Self portrait of the traveling couple:
Mark and I recently spent 10 days (May 6-16) away from our happy home in the Midwest to travel to Copenhagen, Prague and Berlin. Sweet Wendy and Karen flew to Rochester to watch our kids while we were away.
People asked if this was some trip we'd been planning for years. Not so much. Mark sent an e-mail titled "Idea" at the beginning of March and somehow his random thought for week away turned into the passport necessary jaunt through 3 major cities.
We flew into Copenhagen, checked into our airport hotel, then promptly took a train (see below) to the city center to find Thai food. Thai food was our favorite traveling meal since there are 0 Thai restaurants in Rochester (if there is one, we aren't aware of it).
After a comfy night at the Copenhagen Airport Hilton, we flew to Prague the next morning. The bus ride from the airport to the city was full of golden fields, green leafy trees and red tiled roofs.Mark at Hotel Claris in Prague:
Prague has one of the best preserved Jewish areas in Europe. At the old cemetery:
In front of a synagogue (no longer used):
Eating our traditional Czech fare. They mostly make this food for the tourists now, but Mark loved his goulash and my Bavarian pork was tasty. Notice it's Coca-Cola Light in Europe, not Diet Coke:
From the Castle Quarter of Prague:
Enjoying a Saturday night in a paddle boat on the Vltava River:
In Wenceslas Square in Prague, where the famous Vaclav Havel proclaimed freedom for the Czechs:
In Wenceslas Square in Prague, where the famous Vaclav Havel proclaimed freedom for the Czechs:
On Sunday morning we managed to find the Prague Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those in attendance consisted of Czech natives, American expats, tourists, missionaries, and the random assortment you'd expect to find in a big city. They had a nice, modern building. The service was presided over by the Prague mission president. He is from Florida and speaks no Czech, but his grandparents were 100% Czech. Interesting.
After church we took the train from Prague to Berlin. Me at the train station (Praha is the Czech word for our English Prague, Holesovice is the smaller of the two Prague train stations where all of the German trains come and go from):
After church we took the train from Prague to Berlin. Me at the train station (Praha is the Czech word for our English Prague, Holesovice is the smaller of the two Prague train stations where all of the German trains come and go from):Berlin, in front of the Brandenburg Gate:
We took a walking tour of Berlin with an American expat as our guide. Along the way we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial. The columns of cement have no meaning implied by the artist, it is meant to be experienced individually where people draw their own conclusions.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's hard to believe it's been that long already. Inside the city proper there is really only one small section of the wall that has been preserved. Here we are in front of it:
Checkpoint Charlie was the American entrance to East Berlin. Of course it's long gone, but a replica remains:
We took a walking tour of Berlin with an American expat as our guide. Along the way we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial. The columns of cement have no meaning implied by the artist, it is meant to be experienced individually where people draw their own conclusions.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's hard to believe it's been that long already. Inside the city proper there is really only one small section of the wall that has been preserved. Here we are in front of it:
Checkpoint Charlie was the American entrance to East Berlin. Of course it's long gone, but a replica remains:
On top of the Reichstag, which is the German parliamentary building that has a long history of being destroyed and then rebuilt again:
Hotel Pension Alexandra was our home for 3 nights in Berlin. Notice the big old ceilings and warm colors:
Also notice the midget bathroom (big guy in a small space...big guy in a small space...good thing we had this bathroom now instead of three years ago when Mark was just a little big bigger):
Berlin was our laundry city. We tried to find a laundromat, but either the Rick Steves guide book failed us or the Schnell laundrette had gone out of business....so here Mark is doing a little wash in our hotel room:
"So cute." Berlin was full of cars, nice cars, and lots of tiny midget cars. Asher loves cars. Whenever he sees one driving around that he likes he yells, "So cute!" So for our little Asher we took a few car photos:
After Berlin, back on the plane to return to Copenhagen (we flew between cities because we found that flying was much, much cheaper and faster than the train):
Copenhagen was has a museum for the sculptor Thorvaldsen. Mark with the lion (notice how Cougars are tougher and meaner?):
Since Copenhagen is a pricey city ($6 for a Coke), we stayed at a bread-and-breakfast (minus the breakfast) that a couple rents out to guests. The room was big and comfy and sharing a bathroom with the owners was no big deal:
Searching for Internet wherever we could find it--inside the front door of the Copenhagen University was a free kiosk:
Mark with our trusty Rick Steves guidebook:
In front of Nyhaven Canal:
At the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde (outside of Copenhagen...if you follow rock music at all, you know about the Roskilde Festival that takes place each year. Who can name the famous rocker from Denmark that Mark likes?) Notice that hot, but mean looking Viking babe:
On our last evening we took the train over the bridge to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen. Maybe Malmo is a bedroom community for Copenhagen, but it is a different country so strictly for counting reasons, here we are in Sweden. Hey, we had to pay for dinner in Swedish Crowns, so we were definitely hanging Swede-style:
Hotel Pension Alexandra was our home for 3 nights in Berlin. Notice the big old ceilings and warm colors:Also notice the midget bathroom (big guy in a small space...big guy in a small space...good thing we had this bathroom now instead of three years ago when Mark was just a little big bigger):
Berlin was our laundry city. We tried to find a laundromat, but either the Rick Steves guide book failed us or the Schnell laundrette had gone out of business....so here Mark is doing a little wash in our hotel room:
"So cute." Berlin was full of cars, nice cars, and lots of tiny midget cars. Asher loves cars. Whenever he sees one driving around that he likes he yells, "So cute!" So for our little Asher we took a few car photos:
After Berlin, back on the plane to return to Copenhagen (we flew between cities because we found that flying was much, much cheaper and faster than the train):
Copenhagen was has a museum for the sculptor Thorvaldsen. Mark with the lion (notice how Cougars are tougher and meaner?):
You may recognize this Thorvaldsen statue if you've ever been to Temple Square in Salt Lake City:
Since Copenhagen is a pricey city ($6 for a Coke), we stayed at a bread-and-breakfast (minus the breakfast) that a couple rents out to guests. The room was big and comfy and sharing a bathroom with the owners was no big deal:
Searching for Internet wherever we could find it--inside the front door of the Copenhagen University was a free kiosk:
Mark with our trusty Rick Steves guidebook:
In front of Nyhaven Canal:
At the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde (outside of Copenhagen...if you follow rock music at all, you know about the Roskilde Festival that takes place each year. Who can name the famous rocker from Denmark that Mark likes?) Notice that hot, but mean looking Viking babe:
On our last evening we took the train over the bridge to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen. Maybe Malmo is a bedroom community for Copenhagen, but it is a different country so strictly for counting reasons, here we are in Sweden. Hey, we had to pay for dinner in Swedish Crowns, so we were definitely hanging Swede-style:
And that was it. We visited plenty of other museums and castles that don't allow photos. We walked all over the cobbled streets. We definitely walked many miles, so we don't need to feel too bad about not formally going to the gym while we were away.
It was a great trip. Now Mark can say he's been "across the pond" and to a "real" foreign country...because you know, Canada and Mexico don't count.
