Terrific to hear from you again!

Personally, I was very put-off by the whole Vatican experience. Fortunately, I had read "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" - I enjoyed the book much more than the real thing! Next time I will definitely sign up for a private tour. Whatever it costs would be worth it, IMO.

Thanks for continuing your trip report.
Linda

Good to hear from you again!

Day 73 – Flight to Prague

Today we say goodbye to the grandparents and to Rome. We meet for one last breakfast together. We are sad to see this time together come to an end. It is so rare that we are all together, as we live in New Jersey, New York and Florida. DFIL stands next to the breakfast room, looking through his luggage for his money and credit card. After much searching, it turns out to be in DMIL’s purse. Relief.

DMLIL tells us that Rome is not the least bit as he expected. He was prepared to see a city and he felt that once you’ve seen a few cities, you’ve seen them all. Instead, he was amazed to see the juxtaposition of old and new. The history to be seen all over the city is just incredible. He loved Tuscany for its quiet, relaxing atmosphere. Then, he appreciated Rome for its uniqueness and history. I am so glad he has enjoyed the trip, since he is a reluctant traveler. I think DM has enjoyed seeing Tuscany and Rome with him too. I am happy for them.

We have booked a ride to the airport with www.romashuttle.com. The price for 4 people is 40 euros. This is much better than the price quoted by the hotel (75 euros). The van for the grandparents comes promptly at 10 am. We have a second van coming at noon for DH, DS1, DS2 and me. At 10 am, we stand outside hugging and waving, hugging and waving, and then waving some more. Even the van driver catches the spirit and starts waving and waving to us.

After the van departs, we go back to our room to finish packing. Soon, our van arrives and we are momentarily surprised to see two other people in it. Then I remember that we have actually booked a shuttle for 40 euros. From our hotel, we go straight to the airport. On the drive, DH and I discuss what we are going to do when we get home. This is the first time on the trip that I have thought much about my life post-trip. Now, our thoughts begin to turn toward home, since we only have a few more days of traveling ahead of us. I think maybe I am having a mid-life crisis, because I am thinking of grand projects to undertake. Grand projects that will cost very little money.

We are flying on SKYEUROPE to Prague today. We wait for about an hour in the check-in line. There are a lot of people in line wearing royal blue sweatshirts that say, “Dragon boat championships – Praha 2006”. I figure that Praha means Prague. But, what are dragon boats? Some sort of rowing, I guess.

The flight starts out fine. I am very pleased with myself, because this 1 and ¾ hour flight has cost 102 euros for all 4 of us. About $30 each! The plane is a new 737. It is comfortable, with enough leg room. There is a slight problem when the man in front of me reclines his seat. It seems to be directly in my face, so I have to recline my seat too. But, we’ve experienced this on a few of our flights. You always feel this way, but on some planes it seems to be a little worse than others.

As we begin to make our descent, DS2 tells me that we are flying through the clouds. I am just starting to wake up from a nap, so I am drowsy. Suddenly, there is a very loud noise - BANG - like an explosion, and a bright burst of light. Everyone gasps. Were we just hit by lightning? What will happen now?

I look immediately look for the two flight attendants, to see if they are worried. They are scurrying to their jump seats, which face us. When they turn around to sit down, they are laughing nervously. We all wait to see what will happen next. The flight attendants, conscious of people watching them, laugh and start talking between themselves. They seem on alert, but not particularly worried. So, I relax (a little). When we land a short time later, most people on the plane, including me, clap wildly and loudly. The pilot makes an announcement that we were indeed hit by lightning, but the plane is very well equipped to handle this event and it is not something to be worried about. Well, now you tell us!

The Prague airport is not crowded. It seems to be very modern and fairly small. As we pick up our baggage, we notice that DH’s suitcase is missing the lock, but we don’t think too much about it. Later, he finds out that his stuff has been gone through and a computer game and mouse are missing. We think that it must have happened in Rome, since the luggage came out immediately onto the beltway in Prague.

After picking up our baggage, we go in search of an ATM. We need Czech money, not euros. The airport map shows the ATM machines to be upstairs, on the departure level. So, we go upstairs and ask at the information booth. She sends us downstairs, where we ask at that information booth. The ATM machines are indeed downstairs, at the end of the building, past the taxi stands.

