Europe Trip Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany Christmas

Dec 23 Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany

Today was a long travel day on the tour. We traveled through four different countries today. After we left Lucerne, we took a trip through the Swedish countryside to get to the main highway. That led us through the small country of Liechtenstein. It was not a big country at all, barely the size of New Hamshire. Oh, and be sure to know whether you went to Lichtenstein or Liechtenstein. One is a country whereas the other is a town in Germany, but it is a big difference and an insult to a local Liechtenstenian if you get it wrong. We are now in the habit of picking up a christmas ornament for every vacation or country that we have been to. So over the past 6 years of being married, we collect a few different ornaments a year to decorate our tree with. So, our collection is really going to get a boost because we will be bringing at least 11 different ornaments (from each country we visit on this amazing trip). So we picked up a christmas ornament from Liechtenstein, watched the kids ice skate using penguin shaped stabilizers, and took a tinkle in the public bathroom and it was back on the bus.     

Liechtenstein Castle and a welcome sign

 We were on our way to stop at Innsbruck, Austria for lunch and another stroll of the town. After a few hours we arrived at downtown Innsburck, and captured our attention. It was an amazingly charming town with a lot of the old style architecture from the early 16th and 17th centuries. Apparently because of the heat of the summers the merchants came up with an ingenious solution. Instead of having the local produce go bad, the local merchants built their stalls so that they were all recessed arches that would let air circulation help to preserve their goods. We went up a street that had lots of recessed stalls, decorated by fary tale characters, and some wonderful bay windows and saw the golden roof. This roof isn't gold anymore after a local king, Brandon the Penniless, decided that the roof should be adorned with copper instead of 18K gold and had it removed. We then went into the Swarovski Crystal store. This is the local outlet for the company and they had plenty of pieces on display. From a $45,000 pair of parrots to a foot high coiled dragon, some of the items on display were sparkling sculpture. We did end up buying a christmas ornament from the store that was a snowflake. We then walked around the christmas market and had some more gluhwein (or mulled wine), a pretzel and a local funnel cake like thing and then headed back to the bus. Yes, they were all delicious, especially the wine.  

Innsbruck shots showing the architexture and charm.  The bottom left is the roof that used to be gold.

     

Impressive examples from the Swarovski crystal store. Yes they are all crystal

       

Pretzels, mulled wine, fried cherry funnel cke thing,  but unfortately no kangaroos

 The remaining few hours were spent driving into Germany and then we had dinner at a local farm. It was an organic dairy farm and had the iconic nice big farmhouse, as well as the barn full of animals. They had a pig that had to be close to 500 pounds as well as a few donkeys, goats and lots of rabbits. The farmer told us about how the majority of the farms in the area were organic "hay milk" which means that they only feed their cows hay for the milk. The dinner was in a very cozy guest house seperate from the main house. It featured farm fresh cheese, fresh bread and literally meat and potatoes. It was a very typical german meal. Dessert was a special homemade tart that tasted like french toast with fruit preserve in it. The seating was tight, but the care and love in the food was evident.  It was nice that it was definately a local home and farm.  Yes, they bring tourists in but it was a no frills place and felt authentic.    

Homemade dinner on a german farm (the goat is still smiling because he wasn't on the menu) 

Dec 24- Salzburg and Vienna 

 We started the Christmas Eve day in Salzburg, Austria. Famous for Sound of Music, Christian Doppler and Mozart. It was ruled by prince archbishops so there are a lot of ornate old Churches and buildings, because you know they had to show off money. Poor Christian Doppler, who was a famous physicist who came up with the doppler effect is usually totally overshadowe by his better known Salzburgian, Mozart. Our walk actually started in Mirabell gardens, famous for scenes filmed in the sound of music. It probably would have been more beautiful if it wasn't frozen over but it still was very nice with the statues and long walled gardens. We also ran across a street performer playing the ever famous blue danube waltz. Cec and I couldn't resist a little impromptu waltz in the famous gardens. Sure we hammed it up but how many times do you get that opportunity?      

Top: Gardens that Sound of Music was filmed at. BL: Shoenbrunn Palace BR: selfie at vienna christmas markets 

 Salzburg is also known for music. Education is free, but the music school is very famous. most students are foreigners and get charged but it's highly competitive. Now the city may be all about music and tourism but in the old days it was all about the salt trade. Salzburg has the root sal, meaning salt. The salt mines were about 40 minutes away. The clergy/rich had huge homes and the poor did not. We also learned that some of the old homes built on the mountain are actually dug into the hillside aka the rock itself! The homes have to stay in the traditional style with low ceilings and stone arches. They only can clean with lime wash (not 100% sure what that is). We also found out they don't have a santa clause but a Christ child that comes at 5pm on Christ day! They do have a Nicolas that comes with candy but they also have Krumpus who comes for bad children! That seemed like santa to me but the guide made them different and specifically said they did not have santas. As we walked through the streets we learned about Mozart. I didn't know much about him before this. He was a child prodigy. He was taught by his father, which was unusual at the time. He was a musical genius but socially awkward. As a child he traveled the world and was pampered. When he came back to Salzburg he wasn't treated how he felt he should, he was pretty much an ADHD diva. He left his family and moved to Vienna. He made a ton of money being the first ever freelance musician and got married. For a while this worked, but somehow he lost it all and the aristocrats dropped him after his vulgar, rude and otherwise strange behavior was unacceptable to them (for example he made music making fun of the aristocrats,  probably not a good idea). He ended up dying poor but no one know how he lost his fortune or how he died. The markets smelled of spiced sausage and baked breads. The markets did cater to tourists (as the city makes its money on tourism and technology). We passed serval monasteries. We also passed some converted festival buildings. One, used in sound of music, was a former rock quarry that now is used for very expensive and fancy festivals (400 euros a ticket!) you may remember it from where the von trap family sung edelweiss in the sound of music. After the festival building we ended up in the impressive Benedictine monk monastery, St. Paul. It is still an active monastery and self sufficient . The monks make money through a very old restaurant they run and they sell their own brewed beer! We passed two more churches, one gothic and one Italian. The three churches are within minutes of each other. That was about it for our tour. After the tour we first went to the original place "Mozart Krugen" or "Mozart Balls" chocolate was created. It's pistachio marzipan ball, covered in nougat then covered in chocolate. They are very very delicious and I need to figure out how to make them. After picking those original Mozart balls up, we walked around the town. We visited the three churches, all of which were in different styles and very beautiful in their own way. We also, of course, and tried some local gingerbread and Frankfurt sausage. The sausage was seriously perfectly spiced and the mustard was so good I wish I had a bottle, the horseradish was freshly grated. We got too cold after about another hour of walking around (we had been outside for about 3 hours) and grabbed a burger and fries near where our tour met. From there it was back on he bus to Vienna! Oh, and as we were walking to the bus it hit noon and those cannons went off for about 3 minutes straight while the church bells rung for noon to announce Christmas Eve!  

