Reset search
B&T Europe 2017B&T Europe 2017
SatelliteEdit route

B&T Europe 2017

September - October 2017
A 23-day adventure by Brooke and Tyler Read more
  • 27footprints
  • 7countries
  • 23days
  • 124photos
  • 0videos
  • 10.9kkilometers
  • 8.9kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 9

    Berlin Birthday

    September 23, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We woke up this morning in Berlin on my birthday! Brooke had a card already ready for me that she brought all the way from Calgary, so thoughtful. We headed downstairs to have breakfast with the whole family, what a treat. I was also really happy to see that Rae had finally made it in safe to Berlin last night. Breakfast was a wide selection hotel buffet with plenty of options. I even quickly noticed that they had prosecco available, so why not have a mimosa with breakfast? It's my birthday after all!

    After breakfast, Brett headed out to do his final training run, just a short 3km jog (sounds like plenty to me). The rest of us geared up for the day and headed out to go on a city bus tour (hop on/hop off type with audio descriptions). I likely am starting to catch a bit of the cold that Brooke has and was also feeling run down at the start of today. At any rate, I wasn't quite in the mood yet for selfies when Brooke suggested it (since it was the first time wearing our new Blue Jays hats), but I slowly warmed up to it since we "have" to take selfies.....I'm getting off topic...city tour! The tour was overall really good, we got to see a widespread look at Berlin with all the major sites, but obviously nothing detailed and up close. The route was slightly adjusted because of the marathon route and finish line being set up, but we saw nearly everything. At times it was hard to pay attention to the audio descriptions, but it was still good to get a sense of the overall city.

    Once we completed the circuit, we got off the bus and the girls went immediately to shop at the flagship Nivea store. They seem to sell some products that you rub on your face and make you smell weird, I don't really understand it. Mostly stood outside with Dad as we waited for them to finish. Brooke bought some hand lotion and lip stuff for her staff members (she also thinks the store clerk didn't charge her for 2 out of 3 of the lip things, good work Brooke!). We then zipped over to the hotel to drop off the purchases and a quick free bathroom break.

    Next up we walked over to the Brandenburg Gate to take in the sight and grab some pictures. This monument will be right near the end of the marathon tomorrow and we won't have a chance of getting a good look at it. So it was a good thing we did it today. Grabbed a quick lunch of bratwurst by the gate and then walked over to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

    The holocaust memorial (Proper name: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) consists of 2711 cement blocks/columns that are all of different heights. The ground is also not level. The effect of all of this is that in the center (where the ground is lower and the blocks are taller), you feel trapped. In the middle of the memorial, it would be easy enough to lose the person you're travelling with (and of course I was weaving in and out, trying to sneak behind people). The girls then entered the information center which lies below the memorial to what is a small but very powerful holocaust museum. There is a timeline of events leading from initial persecution of the Jewish people to full extermination. Another room consisted of notes from holocaust victims that were later found and translated. Where possible, the note would include a caption about who wrote the note and what is known to have happened to them thereafter. Of course, to think that these are the brief stories of just a few of the 5.5-6 million people murdered is almost unbelievable. I probably could have spent even more time there, although it is really quite overwhelming. There is also a room where they read the names and brief bios of people that were killed.

    Once the girls finished off at the Memorial, I suggested that we should head over to Legoland! I had noticed this on the tour bus and thought why not check it out since it was my birthday. The whole family was on board and we headed out towards the area of Potsdam Platz. When we got to the entrance I found out that you had to have a child with you to go in (didn't even count that it was my birthday or that I was acting like a child earlier). This is entirely because it is a "Discovery Center" that is geared 100% towards children. Darn.

    In the area we were able to catch a bit of racing happening on the main road. The marathon route is already set up and they have a couple of events happening today with the mini-marathon (~4km and it looked like only youth were running) and the roller blading marathon (literally a bunch of people racing the route on roller blades).

    Once we finished watching some racing and practicing some cheering for tomorrow, we walked over to Checkpoint Charlie where one of the crossings between West and East Berlin during the Cold War was located. Along the street they have a series of panels to read about the entire Cold War events, the Berlin Wall, and the escape attempts into West Berlin throughout the years. There was a lot of history to recall and I definitely learnt some new facts about the Cold War. I found it very fascinating to read it all and the fact that we were standing right there where it all occurred. And to think that this all happened not so long ago in the grand scheme of things. I also confirmed that I am a very slow reader as everyone else got way ahead of me, so much that Mom and Rae headed back to do some shopping while I was only halfway through. That's all right, I think I just take it in more thoroughly (so Brooke tells me 😉). There was also a cool map that showed the entire perimeter that the Berlin Wall took up. And they had the original patrol gate of Checkpoint Charlie, but it felt a little hokey being right outside a McDonald's.

    It was getting a little chilly out so Dad, Brooke, and I walked back to the hotel. Had a quick stop in a bakery because Brooke wanted to buy me a birthday treat, which ended up being a donut and a hot coffee. At the hotel we warmed up, had a short rest, and changed for dinner. By the time we left, it was fully raining out and we all walked over to the restaurant each under an umbrella.

    The restaurant was German cuisine with more beer to try, all right! Seems like we didn't grab the name of the restaurant since Brett picked this one out and we just went with the flow. Regardless it was great as a birthday dinner! I enjoyed the pork knuckle again (couldn't finish it), Mom had a deer goulash, and everyone else had schnitzel. We shared more of our stories from our previous week and heard about Rae's experiences of dining over in France and Spain. Our waiter had the funniest way of saying yes of course to all of our requests. Every time we ordered something his response was "ok fine" as if he was saying "if you must, I guess......😔." I'm sure we'll be making fun of it throughout the trip.

    Walking back to the hotel, it was raining hard and we had to avoid lots of puddles in the street. Time for a good sleep since tomorrow morning will be very busy. (Hopefully Brett is already asleep as I type this. Good luck Brett!!!)

    Tyler & Brooke    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 10

    Berlin Marathon

    September 24, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Today was marathon day!! Brett was off to the race early this morning and we didn't see him at breakfast... I'm going to ask him to recount his experience of the race later but this post will be our perspective on it.

