The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Penelope's First European Tour

Doing jet lag with Grandma, Wohnmobil Berlin

Penelope's Berlin day care

Playing in Dresden

With Grandma by the Elbe in Dresden

Examining horses and carriage in Dresden

Strolling with Grandma in Prague

On a short leash, shopping in Prague

After a satisfying meal, Prague

Outside Kafka's house, Golden Lane, Prague

Schoenbrunn

Our last outing together was a Monday afternoon visit to Schoenbrunn, the Hapsburg's summer palace in Vienna. Alas, another "no fotos" experience, but there were a few exterior pix...

Approaching the main palace building

Looking back into the gardens area

Closer up

Side gardens

Garden view of palace; Versailles' only real rival, they say;
but Schoenbrunn was just the summer get-away palace...

Vienna Heurigen and Biergarten

We got together for several meals...

Fischer Brau was just around the block from
the apartment

And we particularly enjoyed the ribs and mixed grill there;
and bier

And at a favored heurigen (wine garden) in Neustift am
Walde (the same one Vicki and I visited in 2010)

Assuring Penelope this is going to be OK

Part of interior of heurigen

Looking up toward the vineyards

The grapes do not have to travel far

Wine in capsule form

Looking back across the heurigen

Jeremy, Rebecca, and Penelope

Vienna Naschmarkt and Secession

After Rebecca and Jeremy toured for a couple days, and we rested a couple days, we met Rebecca at the Naschmarkt and its Saturday flea market, renowned across Europe. The regular market has been there since the 15th century--it has grown to offer just about anything edible--nasching--while the flohmarkt occurs just on Saturdays.

A lot of urban flea markets are out in the, um, less interesting areas of town;
not so Vienna, where it is smack in town and well within the beautiful area

Typical building in view; Vienna has lots of Art Nouveau, but not as consistently
or densely as old Prague

More flea market, more interesting buildings

Ditto

Ditto again

And again; the four or five aisles go on for nearly a kilometer, I guess; we were
profoundly impressed; but we didn't buy anything; were we more stationary and
domestic, and not nomads, I suppose we might have...there was plenty of
interesting stuff

Now we are in the regular market, which features ingredients from just about any
cuisine; well, maybe not Eskimo; my one purchase, from an authentically
Turkish-looking person, in a Turkish-looking store, was a can of the wonderful
Kurukahaveci Mehmet Effendi coffee, which I stood in line to purchase at the
Spice Market in Istanbul; ah, Turk Kahvesi...

At the end of the market,we noticed we were just across the strasse from the
Secession, one of Vienna's and art history's great places; so, of course, we we
went in and toured (it was hot outside, and the museum looked cool within)

Mostly for the close-up Klimt (vastly over-rated, IMHO;
but then I am still bitter that they didn't fly the Confederate
(traitor) flag nor do the Rebel Yell)((that's a joke, son;
actually I despise all the trappings of the American South))

After which Rebecca and Penelope went back to the apartment for some
family time, and Vicki and I toured the Gemaldegalerie of the Academy of
Fine Arts; they have a strictly enforced "no fotos" policy, so I have little to
show for it except this picture of Schiller, staring across the park...

At Goethe

On To Vienna

Traveling is hard work. It is even harder with a grandchild whom one adores and attends to every waking (her waking) moment. So when we got to Vienna, the last and longest stop on Rebecca and Jeremy's tour, Vicki and I and Penelope took a day or so off, to rest, take short walks, explore, nap, and generally charm everyone in the campground (Penelope).

Rebecca and Jeremy had rented another apartment, a one bedroom unit, on the near north side, while the grandparents and grandchild were staying at our favorite Camping Wien West. As it conveniently turned out, we were only a one-transfer bus ride from the apartment. Public transportation in Vienna is so good nothing is more than a transfer or so away, whether on bus, tram, or subway.

Prague Out-Takes

Normally my out-takes are a miscellany of incidents and curiosities. For today's out-takes, from Prague, I will focus instead upon the Art Nouveau heating and ventilation registers at the Municipal House. Vicki called my attention to these during our tour. (Probably thinking I needed something to do...). In Art Nouveau, everything is beautiful. And no comments are needed.

Smoke detectors are Art Deceau, not Art Nouveau; Art Nouveau
smoke detectors are oval-shaped

Monday, July 16, 2012

Prague Stained Glass

Vicki is a fan of stained glass and somehow had heard of a workshop of some note in Prague--Umelecke Sklenarstvi, Petr Coufal the Master, "Realization and Restoration of Stained Glass Windows." It is located in the Josefov, near the river. We had to visit.