Day 19, 20, & 21 - Prague

Our beloved Praha!  This city is awesome.  We knew we were in a place filled with multiple histories, when we discovered that even the new parts of this city are hundreds of years old.   Exploring has been fun in this city and the people we have met along this way even more fun.  It started off with some rain and Ines a bit under the weather (she swears she picked up a transmittable virus on a bus ride to Prague).

We ventured out to a famous Czech restaurant for breakfast/lunch, complete with old world wood fixtures, beer mug chandeliers, and a partially toothless man playing old Czech songs on a beautifully ornate yellow accordion.  Half the restaurant's patrons were singing each song with him, moving huge glass mugs joyfully over their heads, sloshing beer here and there.  This is about the point Ines deemed the place not safe to eat, and proceeded not to touch her lunch of ham and cabbage, while Korey the invincible then decided to prove her wrong by eating everything served, and of course he proved to be right.  When Ines felt even more under the weather the next day, she decided it was karma for not eating her Czech food the day before, and has since eaten everything she orders.

One happy encounter during this lunch was a group of Czech men in the corner table opposite us, who while consuming their beer-only lunch,  observed Ines not eating hers, and one of them took it upon himself to come over and talk at us in Czech for about 5 minutes (him speaking no English, us speaking no Czech-lots of hand gestures were obviously involved), gesturing to eat the food and rubbing his belly with a satisfied smile on his face.  Ines then shared Korey's beef goulash dish.  After giving up on communicating with us, he returned to his table only to come back to us as we were preparing to leave, to plant a big kiss on Ines' cheek (she swears he was aiming for her mouth) and the entire table of Czech men then waved us goodbye!

In a successful attempt to watch MSU play Maryland, we ran into a bar owner from Iowa who spends half of his time in Prague running his bar and the other half traveling the world.  He walked us through Prague's love of small business and mom and pop proprietorship, and the four years he has spent within his home-base of Prague.  We shared Jameson shots and beers and had a great time.  Then Ines really got sick and spent a day in bed as Korey wandered the great city of Prague (Ines swears it was the food that made her worse, Korey disagrees).

Ines spent the day recovering and by nighttime was hungry and stir crazy, so we ventured out to find some Mexican food (Ines swears refried beans calm her stomach- total oxymoron and must be ingrained in her upbringing) and found a bar/restaurant near our hotel that specialized in Mexican/American food and was playing the Lions-Packers football game!  Win-Win (and win!  How did they beat the Packers?)!  We also met the owner, who turned out to be from Chicago, who then introduced us to some newlyweds traveling the world that happened to be from Maine!  Our travel doppelgangers.  Small world and what fun.

Ines ate her refried beans for dinner and to Korey's surprise, they worked.  We were up and out early the next day, traversing the entire city on foot.  Our wanderings included the gorgeous Charles Bridge, plenty of side alleys throughout Old Town Prague, and 20 flights of stairs up a tiny winding staircase to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral that overlooks the entire city.  What a wonderful view!

We also had the very great pleasure of attending a midday concert classic at Lobkowicz Palace (a part of the Prague Castle) and listened to a concert full of Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Beethoven, played artfully to perfection by a flautist, violinist, and pianist.  It was incredible!  Our admission to the concert included admission to the museum itself, which is the Lobkowicz family's private collection of art and collectibles.  It turns out that this family's ancestor was a benefactor to art in his time and provided an annual salary to both Mozart and Beethoven to create some of their most notable musical symphonies, which were dedicated to their benefactor, as were the original handwritten musical scores with notes!  It was incredible to see Beethoven's 5th Symphony, in his own writing, complete with ink smudges and self-corrections!

Things we learned. 1)  Ines swears Korey's stomach is invincible, and is betting on Asia disrupting his theory, 2)  Who knew refried beans can calm a stomach?  Do not try this at home unless you are from New Mexico, and 3) Ines' Kilimanjaro training continues, this time with a daunting stair climb.

We're thinking of booking him for the wedding!