    The rest of our group had breakfast at 7:30, finalizing the details of our spectator tour for the day. Kelly and Tyler had two options for the route but they chose the one that spread out the viewings the most.

    We walked north from our hotel to the 8km marker. We got there a bit early and got to see the wheelchair and recumbent bike athletes go by first (really amazing to use arm strength alone for the marathon). Next were the olympians followed pretty closely by Brett! It was lots of fun to cheer him on all morning and I think we all got a bit emotional. As soon as he passed by, we were starting a race of our own to make sure we got to the next stop in enough time.

    Did I mention that it was raining? If not, it's safe to say that if I don't mention the weather, then default is rain. We rushed down into the train station because Tyler spotted the correct train was already there. I was running after him and completely fell right before the door to the train. It was like sliding into a base (which for the record I've probably never done before). Mostly impacted my derrière and my left elbow. Very quickly assessed that nothing was broken (would have definitely hurt more if I had).

    We took the U bahn south to next view him at km 19. More cheering in our Canadian gear ensued. After that, we headed back to the subway (albeit a bit more cautiously). We took the U Bahn further west and exited at km 32. We were a bit concerned that time was tight and we didn't want to miss him so we ran close to one km opposite of the race path. We passed the Olympians as they went by before settling on a spot to stop and watch for Brett. We hadn't fully informed him of our location plans and I'm not sure if he expected us at that area. After he passed, it was back to the train.

    Next we had to take the S bahn east with a connection to our intended last viewing point. The first train came quickly in 2 minutes. We were disappointed to see the next train for our connection would be in 15 minutes. Calculating from where Brett was on the track and how long our commute would take, we knew it would be tight.

    The train took us to the Brandenburg station where we ran to catch Brett one more time before the end of the race. We were ready about 3 minutes before he passed by... phew!

    Following that we headed at a leisurely pace to the "family reunion area." After a few minutes, Brett joined us in his silver Berlin marathon poncho. A personal best time of 2:36:35. Incredible!

    We walked to Berliner Republik for the customary post-race beer with Brett. A much deserved liter of Paulaner! I tried a Zwick'l at the suggestion of Brett's friend Stephan who now lives in Berlin. It was yummy! We had lunch there (Tyler's turn to have roulade and I had soup and sausages).

    We headed back to the hotel for a brief rest so Brett could shower. I made the mistake of actually having a nap and really struggled to get up and go. The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing bits of the Berlin Wall. We took the subway to the East Side Gallery, a long stretch of murals representing the wall. There were some very interesting sections. We then decided to head to the north segment of wall. They also have a memorial to the victims of the wall there and we spent some time reading the posted information. By this point, all of us were pretty tired and so we went back to the hotel for another brief rest before dinner. We had our last German meal at the Augustiner beer hall. I ended up having salad but Tyler is still going strong on the German food (Goulash and spaetzle). When we finished dinner it was already quite late and so we headed to bed. A busy last day in Berlin before our journey to Prague tomorrow!!!    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 10

    Brett's Perspectives on the Marathon

    September 24, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Awesome time!!! That, and:

    - flattest marathon I've ever done, even moreso than the Saskatoon race! A few little inclines going over canals, but that's it. Also, basically no wind at all, totally still! Even with it being a full loop course.
    - it was lightly raining / misting for a good portion of the race, which was likely a damper on performance - traction, clothes taking water, puddle-dodging. But, made the most of it!
    - there were musical acts everywhere, which always helps with keeping spirits up. Mostly brass bands, but some rock ones too. The highlight was a choir of 6-8 people playing 3 m horns that like yodelers use up in the mountains - alpine horns? Not sure of the name - and they were all playing various notes in tune.
    - there were spectators for basically the whole course, out even in the rain. Got lots of "Go Brett!" cheers. Some people were cheering and playing music from their upper apartments.
    - great neighbourhoods and landmarks to see - you go around the Victory Column at the very beginning, later go by the Reichstag and TV Tower, eventually through Potsdamer Platz and through the Brandenburg Gate to finish. Lots of tall, nice churches too. Probably should have savoured the Gate a bit more, though did turn around after going through to appreciate it. I was about ready to be done by then, which brings me to:
    - my pace...got slower as I went. After the runners spread out, I held the target 3:30 min/km pace ok for the first 10 km or so, but then with the rain and I think the fact that that's just too fast a pace for me to hold that long, it gradually dropped so that it was tough to stay below 4:00. Maybe I could have made my form a bit better, but it was just so hard to keep the pace going. By the last 10 km my legs were really stiff and hurting, it's never really gotten that way before.
    - but, pushed through, stayed upright & strong through the finish line and still got a personal best by more than 4 minutes! Was close to breaking into tears as I often am at finish lines, gave the mascot a big bear hug. Got my refreshments, my non-alcoholic beer (they're pretty common here, was actually pretty refreshing - don't worry, had plenty of real beer that day too), and met the family, as well as my friend Stephan who lives here.
    - it was so great having all of them out here, getting through these races just wouldn't be the same or as doable without that. And, it was an amazing, well-put together race in a great city with a huge crowd turnout. Not sure what's next, I think I'll try the lottery entry for the London 2019 race, though I'll look into Tokyo's entry requirements too - if I can use this Berlin result, maybe I should while it's valid! At the beer hall dinner afterwards, met a group of Hong Kong runners, and one of them had gotten a special medal today acknowledging she'd done all 6 Majors - motivation to keep pursuing the other 2!

    Brett out.    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 11

    Journey to Prague

    September 25, 2017 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Today we left Berlin and journeyed over to Prague. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet making sure to enjoy all of our favourites (Brooke loved the fig mustard with a variety of soft cheeses and a pretzel bun........I had 3 of the small little donuts). Then we had to pack everything up and be downstairs by 8:45 for bus call.

