Trip Report - "Driving in Poland/Czech"
Oct 7th, 2007, 10:24 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trip Report - "Driving in Poland/Czech"
Note: See earlier post titled "Driving in Poland/Czech.
Day 1: Wed Sept 19, 2007
A day of waiting in airports. Waiting in Phx. Waiting in Wash DC. Waiting in Frankfurt for flights. All my flights arrived on time. Rob and I were to meet in Frankfurt and take the same flight to Dresden but his flight out of Phila was late. We had already reserved a room at the Dresden Airport Best Western so I took a van to the hotel and checked in. The next flight Rob might be coming in on wasn't for 4 hours so I relaxed in the room. I walked back to the airport from the hotel, it was only a 15 minute walk. Rob was on the flight. It was good to see him, I was starting to worry... From the airport, we walked back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped into a market and bought 2 six-packs of German beer. We were surprised on how cheap the beer was. We were also surprised to see Germany didn't have plastic sacks for grocery carrying. So we continued our walk to the hotel carrying the beer in our hands.
Day 2: Thurs Sept 20 2007
We woke up early because we had to walk back up to the airport to get the rental car. Before leaving, we had and excellent breakfast at the hotel restaurant. When we arrived at the Hertz counter in the airport, the friendly clerk started to enter all my data into his computer. Half-way through the process, the computer system went down. So the clerk had to enter all the info by hand onto paper forms. When he was finished, the total rate for the rental was 872 euros. After looking at the contract to figure out why the rate was so high, I noticed that he had included the collision insurance. I explained to him the the collision coverage would be covered by AAA(Arizona Automobile Assoc), because I was a member or this organization. The clerk informed me that the coverage was inclusive in the contract and that nothing could be changed. I informed him that I had documentation from AAA stating the full price and coverages for my rental and that collision coverage had been waived because of my membership. Actually, being a member and if any collision damage occurs, AAA takes care of the repairing. He asked to see my documentation but I had to tell him that I left it in my bag which was in the hotel room. So, we were off for another walk back to the hotel to get the paperwork. Before we left the hotel, we decided to checkout and carry our bags back up to the the airport just in case something happened about not being able to get the rental car. We started out back to the airport carrying our bags. The walk took about half-an-hour. After arriving back at the airport and walking over to the Hertz counter, we noticed the cleck and his manager, Doreen, giving us a thumbs-up. We thought the thumbs-up was for walking back to the airport with our packs looking totally exhausted but they were giving the thumbs-up because the computer system came back online and everything I had stated earlier was correct. They both apologized sincerely and now the total price for the rental went from 872 euros down to 405 euros for our 17 days of use, unlimited kilometers. Thanks AAA!!! After throwing our packs in the trunk of our Ford Fiesta, we were off... We headed NE out of Dresden on route 4A which was a 4-6 lane interstate freeway. Along the way, we exited from the freeway at Bautzen and drove around the town looking for a restaurant to have lunch at. We found one - a Russian restaurant called "Kalinka". What an experience! We knew no German and our hostess knew no English. While looking at the menu, I noticed a soup that was priced at 8 euros. Our hostess motioned "No" and pointed to a soup that was 2.5 euros. She also suggested something else on the menu but Rob and I couldn't figure out what she was saying or suggesting. She then motioned with her hand to follow her over to a board to look at some pictures of food dishes. She pointed to a picture that resembled something of a dumpling item. I shook my head as I said "Yes". She then motioned with her hands and stating in German, I think, what size we wanted, small-medium-or large. I copied her motion for small and gave a peace sign for 2 orders. She smiled and off she went to the kitchen. She came back with two fancy looking bowls filled with a delicious looking/smelling soup. I can't list all the ingredients but what we saw - sliced green olives, chopped chunks of bacon, and sliced mushrooms - this was a very delicious soup! She then bought out 2 orders of the dumplings, which were filled with hamburger, I think. Anyways, what a delicious lunch! We were filled when we left. The total lunch only came to 20 euros. We were very happy with service we received despite hte language differences. We left a 2 euro tip. We left the town of
Bautzen and got back on 4A and headed for the border of Poland. When we arrived at the border of Poland, there was about a 20 minute backup wait. When we pulled up, the border guard asked for our passports and driving licenses. He then directed us to pull over to the side and wait. It took about 10 minutes of waiting but we got our documents back. We were in Poland! Once in Poland, we drove about 3 miles and had to take a detour. Poland is now building a 60km section of freeway to hookup from the existing 4A coming from Germany and connecting to an existing 4A section already in Poland. The detour took us through the back roads of Poland on 2-lane roads. At times, we had opportunities of getting back on the 4-lane 4A expressway but opted to stay on the 2-lane backroads. We entered Wroclaw when the sun started to set. We started to search for a motel. On our seach, we drove past many tall apartment buildings. Rob and I wondered if these were built during the communist rule which might have forced families to live there so the govt could control them. We drove through Wroclaw stopping at any motel/hotel we could find. 1st motel - no rooms. 2nd - no rooms. 3rd - no rooms. What the f---??? I told Rob that it was a conspiracy... Driving through Wroclaw at night was an experience. Our only guide was signs give directions to Krakow. The route we followed the city must have had 50 or more turns. On the way, we stopped at hotels, 4th - no rooms, 5th - no rooms. Again, "What the f---?" I think that it was the 6th hotel - no rooms that I asked the front-desk clerk "What is going on?" She stated that there was a doctors conference going on in Poland from Wed-Sat. She suggested driving out of the city towards our next destination and then try to find a room. So we took her advice and headed southeast out of the city towards Krakow. We continued down the backroads looking for any motel that still had its lights on. We saw road signs for a city called Opole. I told Rob that if we didn't find a motel in Opole that we were going to pull over in a gas station and sleep in the car for a few hours. We found a hotel in Opole by the train station. I told Rob to hop out and go ask if they had any rooms. I pulled the car over in front of the train station and waited for him to return. As I was waiting, I noticed about 10 taxis waiting in front of the train station for customers. Rob was in the hotel for about 10 minutes so when he returned to the car, I was excited to hear his response. Again - no rooms. I started to get out of the car when Rob asked me "Where you going?" I told him as a last resort, I was going to ask on of the taxi drivers if they knew of any other hotels in the area that might have a room. I approached one taxi where another driver was talking to the driver that was sitting in his taxi. I came up to them with the index finger of my hand pointing up as I made a circular motion and asked "Hotel?" I think that they asked me if I was German, I shook my head no and said "American". The taxi driver that was standing in the street next to the other taxi turned and pointed to the hotel Rob had just been to. I shook my head and told him that it was full. The driving sitting in his taxi said "Wait" as he started to talk into his taxi radio. I think that he was asking his dispatcher if they knew of any available rooms. As we were waiting for a response, Rob and I learned some info about these two men. The driver sitting in his taxi had been a weight-lifter and had traveled to the US to Gettysburg. Rob told him something about the Civil War but I don't think he understood. The other driver standing in the street spoke German quite well but by his expressions, I got the impression he really didn't like Germans. The taxi radio started to crackle and the driver responded in Polish. He then told us in broken English that he knew of only one room left, an apartment going for the nightly rate of 380zl. I looked at Rob and we both turned to the driver sitting in the taxi and said "Too much". The driver sitting in the taxi again said "Wait" as he got back on his taxi radio. The radio came back with a response and the driver stated "No rooms". I turned to Rob and told him that we would sleep in the car for a few hours. The driver sitting in his taxi got out of it and started talking to us in broken English. He told us that he would help us try to find a room. He wanted us to follow him in his taxi. So we got back in the car and started to follow him away from the train station. As we did, we talked about if this might be a set-up for a possible robbery. Here it was 12:30am and we're following a taxi driver in a foreign city/country not knowing where he was taking us. We drove along a well lighted street for about a mile. When the taxi driver turned left into a small dark street, that's when Rob said "Here it comes!" We drove up the dark one-lane road for about 100 yards and turned right into a driveway. We were parked in front of a small hotel. We all got out of our cars and walked over to a closed gate. The taxi driver smiled and said "Wait" as he pressed a busser on the gate. He pressed it several times and an older Polish lady came out of the hotel and started talking to the taxi driver. What we got out of conversation was the driver was telling the lady that we were Americans and were looking for a room. She was asking the driver if we had documentation. The taxi driver turned to us and said "160". We told him ok. As the lady opened the gate, the taxi driver told us in broken English "20 for me". We were more than happy to give him 20zl. We shook hands and said goodbye. He got back in his taxi and I guess, went back to the train station. We followed the lady to a small front-desk. Another instance of us not knowing any Polish and her not knowing any English. In the end, she held our passports for the night. All we had was 150zl. We gave it to her and she showed us the room. The room was small with 2 small beds. The bathroom was small with a tiny shower. We really didn't care. It was 1am and time to go to bed. For almost 12 hours of driving, we had put 500km on the car.
Day 1: Wed Sept 19, 2007
A day of waiting in airports. Waiting in Phx. Waiting in Wash DC. Waiting in Frankfurt for flights. All my flights arrived on time. Rob and I were to meet in Frankfurt and take the same flight to Dresden but his flight out of Phila was late. We had already reserved a room at the Dresden Airport Best Western so I took a van to the hotel and checked in. The next flight Rob might be coming in on wasn't for 4 hours so I relaxed in the room. I walked back to the airport from the hotel, it was only a 15 minute walk. Rob was on the flight. It was good to see him, I was starting to worry... From the airport, we walked back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped into a market and bought 2 six-packs of German beer. We were surprised on how cheap the beer was. We were also surprised to see Germany didn't have plastic sacks for grocery carrying. So we continued our walk to the hotel carrying the beer in our hands.