Then we go to the AAA taxi stand to inquire about a taxi into town. We have been told to take AAA taxis and no others. The woman at the booth tells us the approximate fare will be 550 CZK and to get a taxi from the line directly outside.

On the ride into town, the sky is dark and foreboding. Suddenly, we notice a rainbow. The driver speaks a little English and tells us to look, there is a second rainbow next to it. The colors are brilliant and amazing. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. We can see them all. Then, to our amazement, we see that one of the rainbows stretches across the entire sky. We can see the entire rainbow, even both ends as they curve over the horizon! For about 15 minutes, I can just ooh and aah. It is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen! DS1 and DS2 laugh at me, but I still can’t stop ooh’ing and aah’ing.

We have rented an apartment in Prague directly from the owners at www.vrbo.com. The owners meet us at the apartment and quickly show us around. They are on their way to their summer home. The apartment is in a good location, near the metro and 3-4 stops from the central tourist area. The apartment is 2 bedrooms, with 1 bathroom, washer and dryer, eat-in kitchen, living room and dining area. This apartment is one of my favorites. The inside of the building is plain and slightly industrial looking. In the apartment, the layout is very linear, but the rooms are spacious, it is very clean, the décor is pleasing in a minimalist Scandinavian style, there are tons of closets and storage space, and everything in it seems new or very well maintained. It is stocked with everything. My only minor complaint would be that the towels have stains on them, although they are clean. This is also our least expensive rental, at 100 euros per night.

For dinner, we walk a couple of blocks to a neighborhood pub-like place that the owner has recommended. It is owned by one of his friends and he says he just had dinner there the previous night. We love the restaurant. It is VINARNA U PALECKA (www.vinarny.cz), the street address is Nitranska 22 and it is in Prague 3 – Vinohrady, near a metro stop. The servers are friendly and they seem to speak a tiny bit of English. There is an English menu, so it is easy to order. Lots of people are smoking though. The atmosphere is charming and very pub-like. I think we are the only tourists here.

The food is delicious. We haven’t eaten since breakfast, so we order tons and tons of food and the bill comes to 1,328 CZK (Kc) including tip, about $60. They bring us a basket of brown bread and bread sticks covered in salt and caraway seeds. While we are spreading the butter with chives on our bread, we realize it is probably sour cream with chives, intended for the potato pancakes. It is delicious on the bread, anyway. For appetizers we have: sweet marinated brie cheese with onions, 2 orders of fried chicken wings, palecka toast which is similar to barbecued beef on toast, potato pancakes with sour cream and chives, noodle soup in chicken broth. For dinner we have: potato pancake crepes filled with spicy beef stir fry; meat cooked with peppers, onions and chili sauce; and a delicious sirloin steak covered with pepper and herb butter.

After dinner, we walk back to the apartment and watch a DVD that I bought in Rome – ‘Cast Away’ with Tom Hanks. Then we all head to bed, where we have strange dreams about returning home. All summer, my dreams have been peaceful ones. But, the last few days, some of our dreams have gotten more filled with conflict. DH dreams that they are interrogating terrorists down the hall at work and he is disturbed that no one seems concerned and indeed one of his colleagues says he may have accidentally left the door open and let them out into the kindergarten classroom (!?) that also happens to be down the hall. DS1 dreams that he is in a strange city and is looking for his school and he just keeps walking around and around, looking for it, but he can’t find it. I guess we are all mentally preparing for our return home.

Travelgirl -
How wonderful that you were able to have this special time with both sets of grandparents! I love the image of you all waving back and forth and the taxi driver joining in.

It must indeed have been an odd feeling for such a long adventure to finally be drawing to a close. Are you going to share your grand projects that won't cost very much money? Just nosy . . .

Linda

Travelgirl... i know that you are home by now.. but reading your trip report, i am starting to get sad for your going home. It has been so fun traveling around the world with you! You have made so many great memories with your family. what a blessing to be thankful for. thank you again for taking us with you.. Prague was already on my short-list.. but your description of your first dinner there.. MMMMMMM.. sounds SO yummy. i just gotta go now!

Yes, I'll share more about future projects later...

