe in Vienna

So where was I. Oh yea, skip Berlin. But if you do go make sure that you purchase the; tram u-bahn, etc., ticket. They´ve got tram Stasi that are pretty militant about having a ticket. (We saw them escort someone off the train on our first day).
Onto Dresden. We stayed at the very nice "Gausthof Hauber" which is about 20min´s outside the city by tram. The hostess, Alexandra, and one of her wait staff, Saskia, made the stay even nicer. Saskia studied english in school until recently, and Alexandra studied it some years ago. They were both very happy to have a chance to practice their English on us, and they managed to get a couple of laughs at (our expence) trying to teach us a little German.
We took the obligatory river cruise, (don´t bother unless you like river cruises) or are looking for a somewhat restful hour or so. The Pillnitz castle was another, here´s one location but there´s 4 museums and we´re going to charge you for each one.
Dresden is very nice and there´s a fair amount the see but, Meissen is even better. If your looking for a slow paced, truly medieval town with cobbled squares, little shops, and (at least at the restaurant that we ate in), wonderful food, and a big castle, this is the place. If you have extra luggage room, (fortunately we don´t) you can always get yourself a little Meissen porcelein too. I say little because the big pieces will cost you. Anyway, we´re off to Prague this morning. Why? Cause the train runs that way, and with the current state of the airlines I think we´re going to be riding the rails for awhile. So, it´ll be Prague for a couple of days and then we´ll work our way south, hopefully to switzerland to look for a train that´ll take us over the alps into Italy. Then italy for a while then, who knows, we found a 7 night Nile river cruise that looks interesting too.
So until the next time
TTFN

Ya hey der,

Well we´ve left Berlin and are now in Dresden. If you have a choice skip Berlin. Even if you don´t have a choice, skip Berlin. Now Dresden, on the other hand, very nice. We extended our stay to 5 days because there´s enough to see and do and, you don´t necessarilly get fed up with the food. Anyway keepin it short cause times money, still haven´t figured out how to post pic´s but one day..... til then
Take what ya get
Give nothing back
But
Be excellent to each other :-)

Ya hey der all,

Well we went from London to Linlithgow Scotland and stayed in a very nice little place where I got to eat Haggis a coupla times YUM YUM. Anyway Linlithgow proved handy for visiting Edinburgh (Don't go during the Festival unless you like crowds). Climbed the Scot monument, saw the castle, had a pint and a merry 'ol time. Linlithgow for youse not in the know was the birth place of Bloody Mary (Queen of Scots) although she didn't spend much time there. After a coupla days we wandered into Dunbar and stayed in a wonderful B&B that had a view of the coast from the balcony. Dunbar is the birthplace of John Muir and has a small museum dedicated to him which was kinda nice to see. Went onto Glasgow and got together with some tremendous folks that showed us around - Glasgow, Loch Lomond and the local curry joint for a real curry dinner that we understand our CA scot friend will be jealous of :-) We had planned on going to Dusseldorf, but due to unforeseen (I screwed up the travel plans) circumstances we ended up headin to Berlin instead. Ah well, that's what the trip is all about.
So, we went to the Topography of Terror, (the old SS headquaters building), Check-Point Charlie, the wall museum, and the Brandenberg Gate before it started to rain. Afterward we headed to the train station to find out about travel to.....Dresden - or at least that's the plan right now.
Til the next time, this is me and her tellin ya ta watch out for
"Sookin - up - goats" John Muir

Well hey ho,
Weel at this point I'm not sure when we'll be postin photos, the computer died. After draggin it a gazillion miles it just went spoot blap ping nada nada spaddink. So, here we be in an internet cafe in Edinburgh (that's in Scotland for all o you edumacated in the states). We're stayin in a little lodging in Linlithgow which is about a 20 min. train ride outside of town. We'll be moving to Dunbar tomorrow (8/04) because there's a big wedding in town this weekend and they've booked all of the rooms:-) There's about 40 taverns in town (just kidding, but there are alot).
Linlithgow is the birth place of Mary Queen of Scot's and the home of the Palace of Linlithgow, on a nice little loch. Wish you could see the pictures.
We've met up with some relatives of a friend of ours (Jill - we met with John, Rusty :-) and Ian, the boys were away working). Had a couple of pints some laphroig (ya gotta order a double to get a decent size shot), and had a very nice meet. Climbed (not all the way) the Scot Monument w/ John (seems I've developed a case of claustrophobia). Pretty cool. Picked on John alittle because he was supposed to go out sailing yesterday, but it seems that the winds were blowing hard (4-5 force) and he backed out.
I had the beef medallions with haggis at the Star and Garter which is where we're staying in Linlithgow( you can find the place online) which was excellent.
We're off to explore Edinburgh Castle and the surrounding area. So far we prefer being in Scotland than England, but then again all we saw was London. But the food alone is far superior in Scotland.
Deb's finally starting to feel better, but the cold lingers, the laphroig seems to help:-)
We'll write as we get the chance. I'm lookin at other alternatives for posting pictures. One day this'll happen, til then
Fair winds, calm seas, and cold beer
Me and her