Three different examples of architecture in churches in Vienna

     

TL: sweetheart bridge with locks M: Vienna castle on top of hill TR: Mozart Balls candy BL: ginger bread cookies BM: Mozarts adult home BR: Vienna streetview

Tasty Tasty frankfurter. Cecil and I cannot describe how good this was

   From there, we had a couple of hours to Vienna. It's where OPEC and the UN is. Our tour guide said it's a really friendly place. Like Germany they also are all about titles (lord, doctor etc). At first glance, it seems a bit more of a modern city than some, but we are staying on the outside of the city and we maybe are just in the newer area. I'll get back to you after tomorrow's city tour. We headed straight to the Hilton, which has been our nicest hotel so far. Roomy, good pillows and wifi with a nice couch for reading- perfect place to spend Christmas even and Christmas. After dinner we headed to the Auersburg Palace for a Venetian renaissance orchestra concert. We took the scenic route into the town which was nice to see the city all lit up. It was just a chamber orchestra with some dancing and an opera singer. Although it wasn't many people the show itself it was top notch. The music was mostly Mozart (fitting coming from Salzburg in the morning) and Johann Strauss. According to the intro the orchestra is all top notch, especially the violinists who routinely solo at prestigious venues. It was entertaining and held in a beautiful place. They rotated between just music, ballet with music and opera with music. It was a great way to spend New Year's Eve away from home.... although we are missing people both from the USA and New Zealand.  

T: Karen in front of fancy lions B: Chamber Orchestra at Auersburg Palace

Dec 25 Christmas in Vienna

 Happy Christmas! A 6am wake up call and we were on the way to breakfast which held an amazing surpise, raw honeycomb! We loaded the tour bus for our tour of the Schonbrunn Palace. On the way there we learned about the traditional Austrian Christmas Day meal of fish and ham as well as gluhwein and schnapps. Most people tend to celebrate and exchange gifts on the 24th. The 25th is known as Christ Day (no Christmas, no Santa Claus/ St. Nick) Locally, the 26th of December is known as Saint Steven Day, because he was the first martyr of the Roman Catholic Church. When to take down your ornaments and lights? Some people keep them up until St Barbary day in Feb 26th! The drive to the Shoenbrunn Palace took 20 minutes. On the way, between 2 highway exits we passed the common grave of 500 people, one of whom was Mozart (according to the guide in vienna.  In austria they said no one knew?). He did make a fortune during his life, but he ended up dying penniless for reasons unknown and succumbed to complications of rheumatic fever. When we arrived at Shoenbrunn Palace it was a sight to behold. Set back from the road about 1,000 feet was a large 3 story yellow building that spanned the length of 3 football fields. It had a main hall with two wings on either side that quietly imposed the heft of its 1,440 rooms. It was started in the mid 16th century and successively enlarged by each passing monarch or patriarch. Apparently it was bad luck to live in the same quarters as the previous emperor. So naturally it made sense to keep building the palace instead of disregarding an old wives tale. The name of the palace means "beautiful fountain" and was coined when a king was hunting, and came upon the grounds and there was a natural spring there. The palace was named after the fountain that was placed on the site of the spring. One of the most famous residents were the Habsburg Monarchy. They originated from Sweden and the name means "hawk castle". Maria Theresa was one of the most famous Habsburgs and had 16 children, 11 who survived to adulthood. It led to the saying that while most countries needed war to gain strength, Austria just needed children to marry into the foreing countries. Her husband and King, Franz Josef, was a decent and kind king who deemed himself the first "civil servant of the Austrian empire" He was a workaholic, and was a bit of a micromanager, he would often wake up at 4 am and would get ready and start his day by 5am. His personal quarters were pretty sparse as well, not what you would really expect from an emperor. He ended up ruling for 86 years. In the early 1800's they gained noteriety when a young Napolean Bonaparte wanted to gain some political capital and marry into the family. His marriage to his first wife, Josephine was dissolved and he married a young Marie Antoinette. The Habsburg family become important in world geopolitics again when the nephew of Franz Joseph was assasinated 100 years later. Franz Ferdinand was killed on a diplomatic mission, this led Austria to declare war on Yugoslavia. Because of international treaties, a unfortunate chain reaction occured and the world was plunged in world war I. The interior of the palace was beautiful. There were a lot of very ornate rooms with tapestries and painting and inlaid gold trim. One of the more unusual items was the main dining room. The table set up seemed to have two teacups set up. We found out that the "teacup" to the left of the plates was in fact a salt dish. Apparently it was a show of sheer wealth if you could afford to give every single guest thier own container of salt. Also whenever there was a big dinner, it was apparently custom to only speak to the people to the left and the right of you, it was forbidden to speak to the guests across the table. We were taken through multiple drawing rooms, bedrooms and sitting rooms. In one of the sitting rooms, there was a piano that Mozart had played when he was 6 years old. Then it was on to the main ballroom. It was quite large and could probably hold 350 people easily. It also had two huge chandeliers that held 70 candles and was wrapped in gold leaf. Apparently it was too dangerous during a social function to replace the candles if they burned out, so some parties came to an early close. Sometimes the servants put thin candles in the chandeliers if there were guests coming over that the king and queen weren't fond off, as well as thick and long cadles for good friends.  Because Maria Theresa was pregnant or recovering from pregnancy for close to 20 years, she was often too weak to entertain a court, so she had one built around her  bed.  A drawing room was converted into a accesory bedroom. the bed took up most of the room. It was close to 20x20 and about 40 feet high. Oh, and the red velvet that lined the bed and the canopy was entwined with silver and gold. This bed was by far bigger than my (cecil's) first studio apartment.  We did find out that it was also common to have a pet monkey in most aristocratic households. Why? Monkeys love to forage and groom and people often wore wigs back then. Whats the connection between monkeys and wigs? Well, because hygiene was so poor, the wigs would often get infested with lice and fleas and the only real way to get rid of them was to have someone (or some animal) pick them out! We also discovered that the fine ladies of the day who are often depicted carrying wooden sticks to itch their heads is a misconception. Those were actually lice killing sticks that the fine ladies would hit their own heads with to kill any wayward lice with (are you scratching your head yet?)
   

By far the most over the top room was the million guilder room. That was because this 40X40 room was used to entertain foreign dignataries when they first arrived. So naturally you wanted them to think that you were a big deal. So the royal family spent 1 million guilders (close to 30 million euros now) to decorate this one room to show how rich they were. I am having trouble describing how ornate this room is, but I think that if Donald Trump walked into this room even he would think it was too gawdy.   The Habsburgh family did end up moving out in 1919 after they were exiled. There were suprisingly a lot of tourists, and in the main courtyard there was close to 200 people, not to mention another christmas market that we walked through before we got back on the bus.  Not to many photos, as they were not allowed inside :-(                       

The tour concluded in the main area and we got on the bus for the city tour of Vienna. Over 50% of the city area is reserved for parks and public areas. Also, there are over 74,000 registered dogs in Vienna, which only has 300,000 people. One of the major landmarks that we passed was the Vienna Opera House. This is one of the major opera houses in the world and is a beacon for some of the best talent in the world. Every night there is a different performance, and it's not unusual for people to come and visit and watch a different show every night at the opera house. One of the major events in the city is the Vienna Opera Ball, over 2,000 VIP's show up and dace the night away. Average waiting time for an average joe is close to 5-6 years. Vienna is known for its gala/ball season as well, close to 460 balls are held throughout the city every year. The next step was to stop in the courtyard of the church of St. Stevens and the world famous Lippezaner Stallions. It was really amazing that you could just look into the courtyard of the stallions and see them 100 feet away eating, sleeping, but mainly hanging out. We then went by some landmarks like the Athena Palace that is the only greek building in the city. Then we zipped by the Cafe Landman, where a young Sigmund Frued would spend many afternoons watching people and was ultimately inspired to develop his theory of psychoananalysis. We also passed by the home of Johann Strauss, who wrote the Blue Danube Waltz. Although Mr. Straus was a great composer, he apparently had commitment issues, being married 3 times and engaged 17 times.  