Ines feeling better, roaming around in Wenceslas Square

Great view of Prague Castle and Lobkowicz Palace

Ines' panorama skills on display from Charles Bridge

It was sunny!  Haven't seen a ton of that in recent weeks, Ines wasn't complaining

The ending of the concert, closed with a little Bach

Beethoven's 5th Symphony!    (fellow music nerds will recognize the intro...)

Twilight Praha in all it's splendor

View from the top of St. Vitus Cathedral, surprised there isn't Ines' drops of sweat on the lens!

Old Town Square at dusk

 The Prague Astronomical clock

What a great day!

Day 15, 16, 17, & 18 - Copenhagen and travel, travel, travel

Sorry for the delay in posting!  We have had quite an adventure over the last couple of days.  Planes, trains, buses, and most frequently, our very own feet have taken us throughout Scandinavia.  We most recently found our way to the lovely city of Copenhagen, Denmark!

We were lucky enough to do quite a bit of sightseeing in Copenhagen, starting with the Carlsberg Brewery, which is the fourth largest brewer of beer in the world.  We learned about the Jacobsen family that started the business as a local brewer and how they turned their product into a 9.5 Billion dollar business (Ines is trying to insert that this was just as much educational as it was thirst quenching).  We also visited the famous Mermaid statue, donated by the Carlsberg family, who were dedicated to purchasing art and placing it in public spaces for all to enjoy.

We then made our way to the Rosenborg Castle, where the previous King Christian IV and V and their Queens of Denmark lived, with an impressive preserved interior, complete with wall tapestries depicting the Denmark-Sweden war and royal life.  Ines was also very taken by the collection of Royal jewels, including crowns, jewelry, swords dripping in gold an precious stones, still used by the current monarchy today.  This quickly led to jewelry shopping for Ines in the heart of Copenhagen, and oh yes, she bought a pair of shoes, too.  Korey may not be able to go two weeks without sports, but Ines can't go three without buying a pair of shoes.  We are now even.

That evening we shared a meal in Malmo, Sweden before traveling back to Oslo to catch our flight the next morning.  This meal was worth noting, as hands down we have scored it as the best meal we have ever had, ever.  Kockska Huset was the perfect blend of Scandinavian food with French cuisine influence, and was two stories underground in this massive wine cellar-looking space.  We both tasted Reindeer for the first time, which is undeniably unlike any meat either one of us had ever had, and Korey lamented afterward that he couldn't believe he ate Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (his favorite childhood character), and how good it tasted.

We had but a night back in Oslo, and visited the National Museum of Art, where we saw a wide collection of original Art from Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, and the famous Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch.  What a treat!  At dinner that night, we received notice that our flight had been cancelled due to a airline employee strike on Lufthansa airlines, and had to, for the first time in this adventure, go off our travel itinerary and form a new plan.

So a plane, a bus, two instances of stepping in dog poo, and a 16 hours of travel time later, we find ourselves in Prague, Czech Republic (with a brief stop in Munich for a german sausage and sauerkraut lunch).  We are currently flying by the seat of our pants, planning out our adventures day by day.  We would love your tips and itineraries as we work to plan out our travel to Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Turkey!  We are days away from each of these places and need your wisdom.

Things we learned:  1) The Eurail travel pass is amazing, truly amazing.  From long distances to just trips to the airport, completely worth the cost  2) It is totally possible to wake up in one country, have lunch in another, and go to sleep in a third, all within 24 hours!, 3) We have about 20 more countries to travel to from here, which means Ines will likely come home with another 5 pairs of shoes....great.

Korey's favorite childhood toy, based in Denmark!

 

The elephant is a significant icon throughout Denmark

The largest unopened beer collection in the world (over 16,000), at the old Jacobsen brewery within Carlsberg.  Korey was impressed

Ariel!  Where is Sebastian?  Maybe because this is the one still owned by Carlsberg

The Jacobsen Christmas Ale was fantastic!  Both educational and thirst quenching

Ines' dramatic photo of the Rosenborg Castle.  No pictures allowed of the jewels!

Downtown Copenhagen

Ines getting all Euro with her shoes.  Sigh...

Edvard Munch's "The Scream."  One of 4 he made, pretty great to see in person

Ines reading up on our next destination on the train.  Flying by the seat of our pants!