Day 2: Thurs Sept 20 2007
We woke up early because we had to walk back up to the airport to get the rental car. Before leaving, we had and excellent breakfast at the hotel restaurant. When we arrived at the Hertz counter in the airport, the friendly clerk started to enter all my data into his computer. Half-way through the process, the computer system went down. So the clerk had to enter all the info by hand onto paper forms. When he was finished, the total rate for the rental was 872 euros. After looking at the contract to figure out why the rate was so high, I noticed that he had included the collision insurance. I explained to him the the collision coverage would be covered by AAA(Arizona Automobile Assoc), because I was a member or this organization. The clerk informed me that the coverage was inclusive in the contract and that nothing could be changed. I informed him that I had documentation from AAA stating the full price and coverages for my rental and that collision coverage had been waived because of my membership. Actually, being a member and if any collision damage occurs, AAA takes care of the repairing. He asked to see my documentation but I had to tell him that I left it in my bag which was in the hotel room. So, we were off for another walk back to the hotel to get the paperwork. Before we left the hotel, we decided to checkout and carry our bags back up to the the airport just in case something happened about not being able to get the rental car. We started out back to the airport carrying our bags. The walk took about half-an-hour. After arriving back at the airport and walking over to the Hertz counter, we noticed the cleck and his manager, Doreen, giving us a thumbs-up. We thought the thumbs-up was for walking back to the airport with our packs looking totally exhausted but they were giving the thumbs-up because the computer system came back online and everything I had stated earlier was correct. They both apologized sincerely and now the total price for the rental went from 872 euros down to 405 euros for our 17 days of use, unlimited kilometers. Thanks AAA!!! After throwing our packs in the trunk of our Ford Fiesta, we were off... We headed NE out of Dresden on route 4A which was a 4-6 lane interstate freeway. Along the way, we exited from the freeway at Bautzen and drove around the town looking for a restaurant to have lunch at. We found one - a Russian restaurant called "Kalinka". What an experience! We knew no German and our hostess knew no English. While looking at the menu, I noticed a soup that was priced at 8 euros. Our hostess motioned "No" and pointed to a soup that was 2.5 euros. She also suggested something else on the menu but Rob and I couldn't figure out what she was saying or suggesting. She then motioned with her hand to follow her over to a board to look at some pictures of food dishes. She pointed to a picture that resembled something of a dumpling item. I shook my head as I said "Yes". She then motioned with her hands and stating in German, I think, what size we wanted, small-medium-or large. I copied her motion for small and gave a peace sign for 2 orders. She smiled and off she went to the kitchen. She came back with two fancy looking bowls filled with a delicious looking/smelling soup. I can't list all the ingredients but what we saw - sliced green olives, chopped chunks of bacon, and sliced mushrooms - this was a very delicious soup! She then bought out 2 orders of the dumplings, which were filled with hamburger, I think. Anyways, what a delicious lunch! We were filled when we left. The total lunch only came to 20 euros. We were very happy with service we received despite hte language differences. We left a 2 euro tip. We left the town of
Bautzen and got back on 4A and headed for the border of Poland. When we arrived at the border of Poland, there was about a 20 minute backup wait. When we pulled up, the border guard asked for our passports and driving licenses. He then directed us to pull over to the side and wait. It took about 10 minutes of waiting but we got our documents back. We were in Poland! Once in Poland, we drove about 3 miles and had to take a detour. Poland is now building a 60km section of freeway to hookup from the existing 4A coming from Germany and connecting to an existing 4A section already in Poland. The detour took us through the back roads of Poland on 2-lane roads. At times, we had opportunities of getting back on the 4-lane 4A expressway but opted to stay on the 2-lane backroads. We entered Wroclaw when the sun started to set. We started to search for a motel. On our seach, we drove past many tall apartment buildings. Rob and I wondered if these were built during the communist rule which might have forced families to live there so the govt could control them. We drove through Wroclaw stopping at any motel/hotel we could find. 1st motel - no rooms. 2nd - no rooms. 3rd - no rooms. What the f---??? I told Rob that it was a conspiracy... Driving through Wroclaw at night was an experience. Our only guide was signs give directions to Krakow. The route we followed the city must have had 50 or more turns. On the way, we stopped at hotels, 4th - no rooms, 5th - no rooms. Again, "What the f---?" I think that it was the 6th hotel - no rooms that I asked the front-desk clerk "What is going on?" She stated that there was a doctors conference going on in Poland from Wed-Sat. She suggested driving out of the city towards our next destination and then try to find a room. So we took her advice and headed southeast out of the city towards Krakow. We continued down the backroads looking for any motel that still had its lights on. We saw road signs for a city called Opole. I told Rob that if we didn't find a motel in Opole that we were going to pull over in a gas station and sleep in the car for a few hours. We found a hotel in Opole by the train station. I told Rob to hop out and go ask if they had any rooms. I pulled the car over in front of the train station and waited for him to return. As I was waiting, I noticed about 10 taxis waiting in front of the train station for customers. Rob was in the hotel for about 10 minutes so when he returned to the car, I was excited to hear his response. Again - no rooms. I started to get out of the car when Rob asked me "Where you going?" I told him as a last resort, I was going to ask on of the taxi drivers if they knew of any other hotels in the area that might have a room. I approached one taxi where another driver was talking to the driver that was sitting in his taxi. I came up to them with the index finger of my hand pointing up as I made a circular motion and asked "Hotel?" I think that they asked me if I was German, I shook my head no and said "American". The taxi driver that was standing in the street next to the other taxi turned and pointed to the hotel Rob had just been to. I shook my head and told him that it was full. The driving sitting in his taxi said "Wait" as he started to talk into his taxi radio. I think that he was asking his dispatcher if they knew of any available rooms. As we were waiting for a response, Rob and I learned some info about these two men. The driver sitting in his taxi had been a weight-lifter and had traveled to the US to Gettysburg. Rob told him something about the Civil War but I don't think he understood. The other driver standing in the street spoke German quite well but by his expressions, I got the impression he really didn't like Germans. The taxi radio started to crackle and the driver responded in Polish. He then told us in broken English that he knew of only one room left, an apartment going for the nightly rate of 380zl. I looked at Rob and we both turned to the driver sitting in the taxi and said "Too much". The driver sitting in the taxi again said "Wait" as he got back on his taxi radio. The radio came back with a response and the driver stated "No rooms". I turned to Rob and told him that we would sleep in the car for a few hours. The driver sitting in his taxi got out of it and started talking to us in broken English. He told us that he would help us try to find a room. He wanted us to follow him in his taxi. So we got back in the car and started to follow him away from the train station. As we did, we talked about if this might be a set-up for a possible robbery. Here it was 12:30am and we're following a taxi driver in a foreign city/country not knowing where he was taking us. We drove along a well lighted street for about a mile. When the taxi driver turned left into a small dark street, that's when Rob said "Here it comes!" We drove up the dark one-lane road for about 100 yards and turned right into a driveway. We were parked in front of a small hotel. We all got out of our cars and walked over to a closed gate. The taxi driver smiled and said "Wait" as he pressed a busser on the gate. He pressed it several times and an older Polish lady came out of the hotel and started talking to the taxi driver. What we got out of conversation was the driver was telling the lady that we were Americans and were looking for a room. She was asking the driver if we had documentation. The taxi driver turned to us and said "160". We told him ok. As the lady opened the gate, the taxi driver told us in broken English "20 for me". We were more than happy to give him 20zl. We shook hands and said goodbye. He got back in his taxi and I guess, went back to the train station. We followed the lady to a small front-desk. Another instance of us not knowing any Polish and her not knowing any English. In the end, she held our passports for the night. All we had was 150zl. We gave it to her and she showed us the room. The room was small with 2 small beds. The bathroom was small with a tiny shower. We really didn't care. It was 1am and time to go to bed. For almost 12 hours of driving, we had put 500km on the car.
Oct 7th, 2007, 03:12 PM
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 3: Fri Sept 21, 2007
We left the hotel and headed for the center of Opole, I wanted to get a video clip of the train station. We parked and walked down to the train station. After taking my video clip, we walked around the downtown area. We had a fast lunch and decided to get back to the car and back on the road. We headed for Krakow driving through Katowice. We were getting low on gas and stopped at a station. The day earlier, we stopped at a gas station and I pumped it myself. There was a station attendant at the next pump. Rob told me that he thought the attendant should be pumping the gas. The attendant gave me a strange look and I think he was radioing the station as to how much I had pumped. We went into the station and paid for the gas. Back to today... We stopped at a station. We got out and opened the locked gas cap. Rob told me to let the attendant pump the gas. The attendant was at the next pump. I walked over and said "We need gas". He looked at the car and asked "Diesel?" We weren't sure and answered "I don't know". Another instance of the attendant not knowing any English and us not knowing any Polish. The attendant then asked "Diesel/benzene?" We knew the car wasn't diesel but we weren't sure if it took benzene. We told the attendant "Gasoline". The attendant asked for the autos documentation. Rob pulled-out all the paperwork in the glove box and handed it to the attendant. As the attendant looked through the paperwork, I suggested to Rob that we leave and go somewhere else. I didn't want to put benzene in the car not knowing what it was. The attendant handed Rob the paperwork and we got in the car and headed down the road to another station. It was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to start looking for a motel as we headed towards Krakow. We found one off the side of the road 40km from Krakow. The nearby town was called Boleslaw. We entered the hotel lobby in hesitation because of our past luck of getting a room. I held up one finger and asked "Any rooms?" Luckily the clerk spoke pretty good English and said "Yes" that there were 2 rooms left out of 9. He showed us both. We took the largest of the two rooms - room #1. It was a large room with 2 single beds with a large bathroom. The clerk told us that breakfast came with the price of the room - 140zl per night. He also stated that the hotel restaurant served dinner. I asked him if there was a store nearby. We wanted to get some beers. He gave us instructions to a nearby town. We drove there, parked and walked around. The town had several small shops - a butcher shop, a post office, a bakery, a hardware store, a bar/restaurant, and several tiny grocery stores. We visited all of them. We bought buns at the bakery, sliced turkey at the butcher shop, and several warm beers at one of the tiny grocery shops. We drove back to the motel and relaxed on the beds while sipping on a warm beer, eating a turkey sandwich while watching a Polish dubbed American show of "Cannon". What an experience... Later that evening we ate dinner at the motel restaurant. What a dinner it was! We returned to our room at 8:30pm and went to bed.
Day 4: Sat Sept 22, 2007
We woke-up early and went to the motel restaurant for breakfast. Again, what an excellent breakfast! The clerk, Lucas Maj was the son of the owner of the motel, Kris Maj. Kris, his wife, and Lucas ran the motel and restaurant. Lucas gave us instructions on how to get to Auschwitz. It was about 40km to the camp from the motel. His instructions for getting there were perfect. He just forgot to give us instructions on how to get back which was about 55km. We arrived at Auschwitz around 1pm and left at 3:30pm. Rob and I took our own tour, we didn't purchase the self tour that is offered. The camp was larger than we thought it would be. We had a sad feeling as we walked around the camp knowing that so many people had been killed here. We left the camp and as we were driving through Oswiecim, we stopped at the Auschwitz museum. We wanted to see the free movie that was offered but the next one wasn't for almost 2 hours. We left and headed back to the motel. We arrived back to the room and relaxed till 8pm and then headed to the motel restaurant for dinner. We sat down in the restaurant and ordered dinner and a couple of beers. As we were waiting for our dinner to be served, we could hear a party going on in a small room attached to the restaurant. Someone was playing an accordion and we could hear signing in a foreign language. When Kris brought us our beers, I asked him if he could ask the people in the party if I could video them. He went in the room and asked and came back to tell us that the group wanted us to join them. So we got up from our table and went in the room to join the party. The group consisted of 8 people, 5 men and 3 ladies. As the night went on, we found out the the group were government employees from a providence/district/state(?) in the Slovakia Republic. One of the ladies was a governor and one of the men was a mayor. I video-ed them as they sang songs. The table they sat at was covered in food. It seemed like no one dared touch any of the food. It looked so delicious! Rob and I ate our dinner at their table plus we munched on some of their food. The vodka poured freely as the night went on, we were offered vodka and drank with them. We didn't want to dissapoint them... Sometime during the party, my video cameras battery went dead so I went back to the room to get the recharger. I returned to the party and gave the female governor a gift - a package of American beef jerky. She was very excited as she opened the package but her expression changed as she and the others tried to eat it. Oh well, it's the thought that counts..... The group left the restaurant around 10:30pm. Rob and I returned to our room just a tad drunk.
more to come.....