  

We then went to an area that was designed by a very eclectic artist. He was known as the hundred color man and believed in very organic shapes and architecture. The buildings are definetely unique. it seems like a patchwork building has been stitched together in a jumble by an schizophrenic architect. Hundertwasser (the artist) apparently drove the first architect he worked with to a nervous breakdown and 6 months in a institution. Because Hundertwasser didn't believe in right angles because "nature doesn't beleive in them either" the floor to the appartments roll and pitch like waves frozen in place. This was apparently too much for the residents of the buildings who made them even. We continued our tour walking through the center of the city by a few of the cities major churches. We walked down hofburg square where there were very upscale shops and passed a small white church that happened to play Mozarts requiem just 5 days after he had died. The theory is that one of Mozart's students illicitly finished the piece and then played in the church days later . We also passed another beutifully decorated church that is part of Opus Dei (think Dan Brown, Inferno) we were able to go through the church without having to crack any major puzzles and took some pictures and continued down the square. We came acrosss an interesting piece of sculpure called the black plague column that was a dedication to the victims of the disease.  Throughout the square, Karen and I had noticed there was some pretty big chandeliers that had been hung up. our tour guide explained that Viennese often go to the local coffee houses for hours at a time, and that the local culture was to invite people into a coffee house like they would invite people to thier homes. 

We got time to walk around for a bit and had some more gluhwien and shared a big pretzel. Then it was back to the hotel for some down time (we worked out) and then it was off to dinner. 

This was a restaurant that has been around since 1843, and I don't think they have ever thrown anything out. The walls were lined with photos, and the shelves along the seating area were crammed with books and knick knacks. Karen had the weinerschnitzel and I had the emperors favorite meal of Pork knuckle with sauerkraut. While eating we had music from a keyboard, violinist and bagpipes. The bathrooms were something else.  The womens toilet had mostly nude guys and the mens was lined with girls!  Strange, quirky place.

Details from the visits to the very ornate churches.

UL-selfie outside the palace, URM- pictures inside and out of St. Stevens church, BL- ouside of schonbrunn palace, BR- the outside of the Hundertwasser building

Various pictures showing the town and some of the street food.  UL- fountain showing religion beating the black plague, UM- pretzels! UR- the church square, BL- famous cookies that we tried.  They were vanilla and like a pizelle flavor.  Eating them was suppoed to be liken to eating the turks (the crescent moon shape). BM- The cookie wunderhauuss from the outside, BL- Street view with the chandiliers.

T: Cecil trying a very strong appertitif (appetizer drink) M: name of restaurant that we had christmas dinner in B: accordian player that serenaded us throughout dinner

Dec 26  Zagreb, Croatia
 We had what I would call our "stereotypical" morning routine: 5am workout, pack, 6:30 put our luggage out for the porters and go to breakfast, be on the coach at 7:30. We left Austria and headed into Zagreb which is the capital of Croatia. We hit Zagreb around 1:30 and and picked up a local guide. It was a very exciting start as we almost were in a wreck when a car ran a red light and we almost hit the bus, just after we picked her up. Lucky, the rest of the trip was smooth. Croatia is famous for the coast. It has around 4 million people and over 1 million living in the capital. We started our tour in the "north town" area. It has a socialistic background. Most of the buildings were built in the 1900's. A lot of the buildings were run down as they were given to multiple families in the socialist era. Therefore, people only looked over their area not the whole building. Now, they are working to reconstruct the outsides, as the guide said "getting a facelift". The city had quite a few parks as we were driving though which was nice as well. There was a lot of graffiti, not for gangs but teenagers competing on who can tag the most places. Uptown had mid evil roots built around with modern buildings. There was also a great Christmas market. The central city church had a traditional tree with the gingerbread hearts. The hearts were traditionally made of gingerbread and were given as a sign of affection, often as if in an Engagement or for families. The church/cathedral square was important for trade. The church itself has been massively restored. It suffered from earthquakes and acid rain so a lot of it is redone in the original style. From there we walked through the closed markets (holidays, remember?). Apparently when it is open it is massive and one of her most visited attractions by locals and visitors alike. Then through the restaurant row, or at least that's what it felt like. People say outside and watched People, even with the cold weather. Apparently, according to the guide, it's packed on Fridays and Saturdays. People like to walk around to see and be seen. The guide said today it was quite tame. We continued up the "long hill" which used to be the longest street (at least the names make sense). We also stopped at a local store that sold cravats/ties. Apparently ties were invented by Croatian soldiers as part of their uniform. The French liked it and called it a cravatia and then that is also where the term Croatia originates. We also heard about the lady of the stone gate. She was a guardian of a painting of Mary and Jesus that apparently did not burn down in a bad fire (a miracle). The city was at war with their neighbors ( common back in the day), but everyone wanted to see it. She made a stone wall and protected the pairing. It's now a massive Croatian holiday where people dressed up and celebrated the miracle and her (local fame thing). What is crazy is this painting it is still on display and we walked right past it. Part holy epic part tourist attraction and part passage through the city. Then we saw the oldest pharmacy in the city (made in the 1400's). Apparently, the symbol of the black eagle was always on the pharmacy as people were illiterate and that symbol meant pharmacy. Saint marks church was pretty cool. It had many fires and earthquakes so it's been renovated many times including with the colorful mosaic roof. This area was also where their parliament is. There was a lot of governmental and country changes that I don't remember. What I do remember is that our guide told a story about her grandmother who was born before WWI and by the time she died she had lived in 7 countries and never left the capital Zargreb. We passed a unique museum called the museum of broken relationships. Basically it started when a couple got broken up and had an exhibition of items that only had meaning to those people before the relationships and they wrote stories about it. People added to it and were drawn in by the stories (the stuff is junk like running shoes, furniture or other trinkets). Apparently, it's extremely popular, I would have liked to see it. We only had about 30 minutes after our city tour to explore the markets. We picket up some kielbasa, which was spiced perfectly with tasty mustard! Great snack. We also found a heart ornament styled like the traditional ones on the Christmas tree outside the church. Not enough time… the story of the tour lol. Then came the annoying part. We had to get out of the coach and get our passports checked by Solvinia boarder control. That went normally. Then our poor driver had to go and prove his paperwork and driving record for the last 30 days and they were throughout. We pulled in a little before 5pm and got out just about 7pm. It felt like forever. People were getting nervous. I was just feeling run down and on the verge of sick. Cec was happy and watching his west wing. From there it was a dark and uninteresting ride to our hotel. We grabbed the included buffet dinner and went to bed. I (Karen) was feeling really run down and needed to sleep.  