Days 12, 13, & 14 - More Stockholm!

Hej from the land of Vikings, Seaman, and Ship Craftsman!  Stockholm is a living example of its history and legacy, with winding cobblestone streets, remnants of an underground culture of vikings past, and original architecture that appears virtually unharmed by past wars.  Today Stockholm's streets are filled with cafe's, restaurants, bars, and trinket shops filled with traditional Swedish clog shoes and Scandinavian wool sweaters with nordic color patterns.

A cappuccino anyone?  This city is so easy to travel within.  We walked across different neighborhoods, all connected by walking paths, and each street a stone's throw away from a café serving the best tasting espresso and cappuccinos (Anne, they definitely serve Italian espresso!).  One of our favorite stops in this town was the Vasamuseet, holding an impressively large and intact warship built hundreds of years ago to fight in the Sweden-Poland War in the 1600's, only to sink upon its maiden voyage (Sweden's very own Titanic!).  The art and craftsmanship alone was worth the viewing, as was the engineering of the ship itself.  The history put it over the top!

We also loved the Alfred Nobel museum, highlighting all of the years Nobel prize winners.  We left the museum with mixed emotions, inspiration to achieve something greater than oneself and a realization that right now we are a couple of travel bums, specks drifting in the wind of the countries we visit.  We both left the museum pondering what our contribution to society might likely be.  We ended our evening with a date night including some of the best sushi....ever.  Loved the mushroom dumplings.

A treat of the trip was the AIK hockey game.  Stockholm's very own, challenged by one of Sweden's many other hockey teams from Tingsryd.  The crowd put the fan in fantastic as they chanted and sang the team's song and catch phrases as they supported the team enthusiastically until the very end of a well fought one goal game. Unfortunately AIK lost, but Korey was so happy to fulfill his sport withdrawal (it only took two weeks-for those of you who bet how long Korey could go without sports, its two weeks-let Ines know who wins the bet!).  Although, it could have been a bit sooner because Korey went to great lengths to catch the MSU-Nebraska college football game, and with the time difference, it put him searching for a bar that carried ESPN and would be open from 1am to 4am.  No luck though, he had to settle for an online radio accounting of the game.  And luckily he fell asleep before the horrible ending...

We ended our journey with a traditional Swedish dinner with our new friend Mel.  It included "Pelikan's Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce and Lingonberries", "Baked Swedish Rainbow Trout", and traditional "Toast Skagen", which is a fresh shrimp salad on grilled toast that is amazingly delicious.  For those of you that have ever had a meal at Ikea, it pales in comparison.

Today is a travel day, as we take the Eurorail from Stockholm, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark.  We are truly impressed with Stockholm and it's people, history, and amazingly efficient and great metro and transportation infrastructure.

Things we learned:  1) Korey has an immediate and truly amazing command of railways, tramways, and underground metro ways!  He looks at maps once and is able to magically navigate us across multiple countries and throughout these cities with perfection!, 2) Korey misses his sports!  As he leaned over to Ines to ask if she missed the US, she knew immediately he was projecting, thinking of his sports and missing them.  More to come on this topic as we travel for another....five....months.

One of the most photographed spots in Stockholm.  Stortorget in the heart of Gamla Stan.

Good 'ol Alfred, what a guy

Alfred's will and testament, putting forth a legacy of good

Vasa in all its glory and perfectly preserved

The hull of Vasa.  Lots of hard work for it to sink on its maiden voyage...

Aifur!  A viking themed 2-story underground restaurant that was fantastic

Ines, the lovely maiden, enjoying a glass of grog

A tiny arena, but that didn't stop a loud fan base.  Sweden really appreciates its hockey!

Day 10 & 11 - Bergen, Norway & start of Stockholm, Sweden

We love Norway!  We found our way to the western town of Bergen, Norway after our adventurous drive and Korey found a great little bar with dark wood and bookshelves filled with leather bound books in Norwegian to stop for an adult beverage after a long travel day.  Then Ines took the lead and immediately found the hipster neighborhood, where we drank local beers while sifting through vinyl records from around the world and spent the evening listening to Norwegian pop, indie, and electronic music.  Check out Comet Kid, Ines declared them her favorite.  