We left the hotel and headed for the center of Opole, I wanted to get a video clip of the train station. We parked and walked down to the train station. After taking my video clip, we walked around the downtown area. We had a fast lunch and decided to get back to the car and back on the road. We headed for Krakow driving through Katowice. We were getting low on gas and stopped at a station. The day earlier, we stopped at a gas station and I pumped it myself. There was a station attendant at the next pump. Rob told me that he thought the attendant should be pumping the gas. The attendant gave me a strange look and I think he was radioing the station as to how much I had pumped. We went into the station and paid for the gas. Back to today... We stopped at a station. We got out and opened the locked gas cap. Rob told me to let the attendant pump the gas. The attendant was at the next pump. I walked over and said "We need gas". He looked at the car and asked "Diesel?" We weren't sure and answered "I don't know". Another instance of the attendant not knowing any English and us not knowing any Polish. The attendant then asked "Diesel/benzene?" We knew the car wasn't diesel but we weren't sure if it took benzene. We told the attendant "Gasoline". The attendant asked for the autos documentation. Rob pulled-out all the paperwork in the glove box and handed it to the attendant. As the attendant looked through the paperwork, I suggested to Rob that we leave and go somewhere else. I didn't want to put benzene in the car not knowing what it was. The attendant handed Rob the paperwork and we got in the car and headed down the road to another station. It was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to start looking for a motel as we headed towards Krakow. We found one off the side of the road 40km from Krakow. The nearby town was called Boleslaw. We entered the hotel lobby in hesitation because of our past luck of getting a room. I held up one finger and asked "Any rooms?" Luckily the clerk spoke pretty good English and said "Yes" that there were 2 rooms left out of 9. He showed us both. We took the largest of the two rooms - room #1. It was a large room with 2 single beds with a large bathroom. The clerk told us that breakfast came with the price of the room - 140zl per night. He also stated that the hotel restaurant served dinner. I asked him if there was a store nearby. We wanted to get some beers. He gave us instructions to a nearby town. We drove there, parked and walked around. The town had several small shops - a butcher shop, a post office, a bakery, a hardware store, a bar/restaurant, and several tiny grocery stores. We visited all of them. We bought buns at the bakery, sliced turkey at the butcher shop, and several warm beers at one of the tiny grocery shops. We drove back to the motel and relaxed on the beds while sipping on a warm beer, eating a turkey sandwich while watching a Polish dubbed American show of "Cannon". What an experience... Later that evening we ate dinner at the motel restaurant. What a dinner it was! We returned to our room at 8:30pm and went to bed.
Day 4: Sat Sept 22, 2007
We woke-up early and went to the motel restaurant for breakfast. Again, what an excellent breakfast! The clerk, Lucas Maj was the son of the owner of the motel, Kris Maj. Kris, his wife, and Lucas ran the motel and restaurant. Lucas gave us instructions on how to get to Auschwitz. It was about 40km to the camp from the motel. His instructions for getting there were perfect. He just forgot to give us instructions on how to get back which was about 55km. We arrived at Auschwitz around 1pm and left at 3:30pm. Rob and I took our own tour, we didn't purchase the self tour that is offered. The camp was larger than we thought it would be. We had a sad feeling as we walked around the camp knowing that so many people had been killed here. We left the camp and as we were driving through Oswiecim, we stopped at the Auschwitz museum. We wanted to see the free movie that was offered but the next one wasn't for almost 2 hours. We left and headed back to the motel. We arrived back to the room and relaxed till 8pm and then headed to the motel restaurant for dinner. We sat down in the restaurant and ordered dinner and a couple of beers. As we were waiting for our dinner to be served, we could hear a party going on in a small room attached to the restaurant. Someone was playing an accordion and we could hear signing in a foreign language. When Kris brought us our beers, I asked him if he could ask the people in the party if I could video them. He went in the room and asked and came back to tell us that the group wanted us to join them. So we got up from our table and went in the room to join the party. The group consisted of 8 people, 5 men and 3 ladies. As the night went on, we found out the the group were government employees from a providence/district/state(?) in the Slovakia Republic. One of the ladies was a governor and one of the men was a mayor. I video-ed them as they sang songs. The table they sat at was covered in food. It seemed like no one dared touch any of the food. It looked so delicious! Rob and I ate our dinner at their table plus we munched on some of their food. The vodka poured freely as the night went on, we were offered vodka and drank with them. We didn't want to dissapoint them... Sometime during the party, my video cameras battery went dead so I went back to the room to get the recharger. I returned to the party and gave the female governor a gift - a package of American beef jerky. She was very excited as she opened the package but her expression changed as she and the others tried to eat it. Oh well, it's the thought that counts..... The group left the restaurant around 10:30pm. Rob and I returned to our room just a tad drunk.
more to come.....
Oct 8th, 2007, 07:19 AM
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 5: Sunday Sept 23, 2007
We woke-up with a slight hangover. We went to the motel restaurant looking forward to a glass of orange juice. We left the motel and headed for Krakow. What a beautiful city! It looks like it survived the war because of all the old buildings and churches. We drove around the centrum not knowing where we were going. We tried to find a place to park but it was very difficult. Even on the small streets, people park up on the sidewalks to give just enough room for a car to get down the street. We finally found a place to park and sat and relaxed as we tried to figure out where we were. I got out of the car holding "Rick Steve's" tour book which was open showing a map of central Krakow. I approached the first people to walk down the sidewalk, which was an older Polish couple. The man spoke half descent English. He looked at the book for awhile mumbling in Polish. It appeared we were just off the map but close to where we wanted to go. We thanked the man and his wife as they continued walking down the street. The man's directions were for driving, Rob and I didn't want to lose our free parking spot so we decided to walk towards centrum. We walked for about 40 minutes asking another person for directions along the way. We finally found our initial destination, the information booth which was located in the NE section of a park in Krakow's Old Town. We went in and asked about nearby hotels. Most of the hotels we got info on were over what we wanted to pay a night. So we decided to head back to the car and on the way, stop at one hotel that wasn't on the information booth's list. We walked into the lobby of Hotel Europejski and were amazed at how elegant and old-style classy it was. It felt like we had entered a hotel in the early 1900's. We asked at the front-desk how much a room would be. A double standard would be 345zl for one night. Secured parking would be 45zl a day. This room incluced a bathroom with shower. The hotel also had another room for 225zl a night but didn't include a bathroom. We took this room. The bathroom and shower were located down the hallway. We didn't care, we were happy to be saving money. We then headed towards the car with a good detailed map in hand. After looking at the map, we noticed that we weren't very far away from the car. We found it within 15 minutes. It took about 10 minutes to drive back to the hotel because to the traffic. We were shown where to park then unloaded our bags and headed for the room. It was a small room with 2 single beds, a tv and sink. It was all we needed. We sat down and relaxed by having a "Lech" beer while watching an European track/field event on the tv. I laid down to take a nap at 6pm and didn't wake-up till 5:30am the next morning. I think that the vodka party the night before wore me out.
Day 6: Mon Sept 24, 2007
I woke-up at 5:30am and took some time to update my journal as Rob slept. Later on, Rob and I walked to Krakow's Main Market Square which is located in the center of Krakow's Old Town. We walked around the square noticing the old buildings and churches. We stopped and had breakfast at an outdoor cafe. After breakfast, we slowly walked back to the hotel. Occasionally we stopped in shops to look at souvenirs. I took video clips of some of the crowded streets. We saw a McDonald's on our walk and decided to go in just to see what it looked like. I started to video the menu board when the manager came running out from behind the counter and angrily, in Polish, told me to stop videoing. I didn't need to know Polish to understand what he was saying. His body language and voice were enough. I stopped and we quickly left. We arrived back to the hotel and took alittle break before going back out for more sightseeing. We headed back out for our next destination. It was a castle, or "wawel", located on the southern tip of the Old Town. We spent some time walking around the castle. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe in the castle. I took a few video clips of the area but one of my favorites was being up high in the castle overlooking the Vistula River. On our way out of the castle, a painter had many of his paintings for sale on the sidewalk. I had my eye on one as I asked what the prices were. The one I liked was priced at 60zl. He knew I was interested and gave a short description of what the buildings were in the painting. He then said that it was getting late, that he was tried and hungry and wanted to go home. He told me to make him and offer for the painting. I told him that I'd give him 30zl for it. He came back with 35zl. I reached in my pocket and pulled out 32zl and gave it to him as I picked-up the painting. I don't know who got the bargain but I felt good as we walked away. We went back to the hotel and took another break. At 8pm, we headed back down ot the Main Market Square to see Krakow's night life. We were amazed to see so many people still there! We slowly walked around the square looking at all the people. We found a kebab shop and ordered 2 kebabs and 2 ice teas. As we sat at a table on the sidewalk, a bum came strolling by. He asked us something in Polish, I shook my head and said "No". He then asked "cigarette?" I again shook my head and said "No". He turned and continued down the street. As we were eating our kebabs, I told Rob that this was too much and that I couldn't finish it. At that time, another bum walked over to our table and started to beg in Polish. We heard the restaurant worker yelling at him to go away. I motioned with my hands as to be giving him the kebab. He grabbed the kebab and mumbled something in Polish, I guess a thank-you. A minute later, I could see him down the street sharing the kebab with 3 of his buddies. We walked back to the hotel and turned-in for the night.
We woke-up with a slight hangover. We went to the motel restaurant looking forward to a glass of orange juice. We left the motel and headed for Krakow. What a beautiful city! It looks like it survived the war because of all the old buildings and churches. We drove around the centrum not knowing where we were going. We tried to find a place to park but it was very difficult. Even on the small streets, people park up on the sidewalks to give just enough room for a car to get down the street. We finally found a place to park and sat and relaxed as we tried to figure out where we were. I got out of the car holding "Rick Steve's" tour book which was open showing a map of central Krakow. I approached the first people to walk down the sidewalk, which was an older Polish couple. The man spoke half descent English. He looked at the book for awhile mumbling in Polish. It appeared we were just off the map but close to where we wanted to go. We thanked the man and his wife as they continued walking down the street. The man's directions were for driving, Rob and I didn't want to lose our free parking spot so we decided to walk towards centrum. We walked for about 40 minutes asking another person for directions along the way. We finally found our initial destination, the information booth which was located in the NE section of a park in Krakow's Old Town. We went in and asked about nearby hotels. Most of the hotels we got info on were over what we wanted to pay a night. So we decided to head back to the car and on the way, stop at one hotel that wasn't on the information booth's list. We walked into the lobby of Hotel Europejski and were amazed at how elegant and old-style classy it was. It felt like we had entered a hotel in the early 1900's. We asked at the front-desk how much a room would be. A double standard would be 345zl for one night. Secured parking would be 45zl a day. This room incluced a bathroom with shower. The hotel also had another room for 225zl a night but didn't include a bathroom. We took this room. The bathroom and shower were located down the hallway. We didn't care, we were happy to be saving money. We then headed towards the car with a good detailed map in hand. After looking at the map, we noticed that we weren't very far away from the car. We found it within 15 minutes. It took about 10 minutes to drive back to the hotel because to the traffic. We were shown where to park then unloaded our bags and headed for the room. It was a small room with 2 single beds, a tv and sink. It was all we needed. We sat down and relaxed by having a "Lech" beer while watching an European track/field event on the tv. I laid down to take a nap at 6pm and didn't wake-up till 5:30am the next morning. I think that the vodka party the night before wore me out.