TL: An amazing roof of a church in Zagreb TR and BL: the best kielbasa we have had

Views of Zagreb  TR: An engagment cookie that you can hang on your tree for 10 years

TL: graffiti in Zagreb TR and BR: blessed painting BL: the famous ties, BM- street view BL- the famous painting behind the cage that survided the fire

Dec 27: Lublijiana, Slovenia 

Today we got to tour the capitol of Slovenia after being able to sleep in. Lublijana is one of the smallest capital cities that we have been in. It has close to 150,000 people (the same size as Columbus). This was one of the counties that used to be part of Yugoslavia and is now seperated into 6 different countries after the war. The central city has the same feel as most of the other cities we have been in so far with the older buildings and sculptures. lublijana actually won the European Unions award for greenest city in 2010 and 2016. This was in large part to the fact that they banned cars from their central business district and really geared it towards pedestrians and bicyclists. They also tore up parking lots and made parks instead and planted 49,000 trees. Although the majority of people in Slovenia live in the countryside instead of the cities. We were dropped off by the main square of the city that had a 50 foot high Christmas tree in the middle. The people of the city wanted to name the tree Milania after the incoming First Lady, but were told they weren't allowed by the White House protocol office. We left the square and walked further down town. After the Austriahungarian war an architect was hired to build a big bridge into the man square. After looking at the surrounding small buildings and relatively small river, he decided instead to build three small bridges. The plan worked and the three small bridges blend in beautifully with the surrounding buildings. We continued down the cobbled street and came across a large market that had a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. This is a main market for the locals and you could see a wide variety of produce milks and flowers being sold. There was even a vending machine that you could buy cheese from, not a soda or a candy bar to be seen. There was also a scale that was sitting on the edge of the market. Apparently Slovenians are naturally cautious people and it is not uncommon to buy some produce and then go right to the scale to double check that you got what you paid for. We then turned onto another bridge that had some bronze sculptures of fish heads and cuts of meat. This was called butchers bridge and was where a few butchers would carve the meat on the bridge and then throw the waste bits into the river. Now the bridge is also adorned with thousands of locks with couples names on them and is called sweethearts bridge. We then walked to another bridge that was called the dragon bridge. The bridge is a few hundred years old and construction started after a bit of trickery from the Slovenian government. They were still part of the Austriahungarian empire and needs a bridge but were broke. So they decided to commemorate the bridge in honor of the 40 years of reign of the emperor at the time. So they got the money to build the bridge and helped the city grow. On either end of the bridge are 2 bronze dragons that are about 8 feet high and have a long serpentine tail wrapped around the stone base. Someone along the way started the story that it should be called the mother in law bridge because they are as fierce as dragons. Then the joke continued that the dragons were all female until the women of the city banded together and bought a sculpture of a much smaller male dragon with a collar around his neck, named him George, and hung him up in the entrance to Lubjinaia castle. Not many lady dragons jokes are told today.  

T: pictures of Lublijiana BL: us in front of the dragon bridge BR: perspective from Butchers Bridge    

Some of the amazing markets and architetecture of the city  BL: me (cecil) trying honey brandy

Local restaurant BL: Cecil's venison goulash in a bread bowl BR: front is Gibbonica back is nutella bannana cake

We passed a really nice catholice church. It had a very uniquie bronze door that was a scuplture of five of the previous Pope's on them. This was because the church was paying homage to the Vatican, as they were one of the first international organizations that supported Slovenia's claim of independance. Inside was a very ornate, gilded church that was very pretty. We then walked through another smaller square that the town hall sat in and across another bridge known as the bakers bridge. This is because at one point in the cities history, the bakers of the city became quite frugal and mixed in sawdust and other construction material into the dough. They were initially fined, and then strapped to the stocks in the middle of the city if they were found guilty again. The third time they tried to cut corners, they were placed inside a cage and then dunked off of Bakers Bridge and completely submerged 3 times. It was described as at least 1-2 minutes of submersion each time, so not just a carnival dunk. Nonetheless, the people of Lublijiana soon had the best bread of the country. We then had some free time and we got out of the cold and went to one of the local restaurants that had a special slovenian cake. It was called a Gibanica (pronounced Gibaneecha) and can best be described as the slovenian interpretation of a streudel. It had cream cheese and ricotta cheese in there as well, and really resembled a desert lasagna, but wasn't overtly sweet. Karen and I just had a few bites and continued on to the bannana nutella cake that we ordered. We also strolled along another christmas market, got an ornament and even had the chance to try some honey brandy, which instantly warmed you up.     We came back to the hotel for a quick rest and were onto the optional excursion to a local lake, Lake Bled. It is a place that is quite popular among the locals and the tourists as well. The word "bled" in slovenian translates to "pale" and refers to the fog that usually can be seen in the early hours of the morning. The lake and the surrounding grounds were a gift from the catholic church in order to appease the local aristocracy back in the 1800's. The day's good weather continued and we got to see a stunning castle that was built on a sheer cliff overlooking the entire lake, as well as Slovenia's only island that has just enough room for a church. We did get to disembark from the bus and take some pictures. We even found out about another famous desert, the cream cake. It was started around the Lake Bled region and became so popular that it now sells several million a year. We tried some and it was like a cream pie, pie crust on top with cream filling and a flaky bottom. We also tried some more mulled wine, except this time it was white wine, and it was some of the best we have had so far. We then went to dinner where we got to try some local wine and had some amazing sausage. It is a local specialty that is called Carniolan sausage and even won the favor or Emperor Franz Josef when he tried it. They presented to us as sausage, as well as sausage that was wrapped in a doughy wrap, like an amazing sausage wellington. Then it was time for a dinner of local food and then back to the hotel.

 Next stop... Italy and France!! 

Pictures from Lake Bled  MR: cream cake and mulled wine (gluhwein) 

More pictures from Lake Bled

Local restaurant and some of the amazing Carniolan Sausage

Europe Trip-Brussells, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Lucerne

Dec 18- Brussels  The day started really early as we had to have our suitcases out the door by 5:45. We got up, got dressed and met for breakfast at 6:30, eating fast as we were leaving at 6:50. We got deposited at the Pancras station for the Eurostar train (crosses the English Channel) to Brussels. The train ended up being late because there was a mechanical issue and we ended up on a replacement train. The ride was quick and comfortable and we got to Brussels around 1pm. After getting off the Eurostar we waited for the porters to bring our bags (which is super convenient) then headed for a quick tour around town. We drove down the upper town with churches museums and the monarchy's residence. The buildings were old style, although renovated. Lots of stone and masonry everywhere. We don't really have photos from the trip it was foggy and the bus was moving, makes it to hard to photograph well. A couple of notable tidbits we found interesting: all signs are in both Flemish and French. Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union.    

We walked through the town square built in 1847, which is called the Grand Place. There were several buildings like Town Hall, the Brussels City Museum, as well as the Belgian Brewers Museum that surrounded the square. Not only were the buildings very old, they were a mix of gothic and baroque architecture. The buildings are guilded in 18K gold! It even had a chirstmas market set up in it and had a 30 foot tall christmas tree set up inside the square as well. Then we got lunch at a local restaurant. To be honest, it wasn't very good. The steak was bland and the fries were normal. The waffle we got for dessert was about like a crappy hotel breakfast one. I (Karen) was not impressed.   There is a notable statue there urinating called Mannekin Pis. This is a small bronze statue of a 1 1/2 tall baby peeing into a fountain. Why was he urinating you may ask? One story says he drank too much and had to pee so did in a water fountain, the other is he had to per on a bomb to disarm it, which I thought was quite funny. Here was also a famous monument to a local hero that, according to lore, if you touch it brings luck. We walked back from our hotel to see the square at night. Because we started going back at four, and sunset is at 3:30, we were able to see the square lit up. The guild halls were beautifully illuminated and there was even a light show every 20 minutes. We walked around for a few more hours and even managed to find a few new coats at a store in a side market. They were selling everything from BB guns to rubix cubes. There were lots of shops selling Belgian chocolate as well as Belgian waffles as well. We did end up getting a nutella Belgian waffle and it was delicious! Dinner was at 7, and it was ok. We hit the sack early as we wanted to get up to work out and that means an early night in.          

