Lessons Learned in Europe

1. Always have change to pay for bathrooms (pay to pee is all over Europe)
2. Always have comfortable shoes.
3. Europeans have not learned that smoking will kill them.  No such thing as a non-smoking section.  Even non-smoking hotels allow them to stand and smoke at the front door.
4. Bring you own washcloth, they are not provided in Europe.
5. Ask first if the person you are asking directions from speaks English... saves time.
6. Polish beer is the best.
7. Austrians do not know what a queue is and do not know how to load an airplane.
8. Older Europeans do not necessarily speak English, most young ones do.
9. Try to learn please and thank you in their language, for the best first impressions.
10. Most city transportation is easy to understand.  Even if you do not speak the language, just find the direction you wish to go and hop on.
11. Never miss a local European Bakery.
12. Get food (snacks ) and water in a supermarket, you will pay half the price.

view off the Trolly in Prague

Our last day in breautiful Prague. Best of Europe.

reflection while hiking down Petrin Hill

beer for our feet and view while enjoying beer

St. Vitus at the Castle in Prague

Terri at the Castle in Prague

The castle from the top of the Clock Tower

Sir Larry and Sir Terri in Prague

Dragon of Krakow

This Dragon's bones are found in the Wawel Castle and are believed to protect the city of Krakow, this is why the city was never bombed in WWII.  

Prague is the most photographical city in Europe

Downtown Old Warsaw on a layover between flights

Novotel Bronowice Krakow, Poland

Today's Flight to Warsaw

Todays flight to Warsaw....

The Polish army came to welcome us to Krakow!

Yes it was a grand welcome. We did not understand anything but our thought were goods. Parade followed by unaudible garble and high praise of some kind.
We must polish our polish.

Beer for our aching feet...

Auschwitz-Birkenau

The top is the rails in Birkenau and the bottom is the gate to Auschwitz, this was a sobering excursion, but and eye opener.  I am glad we did it.

Wawel Castle

This is the Church and the Castle where Pope John Paul II came from he was Polish and started here.  This castle even has a dragon lare and a legend

more Vienna, Austria NacheMarket

real dragon fruit at the Nache Market in Vienna

Larry getting ready to walk across the Danube

St Mary's church in Downtown Krakow, Poland

Larry's new girl friend, love the outfit.

The sun was making the best shadows last night in the downtown Krakow, Poland

Leaving Vienna today on way to Krakow Poland. Danka Austria!

Will fly intstead of long rail journey. DeHaviland Dash8 turboprop instead of 7 hr rail. Looking forward to Krakow and Poland. We are staying at at Novotel Hotel.

Weather in 70's thru to Poland. Lots of pics and some video.
Reflection from Parlament signage of Vienna.

Shoenbrunn Palace

Today we visited the Shoenbrunn Palace and took a tour of the inside apartments, saw where Mozart played when he was young, then toured the gardens.  It was beautiful.  Then went to the NacheMarket and saw lots of spices and wonderful fruits and vegetables.  I could not believe it.  Now on to see the Danube River

Portugal, Sintra and Cascias

Today was our first excursion and it may be our last, the bus we were on had 50 people on it and was
packed full, on top of that it had no air or very little.  It was 82 degrees today and slightly
uncomfortable.  Note to self, next time book a tour through another agent.  No more ship tours.
We went to Sintra thinking we were going to the Unesco site, well we did not, just the town, it
was crouded but nice, reminded me of Italy.  Second stop was Ciasis and a nice beach town. We
found a shady place and had a drink.  We got back to the ship with 30 minutes to share before
leaving.  Tomorrow is Cadiz, Espania...

pictures of Porto Delgado, Azores

Today we went to Porto Delgrado, Portugual  We really liked the town, mosiac sidewalks and streets
made the island very picturesque.  We stopped had a beer and enjoyed the beautiful 65 degree weather,
it was perfect.  Found free internet, but had trouble with the blog being in the wrong language.  We
will work on that tomorrow or when we reach Lisbon.  Uploaded some pictures from the ship to Facebook
which was in English.