Day 6: Mon Sept 24, 2007
I woke-up at 5:30am and took some time to update my journal as Rob slept. Later on, Rob and I walked to Krakow's Main Market Square which is located in the center of Krakow's Old Town. We walked around the square noticing the old buildings and churches. We stopped and had breakfast at an outdoor cafe. After breakfast, we slowly walked back to the hotel. Occasionally we stopped in shops to look at souvenirs. I took video clips of some of the crowded streets. We saw a McDonald's on our walk and decided to go in just to see what it looked like. I started to video the menu board when the manager came running out from behind the counter and angrily, in Polish, told me to stop videoing. I didn't need to know Polish to understand what he was saying. His body language and voice were enough. I stopped and we quickly left. We arrived back to the hotel and took alittle break before going back out for more sightseeing. We headed back out for our next destination. It was a castle, or "wawel", located on the southern tip of the Old Town. We spent some time walking around the castle. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe in the castle. I took a few video clips of the area but one of my favorites was being up high in the castle overlooking the Vistula River. On our way out of the castle, a painter had many of his paintings for sale on the sidewalk. I had my eye on one as I asked what the prices were. The one I liked was priced at 60zl. He knew I was interested and gave a short description of what the buildings were in the painting. He then said that it was getting late, that he was tried and hungry and wanted to go home. He told me to make him and offer for the painting. I told him that I'd give him 30zl for it. He came back with 35zl. I reached in my pocket and pulled out 32zl and gave it to him as I picked-up the painting. I don't know who got the bargain but I felt good as we walked away. We went back to the hotel and took another break. At 8pm, we headed back down ot the Main Market Square to see Krakow's night life. We were amazed to see so many people still there! We slowly walked around the square looking at all the people. We found a kebab shop and ordered 2 kebabs and 2 ice teas. As we sat at a table on the sidewalk, a bum came strolling by. He asked us something in Polish, I shook my head and said "No". He then asked "cigarette?" I again shook my head and said "No". He turned and continued down the street. As we were eating our kebabs, I told Rob that this was too much and that I couldn't finish it. At that time, another bum walked over to our table and started to beg in Polish. We heard the restaurant worker yelling at him to go away. I motioned with my hands as to be giving him the kebab. He grabbed the kebab and mumbled something in Polish, I guess a thank-you. A minute later, I could see him down the street sharing the kebab with 3 of his buddies. We walked back to the hotel and turned-in for the night.
Oct 9th, 2007, 08:26 AM
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 7: Tues Sept 25, 2007
Today is a travel day so we woke up, packed and put our bags in the car. We took one more walk to the Old Main Square. After our last walking tour of Krakow, we headed back to the hotel to get the car. Once in the car, we headed south for Wieliczka Salt Mine which is located about 10 miles southeast of Krakow but it took us nearly an hour to get there. We took the scenic route(which means we didn't know where the heck we were). On our way to the salt mine, I think that we drove through the industrial section of Krakow because of all the factories we saw, also all the large trucks driving by. In the industrial area, we noticed what looked like a nuclear power plant but we weren't sure. Finally we reached the salt mine. We bought our tickets, had to pay an additional 10zl to video while on the tour. It's about a 2 hour tour but is worth it when you enter a large underground chapel that is all carved-out of salt. Even the hanging chandeliers glass-looking pieces are made of salt. Everything in the large chapel is jut so amazing because it is all made of salt! We left the salt mine hoping to make Rabka before sundown. Again, we took the scenic route(meaning we missed a few turns along the way). It's amazing how easy it is to miss a turn while traveling the back-roads of Poland. Construction/tree-trimming detours don't help either! We finally reached Rabka and got a room at Hotel Zaborna that charged 120zl for a room. It is actually a restaurant/store with 4 rooms upstairs that look brand-new. The 4 rooms share a common TV room which has several lounge chairs and a couple of tables. Quite nice! Some of the back-roads getting here were amazing! Traveling high up in the mountains then down to the valley. The sites are so beautiful but I can't see them all because I am driving. Rob and I have about 40zl left. We aren't sure to use the money for dinner or wait till breakfast to use it. Our plan tomorrow is to fill the gas tank using a credit card and then travel through Slovakia to Hungary or Austria. We just went down for dinner in the restaurant in the motel. We ordered 2 bowls of sausage soup and 1 beer. The soup came with 4 slices of bread. I've got to say that since I've been on this continent, the soup that Motel Zabornia served us tonight has been the best tasting bowl of soup I've had yet!!! Such a good, hearty homemade soup. I only wish I could tell the owner that...We returned to the room and went to bed.
Day 8: Wed Sept 26, 2007
We left Rabka and headed for the Slovak border following road signs that showed Bratislava, the capitol city of Slovakia. We stopped at a large outdoor flea market just this side of the border in Poland. We got out and walked around for a few minutes. Five minutes driving from the flea market was the border of Slovakia. We handed our passports and driver licenses to the border guard but he just moaned something and handed them back to us. He then motioned with his hand to keep going. We were now in the Slovak Republic! We headed S/SW through northern Slovakia on a 2-lane road through a very mountainous area. We noticed right away the differences between Poland and Slovakia. Poland seemed to have much new building going on. The structures(buildings/homes) looked newer in Poland. Driving through some of the small towns in Slovakia felt like we went back in time. Old style tractors driving down the roads. Seeing people milk cows right off the side of the road. Seemed like the farmers went to the cow wherever it was... The homes and stores looked much older than the ones in Poland. Car travel on these 2-lane roads is slow at times because of large trucks and buses. Today's trip took us through some very beautiful mountains. We passed through a few skiing towns. We stopped in a town called Zvolen to get some Slovakian currency out of a bankomat. I took out 2000 Slovak crowns(about 25 = 1 us dollar). As we turned around from the atm, we noticed a hotel at the end of the town square. We headed to it in hopes of getting a room. We walked in the Hotel Pol'ana and asked the clerk if there were any available rooms. She told us that there weren't any double rooms available but she had 2 single rooms available. She even offered us a discount and stated to us that the rooms weren't that good and that we might not like them. She showed us the first room, a nice single with a restroom. We told her then that we would take the rooms. She asked us if we wanted to see the other room, we said no and went to the front-desk to do the paperwork and pay for the rooms. The 2 rooms included breakfast and parking which came to about $85US. We got our keys and unloaded our bags from the car and went to the rooms. Rob got the room the clerk showed us. We were both on the 3rd floor. I had a room at the end of the hallway, it was a much larger room with 2 single beds. At first we didn't understand whey we got 2 seperate rooms. Once I settled into my room, I understood. The toilet in my room didn't flush. So whenever I had to go to bathroom, I had to go down to Rob's room and use his bathroom. We went out for dinner. We found a club underground that served food. We ordered 2 dinners and 4 beers which came to 414 crowns. We went back to the hotel and went to bed at 8pm.
Day 9: Thurs Sept 27
The breakfast at the hotel was outstanding! Most of the hotels that include breakfast are very good. All you can eat of scrambled eggs, toast, buns, sausage, bacon, sliced hams and turkey, cereals, yogurts, juices, milk, coffee, teas, etc.... The dining room in the hotel reminded me of the one in the movie "The Shining". After breakfast, we headed south for the capitol of Slovakia, Bratislava. We were surprised to see that most of the roadway from Zvolen to Bratislava was 4-lanes. We made good time on our trip because we weren't stuck behind trucks or buses. Right before entering Bratislava, a heavy downpour occured. The rain came down hard for awhile. I loved it, we don't get this in Phoenix very often! We kept driving hoping to see a centrum sign for Bratislava but we never did. We drove through Bratislava on the freeway and when we started to see farmland, we decided to turn-around and go back. I still had 1500 crowns to spend so we decided to get a hotel in Bratislava. As usual, we went through "the hunt for a hotel". We stopped at about 5 hotels or so as we criss-crossed the capitol city. We finally found one called "Hotel Turist". For a 2-bed room, it came to 1780 crowns, which included breakfast and parking. The clerk gave us a run-down on the city taxes we were also paying, huh? That was a first. The building has 4 stories with no elevator(lift), just steps. Of course, we were on the 4th floor. I told Rob that this building probably wasn't built as a hotel. It looked like it might have been a dormitory or a military barracks. Across the street were rows and rows of apartment buildings that house thousands of families. We walked down the street to a busy intersection and entered a pizza restaurant that was on the corner. Looking on the map, it looked like we were in a sports section of the city. Many sports complexes in the area. We ordered a mushroom pizza and 2 beers. After, Rob headed back to the room, I headed across the street to a Slovakian casino. It was very small compared to American casinos. I went in with 200 crowns and 20 minutes later came out with nothing, yup, I lost it.....I walked back towards the hotel to a supermarket called "Billa". I bought a few beers and a couple bages of munchies. Then back to the hotel.
more to come.....
Today is a travel day so we woke up, packed and put our bags in the car. We took one more walk to the Old Main Square. After our last walking tour of Krakow, we headed back to the hotel to get the car. Once in the car, we headed south for Wieliczka Salt Mine which is located about 10 miles southeast of Krakow but it took us nearly an hour to get there. We took the scenic route(which means we didn't know where the heck we were). On our way to the salt mine, I think that we drove through the industrial section of Krakow because of all the factories we saw, also all the large trucks driving by. In the industrial area, we noticed what looked like a nuclear power plant but we weren't sure. Finally we reached the salt mine. We bought our tickets, had to pay an additional 10zl to video while on the tour. It's about a 2 hour tour but is worth it when you enter a large underground chapel that is all carved-out of salt. Even the hanging chandeliers glass-looking pieces are made of salt. Everything in the large chapel is jut so amazing because it is all made of salt! We left the salt mine hoping to make Rabka before sundown. Again, we took the scenic route(meaning we missed a few turns along the way). It's amazing how easy it is to miss a turn while traveling the back-roads of Poland. Construction/tree-trimming detours don't help either! We finally reached Rabka and got a room at Hotel Zaborna that charged 120zl for a room. It is actually a restaurant/store with 4 rooms upstairs that look brand-new. The 4 rooms share a common TV room which has several lounge chairs and a couple of tables. Quite nice! Some of the back-roads getting here were amazing! Traveling high up in the mountains then down to the valley. The sites are so beautiful but I can't see them all because I am driving. Rob and I have about 40zl left. We aren't sure to use the money for dinner or wait till breakfast to use it. Our plan tomorrow is to fill the gas tank using a credit card and then travel through Slovakia to Hungary or Austria. We just went down for dinner in the restaurant in the motel. We ordered 2 bowls of sausage soup and 1 beer. The soup came with 4 slices of bread. I've got to say that since I've been on this continent, the soup that Motel Zabornia served us tonight has been the best tasting bowl of soup I've had yet!!! Such a good, hearty homemade soup. I only wish I could tell the owner that...We returned to the room and went to bed.