Us in the Grand Place in front of the Town Hall

       

TL: Manneken Pis TR: sign for the Eurostar train BL: rubbing a local statue for good luck BR: nutella belgian waffle

       

TL: Really good belgian chocolate TR: local market  BL: a store with over 250 types of beer BR: Grand Place          

Dec 19- Amsterdam

We left Brussels early after a workout and petty good hotel breakfast. On the way out of Brussels, we saw the royal mansions and an old concentration camp (which is sad). The motor coach we are riding in is incredibly comfortable. It's a Mercedes and the foot room is excessive. There is an emergency toilet but they stop at least every two hours so it's more for peace of mind.

On the way to the Netherlands/Amsterdam we learned how lucky we were. It rains a LOT in the Netherlands and we ended up with a sunny blue day! We learned a good amount about the country as well. It was called Netherland from the word nadir which means low point. So it was called the "nadir lands" and eventually called the netherlands. A good part of the country is below the waterline, the only international airport is a good 10 feet below the waterline. They are also called the Dutch, as well as Holland. Apparently North Holland and South Holland are provinces in Netherlands. Amsterdam was quaint and clean and is a city of close to 1.5 million people. There are tons of bridges and canals (the river even has swans). Lots of bars (duh) and cafes everywhere. The buildings are actually leaning because the soil is sandy and they are shifting. The guide told us how liberal it is. Soft drugs, alcohol, red light districts all exist. There even is a clinic where you can commit suicide (after being seen by several doctors and a couple months). Apparently you have to pay ahead of time! Very liberal. Biking is the way to get around in Amsterdam, and bikes are everywhere!

Our first excursion was a canal sightseeing trip. We saw the famous leaning townhouses, called dancing, buildings. They lean because the city is built on reclaimed land and every house is built on pilings that is in the water instead of being built on rock. Several swans and dozens of bridges, boats, houseboats, artworks. We saw lots of old mansions that are now banks and consulates. Oh, and those houseboats, if they are legal they even have electricity and gas! We also saw some interesting architecture. for example, gable hooks. They are on these old narrow buildings because the stairs are so narrow things like furniture are moved in through the windows! We also saw small fences (basically curb stones), put down in the 60's to prevent cars driving into the water… they don't work, an average of 1 per week hits the water. There even was a tiny house only 1 meter wide and 3 stories high. Our guide said he happiest couple in Amsterdam lives there because he lives upstairs and she lives downstairs lol! They built houses like this because houses were taxed on their width, so the  narrower you could built your house, the less tax you would pay.  The harbor itself was much larger than I expected and apparently is the largest harbor in Europe. This makes sense to me, back in the past the money was in the trade and harbors. The central station is also large, over 100,000 people use it every day. The bike garage parking next to is was a shock! We had never seen a parking garage for bikes!

       

Lots of bikes in Amsterdam, BL: leaning buildings, BR: narrowest house in Amsterdam

       

Pictures from Canal Cruise T: christmas decorations on a houseboat L: narrow house with winch at the top to bring in furniture through the windows B and R: views from the canal Middle: our river cruise ship

From there we headed to Gladsons, which is a diamond cutters. The Cullininan Diamond, which is a mere 532 carats and is in the sceptre of the Queen of Englends was cut nearby. At the diamond center we got a crash course in diamond cutting, got to see a 50,000 euro blue brilliant diamond, and were tried to sell things. There were also Rolexes and other watches that ranged in price from $150 to $78,000 dollars. After not buying anything, we walked around downtown and got a set of paninis and a smoothie from a cafe. Let me tell you what the mozzarella cheese with pesto sandwich was simple but the cheese was sooooo good. We passed Rembrandt's house and also went through an underwhelming flea market. Then, back to the comfy coach.

After that we drove about 1/2 hour both to a small traditional town on the sea. On the way there we stopped at a small town along the lakes that had 1-3 million euro homes and a rare Protestant church. Fun facts we learned on this trip included that in Europe churches that are Protestant have a rooster on the weather vane while Roman Catholics have a cross. The rooster is meant to symbolize a family feel apparently. The term "Stinking rich" also was coined here. Why? The rich were buried there and after a time during those hot summer services they began to stink… i.e. The only people who could afford to be buried there and make the smell were very rich.

Tour of the village Top Row: view of church (left) and houses along the canal Bottom Row: Red pavers are for bicyles only, weathervane of church that shows a protestent rooster.

From there we went a few minutes down the road to monakendam. Like the other small town, it was built around a church. It continued the quaint architecture and a few cobblestone streets built around the waterways, lakes and dykes. We got to learn how cheese is made and how wooden shoes are made as well. The clog maker was particularly funny. The clogs were surprisingly comfortable, and we contemplated buying some but didn't. They had us try about 10 Gouda cheeses including truffle, natural and smoked. I'm not a cheese person, but they were good. They also had us tried spiced biscuits and a type of caramel waffle (those were amazing).

       

Cheese and Clog factory. The clogmaker started to carve a clog in front of us!   BR: cheese factory  TR: karen stretching out on the bus, so much room her feet doesn't reach the footrests.

After the clog factory we got to visit another small town this one much more touristy. They still had cobblestone streets, a windmill from the 1700s and an original dyke blocking a lake (which we walked on). It was still a pretty cute town. Apprently the dutch also have a thing about odoors. I didn't realize that the front door only gets used in a dutch household. Once whenever you get married and another time when you leave horizontally after you die. At the small village we were in every single door was different as well. This is to help those rowdy drunk sailors find the right house after some shore leave. Also, whenever we would buy things, we noticed that instead of periods, they would use commas. We stopped and had a coffee at a local cafe and walked back on a dyke that now makes up a large lake and back to the bus. From there we headed to the hotel to check in and a buffet dinner for dinner with our tour group.

       

Another small village town and picture of a traditional windmill

Dec 20- Heidelberg, Germany  We headed out of Amsterdam at 7:30 and headed to Heidelberg Germany. We found our driver has a strict rule set to follow. Every morning he had to scan his drivers license and the bus clocks how long he drives and how long and often he stops. Therefore we have to drive only so far and have certain stops. The bus also has a speed limit of 100km/hr (about 60mph) vs the other cars which do not have any speed limit on the autobahn. Around 10am we got to the western part of Germany, or as they call it Deutschland. Then back to the coach for more traveling.  On the bus, our guide taught us some important words (spelling may be off), gueten morrgan/ good morning, daken/ thank you and of course beer/beer to make it easy lol. We learned that they are very strict with titles as well, like calling someone professor John Doe vs just John Doe. Like Spanish, they also have masculine, feminine and neutral words that have to be adhered to. Like everywhere else we'd been so far, there is a Roman influence on the country and names. After the collapse of the Roman Empire was the Middle Ages followed by the renaissance (especially helped by the printing press). He stressed the different types of architecture we would see: Roman (oldest, round), gothic (higher and vertical with the often flying buttresses), renaissance (horizontal lines), baroque (ornate), rococo (super ornate), neoclassical (rebuilt), and modern style. The guide then went through some of the history. He pointed out how before WWI in 1914-1918 changed the statues quo. Before 1914 the monarchs were related and kept from warring with each other. After WWI the gloves were off. After WWII there was a Great Recession along with terrible inflation. That left a lot of angry, starving people and opened up a power vacuum for Hitler. He promised roads, work and a better life. He wrote the mien Kamp and that populism wave pulled him into the WWII story we hear. He reminded us of the Berlin Wall that separated the poor German controlled east Germany from the allies controlled west Germany. The wall was build to try to keep East Germans from fleeing to the prosperous west Germany. Around 11:30 we crossed the Rhine river to bon, which had been the capital for 40 years in the past. Here we started go see hills (aka former volcanoes), hops and grape growing. Amsterdam had been super flat with lots of water/canals). We stopped for lunch then continued on and got into our small town of oberwesel, which lies on the Rhine river, at around 2pm. The countryside reminded us both of Pennsylvanian mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, large hills and creeks. The houses were not familiar though. Each town also has an old, usually impressive and beautiful old church in the middle as well. Most were half timber houses (although some are found in PA we called them Dutch style but apparently it's very German) or very old stonework. We even saw our first castles! In fact we saw dozens of separate castle (11th-14th century). The third castle I thought was particularly notable was literally in the middle of the Rhine river and was a place tolls were collected from merchant ships. We ended up having a bit of a hiccup as our river cruise wasn't were it was supposed to be. Over an hour later and a lot of angry sounding guide phone calls, we boarded a large boat and headed down the Rhine river. The river went past many castles, homes and the train line. It cemented the "looks like PA" idea with the exceptions of the Med evil castles, grape fields and train lines. The boat ride was pleasant and filled with more cute gowns and castles.