    We had previously arranged car service transportation to Prague through the travel agent and our driver showed up right on time. His name was Martin and we later found out that he lives in Prague, driving all the way to Berlin this morning to pick us up. The vehicle was a large van that comfortably seated the 6 of us with luggage. Oddly enough, Brett, Rae, and I ended up in the middle seat all together - just like road trips back to Saskatchewan in Dad's Acura. However this time we had way more elbow space and managed to not annoy each other during the trip (it most certainly wasn't because we're more mature now). Everybody spent the drive reading or napping. Rae and I watched a bit of the live action Beauty and the Beast on the ipad. At one point Brooke, Mom, Brett, and Rae were all sleeping, and I was right in the middle, so I played a bit of Zelda by myself, perfect! Brett and I also played a 2-player co-operative game and enjoyed it. After Brooke woke up from a solid nap she read more of her book, A Woman in Berlin (which she is really enjoying).

    We arrived safely in Prague and pulled up to the Augustine Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel that used to be a monastery for monks and has been converted into a hotel. The room is very homey and spacious. After a short moment to get settled we all met down in the lobby and headed out into the old city. We walked down towards Charles Bridge. This is the old famous bridge in Prague open only to pedestrians. Obviously it is very touristy and filled with people. The views from the bridge are spectacular and you can really take in the beauty of Prague. Hopefully we will learn more about the bridge tomorrow!

    Walking through the narrow streets and looking somewhere for lunch, we landed on Cafe Lippert which was right in the Old Town Square. The prices were definitely jacked up for being in a touristy area but we did have a wonderful view of the square for our first meal in Prague. Brooke had a duck thigh risotto and I actually had a salad for once but with smoked duck breast. The beer options were Urkell and Kozel (which seem to be the two main beers available here). Going down to the bathrooms was incredibly interesting because it was quite deep below the main level and you could see all of the stone and brick support structures.

    After lunch Rae, Mom, and Dad headed out on their own to go to a regular mall to shop for some basic clothes for Rae. Brett, Brooke, and I headed off to see some sights and do some shopping. Brett had a couple of main areas that he had in mind so we headed off in the direction of one of them. Along the way I spotted a shop with some intricate Czech Easter eggs, which Brooke thought were really cool and planned to maybe come back later. Going further along we came to the Havelske Trziste which was a number of market stall shoppes in a row over a two block section. They were selling anything from junky souvenirs to fresh fruit. Some of the items that caught our eye were a goulash spice mixture and these paintings of the city (Brooke is on a mission to find a piece of artwork while we are in Prague).

    Carrying on we found our way to Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske Namesti) which is one of the main city squares and is named after Saint Wenceslas (who was indeed looking out). The square is really a wide long boulevard with shops and interesting architecture on both sides. Brett had done some research on the whole area and was pointing out interesting facts wherever he could. We walked all the way to the end where the large statue of Saint Wenceslas on a horse is and then headed back the other way. Brett then took us on an impromptu self guided walking tour from his travel book and we saw a couple of different areas including a garden that was really close to the main area but felt so quite and peaceful. At the end we tried some honey mead and ended up buying a bottle to take home :)

    We then started meandering our way back towards the bridge but were popping into multiple shops to look at the souvenir glass work. We ended up going back to the store we stopped at earlier and Brooke got a few of the Czech Easter eggs and I found a cool wooden puzzle game that looks similar to a Rubik's cube with multiple moving parts. We found our way back to the bridge and crossed back over towards the hotel.

    Next up was to find some pastries for dessert. Walking around earlier I had noticed a spiral pastry that was being made right on the street called trdelnik (roll the r). It is originally probably from Romania but it sounds like it is common in European countries around this area. It is made by rolling dough around a pit and then cooking it over an open flame. The outside is then coated with a sugar mixture. Not wanting to make the same mistake as in Rothenburg, during lunch I found some wifi and looked up someone's posting about the best trdelnik in Prague. I located the highest rated one on the map and we headed off for the afternoon. I am glad that I made a point of doing this because they were everywhere and I wanted to try the best one! The store we were looking for was called Creperie U Kajetana and it was supposed to be on a road west of one of the church squares. We found the correct road but were starting to get a bit testy with each other since we were walking up a steep incline, had to be back soon, and didn't know where the shop was. Thankfully offline Google Maps came to the rescue and we were only about 200m away! We quickly found the store and ordered two trdelnik, Brooke had cinnamon on the outside and I had mine coated with caramel in the inside. They were delicious, piping hot freshly made, and totally worth seeking out. The taste was similar to a scuffle and was very filling. There is also a less traditional option of ice cream or whipped cream inside the dough, but maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

    Quick rest back at the hotel and then it was off to dinner. We chose a place that was recommended by our driver Martin earlier called Bedesa and just a short walk away from the hotel. This was a more local restaurant and the beer prices reflected that, very cheap! Brooke had a gnocchi dish and I had a pulled pork shoulder with sauerkraut. Very good so much that we would almost want to go back there tomorrow.

    After dinner we walked back down to Charles Bridge to check out the view of the city at night time. A lot of the buildings are lit up and you get an incredible view of the city. I tried to take a couple of cell phone pictures, but the quality was not good and could not do the view justice. We all just stood there and took it all in. Prague is very beautiful and the view was really breathtaking.

    We finished off our night at the hotel bar to sample the specialty St. Thomas beer that is specific to the hotel we are staying at and was originally made by the monks. It was a dark beer that was a nice change of pace from all the German pilsners and lagers we have been drinking. While we were enjoying our night cap we listened to the classical music piece The Moldau by Smetana. Mom had realized that the piece was referring to the river that runs through Prague and explained how the music captures the different areas that the river flows by and then changes key when it opens up into the ocean. Lovely.

    Now we need to get some rest as we have a full day of activity planned for tomorrow in Prague.

    Tyler and Brooke    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 12

    One of my new favorite cities

    September 26, 2017 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Prague is incredible... which I knew it would be going in. However, today it became even more clear that we'll really need to come back here and maybe stay about five days. We started the morning earlier than everyone else... Tyler, Brett and I left the hotel at 7:15 to go back to Charles bridge before the hordes of crowds would arrive. Seems like this is a successful idea wherever we go. Similar to Rothenburg, there were much fewer people crowded on. We enjoyed the view and snapped some great photos. We also saw two brides/grooms on the bridge. Wedding photos at 7:30 AM? I wonder what time they had to wake up!! Then it was back to the hotel to meet everyone else for breakfast. There was another wide array of "continental breakfast" options (quite a bit more extensive than what continental breakfast is at home) and we each had a hot item (for us eggs Benedict).