Oh dear, I just clicked onto the restaurant website and it isn't in English, so I don't know what it says. The website was listed on the restaurant's business card...

travel_chef1 - We didn't get to Panzano. Now, it's a good excuse to go back.

cafegoddess - We ordered 3 phones from www.telestial.com with international SIM cards. I did it at the last minute, so couldn't really research very thoroughly. Calls were expensive, but the advantage was that we had the same phone number for the entire trip, no matter what country we were in.

We didn't use it a lot, except in Spain, where I text messaged the kids at camp a lot. Telestial's customer support was sometimes good and sometimes less than helpful. Sometimes they were closed and I left a message, but they didn't get back to me. I had to pay something like 80 cents or $1 per minute to call customer support and be on hold for a while when they researched my question. The 'technical' department never got back to me either.

One of the 3 phones we got was never able to send text messages and I'm still not sure why.

When making calls, you had to call the number and then you got a message that they would call you back. You hung up and a few seconds later the phone rang and there was a message that your call was now being placed. Then you would hear the line ringing at the receiver's end.

The phones worked fine, but I'm not sure it would have been the best option... But, I didn't find anything better either.

Day 74 – Prague

This morning, DH goes to the market across the street and picks up some food. Then, we walk to the metro. The lady at the booth does not speak much English. Apparently, she does not sell the tickets, for she comes out of the booth and takes us over to the ticket vending machines. There, she shows us how to buy a ticket good for up to 5 stops. The total cost for the 4 of us is 42 CZK, about $2. We head toward the platforms. Once I step onto the escalator, I am quickly whisked away. This is the fastest moving escalator I have been on in my life! At the bottom, there is a clear and easy-to-understand map showing this subway line. It is clearly marked, to show our station and then all stations to the right (for platform 1) and all stations to the right (for platform 2). Also shown are the connections you can make at each of the stations on this line. Excellent map.

For lunch, we go to KOLKOVNA, at V. Kolkovne 8. This lunch costs about $70. Lunch is good, but we liked yesterday’s dinner better. For appetizers, we have: garlic bread, beef goulash soup served in hollowed out bread, and the Czech assorted appetizers consisting of spicy marinated brie and several kinds of sausage and meats. For lunch, we have: fried pork schnitzel with potatoes; Moravian sparrow (which is pork) with dumplings, red cabbage and sauerkraut; and the Czech platter consisting of duck, Moravian sparrow, sausage, smoked pork, different kinds of dumplings, red cabbage and sauerkraut.

It continually surprises us to find so many types of ethnic food in each city we visit. It seems that you can eat any type of food in any city on earth. Here, we have sought out Czech food, which we enjoy, but have found to be quite heavy. A lot of meat and fried food.

After lunch, we go for a walk. At the OLDE TOWN SQUARE, we see a little sightseeing bus that looks like a children’s train ride. It is leaving in 5 minutes, so we jump on. It costs 250 CZK (about $12) for each adult and children up to 12 are free. It takes us on an hour-long ride around town. We see a little of the sights, but still don’t get a good feel for the city. The large, exuberant Italian family sitting in front of us is the most interesting thing about the ride. Papa must be making rude jokes, because he is laughing while Mama periodically good-naturedly but not too gently smacks him and tells him “basta” (enough).

Later, we wander around the Olde Town Square. We see a food stand with a long line of people, so we stop to see what they are selling. It is TRDELNIK, which tastes a little similar to funnel cake, but not really. The sign says it is dough with toffee and sugar. They make lines of dough and then wrap it around a cylinder (shaped like a rolling pin) which is 10 inches long and about 3 inches wide. Once the cylinder is lined with dough, they roll it into a sugar mixture. Then they lay the cylinder over an open flame, with the handles along the edges. As they put each new cylinder on the flame, they push the old cylinder towards the middle of the flame. By the time it gets to the end, the cylinder has turned around and around, like a spit, and the dough is cooked. They carefully push the cooked dough off into a vat of sugar and you pick up the hot treat with a napkin. It costs 50 CZK.

We peruse the market area and buy some gifts to take home. The market is touristy and sells souvenirs, but some of the items are very interesting. There are lots of pashmina scarves, medieval knights and other characters, metal items, etc.

Then, we ride the metro home and spend the night reading and writing for Fodor’s.

I'm glad you're finishing this. I was hoping you would! Please continue.....

bookmarking

Day 75 – Prague

I am totally lazy today. I spend the day doing Suduko puzzles. I think I do about ten of them. I am starting to stress out about going home, so I’m trying to distract myself. All I can think about is what needs to be done at home. I have so enjoyed this break from my day-to-day responsibilities. It has been so nice to wake up and only have to think about what fun things we should do today.