Day 8: Wed Sept 26, 2007
We left Rabka and headed for the Slovak border following road signs that showed Bratislava, the capitol city of Slovakia. We stopped at a large outdoor flea market just this side of the border in Poland. We got out and walked around for a few minutes. Five minutes driving from the flea market was the border of Slovakia. We handed our passports and driver licenses to the border guard but he just moaned something and handed them back to us. He then motioned with his hand to keep going. We were now in the Slovak Republic! We headed S/SW through northern Slovakia on a 2-lane road through a very mountainous area. We noticed right away the differences between Poland and Slovakia. Poland seemed to have much new building going on. The structures(buildings/homes) looked newer in Poland. Driving through some of the small towns in Slovakia felt like we went back in time. Old style tractors driving down the roads. Seeing people milk cows right off the side of the road. Seemed like the farmers went to the cow wherever it was... The homes and stores looked much older than the ones in Poland. Car travel on these 2-lane roads is slow at times because of large trucks and buses. Today's trip took us through some very beautiful mountains. We passed through a few skiing towns. We stopped in a town called Zvolen to get some Slovakian currency out of a bankomat. I took out 2000 Slovak crowns(about 25 = 1 us dollar). As we turned around from the atm, we noticed a hotel at the end of the town square. We headed to it in hopes of getting a room. We walked in the Hotel Pol'ana and asked the clerk if there were any available rooms. She told us that there weren't any double rooms available but she had 2 single rooms available. She even offered us a discount and stated to us that the rooms weren't that good and that we might not like them. She showed us the first room, a nice single with a restroom. We told her then that we would take the rooms. She asked us if we wanted to see the other room, we said no and went to the front-desk to do the paperwork and pay for the rooms. The 2 rooms included breakfast and parking which came to about $85US. We got our keys and unloaded our bags from the car and went to the rooms. Rob got the room the clerk showed us. We were both on the 3rd floor. I had a room at the end of the hallway, it was a much larger room with 2 single beds. At first we didn't understand whey we got 2 seperate rooms. Once I settled into my room, I understood. The toilet in my room didn't flush. So whenever I had to go to bathroom, I had to go down to Rob's room and use his bathroom. We went out for dinner. We found a club underground that served food. We ordered 2 dinners and 4 beers which came to 414 crowns. We went back to the hotel and went to bed at 8pm.
Day 9: Thurs Sept 27
The breakfast at the hotel was outstanding! Most of the hotels that include breakfast are very good. All you can eat of scrambled eggs, toast, buns, sausage, bacon, sliced hams and turkey, cereals, yogurts, juices, milk, coffee, teas, etc.... The dining room in the hotel reminded me of the one in the movie "The Shining". After breakfast, we headed south for the capitol of Slovakia, Bratislava. We were surprised to see that most of the roadway from Zvolen to Bratislava was 4-lanes. We made good time on our trip because we weren't stuck behind trucks or buses. Right before entering Bratislava, a heavy downpour occured. The rain came down hard for awhile. I loved it, we don't get this in Phoenix very often! We kept driving hoping to see a centrum sign for Bratislava but we never did. We drove through Bratislava on the freeway and when we started to see farmland, we decided to turn-around and go back. I still had 1500 crowns to spend so we decided to get a hotel in Bratislava. As usual, we went through "the hunt for a hotel". We stopped at about 5 hotels or so as we criss-crossed the capitol city. We finally found one called "Hotel Turist". For a 2-bed room, it came to 1780 crowns, which included breakfast and parking. The clerk gave us a run-down on the city taxes we were also paying, huh? That was a first. The building has 4 stories with no elevator(lift), just steps. Of course, we were on the 4th floor. I told Rob that this building probably wasn't built as a hotel. It looked like it might have been a dormitory or a military barracks. Across the street were rows and rows of apartment buildings that house thousands of families. We walked down the street to a busy intersection and entered a pizza restaurant that was on the corner. Looking on the map, it looked like we were in a sports section of the city. Many sports complexes in the area. We ordered a mushroom pizza and 2 beers. After, Rob headed back to the room, I headed across the street to a Slovakian casino. It was very small compared to American casinos. I went in with 200 crowns and 20 minutes later came out with nothing, yup, I lost it.....I walked back towards the hotel to a supermarket called "Billa". I bought a few beers and a couple bages of munchies. Then back to the hotel.
more to come.....
Oct 10th, 2007, 09:00 AM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 10: Fri Sept 28,2007
We left the barracks(hotel) at 10:30am after having breakfast in the hotel dining room. We headed towards centrum because we wanted to tour the Bratislava Castle that sits high up on top of a hill in the center of the city near the river. Entering the castle was free but there was a fee for the museum. We skipped the museum. We walked around the castle grounds taking video clips and pictures of the fantastic views from being up so high. Before we left, we bought a few pictures from one of the souvenir shops. From the castle, we headed for Wein(Vienna). On the way, we crossed over the border from Slovokia to Austria. Before doing so, we stopped at a border shop to purchase an Austrian toll-road sticker for 8 euros. According to "Rick Steves" book, you need one to travel on the expressways or be fined, which can be high. After putting it on the windshild, we drove up to the border guard and gave him our passports and driving licenses. He looked them over and then handed them back to me. He then motioned to me with his hand to continue through the border. As I was putting the car into gear, I noticed the guard looked into the back seat of our car then grinned and laughed. With a big smile on his face, he said something to another guard close by. I think that he was laughing at the 3 sets of underwear briefs Rob had drying in the trunk section of the car. (Note: on our whole trip, we never did see a laundromat.) We drove into Vienna not knowing where we were going. We just followed the signs for "Zentrum". I told Rob to be on the lookout for hotels. We drove for a few minutes when Rob said to me "Here's one". In front of the hotel was a small parking space with enough room for 2 cars. I pulled in the spot and told Rob to go in real fast and ask if they have any available rooms. He came back within 2 minutes and told me they had a room that came with breakfast. I got out of the car and we went in the hotel to get the room. The room came with breakfast and free parking for 120euros per night. We are thinking of staying here for 2 nights. The room is large with 2 queen beds. The room's furniture and atmosphere makes you feel you are back in the 1800's. The TV and noise from the street gives the time-frame away... We went for a walk just looking around the area near the hotel. We found a small grocery store and bought 2 six-packs of beer. We returned to the hotel room and stuck some of the beers in a small refrig that was in the room. The refrig was hidden inside of a desk in the room. We went to dinner at a restaurant that was next to the hotel. It was an Austrian restaurant. Rob and I guessed on the dishes we ordered, we couldn't understand what was on the menu. As it turned-out, our choices were good ones. We both enjoyed what we had ordered. Rob had ordered a breaded chicken cutlet. Mine was a breaded cornbeef cutlet with tripe. Both dishes came with veggies. We paid our bill of 22euros and returned to our hotel room for the evening.
Day 11: Sat Sept 29
We woke up early and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. As usual, another outstanding all-you-can-eat breakfast! After breakfast, we headed out to see Vienna's Old Center. It took about half-an-hour to get there walking from the hotel. We passed famous old buildings and churches, just didn't know the names of them. I think that we passed by a few opera houses. We walked by musuems and open courtyards. A large sports festival was taking place in the courtyard of the New Palace so we weren't able to get good video clips of the palace. We took a tour of the Hofburg Imperial Apartments. Somewhat interesting. Anyways, Rob bought a Vienna hat in the giftshop. I bought a poster of
Sisi(Empress Elisabeth). We saw many horse-drawn carriages on the streets thoughout Vienna. We walked to the "Monument Against War and Fascism". A very interesting monument! From there, we headed back to the hotel. It was a longer walk back due to being tired and hungry. We stopped into a pizza shop down the street from the hotel and ordered a pizza and two beers. After the pizza and beers, it was 5pm. We went back to the room to relax. We watched CNN on the TV and had a few more beers. Around 7:30pm, we walked to an amusement park that was very near the hotel. The name of the park was "Prater". According to the park's brochure, it is the oldest amusement park in the world. It had the largest Ferris wheel that I had ever seen. It also had one of the oldest merry-go-rounds that I've ever seen. There weren't many people walking around the park for a Saturday night. Then again, it's late September and summer is over. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep right away due to the exhausting day we had.
more to come....
We left the barracks(hotel) at 10:30am after having breakfast in the hotel dining room. We headed towards centrum because we wanted to tour the Bratislava Castle that sits high up on top of a hill in the center of the city near the river. Entering the castle was free but there was a fee for the museum. We skipped the museum. We walked around the castle grounds taking video clips and pictures of the fantastic views from being up so high. Before we left, we bought a few pictures from one of the souvenir shops. From the castle, we headed for Wein(Vienna). On the way, we crossed over the border from Slovokia to Austria. Before doing so, we stopped at a border shop to purchase an Austrian toll-road sticker for 8 euros. According to "Rick Steves" book, you need one to travel on the expressways or be fined, which can be high. After putting it on the windshild, we drove up to the border guard and gave him our passports and driving licenses. He looked them over and then handed them back to me. He then motioned to me with his hand to continue through the border. As I was putting the car into gear, I noticed the guard looked into the back seat of our car then grinned and laughed. With a big smile on his face, he said something to another guard close by. I think that he was laughing at the 3 sets of underwear briefs Rob had drying in the trunk section of the car. (Note: on our whole trip, we never did see a laundromat.) We drove into Vienna not knowing where we were going. We just followed the signs for "Zentrum". I told Rob to be on the lookout for hotels. We drove for a few minutes when Rob said to me "Here's one". In front of the hotel was a small parking space with enough room for 2 cars. I pulled in the spot and told Rob to go in real fast and ask if they have any available rooms. He came back within 2 minutes and told me they had a room that came with breakfast. I got out of the car and we went in the hotel to get the room. The room came with breakfast and free parking for 120euros per night. We are thinking of staying here for 2 nights. The room is large with 2 queen beds. The room's furniture and atmosphere makes you feel you are back in the 1800's. The TV and noise from the street gives the time-frame away... We went for a walk just looking around the area near the hotel. We found a small grocery store and bought 2 six-packs of beer. We returned to the hotel room and stuck some of the beers in a small refrig that was in the room. The refrig was hidden inside of a desk in the room. We went to dinner at a restaurant that was next to the hotel. It was an Austrian restaurant. Rob and I guessed on the dishes we ordered, we couldn't understand what was on the menu. As it turned-out, our choices were good ones. We both enjoyed what we had ordered. Rob had ordered a breaded chicken cutlet. Mine was a breaded cornbeef cutlet with tripe. Both dishes came with veggies. We paid our bill of 22euros and returned to our hotel room for the evening.