    Our walking tour was with David, an Englishman who has lived in Prague for 12 years. We spent from 9:30-5pm with him leading us through the main parts of the old city. We started by crossing a different bridge north of the Charles bridge which gave quite a nice view of the bridge itself. He then took us to the Jewish quarter and explained lots of the architectural styles of the buildings. We also walked down Parizska street which is the high end shopping district with lots of designer stores. This brought us again to the old town square that we had visited before, but this time we learned more about the history of the Tyn church. It is unusual that the front facade is completely covered by some relatively undecorated buildings built directly in front of it. Apparently when one religious order conquered the other they built these buildings to spite the old ruling church. Can't quite remember what religions... maybe Catholic and Protestant. Also in this square is an astronomical clock. Very interesting although we couldn't really read the clock. Apparently they blinded the man who made the clock to avoid another city getting the technology to have an astronomical clock.

    Next we walked into the Tyn church which was absolutely beautiful. We had been seeing signs advertising evening concerts in the churches and this one included The Moldau. We decided to buy tickets to go in the evening. Seemed to be a very fitting thing to do! Especially since we had been talking about and listening to that piece yesterday!

    We walked into another church known to have a thief's arm hanging from the ceiling as a warning to future potential thieves. Next we headed to a Kubist style building. We went to the second floor for a quick cup of coffee. Tyler and I had Turkish coffee (strong and with the grounds in the coffee). Next we admired another city tower (apparently this one was previously the powder tower). From there we walked to see the National theatre which houses the Smetana hall. In the basement there's an interesting 'American' bar. It's what you might imagjne an early 1900s fancy North American bar might have looked like. We walked through this and carried on. We covered so much ground in one day.

    Next we walked through the famous Moser glass exhibition gallery and store. Incredible carved glass details and of course very pricey. Certainly makes the glass souvenirs sold everywhere else look poor. If you want to buy glass in Prague, Moser is the place to go but you would need to be planning for a large purchase to get an heirloom piece. And then shipping it home safely too!

    Next we got to Wenceslas square and then back to the Havelske market. Tyler and I held up there for a couple extra minutes to buy a painting of Prague. We picked one that is definitely recognizably Prague and Tyler managed to haggle the price down by 100 crowns. It's all rolled up and we'll have to get it mounted once we get home and put it up!!!

    Lunch was at Cafe Slavia - Tyler had duck and I had beef goulash. Yummy as usual. Our afternoon tour was mostly to be at the castle/palace area. We took tram #22 to get to the area. We elected not to buy tickets to go into any of the buildings so we'd have time to see more, but we did walk into the amazing gothic cathedral, St. Vitus. While on the grounds, someone important must have arrived. There was a band playing and the hourly change of the guard was delayed just long enough for us to actually get to see it.

    Following this, we walked through the area surrounding the palace to the Strahov monastery (which unlike our hotel's monastery is still an active monastery). We sampled some St. Norbert beer brewed there (an amber beer for Tyler and I).

    We started walking back down the hill to the main area but stopped for a photo where there's a great panoramic view of the city. We continued the long downhill walk all the way to Charles bridge. We wanted to make one last stop at the Lennon wall (sounds cool right? Something Beatles related). We got there and saw it... really just a bunch of quite ugly and often profane graffiti. I decided that was the only ugly site I saw in Prague. Especially after seeing the East side gallery in Berlin which was quite profound and meaningful. Anyway, if that's the only underwhelming thing in Prague, I think I won't hold it against this lovely city.

    We said goodbye to David, then Tyler, Brett and I headed back up the hill for another trdelník. Tyler had caramel again which was an awesome choice. Instead of a dessert treat, I opted for a small glass of hot honey mead. It was a bit of a walk to go back to get that but was totally worth it. I'd like to say it helped with my cough but that's probably not true.

    We headed back to the hotel to rest a tiny bit and freshen up for the evening. Next was the concert! We walked back to the old square. The girls stopped at a botanical store thinking we might want to get something. All of it was really smelly in an earthy way and not quite our style. The boys may have been surprised to see we had made no purchases when we joined them in the seats. The concert was lovely. We even got to hear the pipe organ from the back of the church (a bucket list item for Tyler). The Moldau was definitely the highlight but it was just overall quite a special experience. After the concert, it was raining a bit. Tyler and I held back to take off his sweater to avoid it getting wet. When we got out, everyone had disappeared! We weren't sure if they were nearby so we didn't want to move too far. We had also talked about maybe going to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Tyler went in that direction to look and I stayed by the church in case someone came back for us. Tyler and Kelly crosses paths and we headed to the restaurant.

    Two beers and two pizzas drained us of our last Czech money pretty much exactly. We are coming home with one crown to keep as a souvenir... I guess we were quite accurate on how much cash we needed!

    Today is our record so far for number of steps in a day... 30000! (That did include an extra few minutes walking around our hotel complex once we realized we were close to that number but not quite there).

    It was a very full day in Prague but we definitely got an overview of the highlights of Prague. I hope to be back for more exploring! Tomorrow we'll be back in the van to commute to Nuremberg to board the boat!!!

    Brooke & Tyler    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 13

    Nuremberg and Boarding the Boat

    September 27, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This morning we had to pack up and sadly leave the beautiful city of Prague. Dad had two remaining free breakfasts to use up so Mom and Rae enjoyed the lovely continental breakfast (and made sure to sneak some dates for Brooke). The guys instead opted for a hearty breakfast of........McDonald's!! Nothing like an sausage and egg McMuffin to get you going in the morning! I grabbed a greasy breakfast for Brooke on the way out as well, she was most grateful. Then it was loading up the van with our same driver, Martin, from before.

    The car ride was about 3 hours to Nuremberg. Rae and I finished watching Beauty and Beast, Brett read and listened to a podcast, Mom napped and then read about the cruise, Brooke blogged and read her book (didn't nap that much actually), and Dad looked at the pictures in the Czech newspaper and pretended to know what was going on.