DH takes the kids to PRAGUE CASTLE. They find it charming and rate the excursion an 8 out of 10. DS2 says the shops were interesting.

For dinner, we go back to VINARNA U PALECKA. We like the pub atmosphere. Tonight it is very smoky, though. We order cabbage soup, sweet marinated brie and noodle soup in chicken broth. For dinner, we all order the same entrees we had the other night. I guess we liked the food here. For dessert, we have crepes, ice cream sundaes and a banana in chocolate sauce.

At night, we watch a DVD we’d brought of ‘Anna and The King’. Then, I can’t go to bed. I am up until 3 am, doing more Suduko puzzles. I think I just don’t want this trip to end.

Travelgirl2:
Are you a writer?
If not, you should be. I alnog with everyone else reading your post(as they say so) enjoy reading your post very much.

"I think I just don’t want this trip to end."
We don't either! Can't you go to a couple more countries before you go back home? Please? ha.Thanks, Travelgirl,everytime I come to Fodors I do a search for your travel report.

Day 76 – Flight to London

This morning, we have breakfast, pack up and watch CNN. The owners of the apartment are coming at 11 am. Just before 11, DS2 has a bloody nose and gets a big drop of blood on his sheet. Oh no. DH comes to the rescue and washes it out in the sink. No problem. The owner comes and calls us a taxi, from AAA, and we head toward the airport. Again, the fare is 531 Kc, which comes to about $30 with tip.

On the way to the airport, we look out the window at Prague’s buildings. The red roofs and the style of some of the buildings lining the river are reminiscent of Stockholm’s architecture. Also, we have noticed a lot of graffiti in Prague.

We arrive at the airport so early that we sit down to have lunch. DS2 finds a gyro with tzasiki. DS1 has a cheeseburger, which turns out to be a ham patty with cheese on a bun. It really is a ‘ham-burger’. When he tells me this, I think he is joking.

After passport control, we find a bar which has computers with free internet access if you purchase a drink. We have four Cokes and everyone checks their email. The EASYJET flight is about an hour late. We are given passes for pre-boarding. The check-in lady says it is because we have “childs”. Huh? Oh. Okay. I feel a little guilty, but not enough to say, “no, thank you, we’ll board last”. Easyjet is fine to fly, but I find their boarding procedure a little bit stressful, as a family flying together. Being allowed to board with the first group is very much appreciated. Once on the flight, I tried to purchase a sandwich, but there were none available. The flight was uneventful.

The GATWICK EXPRESS is convenient to town. There is a special, where 4 people can ride for the price of 2. It is supposed to be 4 adults, but the ticket agent suggests we travel on this special, for a total of 28 GBP. Then we take the metro to Paddington.

Tonight, we are staying at the PADDINGTON HILTON. I had planned to get something on Priceline, but yesterday we decided to use some Hilton Honors points for a free night. It hurts me, since we have to get two rooms and use 80,000 points. It turns out to be okay, but nothing special.

We go down the street to dinner at FRONTLINE. The menu is quite small. We all order scallops on peas, corn, and bacon for an appetizer, which is delicious. For dinner, the shepherd’s pie is just okay and DH loves his lamb.

Still enjoying every moment. Welcome back, Travelgirl.

Hi Travelgirl -- so excited that you are continuing your story!!

how sad guess your not going to finish for all of us. So I give up!!!

Travelgirl2, I am so glad that you are back. Your report was the first one I ever read at Fodor and I have been hooked since then. I am very touched by your family. I am hoping to take a trip with my in-laws very soon and I hope we have a wonderful time.

Regarding the cell phone, I was in London last week and I ordered a cell phone from WWW.Mobal.com and I really like this company. I can use this cell phone all over Europe and Asia and I will always have the same telephone number. The price per minute is a little bit pricey but it is so easy to use and the customer service is wonderful. They reply to your questions right away and are very nice about anwering any problems you might have. No monthly fees.

PLEASE, the holidays are over, things are getting back to normal, and we all need to hear the end of this journey. Please come back!!!

Yes, we need to see you home safe and sound and hear a few reflections on the journey.

C'mon T-girl... bring us home!