All these are images of the catles and towns we went thtough.  Note the half timber houses on the upper right.  Also in the middle left is the castle built into the middle of the river.

  After that we went into hiedelberg and the Christmas markets. Due to the fiasco about the  delayed boat we only had about 45 minutes. We had some DELICIOUS mulled wine and walked around the tasty smelling stands and cute shops with handmade goods. The market was in the shadow of the hiedeberg castle, the most impressive castle so far, as well as the old church, found in most towns that we have been going through. It was bitter cold so the warm coach was a welcome site. Then, it was an ok dinner at the hotel (it was included or we would have eaten at the market) and a nice sleep.  

More castles and pictures of the area.  The middle shows out cruise ship.  The bottom left shows the heidleburg catle lit up at night.  The middle bottom and bottom right show the mulled win sellers and Karen enjoying some wine with the castle in the background

Dec 21- Black Forest, Germany and Lucerne, Switzerland We left Heidelberg at 7:30 am and started our drive to Switzerland. We wondered why there are two names for Germany, Deutschland and the better known Germany. Apparently it is because there was a patron saint, St Germaine, who was quite famous. People used to introduce themselves instead of where they were from, but who their patron saint was, so that is why Germaine became Germany. Another funny tidbit was the fact the German word for hospital, its Krankenhaus, because most people are cranky when they go to the hospital. We traveled for about 2 hours and then came to a shop in the Black Forest. They called it the black forest becase it is mostly fur and pine and so dense it is dark when you walk through it. We learned that whenever we saw women with big red balls on their heads, this was to symbolize cherries and was an indicator of good luck. The store we had stopped at had a large cuckoo clock the size of a billboards outside that actually played! The store was jammed full of cuckoo clocks of all shapes and sizes. They ranged in price from $10 to $5,000. Apparently you need to wind the clocks, and the more expensive the clock, the less you have to wind them. Upstairs is a little cafe, where we had a Black Forest cake! It was pretty good, but not as good as some of the cake we have had at home. It was basically a light choclate cake, stuffed with cherries and topped with a merangue. Now the cherries were the best part by far. If you could just take the cherries, warm them up, and put them on ice cream it would be out of the world good..... but in the cake it was OK. After about 20 minutes we took some more pictures and got back on the bus. As we passed through the small towns, we noticed that there weren't any broken down or dirty houses, every house had a nice clean front lawn and no visible dirt. I doubt the German people will stand for a broken down car on the front lawn. Many houses were also very, very large farm homes. They were built as familyn homes and multiple generations live there. Unfortunately, photography was hard as it was very foggy that day and we were driving. We made our way to Switzerland without incident. When we stopped to pay the toll at the German border, we had to pay per person on the coach multiplied by the miles we had driven. They do this instead of installing toll booths. Switzerland has been independent since 1245 and is one of the richest countries in Europe. They speak 4 languages, French, Swiss German, a dialect of Latin, and Italian. They are also one of the richest countries in Europe because of two reasons, they haven't had a major war in the past several hundred years, and because of their banking policies. Other than the recent years and the threat of terrorism, Swiss banks have always been a safe haven for people around the world. It could be yours for the low, low price of $100,000! Also everything is decided by referendum, i.e. People voting directly. It took close to 15 years for a new highway to get placed around Zurich because no one wanted the highway in their backyard. Also they are a bit paranoid about their military here and the goal is to have a well armed militia on the roads within hours. To that effect, farmers are given range rovers and soldiers often bring their guns and ammunition home with them on leave. We stopped before lunch at a local waterfall on the rhine river, and took some pictures. It of course, had a castle overlooking it and made for some very nice pictures.

UL- Picture of a home in the black forest, UM- Cec trying on a german hat, UR- Cec posing in front of the giant cookoo clock, BL- Karen showing off the black forest cake, BM- Adolf Herr working on the clocks (they were all handcarved), BR- Our typical view of the forest (prety but foggy), Middle- The rhine falls in switzerland We then drove another hour to get to Lucerne, Switzerland. There we saw an amazing piece of sculpture. It was a lion that had been impaled by a spear but was still lying over a 2 shields, each shield had a coat of arms from Fance and from Switzerland. The sculpture was from the 1880's but had amazingly realistic facial features, you could almost feel the pain of the poor beast. This sculpture wasn't small either, it was the size of 2 billboards. It represented the sacraficies of servicemen. After that we walked down to the shopping area and saw some amazing swiss watch stores, as well as bars and some incredible looking swiss chocolate shops. We walked to the hotel via a very old bridge. It was originally built in the late 1300's but then had two pretty bad fires. The bridge was a covered wooden bridge and did resemble the bridge from Harry Potter. We got checked in to the hotel and went straight back out again to explore more of the town. By this time, because the sun had already set, the amazing lights were fully lit up across the bridges, it was an amazing sight.

UL- An old fountain lit up for christmas, UM- The covered wooden bridge, UR- A view across lake lucerne, ML- us posing in front of the bridge, MR- the lion carving, BL- A three story EXPENSIVE watch store all lit up for christmas, BM- Cec was so happy he look and was a kid in a candy store, BL- More cobblestone streets decorated for christmas

Dec 22, Lucerne We left from our hotel to Mount Pilatus. It is on the south end of the Alps and about 7000 feet high. We had to ride two gondolas to get to the top. The first gondola was a pretty standard 4 person gondola that most people have ridden before. The second gondola could easily hold 20-30 people and only had a about half a mile of track, of course, this was also the steepest part of the track as well. The mountain has a long history of having dragons, finding dragon bones and people being rescued by dragons. It was a massive height. We even went through the fog line. We walked to the 360 viewpoint and got some great photos. It was like there was a large cotton blanket on the bottom of the hills, and we suddenly burst through the dull and dreary grayness to the incredible warmth and sunshine above. It was most like being in a plane and looking down at the cloud cover when you are at altitude, it was an amazing sight and one of my (Cecil's) favorite excursions in Europe so far. From there it was pretty much a nice ride down and back to the hotel.  

