Prague excursion

Why visit just one beautiful old European city when you can see two?  We spent two and a half days in Prague while my mom and aunt were here.  They were pretty blown away with the beauty of Prague.  It's a show-stopper, for sure.  Especially the dramatic way their castle is lit up at night.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures here -- my iPhone couldn't do it justice.  

This was my second time in Prague and I was just as impressed as before.  I also noted how much easier it is to tour around a city when you don't have a two-year old in tow!

Happy tourists in the tower atop the Old Town Hall

At the castle gate

In the Golden Lane, a little historic street inside the castle

Siroka street, in Prague's old town

Back in Krakow, heading to the bus stop with JR

Visit from Grammy and Aunt Sue

We had a great two weeks with JR's Grammy and Aunt Sue.  Tom's mom and her twin sister (it's obvious, right?) came to visit us as part of their birthday celebration.  It was a milestone birthday, but I won't tell you which one.  The last big one was 10 years ago when they celebrated their 50th birthday with a trip to Ireland. ;)

It was great having them here.  They saw a lot around Krakow and we even took a trip to Prague to see another beautiful central European capital -- only 5-7 hours away depending on where your GPS sends you!

Here are some pics!

At the Boleslawiec pottery store

Mom and Aunt Sue at Wawel Hill

Story time

At the Krakow Aviation Museum, with a Sopwith Camel

At the Krakow Zoo

At an undisclosed location

It's a circus!

The circus was in town a couple weeks ago.  And an old-school circus it was -- one tent, set up for the weekend in a vacant lot.. Popcorn and cotton candy to eat.  Camel rides during intermission..

It was here the same time last year and we said to ourselves, "maybe next year."  Now, at 2 1/2, this was the right time for JR to see his first circus.  He really liked it -- he was beaming as he sat in our laps and watched camels, tigers, horses, a clown, a tight-rope walker, and a trained porcupine!  Can't beat that!  JR was clearly enjoying the first half, but lost his focus a bit after intermission -- running up and down the ramp next to our seats became more interesting than the trained tigers.  Go figure.  But all in all it was good family fun.

Norway

Bergen, Norway

Looking out over the Sognefjord after hiking up 300m

Sunrise over the Sognefjord, Balestrand, Norway

Photo-op by the Flam railway train

A very fierce Viking

We found a couple cheap flights to and from Oslo, so we took a recommendation from our friends the Bushes and took a trip to the Norwegian fjords. We stayed in Oslo for a night and then took a very scenic train trip to Bergen -- a lovely little city on Norway's west coast where it rains all the time!

After two wet days in Bergen (it still was a nice city to visit), we took an express boat through the Sognefjord, Norway's longest and deepest fjord, to Balestrand, which has a couple hundred years' history as a retreat in the fjord. After that, another boat took us on to Flam, at the end of the fjord, where we stayed in a rustic farmhouse. The Flam railroad took us back up to Myrdal, where we joined the train from Bergen back to Oslo. Finally, Ryanair back to Krakow. Planes, trains, and automobiles!

Gdansk

On the Długi Targ, in the old city

Sailing boats at the Maritime Museum

JR likes to kiss ears.  The town hall is in the background.

On the Baltic

We visited Gdansk ("Danzig" auf Deutsch) for a couple days last week. We stayed with the Shores, an Olmsted couple in the class after me. Despite only having been in Gdansk for a month, they had already hosted three Olmsted scholars before us. Gdansk is a popular spot! And for good reason. It's a very pretty old city, and being on the Baltic it has the added dimension of having a harbor with a lot of character.

It also has an interesting history. A bit different from Krakow in that it was 90% German up until WWII. It also has a history as a free city, in the sense of being part of the Hanseatic League. For centuries it was a pretty rich and powerful sea port, so it had some autonomy to make up its own rules and govern itself. (That's my reader's digest version -- I'm no history professor.)

Olsztyn with Paweł and Ada

Our friends, Paweł and Ada

Getting friendly with Copernicus

At Malbork Castle, home of the famed Teutonic Knights

This gargoyle's crossing his legs because he's located 100m from the privy. Seriously.  I heard a tour guide say it.

We ate very well.  This was just a snack between meals.. (Note the US and EU flags -- nice touch by Ada's parents!)

After catching our breath for a week in Krakow, we took off with our friends Paweł and Ada to their hometown, Olsztyn, in northern Poland. It was a great trip because we got to see a side of Poland we wouldn't normally see. That is, we were fortunate to enjoy our friends' and their families' warm hospitality on this trip. We met Paweł and Ada's parents, were given tours of their city and the local sights, including Malbork castle and a farmstead museum in nearby Olsztynek, and were fed seemingly every time we turned around! And was JR ever loved on by Ada's parents! I think they're ready to be grandparents!

A few more pics from the trip

Here's a picture that I scanned from our trip to Lake Bled.

And a video of Jill and JR ringing the wishing bell in the chapel on the island in the middle of the lake.

The view traveling from Lake Bled to Salzburg

In Salzburg, with the old town and castle in the background