Day 11: Sat Sept 29
We woke up early and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. As usual, another outstanding all-you-can-eat breakfast! After breakfast, we headed out to see Vienna's Old Center. It took about half-an-hour to get there walking from the hotel. We passed famous old buildings and churches, just didn't know the names of them. I think that we passed by a few opera houses. We walked by musuems and open courtyards. A large sports festival was taking place in the courtyard of the New Palace so we weren't able to get good video clips of the palace. We took a tour of the Hofburg Imperial Apartments. Somewhat interesting. Anyways, Rob bought a Vienna hat in the giftshop. I bought a poster of
Sisi(Empress Elisabeth). We saw many horse-drawn carriages on the streets thoughout Vienna. We walked to the "Monument Against War and Fascism". A very interesting monument! From there, we headed back to the hotel. It was a longer walk back due to being tired and hungry. We stopped into a pizza shop down the street from the hotel and ordered a pizza and two beers. After the pizza and beers, it was 5pm. We went back to the room to relax. We watched CNN on the TV and had a few more beers. Around 7:30pm, we walked to an amusement park that was very near the hotel. The name of the park was "Prater". According to the park's brochure, it is the oldest amusement park in the world. It had the largest Ferris wheel that I had ever seen. It also had one of the oldest merry-go-rounds that I've ever seen. There weren't many people walking around the park for a Saturday night. Then again, it's late September and summer is over. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep right away due to the exhausting day we had.
more to come....
Oct 10th, 2007, 10:40 AM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 12: Sun Sept 30, 2007
Again, another outstanding hotel breakfast. We now know that when the hotel asks you at check-in if you want breakfast included, always say yes!!! After leaving our Vienna hotel, we headed for Praha(Prague). We again took the backroads, 2-laners. We reached the Austria/Czech border. The border guard just stamped our passports - this was our 5th country of the trip! He headed north from the border. We reached the town of Jihlava and had to make an emergency stop for a restroom. The town-square was large and guess what was in the middle of it...a McDonald's! It looked like McDonald's was the only thing open in the square for a Sunday morning. After the bathroom break, we felt obligated and ordered lunch at McDonald's. Rob had the McRoyale sandwich(same as a US 1/4 pounder with cheese). I had a salad. We got back on the road but we headed down the wrong 2-lane road. The next major town we wanted to reach was only about 15km away but it took us about an hour and ahalf to get there. Out of Jihlava, we took the wrong 2-lane. We came upon a road detour but decided to continue on past the detour. Big mistake!!! 7 kilometers down the road, we couldn't continue any further, the road only allowed traffic coming from the other way. I noticed a car behind me that backed-up and turned down a different road. We decided to follow that car. Big mistake!!! Don't follow another car especially if they went through the same detour. So we followed him down a small 2-laner that changed into a 1-laner that changed to a smaller 1-laner. He stopped in the road and got out to ask a farmer that was out in a field about 100 yards from the road. The driver ran out about 50 yards asking for directions on how to get by the detour. The farmer and his wife were shouting back directions and giving hand signals, it was interesting to watch. The driver of the car came running back across the field giving me hand gestures to turn around. He turned around and then we turned around. He drove back down the road we just came up for about 200 yards and then made a left turn onto a very small 1-laner dirt road. We both drove down this dirt road for about 300 yards till driver of the other car came upon a gate that was blocking the road. He got out and checked the gate, yup, locked. He then motioned to me to backup and turn around. We did backup and turn around. We headed back down the road we earlier came up not waiting for the other driver. We went back to the detour sign and followed that route till we got to where we wanted to go - an hour and ahalf later!!! Anyways, the countryside that we saw was so beautiful! Was worth the detour catastrophe... We continued north and decided to find a hotel in Havlickuv Brod. What a beautiful town. We found a room at the Hotel U Zlateho Lva. When we entered the hotel, we noticed it had a restaurant on the ground floor and we had to check-in at the restaurant register. For a 2-bed room, it was going for 1650czk a night but because it was Sunday, we could get it for 1150czk. We took it and went to the car to get our bags. We came back and walked through the restaurant to a stairway that lead upstairs. There were 5 rooms upstairs, we had room #2. I opened the door and was so surprised of the interior. This was the best room we've had so far on our trip!!! Everything in the room looked so new. Our bedroom overlooked the town square below. The bathroom looked brand-new. The room had a computer with free internet. Rob and I want to stay here in this town. It's small enough to maybe we can fit in as illegals, become diswashers? The room is so perfect, way above our standard of hotel rooms, way above! We are not worthy.... We then walked around the town for awhile. We returned to the hotel and had a very delicious dinner in the restaurant. (Note: Hans Christian Anderson slept in one of the hotel rooms in 1831.)
more to come...
Again, another outstanding hotel breakfast. We now know that when the hotel asks you at check-in if you want breakfast included, always say yes!!! After leaving our Vienna hotel, we headed for Praha(Prague). We again took the backroads, 2-laners. We reached the Austria/Czech border. The border guard just stamped our passports - this was our 5th country of the trip! He headed north from the border. We reached the town of Jihlava and had to make an emergency stop for a restroom. The town-square was large and guess what was in the middle of it...a McDonald's! It looked like McDonald's was the only thing open in the square for a Sunday morning. After the bathroom break, we felt obligated and ordered lunch at McDonald's. Rob had the McRoyale sandwich(same as a US 1/4 pounder with cheese). I had a salad. We got back on the road but we headed down the wrong 2-lane road. The next major town we wanted to reach was only about 15km away but it took us about an hour and ahalf to get there. Out of Jihlava, we took the wrong 2-lane. We came upon a road detour but decided to continue on past the detour. Big mistake!!! 7 kilometers down the road, we couldn't continue any further, the road only allowed traffic coming from the other way. I noticed a car behind me that backed-up and turned down a different road. We decided to follow that car. Big mistake!!! Don't follow another car especially if they went through the same detour. So we followed him down a small 2-laner that changed into a 1-laner that changed to a smaller 1-laner. He stopped in the road and got out to ask a farmer that was out in a field about 100 yards from the road. The driver ran out about 50 yards asking for directions on how to get by the detour. The farmer and his wife were shouting back directions and giving hand signals, it was interesting to watch. The driver of the car came running back across the field giving me hand gestures to turn around. He turned around and then we turned around. He drove back down the road we just came up for about 200 yards and then made a left turn onto a very small 1-laner dirt road. We both drove down this dirt road for about 300 yards till driver of the other car came upon a gate that was blocking the road. He got out and checked the gate, yup, locked. He then motioned to me to backup and turn around. We did backup and turn around. We headed back down the road we earlier came up not waiting for the other driver. We went back to the detour sign and followed that route till we got to where we wanted to go - an hour and ahalf later!!! Anyways, the countryside that we saw was so beautiful! Was worth the detour catastrophe... We continued north and decided to find a hotel in Havlickuv Brod. What a beautiful town. We found a room at the Hotel U Zlateho Lva. When we entered the hotel, we noticed it had a restaurant on the ground floor and we had to check-in at the restaurant register. For a 2-bed room, it was going for 1650czk a night but because it was Sunday, we could get it for 1150czk. We took it and went to the car to get our bags. We came back and walked through the restaurant to a stairway that lead upstairs. There were 5 rooms upstairs, we had room #2. I opened the door and was so surprised of the interior. This was the best room we've had so far on our trip!!! Everything in the room looked so new. Our bedroom overlooked the town square below. The bathroom looked brand-new. The room had a computer with free internet. Rob and I want to stay here in this town. It's small enough to maybe we can fit in as illegals, become diswashers? The room is so perfect, way above our standard of hotel rooms, way above! We are not worthy.... We then walked around the town for awhile. We returned to the hotel and had a very delicious dinner in the restaurant. (Note: Hans Christian Anderson slept in one of the hotel rooms in 1831.)
more to come...
Oct 10th, 2007, 10:54 AM
#8
Good stuff pretzel, especially since I am visiting next year many of the places you went.
If I could ask one favor. Please divide up into paragraphs to make it a little easier to read. Thanks for the info.
If I could ask one favor. Please divide up into paragraphs to make it a little easier to read. Thanks for the info.
Oct 11th, 2007, 09:37 AM
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 13: Mon Oct 1, 2007
We had breakfast on a patio in front of the restaurant. After breakfast, we walked around the square one more time. The town was alive with many people walking around and cars driving through the square. We hated to leave but we finally left Havlickuv Brod. Before we leaving the town, we stopped at a gas station to purchase a expressway pass that would allow us to drive on the 4-lane roads. We drove for about 15km and entered the expressway. We drove on this for awhile and decided to get back onto a 2-lane road. There is just so much to see on the 2-lane roads.
We came upon a brewery that produced Kozel beer. We stopped and walked up to the main gate to ask if the brewery offered tours. I asked the man in the gatehouse but because of the language differences, we didn't get our tour. We walked away wondering if tours were available. There was a restaurant next to the gatehouse. We went in and had lunch. It looked like it might be the brewery restaurant. I ordered a steak which was very delicious, but expensive. Rob had a cutlet and a beer. We left the restaurant and headed towards Praha on a 2-lane road.
We drove into Praha looking for a hotel. We followed signs for one hotel but drove right by it not even noticing it was there. We got back to the first sign that we noticed and tried again to find the hotel, driving alittle slower. We found Hotel Sanssouci on the second try and stopped to ask if any rooms were available. The hotel is in a nice residental area south of the center of Praha. We had to push the buzzer on the front gate to be let into the hotel. We entered the hotel and were greeted by a very friendly lady. She told us that a room was available and showed us the room. She explained that we could pay by euro, crown or US dollars, which would result in getting a discount. If we paid by credit card, the discount won't apply. She gave us a rate of $125.00(usd) for one night, we decided to stay for 2 nights. So Rob paid her $250.00. The rate included gated parking and of course, breakfast. We drove the car into the small courtyard and unloaded our bags and took them to the room. It was an early night to bed.
Day 14: Tues Oct 2, 2007
Another outstanding hotel breakfast(like I haven't said that before)... After breakfast, we were ready to go out and see Praha! Before leaving the hotel, we bought 2 transportation passes from our hostess of the hotel. The passes were 80 crowns and were good for trams and buses around Praha for 24 hours.
We walked down to the tram stop from the hotel, took about 5 minutes. We got on the tram and got off 9 stops later at Wenceslas Square, about 20 traveling time on the tram. We walked to the Old Town Square and saw the Astronomical Clock. We took the elevator to the top of the Old Town Hall and saw the great views of the city from the top. We then snaked our way down the small streets towards the Manesuv Bridge. Before going over the bridge, we stopped at a small outdoor cafe that was against the bridge facing the Vltava River and ordered 2 beers. From our table, we had an excellent view of the Prague Castle sitting high on a hill. We watched as tour boats went up and down the river. It was a beautiful sunny day and the view from our table was outstanding!!! Before we contined on our walk over the bridge, I had something that I've been wanting to do for a few day. Rob and I had a toast for one of my co-workers - "Carole, this is to you!!!" She had recently passed-away while we were in Krakow. I will miss her but I will never forget her. Peace...