The next day we walked around the bustling town of beautiful Bergen.  We found our way to their port, where streets lined with original and very weathered buildings stand.  Many of them were clearly leaning one way or another in the Bryggen area, but cafés, shops, and bars occupied them all.  Korey thoroughly researched the safety of the architecture before Ines was cleared to go in and walk around.  Bergen overall was one of our favorite cities ever, and we wish we would have known and planned to spend more time there!

A quick evening flight brought us into Stockholm, Sweden (can you believe it took us 7 hours to cross Norway by car and only 70 minutes to fly from western Norway all the way to Stockholm, Sweden!).  That is truly how curvy and scenic the roads of Norway’s Fjords proved to be.  

We were lucky to have connected with friends of friends, Nel and Mel, who have been living in Stockholm for a total of 5 years (Thanks Ray and Laura!) who met us for a traditional Swedish breakfast of Muesli and yogurt, breakfast sandwiches, and cappuccinos.  Ines thinks the food options are amazing in Sweden, as they present you with an array of options of how to have your meal (lactose free yogurt and milk!).  Nel gave us the skinny on Stockholm and greater Sweden, and Mel walked around with us through different neighborhoods, giving us the history of Stockholm and pointing out all of the wonderful sights and things to do during our stay.  We then spent the rest of day walking around, catching the sights, and ordering what Korey thought were very complicated specialized food orders, with each one delivered perfectly to Ines. 

Finally, with Ines leading the charge, she immediately found the hipster neighborhood in Stockholm were she perused through vintage stores and we again found our way to an adult beverage accompanied by perusing Swedish vinyl records, where we met a guy from Sweden who spent his first 10 years growing up in Minneapolis!  He talked our ears off in English and seemed so excited to recount to us his Minnesota youth experience.  

What we learned:  1) We logged over 27K steps/12 miles on one day, and didn’t even realize it!, proving Ines can condition herself for Mt. Kilimanjaro, 2) Ines has some pretty advanced hipster neighborhood radar, who knew!

Beautiful gazebo in the heart of Bergen

 

Korey chilling with a cherry cola in downtown Bergen

Bryggen, Bergen

Pretty much twins!

Alley between the buildings of Bryggen, technically they're not supposed to be touching...

Nel and Mel!  Thanks again!  This is the cool old part of Stockholm, Gamla Stan.  Ray and Laura have officially been requested to visit Stockholm

Another cute couple pic on a bridge overlooking Stockholm, Sweden

Great view of Stockholm from Djurgården island

Ines showing her walking legs are holding up okay in Stockholm!

Days 7, 8, & 9 - Last day in Iceland, travel to Norway & Fjords

Farewell Iceland, Velkommen to Norway!  A day of rest does these two bodies some good.  We spent our last day in Iceland leisurely making our way back to Reykjavik, touring the Dyrholeay natural cliff rock formation, plus the Seljalandfoss and Skogafoss waterfalls.  Both were impressive and we walked right up to the waterfalls without hesitation.  Korey even ventured into and behind one of the waterfalls, with about 100 middle-school aged British schoolchildren (Ines watched from the car, warming her fingers and toes).  

The next day was supposed to be our first laundry day, but we quickly discovered that laundromats cannot be found in Iceland, and hotel laundry service runs about $40 US per load!  No fuss, after getting into Oslo, Norway the following day we were able to find a University area laundry where Ines stayed nice and warm flipping through a stack of traditional Norwegian cookbooks while Korey melted in the heat of a million dryers going at once.