Top of Mount Pilatus, to the right you can see the restaurant and tourist center, to the left, the incredible view

 

TL: gondala ride up Mount Pilatus TR: some wooden fences protecting Karen from a 300 foot fall M: us at the top B: view from the top 

    We had a short break to drop some people off at the hotel who were not doing the afternoon cheese farm and horse carriage. Cec and I ate the rest of our Belgian chocolate and a protein bar for lunch. The monastery we saw was over 1200 years old and still used by Benedict monks. The afternoon started out with a ride in the bus up into some very beautiful country. Mountain peaks shot up into the sky and we took some incredible hairpin turns up into a valley that was above the cloudline.   We got to go on a horse ride with an incredibly warm wool blanket over our laps and about 10 of our fellow tour friends on the ride with us. We saw different types of buildings and architecture in the swiss town, and even got to see paragliders swirling around up by the mountain top. The horse ride took close to half an hour and then we got to go into the barn and enjoy some local swedish food. The farmers wife had made tradtional cheese bread, as well as an apple tart and some other goodies. there were also these little metal plates set up over some tea lights on each table with some cheese in the middle. We placed the cheese on the little tray and then when it became warm and started to bubble up, we scraped it off the metal plate and onto a piece of bread and it was delicious. We also got to go through the barn and look at the cows, you can see Karen being attacked and eaten by a vicious calf below (Karen was terrified). Then it was time to get back on the bus and head back to town. We went to the grocery store and picked up dinner, then Karen and I did buy a pair of swiss made watches in Lucerne.

View from the horse and buggy ride

   

TL: Karen getting mauled by the baby cow (not really, it didn't have any teeth) TR: cheese and hot plate in barn BL: melted cheese and bread, perfect meal BR: cold day, but there was some wildberry tea (with Schnapps in it!) 

 

London for 4 days

Day 1/ Dec 14- Winsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath

The flight was awesome from Shanghai to Frankfurt! We were on an airbus A380 (big plane) that was only 1/3 full! Cec and I split up and he stayed in the upstairs two seats we had prebooked and I went downstairs (yes there were stairs) and took a three seater row for myself. We played on our iPads, worked on the blog and watched movies. I slept, Cec didn't. It was great being able to stretch out. The toilets were easy to wait for too and the service went fast. It was great! Several movies later, we landed in Frankfurt. From there it was a long walk to the short flight to London. Thank goodness they had a gate greeter to help you find where you needed to go because there were several different shuttles and concourses. We made our flight with minutes to spare and got to the U.K. From there we cleared security, got a SIM card, exchanged money and then got tickets for the fast train. It was somewhat expensive but cheaper than a taxi and much faster than the underground. We grabbed opal cards and a quick trip down the tube and we popped out at the hotel. We checked in, showered, ordered a chicken dish to split (we were fed on the plane but both were hungry) then crashed hard about midnight.

The next morning we woke up earlier than our 6:30 alarm (neither of us has a good reason), did a quick tabata workout and then went and got breakfast at the giant breakfast buffet. Strangely we still had eggs and salad but were happy to see some cereal and yogurt for once too! Then, quick change and we got picked up to our big inclusive tour. The first stop was to Windsor Castle. The queen wasn't in but it was decorated for Christmas. There were wreaths, trees and garland all over. We spent most of the hour and a half we had at St George's chapel. The audio guide had lots of commentary. The gothic architectural along with the multiple caskets and the knights plaques gave it a very mid evil feel, like "game of thrones" Cecil said. Then we did a quick tour through the state rooms and the grand rooms full of China, paintings, weapons and furniture. Since this is a highlight tour we didn't spend enough time to get into many details. We caught the end of the changing of the guard and then a quick restroom break and we were back on the tour.

T- selfie from Windsor gate, bottom- buildings including the church and state rooms

From there we made our way the 1 1/2 hours to Stonehenge. It's in Wiltshire, England and is basically the only thing there. It's thought to be build between 2000-3000BC (5,000 years old and older than the pyramids). There are tons of stone circles but this ones have the caps/tops/lentils on them. They are brought together by ball and socket or tongue and groove connections. That and they are huge, heavy, granite-like stones. We had a great day for the trip. Sunny and not to cold. We each had a guide which used infrared scanning of a laminated map to get information. There was just enough time to see the stones, grab a sandwich and get on the bus. Two people ended up left behind (they were late and we were warned to be on time or they would leave). I felt bad for them but they need to be on time!

Pics from Stonehenge, no real explanation needed

The next, and last, stop was Bath. The town was built up around canals and the only natural hot springs in Europe. There are a ton of stories of famous people visiting, being healed and living (like Jane Austin) in the area. I was surprised at how large the town was. I expected a small town with a couple side streets. Instead we found a metro area with beautiful buildings and modern sensibility. The whole city is a world heritage site! We pretty much only had time for the museum. It was the original Roman bath complex. First off, the baths are much larger than expected. There is the main bathing area that most people think of plus several other baths (that would have been different temperatures), temple areas and other heated areas. They also are only a fraction of how large they were in early times. The romans believed a goddess watched over the baths and they were good for healing and vitality. The baths were so popular, the town was prosperous. There were many displays of art, sculptures, and other relics. I thought it was cool how they found curses. Romans would ask the goddess firstly to punish those who wronged them and they found actual preserved curses! Near the end of the baths was an area where you could feel and taste the water. It was nasty, very sulfurous (no surprise) and warm. Still, pretty cool. We had a couple of minutes so we grabbed some protein bars and went to the bus (as we really didn't want to get left behind). The only real negative was the three and a half hour drive back and they had no bathroom stops! Not cool tour company, not cool. 

 

The roman baths from above and below

     

TL- A model showing how large the baths were at the largest, TR- the bridge at night, very pretty and B- cec and I overlooking the baths

Day 2/ Dec 15- Harry Potter World & Star Wars 

 Today was another early start to Harry Potter world, but mainly because we didn't want to be late. We decided to do a quick 10 minute workout this morning and then showered and got to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. We got dressed quicklly and started our trek on the London Underground. After about an hour of riding in both the underground (subway) and the overground (train) we made it to Watford Junction, where we booked a shuttle bus to take us to the studio. We had booked 10am tickets and picked up our digital audio guides as well. We were first ushered into a movie room, and then we finally got to go in and explore the Great Hall. This was part of the original set, and was even decorated for Christmas. There were example of the different houses, and costumes from the main characters. Then after about 10 minutes, it was time to go and move on to the next area. Although the tour is designed to be one way, the next areas gave us plenty of time to mill around and see different areas of the castle, from the potions classroom, to Dumbledore's Office. We got an behind the scenes look at some of the props as well as the many different areas of movie magic, like music, casting, and costume design. We even got to fly a broomstick! One of my (Cecil) favorite areas was seeing the Ministry of Magic. Then we got to go to the cafe and grabbed some lunch, and of course, a butterbeer. Comparing this one to the one in Orlando was apples and oranges, the British version was nowhere as sweet, but still tasted good. I thought it was going to be the exact same, but I guess that just shows how different American and Britsh tastes are. Then it was on so some large scal models of Privet Drive as well as the Hogwarts Bridge and the Enchanted Car and then on to the animatronics section. We got to see how complicated the Hippogriff was and their was even one their that you had to bow to. Then it was off to a life size version of Diagon Alley, there were all sorts of detail in the dizzyingly realistic model, everything from sale signs in the window to notices at the bank. Then, finally it was an amazing model of the Hogwarts Castle, this was an amazing feat of model making and took 41 days to put together. It was used for integration into the computer graphics, and also to give the directors the scale of the castle. It took up most of the 200 square foot room, and had the footprint of many houses!

We love some Harry Potter!!