We headed over the bridge towards the castle. Instead of walking up all the stairs to the castle, we took a tram up the hill and got off at the Royal Garden. We walked through the garden towards a small bridge that connects the garden to the castle. We crossed the bridge and walked through the castle. We walked into St. Vitus Cathedral which is within the castle's walls. The cathedral was enormous! We continued walking through the castle towards the steps we by-passed earlier. We went down the steps and headed for Charles Bridge.
On the way to Charles Bridge, we stopped at a restaurant that had a large patio area to sit and eat in. We ordered 2 goulash soups and 2 beers. As we sat waiting for the soups, we munched on some large pretzels that were already on the table when we sat down. The bowls of soup came, also a basket of sliced bread. We ate the soup, occasionally dunking the bread in the soup. When we were finished and ready to leave, we were surprised to see that we were being charged for the 3 pretzels and basket of break we ate. Oh well, the whole lunch only came to 223 crowns.
From the restaurant, we headed to Charles bridge. Walking across the bridge(which is closed to traffic), we noticed vendors selling their goods. We also noticed the bridge had old religious statues every 25 yards or so on each side of the bridge as we walked across. After crossing the bridge, we found a tram that headed towards our hotel. It took about 25 minutes to get back to the hotel.
We got back to our room around 6pm. At 8pm, I went to a Chinese restaurant near by to pick-up some to-go food. Rob was too tired to go. I brought back 2 orders of chicken lo-mein. After eating our Chinese dinner, we went to bed.
more to come....
We had breakfast on a patio in front of the restaurant. After breakfast, we walked around the square one more time. The town was alive with many people walking around and cars driving through the square. We hated to leave but we finally left Havlickuv Brod. Before we leaving the town, we stopped at a gas station to purchase a expressway pass that would allow us to drive on the 4-lane roads. We drove for about 15km and entered the expressway. We drove on this for awhile and decided to get back onto a 2-lane road. There is just so much to see on the 2-lane roads.
We came upon a brewery that produced Kozel beer. We stopped and walked up to the main gate to ask if the brewery offered tours. I asked the man in the gatehouse but because of the language differences, we didn't get our tour. We walked away wondering if tours were available. There was a restaurant next to the gatehouse. We went in and had lunch. It looked like it might be the brewery restaurant. I ordered a steak which was very delicious, but expensive. Rob had a cutlet and a beer. We left the restaurant and headed towards Praha on a 2-lane road.
We drove into Praha looking for a hotel. We followed signs for one hotel but drove right by it not even noticing it was there. We got back to the first sign that we noticed and tried again to find the hotel, driving alittle slower. We found Hotel Sanssouci on the second try and stopped to ask if any rooms were available. The hotel is in a nice residental area south of the center of Praha. We had to push the buzzer on the front gate to be let into the hotel. We entered the hotel and were greeted by a very friendly lady. She told us that a room was available and showed us the room. She explained that we could pay by euro, crown or US dollars, which would result in getting a discount. If we paid by credit card, the discount won't apply. She gave us a rate of $125.00(usd) for one night, we decided to stay for 2 nights. So Rob paid her $250.00. The rate included gated parking and of course, breakfast. We drove the car into the small courtyard and unloaded our bags and took them to the room. It was an early night to bed.
Day 14: Tues Oct 2, 2007
Another outstanding hotel breakfast(like I haven't said that before)... After breakfast, we were ready to go out and see Praha! Before leaving the hotel, we bought 2 transportation passes from our hostess of the hotel. The passes were 80 crowns and were good for trams and buses around Praha for 24 hours.
We walked down to the tram stop from the hotel, took about 5 minutes. We got on the tram and got off 9 stops later at Wenceslas Square, about 20 traveling time on the tram. We walked to the Old Town Square and saw the Astronomical Clock. We took the elevator to the top of the Old Town Hall and saw the great views of the city from the top. We then snaked our way down the small streets towards the Manesuv Bridge. Before going over the bridge, we stopped at a small outdoor cafe that was against the bridge facing the Vltava River and ordered 2 beers. From our table, we had an excellent view of the Prague Castle sitting high on a hill. We watched as tour boats went up and down the river. It was a beautiful sunny day and the view from our table was outstanding!!! Before we contined on our walk over the bridge, I had something that I've been wanting to do for a few day. Rob and I had a toast for one of my co-workers - "Carole, this is to you!!!" She had recently passed-away while we were in Krakow. I will miss her but I will never forget her. Peace...
We headed over the bridge towards the castle. Instead of walking up all the stairs to the castle, we took a tram up the hill and got off at the Royal Garden. We walked through the garden towards a small bridge that connects the garden to the castle. We crossed the bridge and walked through the castle. We walked into St. Vitus Cathedral which is within the castle's walls. The cathedral was enormous! We continued walking through the castle towards the steps we by-passed earlier. We went down the steps and headed for Charles Bridge.
On the way to Charles Bridge, we stopped at a restaurant that had a large patio area to sit and eat in. We ordered 2 goulash soups and 2 beers. As we sat waiting for the soups, we munched on some large pretzels that were already on the table when we sat down. The bowls of soup came, also a basket of sliced bread. We ate the soup, occasionally dunking the bread in the soup. When we were finished and ready to leave, we were surprised to see that we were being charged for the 3 pretzels and basket of break we ate. Oh well, the whole lunch only came to 223 crowns.
From the restaurant, we headed to Charles bridge. Walking across the bridge(which is closed to traffic), we noticed vendors selling their goods. We also noticed the bridge had old religious statues every 25 yards or so on each side of the bridge as we walked across. After crossing the bridge, we found a tram that headed towards our hotel. It took about 25 minutes to get back to the hotel.
We got back to our room around 6pm. At 8pm, I went to a Chinese restaurant near by to pick-up some to-go food. Rob was too tired to go. I brought back 2 orders of chicken lo-mein. After eating our Chinese dinner, we went to bed.
more to come....
Oct 12th, 2007, 01:13 AM
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 15: Wed Oct 3, 2007
Today is my sister's birthday "Happy Birthday Nancy!". It is also Rob's grandma's birthday "Happy Birthday Grandma - Love Rob!".
The same as any other day on the hotel restaurant's breakfast so I won't go there again. After breakfast, we left Praha and headed for Dresden. But we headed in the wrong direction, south. Once we got turned aroung and headed in the right direction, we had lost almost an hour. Prague is a difficult city to get out of, depending on which direction you are traveling. Suggestion: Ask someone for directions to your next destination before you leave your hotel. Anyways, we got on the right road headed in the right direction so we were happy.
From Prague to Dresden were probably some of the best roads we've traveled on yet. The road went from a 2-lane to a 4-lane and from a 4-lane to a 2-lane.
We could see how an interstate/inter-country expressway system will benefit these Eastern Europe countries. Some of the expressways are now being built but more will be needed. It is only a matter of time, we think 10-20 years, that Eastern Europe's cities will be inter-linked by large highways. We see it now, the future highways being built but haven't been linked-up yet.
After WWII, Eisenhower came back to the US and saw how an interstate connected highway system was needed for the US. His dream came true. Rob and I can see how his idea of an interstate highway system can be useful for the countries of Eastern Europe. It is only a matter of time...
We got to Dresden and drove through the city not knowing where we were going. We were only looking for a hotel. During our drive through the city, we noticed old buildings that were abandoned and looked like they had been since the war. These were beautiful looking buildings, damaged too much to be used. These might have been apartment buildings back prior to the war. Most of the buildings had fences around them, some didn't. Does anyone know about these beautiful old buildings?
We finally stopped at a hotel and inquired about a room. They had one room open for the night and we took it. It was 90euros for one night. We had stopped at another hotel 15 minutes earlier but left after finding out a room went for 125euros with no parking. The hotel we found, "Hotel Gutshof Hauber", was only 90euros and came with breakfast and parking. It was located in a quiet neighborhood. After checking in and putting our bags in our room, we went to the restaurant for a quick meal and beers. It was after 4pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.
We couldn't read a thing on the menu. Not even a hint from the German spelling. Our pretty waitress spoke enough English to help us order chicken salads and beers. Actually, the salad had to be one of the best salads I've ever had! Yeah I know, "the best he ever had" but it's true...Later on that evening, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was located across the street from the hotel.
Day 16: Thurs Oct 4, 2007
After breakfast, we headed to an old section of Dresden which was by the Elbe River. It looked like an old castle. We didn't have any brochures about the structures so we couldn't tell what we had seen. We walked around the area for about 2 hours and decided to leave. We then headed towards the airport. We needed to get the rental car back today by the close of the working day. We first stopped at the Best Western Hotel to check-in and put our bags in the room. We then drove to the airport to return the rental car. From there, we walked down the hill to the hotel. Later, we ate dinner in the restaurant hotel. After dinner, we returned to the room to pack ours bags. We had to get up at 4:45am. The hotel shuttle started at 6:30am but we had to leave the hotel at 5:30am. Yup, we were going to have to walk up the hill again in the morning with our packs on our backs.
more to come....
Today is my sister's birthday "Happy Birthday Nancy!". It is also Rob's grandma's birthday "Happy Birthday Grandma - Love Rob!".
The same as any other day on the hotel restaurant's breakfast so I won't go there again. After breakfast, we left Praha and headed for Dresden. But we headed in the wrong direction, south. Once we got turned aroung and headed in the right direction, we had lost almost an hour. Prague is a difficult city to get out of, depending on which direction you are traveling. Suggestion: Ask someone for directions to your next destination before you leave your hotel. Anyways, we got on the right road headed in the right direction so we were happy.
From Prague to Dresden were probably some of the best roads we've traveled on yet. The road went from a 2-lane to a 4-lane and from a 4-lane to a 2-lane.
We could see how an interstate/inter-country expressway system will benefit these Eastern Europe countries. Some of the expressways are now being built but more will be needed. It is only a matter of time, we think 10-20 years, that Eastern Europe's cities will be inter-linked by large highways. We see it now, the future highways being built but haven't been linked-up yet.
After WWII, Eisenhower came back to the US and saw how an interstate connected highway system was needed for the US. His dream came true. Rob and I can see how his idea of an interstate highway system can be useful for the countries of Eastern Europe. It is only a matter of time...
We got to Dresden and drove through the city not knowing where we were going. We were only looking for a hotel. During our drive through the city, we noticed old buildings that were abandoned and looked like they had been since the war. These were beautiful looking buildings, damaged too much to be used. These might have been apartment buildings back prior to the war. Most of the buildings had fences around them, some didn't. Does anyone know about these beautiful old buildings?