Off to the Fjords in western Norway we went the next morning, this time in a fancy Volvo that only used a third tank of gas over a 7 hour drive (had us thinking this MIGHT be Ines’ next car until Korey pointed out it isn’t made in Michigan).  Ines gives her Hyundai, Talulah Rose, six months before Korey exchanges it for a Jeep!  Sorry Talulah!  The Fjords were amazing.  Truly.   Norwegian houses scattered through the rolling hills landscape and up into the heights of the rocks.  Clouds hanging so low you can see both the tops and the bottoms of each cloud hanging just above the rooftops along the villages.  We also passed underneath, and I truly mean underneath, mountain after mountain, through tunnels each one with their own unique name, and some miles long, all evidence of the careful Norwegian engineering.  There was one where we went over a huge bridge, directly into an 8 km long tunnel, and then there was a roundabout deep in the tunnel itself that split off into more tunnels!  It was truly amazing landscape and highly recommended.  A bit scary along the way (although Ines slept through the scary parts, including the signs that warned of falling roadside rocks and miles long tunnels).  A must see for anyone planning to travel to Norway in the future.

Things we learned along the way; 1) If you travel to Iceland, bring plenty of clean clothes! and 2) Korey may not like heights, but Ines definitely does not like miles long enclosed spaces in the heart of a mountain; 3) Norwegians are very nice and we picked out some nice places to return to ski.

The winds coming off the ocean near Vik made it so Ines could barely stand!

Dyrholaey was a spectacular site.  This picture doesn't do the size of it justice

Skogafoss waterfall, and Korey.  The waterfall is cooler

Ines playing in the caves formed by Skogafoss

The view from behind Seljalandfoss waterfall

Yep

Coming out of one of the tunnels in western Norway, with another mountain staring you in the face

A beautiful bridge, then right into a mountain for 8 km.  Quite the driving experience

Day 5 & 6 - Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss, & the start of Vik

Our Iceland adventure continues!  We have ventured out in our tiny grey european rental car (we say tiny because it seems like all Icelanders drive SUVs that have raised chassis and tires taller than Ines).  We were lucky enough to have the most beautiful weather.  We toured the central regions to see the most picturesque landscape Iceland has to offer.  The photos below do not begin to demonstrate the wonder of what we viewed in person.

We started with the national park of Thingvellir, which provided a huge and gorgeous scenic Iceland landscape.  Not far from there was the "Geysir".  It's the mother of all geysers because it is the original geyser that named all others.  Unfortunately it is no longer active, although just a few steps away another geyser called Strokkur (video below) provided us with a hot droplet shower every ten minutes (you would think we were kids in a candy store, so excited every time the geyser blew its boiling hot water droplets all over us).  Safe to say no scalding burns were suffered, although Korey failed to wear his waterproof shoes so he was dancing around while walking trying to avoid the water pools.  

The most spectacular scene was the Gullfoss waterfall, allowing us to get so close to the edge of the waterfall we could almost see the pot of gold at the end of the beautiful rainbow the waterfall created with its water spray.  Korey says it rivals that of Niagara Falls (and doesn't have the commercialism surrounding it...), and Ines made him promise she could form her own judgement on that fact when we return to the US.  You might ask, "How were these two able to cover so much distance and see so many sights in a day?", well, we beat the tourist lines - human cattle herding - and saved some Icelandic Krona by buying breakfast and lunch at the city supermarket (actually just a market, "super"-market is really an American term) and eating in the car between destinations (thanks Ines!).   

The next day was filled with rest and relaxation due to inclement weather (36 degrees and 25 mph winds!).  As Korey's father would say, we decided to "pit under the yellow" and took to the local restaurants in Vik, trying different Icelandic foods.  Korey "let" Ines try them all and guess what they were, then confirm the guess with waitstaff, before trying himself.  We know who the adventurous eater is in the family!  

Things we learned.  1) Cured lamb jerky is delicious! (according to Ines, Korey liked it better after he knew what it was), and 2) We both can make it about 6 days of go, go, go before needing to sleep in till noon.

The landscape and area around Thingvellir.  Zoom in if you can to get the whole effect of the mountains and surrounding area

The original geyser!  Geysir takes years off at a time before erupting

Strokkur erupting!  Nice timing Korey

 

Gullfoss falls in all its glory!

Standard cute couple photo plug

A panorama standing at the edge of Gullfoss, showing how it falls multiple levels.  Zoom in again if you can!

Enjoying Iceland's finest (only?) scotch Flóki after a long travel day