 

(R) we got to dress up a bit and even pretend to fly a broom. This photo we found so funny we had to buy it! (Ur) Cec hamming it up with the fake fire (lR) us losing in format of the model of hog warts. That thing was truly detailed and used in filming for scale shots

Then it was back to the hotel to take a little rest for our next stop. We decided to go and mail the assortment of souvenirs that we had collected in China. Luckily there was a post office 2 doors down from the hotel so we were able to mail our packages without too much difficulty. Then we had to get haircuts, because it had been 1 1/2 months for both us with traveling so much. After that we decided to head down to Leicester Square early because we didn't want to be late for our tickets for Star Wars: Rogue One. After getting out of the underground and trying to find a restaurant, there was an area that was fenced off and a lot of commotion on the other side. We looked up, and it was none other than Will Smith! Apparently he had a premier in London and was just down the street giving his routine. We then found some steak and chicken at had a good meal. We still had time before the movie so we noticed that there were some lights and festive decoration up in Leicester Square so we went and milled around the shops and holiday displays. We didn't buy anything, but there was this one booth that was selling stuffed animals that had rice filling in them so that you could warm them up in the microwave and they would stay warm. Then it was finally time to go and see the new Star Wars: Rogue One. As we made our way to the line outside, there were about 6 stormtroopers who were dancing to hip hop music. It was a group called Boogie Storm and they were awesome! Then we finally got to take our preselected seats, and there was a man playing a electric organ down in front of the main screen. He played traditional christmas music as well as some Star Wars music as well. Then the movie started. I (Cecil) thought it was absolutely terrible and I fell asleep at least twice because it was so bad. Karen liked it a bit more but we both thought that the movie fell flat of what it could be. Then it was back on the underground back to the hotel for the end of another great day in London.

(Ur) walking to the theater we got an unexpected surprise as will smith and his family were there unveiling his new movies (ur)

Day 3/ Dec 16- Tower of London, Rosetta Stone, Globe theater 

We got up late as Star Wars put us in bed at the crack of dawn. We basically got breakfast and headed down to the Tower of London. Now, when you hear Tower of London think fortress of London. It's a walled city with several towers. Most notably, the white tower build by William the Conquerer in the middle. There is a lot of history in the tower. This includes the probable murders of two princes for the crown, imprisonment of captives (even some Nazis), training and military arms, armories and treasure storages, and daily life, like games, tapestries and toys. One of the most interesting tidbits was about the menagerie of animals kept there until the 1800's. Lions, polar bears, monkeys and snakes are all examples. Apparently it was quite an attraction back in the day. They even put a rope on the polar bear and let it swim in the Themes River! The tower audio tour tried to provide a picture of what it was like to live and work there from the earliest days (where it was built as a fortress right next to the Roman wall!) to the world wars with soldier training and espionage. The tower is also the site of the Crown Jewels. Let me tell you, the Cullenen I diamond is 352 carats and looks impossibly large (it's the diamond on the Staff used in the coronation ceremony). They also have ravens on site kept by people who actually live in the tower called beefeaters (all ex military). The ravens are part of a superstition stating that if they ever leave the tower Britain will crumble and London will fall. Needless to say now they keep 8, just to be sure. It took us most of the day, including a break for a Christmas turkey lunch (first one in over a year because NZ doesn't do turkey).

We managed to find gold at the Crown Jewels (ok...gold coins, but close) Bottom is us at Tower Bridge (No, not London Bridge)

T: changing of the guard B: different view of White Tower and some really old guns in the armory

 

After the tower, we headed to the British museum for one purpose- the Rosetta Stone. We didn't have very long but we wanted to see it very much. Luckily, the museums are free so we went in, quickly saw the stone and some Assyrian works and headed out. We didn't have much time and we needed to drop our bags off and get dinner before our show.

 

L: Karen found the Rosetta Stone (she is now fluent in 5 languages) RU: Assyrian Statue RL:  hieroglyphics

We made our way on the tube from the hotel to the riverfront and Shakespeare's Globe theater. We ate dinner at the in site restaurant and had some delicious fish and pork belly with rice pudding. The show was called All the Angels, more on that shortly. The theater was tiny! Perhaps around 100 people total in attendance. The tiny band/orchestra was on the third tier above the stage. The stage had real candles as lifting including four candle chandeliers. There were giant doors for entrances as well as a trap door. The acoustics were incredible, none of the actors used microphones and they were not needed. The performance was different. It was done in that old English style and the actors were very difficult to understand. The accents were super thick and the style of speech was not what we were used to. They had singers in the performance (which were super impressive) but the play itself we didn't follow. The actors weren't the problem it was the language. The londoners were laughing and we were not sure why. Cecil was literally falling asleep in his seat, which was impressive because it didn't have a back! At intermission, which was around 9pm, we talked and decided to head back. It was going to take us a good hour and were confused and tired. We were glad to experience the theater but happy with our decision to leave.

Our seats in the Globe Theater

Day 4/ Dec 17- London City, Phantom of the Opera, London Eye 

The morning started earlier than we wanted. We keep waking up at like 5AM (uggg). Changing time zones really sucks sometimes. We did a workout, ate and then officially started day 1 of our 30 day tour through Europe. We got on a fancy bus with around 30 others and headed off touring. We drove all throughout the new and old parts of London. We stopped at St Paul's Cathedral, but they were having services so we could not go in. However, we learned that st Paul's was the tallest building in London through the bombings and a real symbol. Apparently, during the bombing it was such an important symbol people were stationed to help throw sand on incendiary phosphorus bombs that landed on the roof. At most, in one day, 29 bombs were rendered inert. Through luck or the divine a 20 ton bomb didn't go off when dropped in front. People saw it as a beacon of hope and felt as long as the cathedral dome stands so did London. Anyway, commentary like that from our guide made the flurry of information interesting.

LU: Big Ben RU: English Parliment Building BL: St. Paul's  M: Buckingham Palace BR: Changing of the guard

After watching the changing of the guard, we walked to Westminster Abbey and toured the cathedral. No photos are allowed, which is a shame. The main chapel is massive and majestic and the size chapels (aka tons of burial chambers) are interesting. You get to see everyone from Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, several queens and kings, Tennyson and Lewis Carroll. After that expedition we looked at Big Ben and parliament now that the fog was better then headed to the theater district to pick up our tickets and some lunch.

T: Yes, that is Martin Luther King Jr. at Westminister Abbey M: Carving on the outside of the church 

What tickets you ask? Well for Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's theatre. Again, no photos allowed from this one. Once we had our tickets we walked up the road to a Lebanese place and split a roast chicken and some halumi. Needless to say it was delicious. As far as the show goes, was a pretty good show, although we were in nosebleed seats as we bought tickets the day before. Afterward we walked back up to the Underground station at Picadilly Square, there was one guy whose name was Jack Union dressed in a flag suit and had all kinds of gizmos trying to attract people into the souvenir store. Picadilly Square was a great mass of people browsing, shopping, eating, and just enjoying themselves.

Got the right ticket! 

After the show we headed to the London eye. We had prebought fast track tickets so we picked those up and headed for our night view. Made for a pretty viewing albeit harder to photograph. It took about a 1/2 hour to go around after about 20 minutes of waiting. If hate to think how long the normal tickets would have taken! From there we headed back to the hotel, the bus leaves at 7 AM sharp and our luggage had to be out at 5:45AM.

L I met up with a mildly patriotic Londoner who said his name was Jack Union TR: Little Cecil and Mini Karen in front of Big Ben BR: at the London Eye