    We arrived at the pier in Nuremberg and found our boat, the River Beatrice. We were able to unload all of our bags and check into the boat. The rest of the tour group actually began in Prague as the official start to the tour and were still en route when we arrived, so it wasn't a mob of people yet.

    The cruise company called us a taxi and we all loaded into one car to head into the main part of Nuremberg. We were planning to join up with the rest of the tour group at 2:00 PM so we had about an hour and a half to ourselves. First order of business for the two of us was to hit up the ATM to take out more Euros (no thanks to Oktoberfest). After that we toodled around the main town square a bit. Grabbed a lunch of bratwurst on a bun with onions, definitely hit the spot. Brooke and I wandered up to a Toy Museum to glance at the entrance. It looked like a history of all sorts of toys that children played with. If we had more time we would definitely take the time to go through it.

    While we were walking back to the square, I noticed that a bus had shown up with the sign UniWorld on it (which was the name of the cruise company) and it was only 12:50 PM. We started to get a bit worried since we might miss the tour and I didn't know where the rest of the family was. Turns out that they arrived an hour early in order to see the square as well, perfect.

    Since we still had time, we went to Wicklein, a Czech gingerbread store. They make authentic Czech gingerbread there which is quite different then how we make it at home. There seem to be more spices and fruit used, and there was a unique wafer adhered to the bottom of the cookie. Turns out that this was actually similar to a communion host. When monks would make the gingerbread years ago, they realized if they used the communion bread it would not stick to the baking sheet and acted like a parchment paper. Very interesting!

    We had about a half hour until the tour started and we noticed that Brett grabbed a beer while he was sitting in the square. This sounded like a great idea since the sun was finally out and we were going to be going on a walking tour (so we assumed). Brooke and I walked over to the cafe and got a bottle each. Brooke was really happy to walk around in the city with a cold beer, and why not, we're on vacation! We walked over to the tour meeting point and met up with the cruise director. We then found out that we were getting on the bus and the tour was around the city, and we can't bring drinks onto the bus! Uh oh! That meant we had to hurry up and finish our drinks, and I had to help Brooke out quite a bit.

    The bus first went by the Palace of Justice where they held the Nuremberg Trials after WWII and held the Nazi leaders accountable for the war crimes. It was amazing to drive past the place where it actually happened. Then there was a fancy cemetery and some other stuff. I'm not really sure because for some reason the motion of the bus, the calming voice of the tour guide, and perhaps some things mentioned earlier, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open! Brooke did fine though!

    Our first stop was at the Nuremberg Castle where we walked through it and our tour guide explained some of the features and history. The most interesting part was that during WWII, the castle was 90% bombed and they managed to rebuild it after the war!

    After the castle, we boarded back onto the bus and headed off to the former Nazi rally grounds. This is the area where Hitler held his political rallies and propaganda videos during the 30's before the war started. We first drove through the Congress Hall which was supposed to be a massive stadium that would rival the Colosseum in Rome. It was never finished due to the war starting. There is a museum as part of it explaining the history of the Nazi party, but it is not a massively beautiful tourist site, quite ugly in fact.

    Next we went to the Zeppelin Fields which is the actual spot where Hitler held the Nazi rallies. This is a massive field that could probably fit four football fields in the center and the outside is surrounded by stone steps for seating. A lot of the stone steps are overgrown with weeds and grass. Both of these structures have been left standing in order to remind everyone of the terrible atrocities that happened and to make sure it never happens again. Our guide also explained that the city of Nuremberg has elected to use the former Nazi rally grounds in ways that the Nazis would not approve of. We found it very interesting that the buildings are not being preserved in beautiful ways (as opposed to the buildings in Prague). They are not used as money making devices, they are just there as remembrance.

    We finally got back to the boat and waited in the line to grab our room keys, then were escorted to our stateroom. Quite small, but to be expected. We unpacked all of our clothes (which will be a treat not to have to pack up in 2 days) and got a bit organized. Then found a good seat in the lounge for the start of the introductions and listened to the Captains safety speech.

    Immediately following that was dinner in the dining room on the main deck. The room is beautifully decorated and it sounds like we will be having a 3 course dinner each night while we're here. Uh-oh said my waistline! The dining hall did get quite loud with 150 guests in one main room that isn't designed for sound, but I guess we'll have to expect that. All 6 of us had the local veal for dinner, then I ordered a cheesecake for dessert and Brooke had a cheese platter (which she loved), others had a honeycomb ice cup. As soon as my dessert came I immediately had food envy and ended up ordering a second dessert. Waistline satisfied for the short term, will be unhappy when we get home.

    Right after dinner I did a quick load of laundry and now have a reload of clean underwear for the remainder of the trip!

    Turns out that the four of us kids are the youngest people on the boat by 20 years! When Rae went up to the bar to order a drink, the bartender was definitely surprised to see someone younger. After dinner, the 4 kids headed down to the lounge to do some reading and writing (Dad went to bed). We sat in the far corner by the door as there was a "sock-hop" happening on the dance floor (+50's dancing). The four of us were doing highly "intellectual activities". Brett was journaling, Rae was transcribing her journal, Brooke was reading, and I was typing this blog. We had so many questions by the other guests of "are you guys students?" and "are you doing homework?". But it's all good, everyone is very friendly. Brooke went to bed early to get some solid rest (still has a cough) and the 3 of us went and sat at the bar and chatted with the staff as we had our night cap.

    Tyler and Brooke    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 14

    Regensburg and BMW Factory Tour

    September 28, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today was our first morning on the boat. It's kind of easy to forget that we're on a boat really. It was a bit of a sleep in for us since we were in motion and not able to get out and starting running around a town even if we wanted to. The breakfast buffet was quite extensive and Tyler is still grappling with the tendency to overeat now that there's so much included food at hand. After breakfast there was a presentation by the cruise director Ibi. She explained day by day the activity options. A few of us got dozy, but that's ok as we had already read the information packages and made a lot of our selections.