We finally stopped at a hotel and inquired about a room. They had one room open for the night and we took it. It was 90euros for one night. We had stopped at another hotel 15 minutes earlier but left after finding out a room went for 125euros with no parking. The hotel we found, "Hotel Gutshof Hauber", was only 90euros and came with breakfast and parking. It was located in a quiet neighborhood. After checking in and putting our bags in our room, we went to the restaurant for a quick meal and beers. It was after 4pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.
We couldn't read a thing on the menu. Not even a hint from the German spelling. Our pretty waitress spoke enough English to help us order chicken salads and beers. Actually, the salad had to be one of the best salads I've ever had! Yeah I know, "the best he ever had" but it's true...Later on that evening, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was located across the street from the hotel.
Day 16: Thurs Oct 4, 2007
After breakfast, we headed to an old section of Dresden which was by the Elbe River. It looked like an old castle. We didn't have any brochures about the structures so we couldn't tell what we had seen. We walked around the area for about 2 hours and decided to leave. We then headed towards the airport. We needed to get the rental car back today by the close of the working day. We first stopped at the Best Western Hotel to check-in and put our bags in the room. We then drove to the airport to return the rental car. From there, we walked down the hill to the hotel. Later, we ate dinner in the restaurant hotel. After dinner, we returned to the room to pack ours bags. We had to get up at 4:45am. The hotel shuttle started at 6:30am but we had to leave the hotel at 5:30am. Yup, we were going to have to walk up the hill again in the morning with our packs on our backs.
more to come....
Oct 12th, 2007, 02:36 AM
#11
hi, pretzel,
wow, what a co-incidence - you have done almost exactly the trip we're thinking about for 2008 [or possibly 2009] but in the opposite direction.
Based on your experiences, would you advise booking hotels in advance?
could you give us the names of the hotels you stayed at?
did you have long enough for your trip?
where would you have stayed/visited if you'd had the choice?
we plan to start in Prague [easiest for us to get to from our nearest airport in the UK] then drive south from there, into Austria, stay in Vienna, then drive up through Slovakia, stay in Krakow, then drive to Dresden, stay there, and back to Prague.
we reckon on taking about a fortnight. is this long enough?
thanks so much for posting this interesting report,
REgards, ann
ps I kept waiting for you to fill up your car with Benzin [german for petrol] - you must have managed it eventually.
it sounds as if knowing some german could be useful!
wow, what a co-incidence - you have done almost exactly the trip we're thinking about for 2008 [or possibly 2009] but in the opposite direction.
Based on your experiences, would you advise booking hotels in advance?
could you give us the names of the hotels you stayed at?
did you have long enough for your trip?
where would you have stayed/visited if you'd had the choice?
we plan to start in Prague [easiest for us to get to from our nearest airport in the UK] then drive south from there, into Austria, stay in Vienna, then drive up through Slovakia, stay in Krakow, then drive to Dresden, stay there, and back to Prague.
we reckon on taking about a fortnight. is this long enough?
thanks so much for posting this interesting report,
REgards, ann
ps I kept waiting for you to fill up your car with Benzin [german for petrol] - you must have managed it eventually.
it sounds as if knowing some german could be useful!
Oct 12th, 2007, 03:13 AM
#12
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 73
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Pretzel: Thanks so much for all the detail you're including in this report of your intrepid travels.
I'm amazed there are not already more responses, so want to encourage you to continue, as this report will be useful to many readers, with its coverage of areas not as frequently traveled.
I'm amazed there are not already more responses, so want to encourage you to continue, as this report will be useful to many readers, with its coverage of areas not as frequently traveled.
Oct 13th, 2007, 03:00 AM
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 17: Fri Oct 5, 2007
Wake-up was at 4:45am. We left the hotel at 5:30am. A slow walk up the hill to the airport. We were too early for the breakfast, damn...
Arrived in Frankfurt. I had to hurry to get my connection. Actually had to run through the airport to make my plane to the US. The plane sat for almost an hour over departure due to having to unload bags for people that didn't make the flight. Huh???
What a great plane, Lufthansa!!! Get service too... I had the seat all the way in the back of the plane. The pilot said that it would be a 10.5 hour flight to Houston from Frankfurt but I think that it was longer. At least it felt longer. I watched movies while on the plane. Ocean's 13 and The Simpson Movie. While watching the Simpson's movie, I had to cover my mouth many times because of laughing out loud. The movie was so funny...
Got to Houston and missed my flight to Phoenix because of being late. So I had to wait 5 hours for the next flight to Phoenix. It was a 2 hour flight but it felt so long. Was glad to touchdown in Phoenix and be home....
Hotels we stayed at: a 5 being great, a 1 being bad.
Best Western, Dresden 4
Motel Mieszko, Opole 2
Motel Maj, Poland 4+
Hotel Europejski, Krakow 3+
Motel Zabornis, Poland 3
Hotel Pol'ana, Zvolen 2
Hotel Turist, Bratislava 2
Hotel Cristall, Vienna 4
Hotel U Zlatecho Lva 5++
Hotel Sanssouch, Prague 4
Hotel Gutshof Hauber 4
Conversion rates while on our trip
09/30/07)
1 US dollar = 19.39 Czech Crown
1 US dollar = 23.841 Slovak Crown
1 US dollar = 2.6528 Polish Zloty
1 US dollar = .70117 Euro
I love to travel. What I enjoy more than this is sharing my experiences with my family, friends and co-workers. I love to hear "I want to do that!"
All it takes is a plane ticket and credit card. See the world.
Ed Ford, Driver
Rob Aumick, Navigator
Wake-up was at 4:45am. We left the hotel at 5:30am. A slow walk up the hill to the airport. We were too early for the breakfast, damn...
Arrived in Frankfurt. I had to hurry to get my connection. Actually had to run through the airport to make my plane to the US. The plane sat for almost an hour over departure due to having to unload bags for people that didn't make the flight. Huh???
What a great plane, Lufthansa!!! Get service too... I had the seat all the way in the back of the plane. The pilot said that it would be a 10.5 hour flight to Houston from Frankfurt but I think that it was longer. At least it felt longer. I watched movies while on the plane. Ocean's 13 and The Simpson Movie. While watching the Simpson's movie, I had to cover my mouth many times because of laughing out loud. The movie was so funny...
Got to Houston and missed my flight to Phoenix because of being late. So I had to wait 5 hours for the next flight to Phoenix. It was a 2 hour flight but it felt so long. Was glad to touchdown in Phoenix and be home....
Hotels we stayed at: a 5 being great, a 1 being bad.
Best Western, Dresden 4
Motel Mieszko, Opole 2
Motel Maj, Poland 4+
Hotel Europejski, Krakow 3+
Motel Zabornis, Poland 3
Hotel Pol'ana, Zvolen 2
Hotel Turist, Bratislava 2
Hotel Cristall, Vienna 4
Hotel U Zlatecho Lva 5++
Hotel Sanssouch, Prague 4
Hotel Gutshof Hauber 4
Conversion rates while on our trip
09/30/07)1 US dollar = 19.39 Czech Crown
1 US dollar = 23.841 Slovak Crown
1 US dollar = 2.6528 Polish Zloty
1 US dollar = .70117 Euro
I love to travel. What I enjoy more than this is sharing my experiences with my family, friends and co-workers. I love to hear "I want to do that!"
All it takes is a plane ticket and credit card. See the world.
Ed Ford, Driver
Rob Aumick, Navigator
Oct 13th, 2007, 06:44 AM
#15
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 4,109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Pretzel, your report was altogether grand! I loved it. Nearly fell off my chair laughing at the part of getting lost down the dirt road detour. Also think that is a good thought: scenic route=I don't know where I am.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
Oct 13th, 2007, 09:36 PM
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Forgot the trip summary:
# of days of our trip: 17
# of countries visited: 5
# of kilometers traveled: 2200
# of hotels/motels we stayed at: 11
# of different currencies we dealt with: 4
# of different beers we tasted: many
# of hours from NY: 6
# of hours from Phoenix: 9
# of US dollars coverted to local currencies: 0 ( ATM cards come in handy)
# of times we paid to use a water closest(public toilet): 2
# of times local people came up to us for help/directions: 5
# of sunny days: 12
# of cloudy days: 5
# of rainy days: 0 (only rained at night on 2 nights)
# of days of our trip: 17
# of countries visited: 5
# of kilometers traveled: 2200
# of hotels/motels we stayed at: 11
# of different currencies we dealt with: 4
# of different beers we tasted: many
# of hours from NY: 6
# of hours from Phoenix: 9
# of US dollars coverted to local currencies: 0 ( ATM cards come in handy)
# of times we paid to use a water closest(public toilet): 2
# of times local people came up to us for help/directions: 5
# of sunny days: 12
# of cloudy days: 5
# of rainy days: 0 (only rained at night on 2 nights)
Oct 13th, 2007, 09:53 PM
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Annhig,
I don't know what a fortnight is.
Our philosphy of travel is never book a room ahead of the trip. What if you don't make it there on time...
Yeah, you might have nights like we did, oh well, enjoy it.....
We learned at the next gas station what benzene was.
I miss Europe. I'm back at work but want to be traveling down the small 2-lane roads. Oh well, maybe next year....
I don't know what a fortnight is.
Our philosphy of travel is never book a room ahead of the trip. What if you don't make it there on time...
Yeah, you might have nights like we did, oh well, enjoy it.....
We learned at the next gas station what benzene was.
I miss Europe. I'm back at work but want to be traveling down the small 2-lane roads. Oh well, maybe next year....
Oct 14th, 2007, 02:09 AM
#18
hi, pretzel,
thanks for the extra details about hotels. I'll be looking them up.
A "fortnight" is two weeks - it's and expression in common usage in the UK.
"two nations divided by a common language" - again.
Regards, ann
thanks for the extra details about hotels. I'll be looking them up.
A "fortnight" is two weeks - it's and expression in common usage in the UK.
"two nations divided by a common language" - again.
Regards, ann
Nov 1st, 2007, 02:34 AM
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Annhig,
Here are the websites to the hotels/motels we stayed at while driving through Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech, and Austria:
www.airporthoteldresden.com
www.motelmieszko.com.pl
www.motelmaj.pl
www.he.pl
www.turist.sk
[email protected]
www.uzlateholva.cz
www.hotelsanssouci.cz
www.hotel-gutshof-hauber.de
A couple of motels didn't have a website, wish they did; our stay at their place was good...
Good luck and have fun on your trip....Ed
Here are the websites to the hotels/motels we stayed at while driving through Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech, and Austria:
www.airporthoteldresden.com
www.motelmieszko.com.pl
www.motelmaj.pl
www.he.pl
www.turist.sk
[email protected]
www.uzlateholva.cz
www.hotelsanssouci.cz
www.hotel-gutshof-hauber.de
A couple of motels didn't have a website, wish they did; our stay at their place was good...
Good luck and have fun on your trip....Ed
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
pantelia
Europe
21
Feb 14th, 2007 11:17 AM