    We were still cruising in the morning so we had more spare time throughout the morning. Before we knew it, it was time to eat again. Again lunch had tonnes of options; the popular choice at our table was fish with rice. It was very tasty.

    The boat was a little late arriving to the dock at Regensburg but we were all ready to disembark to carry on to the afternoon activities. Rae and Celeste decided to spend the afternoon in the town of Regensburg but the rest of us opted for the BMW Factory Tour. We got an extra brief city tour (extra short since we started late) and then it was on to the bus to drive to the factory. Just seemed like an opportunity not to miss and we were so right!

    We met our tour guide Stephanie who walked us through the various areas of the factory. After a short informational video we started the tour. Absolutely no photos allowed on the tour which in a way was good as we could just really take it all in. We started in the body shop seeing the "robot garden" where the robots would weld together about 5000 individual parts on the body of each car. Then these frames move on to what she called the "petting zoo" (no shortage of interesting names to describe what they're doing). The petting zoo is where the staff use some type of gloves to feel the surface and make sure there are no defects in the body of the car. There were lots of interesting things that we learned and watching the numerous robots working away was mesmerizing. The next stop was the paint shop. We learned about the 5 layers of paint that they use and the different colours of the filler layer. Again we watched the robots, this time spraying paint on the body of the cars. This was termed the "robot ballet." There was another short video (the seats were BMW car seats... comfy). Next we walked past a huge building that stores the painted car bodies until it's time for assembly. Again super interesting to see the complexity of the system to build the cars.

    The last and most impressive stop was the assembly building. We saw the BMW associates installing the tires, doors and parts of the interior. This was where the most human work seemed to be needed. It is amazing that they have everything lined up properly so that the correct door comes down right on time with the matching car. We were warned in advance not to take the BMW decals from the assembly line. Of course we wouldn't have anyway, but I was amazed to see that we walked right past an open case of them! The tour was result very impressive and I'm sure we only got to see a small portion of it! There was a quick stop for the gift shop and then back on the bus to get back on the boat.

    Immediately when we returned to the boat, there was a lecture about the construction and technology of the canals. Very interesting and I didn't know anything much about it before.

    We got dressed for dinner (Tyler decided on lederhosen because he stained his good pants with gravy on his birthday, but I took the opportunity to wear the nicer clothes I brought.) Tonight was the captain's reception and welcome dinner. We were introduced to the leaders of the different groups of the staff. Dinner was a multi course meal. The main course was steak and was very tender and cooked properly. It was a relaxed and enjoyable meal. After dinner, we retired to the Captain's Club, a room where they have board games and lounging space. Much quieter than the bar lounge. Rae and Brett journaled, Tyler played Metroid, and I worked on this post. Another great day!!!

    Brooke & Tyler    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 15

    100 Flights of Stairs!

    September 29, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    This morning we woke up docked in Passau, Germany. The beds are quite comfy and you don't even realize that you are on a boat. We had another full breakfast (it's going to be really hard to go back to just peanut butter and jam). Then a quick shower and we headed out for our morning tour.

    All of us chose to do the panoramic city tour of Passau. This was a bus tour that took us to two separate locations high up to get a great view of the city and river valley. The bus took us up to the first stop at the main castle of Passau, Veste Oberhaus. This was the main fortress of the city hundreds of years ago and is probably 200 to 300 ft above the main city and overlooks the river valley. Even though there was still a bit of morning fog, the view was incredible! You could see the three rivers that come through Passau and really appreciate the beauty of this small city. Our tour guide, Maurice, pointed out some of the main buildings in Passau as we had an opportunity to take some great pictures.

    Our other stop on the bus tour was across the valley at an old church that is up on the hill. Here we were able to see the view of the city from the other side of the river. We were also able to go in and see the church. Unique to this church was an enclosed staircase that went all the way up from the base of the hill to the top. The inside of the enclosure was filled with icons the entire way up. Maurice told us that pilgrims will climb this staircase one stair at a time and say a prayer on each step. We were able to go down a few steps at the top and get a good view.

    The bus dropped us off back at the boat right in time for lunch. Luckily they were serving German food, so I was able to get my fix of sausages and pretzels one last time before we leave Germany tomorrow! They even had obatzda (cheese spread) so Brooke was delighted. After lunch we started to split up and do different activities for the afternoon. Rae, Brett, and Mom had booked to do a 20 km bike ride through the river valley. Dad had gone to a pipe organ concert at the main church St. Stephen's and was going borrow a bike from the boat and explore Passau, followed by a massage at the spa. Brooke and I chose to head back over to the castle and climb up the stairs to get a good workout and see the view in the afternoon without fog.

    While we were walking over to the base of the stairs, I mentioned that we should try and get to 100 flights of stairs on Brooke's Fitbit. Previously at Neuschwanstein Castle we noticed at the end of the day that we climbed 98 flights of stairs. Fitbit gives you a medal at 100 flights of stairs, so we were so close and didn't realize it. Brooke wasn't too sure if we would be able to do it, but I said let's see where we are at when we get to the top. Starting at the base of the climb we had already logged 20 flights of stairs from earlier in the day. The climb took us through different parts of the castle. It is always amazing to think how old everything is in Europe and how nothing in Canada can compare. Parts were stairs and parts were very steep inclines. We reached the top probably in about 20 minutes and got to see the same view again, still great and actually better in the afternoon. Climbing all the way up, we were now at 50 flights of stairs, not bad! We thought by the time we go all the way down we'll just have to get another 20 flights or so. We can do this! About halfway down, Brooke realizes that it is not logging any of our activity as we go down the stairs, oh no! We made the incorrect assumption, but I guess it makes sense since it is much harder to go up than down right?

    We get about 3/4 of the way down where there was a fork in the road for a different way up and decided that we were going to go for the 100 flights achievement because we might not get another opportunity on this trip. We started out on the other path up which was more through the forest trees like a path back home in the mountains, but it was still incredibly steep at times. Now we're starting to tire out and our legs are really feeling the burn by now. Had to take a couple of breathers and water breaks on our way up, but we eventually made it, back to the same old view point. Now we were around 78 flights of stairs. On the way down we did a couple of bonus flights up and down to log some more. We got down to the very base and were at 88 flights, time to bring 'er home. We headed back up once more up the main stairs, very slowly now, eventually making it to 100 flights of stairs! Right at a beautiful view point of the city as well. We felt so victorious!

    After we got back down we walked into the main part of the town, heading towards the center church of Passau, St. Stephen's Cathedral. This church was one of the most gorgeous that we have seen so far on this trip. The statue work was fascinating all along the walls and the icons on the ceiling were beautiful. The feature of the church was the incredible pipe organ in the back. It was absolutely stunning to look at and made us a little jealous of Dad who went to the pipe organ concert earlier in the afternoon. It is probably one of the largest pipe organs in the world with around 17000 pipes.

    Afterwards, we walked down to the main road and over to a square where we had spotted a place to grab a victory beer. It was actually a Lowenbrau specific beer garden, which is one of the beers we enjoyed at Oktoberfest. Turns out that this brand of beer is actually brewed here in Passau so it was a great choice to enjoy out in the warm sunshine. Very well deserved! Once we were finished we walked back over to the boat to drop off a couple of things.

    Our next thought was to take out a couple of bikes from the boat and bike around the town and see some other spots. It was a simple process to get a couple of bikes and helmets and we were set up in no time. Brooke needed a moment to get her bike legs back (she's too used to spin class and a stationary bike); then we headed out down the main boardwalk. Once we got towards where we had to cross the road to get into the main part of the town, things got a lot harder. We had to be a lot more careful with the road traffic, encountered some cobble stone, and had to start and stop a lot to make sure we were together and if we were allowed to take bikes on certain roads. At one point Brooke took a little fall (she is fine) while trying to get off her bike to walk it up some cobblestone. Turns out the basket on the back of her bike tripped her as she was swinging her leg off of it, not used to something being back there. That dropped our confidence down and we meandered for only a little bit more. We did find some pedestrian only streets to go down though. We decided to call it an afternoon, head back to the boat, and turn the bikes in. We were not very successful with biking this afternoon, really hoping that we are much better tomorrow.

    Back on the boat we hit the showers and got ready for dinner. Had a bit of downtime to read and blog before dinner service started. We each enjoyed the fish which was a nice change from all the meat we've been having. I ended up ordering two desserts again, oops (but I did climb over 100 flights of stairs today).

    After we finished at dinner, we went up to the lounge for a drink and to enjoy listening to the entertainment who was a gentlemen playing guitar and singing popular songs. For the most part he was really hitting his target audience with lots of oldies. However I don't think he knew Last Saskatchewan Pirate. The groups on either side of us were very surprised that we knew nearly all of the words. One woman even came up to compliment us, asking us how we knew these songs (not hard with road trips in Saskatchewan listening to the music Mom and Dad liked, plus they are classics).

    Rae heard that some of the staff were going to go out that night into the town, since we were docked in Passau all night. We wanted to check it out so Brett, her, and I went off the boat around 11:30 (Brooke went to bed earlier, probably the smarter choice). The club was literally a one minute walk away and when we got in it was absolutely packed. Realizing that none of us actually wanted to be there we turned right around. Popped in the Irish pub for maybe a beer, then realized that we can get free beer on the boat, so we went right back to the ship. Very unsuccessful but we figured Mom would be happy. We had a night cap at the lounge and then went to the back side of the ship after getting tired of listening to this large man from Missouri talk about nonsense. Sitting in the back of the boat finishing our drink, Brett and Rae got the great idea to go for some late night McDonald's. I wasn't too keen on going but off we went on the 7 minute walk. Grabbed some double cheese burgers and junior chickens and called it a night close to 1:00 AM. Tomorrow we are all doing an early morning bike ride at 9:00 AM, just a short 26km. Hopefully we'll be rested enough!

    Tyler and Brooke    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 16

    Biking from Germany to Austria

    September 30, 2017 in Austria ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    The main event today was our long anticipated bike ride from Passau, Germany to Engelhatszell, Austria. All six of us have been planning to do this for months. We started with another hearty breakfast (porridge for extra fuel). The whole idea with the bike ride is that we bike while the boat cruises. Pretty cool to think that we nearly kept up with the boat for a total of 28 km! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

    We got set up with our bikes (Tyler ended up with a helmet that had maple leaves on it). The first few minutes of the ride were through the town to get to the bike path along the river. Definitely easier to bike through the city when you have a near 7 ft tall German man named Lars holding traffic for the group. We had three guides: Ilse, Lars, and Jeanette. We even passed the spot where I had my small fall yesterday and all was good! This part was a little stressful with the cobblestones and slight hills but everyone made it and then we were on a path by the river.

    It was a brisk but beautiful morning. The whole bike ride was quite a lovely experience. It was overall quite even terrain, occasionally small incline up or down. I mostly stayed near the middle of the pack and was very comfortable with that (Tyler liked to be near the lead but frequently checked in with me to give me water and make sure I was ok). I think Tyler was hoping to get up to a faster speed than we did. It just wasn't that type of bike ride.

    For me, looking around at the beautiful autumnal leaves was a highlight. The scenery was quite breathtaking. We took a brief pause at the German/Austrian border (no passports just a sign on the side of the road). The guides had mentioned at the start that we would be taking two ferries later in the ride. We got to the point where the first ferry was supposed to pick us up and after a few minutes, the guides realized that they'd already changed to the winter schedule and no ferry would be coming. Ilse described it as a "curious situation." What this meant was walking through a couple felled cornfields and carrying our bikes up and down 45 stairs when we got to the bridge by the lock. It did mean we got to see our boat as it had entered the lock and was still in the process of going through. We can now say we caught up to the boat! After the lock, it was just a short bike ride to our beer stop in Engelhartszell. I had a radler (beer and lemonade) and we all had pretzels. It was probably the most well earned drink of the trip so far since we had biked all morning... excluding Brett's drink after the marathon of course.

    The last bit of the bike ride flew by. We did get to take the short ferry ride across the river to the area near where our ship was docked. What a beautiful way to spend the morning!!!

    We returned to the ship and it set sail just about immediately. We had lunch and then had a very relaxing afternoon. Sitting on the top deck reading was beautiful although a bit windy. I did have a short nap and then there was tea served in the lounge. It was a refreshing snack and peppermint tea. I went back to the room and iced my bug bite (of course I got a bug bite when Tyler and I were hiking in Passau). I've also got some great bruises from biking on my other leg... I'm overall a bit battered and bruised but that's kinda par for the course for me.

    Tonight we were invited to an exclusive gala dinner because of the type of room that Kelly and Celeste booked. This dinner was served in the Captain's Club area. The highlights of the meal were the cheese ravioli that was much like a perogy, the yummy pork tenderloin wrapped in prosciutto and especially the pastry chef surprise dessert. It was a white chocolate dome that was hiding a macaron and whipped cream inside. Tyler's favorite dessert of the trip!!! We also had a cake for Celeste's birthday and sang Happy Birthday. I had asked for a cheese plate as well and they brought a huge cheese plate. Way more than we needed and everyone (except Tyler) just had a few bites.

    Right after supper, we all got changed for a stroll into Grein, the town where we had docked for the night. We were just docked there until around 3:30 am actually as it was intended as just as much time as the captains needed to rest after the long day.

    Grein looks to be a very tiny place. We meandered around for a while and found a fountain to take some photos with. Then we headed back to the boat after a photo with the Auf Vedersen sign as homage to The Sound of Music. In the boat, they had a concert of Austrian musicians playing Dixieland music. We caught the last couple songs which were very enjoyable. We finished the evening in the lounge. Looking forward to exploring Spitz, Austria tomorrow!!

    Brooke & Tyler    Read more

  • TravelerB&T Europe 2017
    Day 17

    The Wachau Valley and Spitz, Austria

    October 1, 2017 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    This morning we woke up and it seemed really hard to get out of bed, even after a solid 8 hours of sleep. It is going to be really hard getting back to regular life after this. Anyways, we had a lazy breakfast with mimosas and eggs benedict. Then it was time to get ready for the morning tour.

    Our boat docked in Spitz, Austria around 9:00. We were ready to offload the ship around 9:30 and met with our tour guide, Verena.

    All 6 of us did the same tour together. It was a tour of a shipping museum mixed with an opportunity to taste different apricot food and drink. They split the group into two sections and Brooke and I went to the apricot tasting first.

    Spitz is located in the Wachau Walley which is very abundant in apricots and they had six different items for us to taste. The reason for apricots being an important product has something to do with an insect that infected the vineyards in the 19th century. The apricots saved the farmers from financial ruin and remain an important product even today. First up was an apricot schnapps which was slightly better than a regular straight vodka (at around 10:00 AM). Next up was an apricot liqueur which was like drinking liquid gold, to die for. Afterwards we had an apricot jam which was very delicious. Then there was a chocolate coated apricot kernel. The kernel of the apricot is a little seed that is inside the pit (looks like a nut). It normally has traces of cyanide in it and is normally poisonous, but by roasting them it makes it safe to eat. Verena proved this by eating one herself before offering them to us. These were actually quite tasty. Next was an apricot chutney that was similar to a BBQ sauce (which Brooke loved). And last was more apricot kernels that were roasted and lightly salted. All of these were delicious and quite a treat!

    After we finished with the tasting, we switched guides and went through the shipping museum. This was all about how they used to transport goods up and down the Danube centuries ago before they had steam engine boats. There were some nifty miniature models of boats throughout. The models were made by a man who is now 95 years old and the most intricate one took 12 years to build. The museum tour was ok, but not extremely interesting. I don't think I would go on my own and I'm sure they get everyone to go because of the apricot tastings.

    Next we went back to the ship where our tour guide held a wine tasting for us. We sampled four wines from the Wachau Valley, all from the same grape variety, gruner veltliner. They were quite generous pours for just tastes and by the end of it, I was definitely starting to feel the wine and it was only noon. Lunch was next and we all needed some solid food. For some reason I had two desserts again.....uh oh said the waistline....oh well :)

    After lunch we were all signed up for a hike (which was well needed) through the wine country hillsides. We walked up through a forested area and made it to the top of the hills beside the river where all of the vines are planted. Much of the wine is grown on terraces and it creates a picturesque landscape of wine country mixed with the Austrian villages, beautiful! We stopped for a moment to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures. Brett, Rae, and I clambered up to the top of a stone archway and Brooke got some great shots.

    We got back to the boat around 2:30 and the boat departed shortly thereafter. We spent part of it up on the top deck enjoying the view of the hillsides as we cruised by. It gets quite breezy up on the top when the boat is moving so we have to be dressed warmly. Brooke finished her book this afternoon, The Woman in Berlin, and will try to start her next one soon. We also had some time to grab a nap and then some Zelda (Brooke suggested it).

    We got changed for dinner and I managed to do another load of laundry! Now I have clean socks for the rest of the trip. This evening, lots of the boat passengers got off to go to a private concert in Vienna. We elected not to go since we went to a concert in Prague and we knew that it would be something similar with only 8 or 9 musicians. And we would be able to enjoy the boat with far less people. They ended serving dinner quite early and it was a buffet service. We chose to eat later to avoid the rush of people which was a smart idea.

    For dinner we ate with a couple we had met from Halifax, Bill and Jill. It was lovely to eat together and share in the conversation with some fellow Canadians (everyone had a mutual distaste for Air Canada Rouge). Dinner was classic Austrian food and the highlight was the wiener schnitzel, which I had to have a double portion of. Overall I ate way way way too much food and felt incredibly uncomfortable after dinner. So much so that I think I might have to put myself on a self-imposed diet tomorrow.

    After dinner we went and enjoyed the quiet lounge without the entire boat on board. It was quite nice actually. We took a picture with our favorite bartender, Lazlo, who is switching to a different boat tomorrow.

    Once the rest of the boat got back from the private concert the lounge got much more busy. They had actually served a late lunch (must be at a wedding) of Austrian food. We grabbed a road pretzel for tomorrow and decided to call it an early night.

    Tomorrow we explore Vienna!

    Tyler and Brooke    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English