Danielson-Walker Europe 2009

Day 1: August 16 USA, August 17 Prague Czech Republic

Details: Category: Welcome to the Danielson Walker Europe Travels 2009; Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2009 15:33; Hits: 589

CIMG0367 At 7:00 am Ken and Julie Ann departed the Phoenix Airport as they taxied past Air Force One. The Obama family was visiting Phoenix and the Grand Canyon. Your tax dollars at work! A 7:30 am Ken and Kay departed Billings. That afternoon we met up in Atlanta about 3:40. At 5:50 pm we departed Atlanta for Prague.

The plane was less than full and very quiet. The flight was great and we all got some sleep. We landed in Prague at 8:40 am on August 17th, 40 minutes ahead of schedule. We gathered our luggage and as we walked out of the baggage area, our driver Peter was just coming in the door holding up his sign with our name on it. Great timing! He took us directly to our apartment at 14 Librova in Prague. Our apartment is in a non tourist area of apartment buildings about 4 stories high. Our apartment of course is on the 4^th floor and there is no elevator. (Kay counted 96 steps) Our landlord Andrea met us at the door and led us up the 4 flights of stairs with Ken and Ken handling the luggage. Quite a workout for a couple of old guys.

Day 2: August 18, 2009 Prague, Czech Republic

Details: Category: Welcome to the Danielson Walker Europe Travels 2009; Published on Thursday, 20 August 2009 09:35; Hits: 517

Ken D. was first up and was thus responsible for the making of the coffee. Our wake ups began about 6:30 am and the last one up was at 8:10 but we won’t go into that. Ken and Ken walked down the hill to the little local bakery. WOW! What an incredible display of fresh baked goods. We bought our breakfast and headed back to the apartment. Just a few crumbs remained after we ate.

About 9:30 we headed out to get the Tram to the Jewish Quarter, more of old town on the other side of the Vlatva River and also the newer area of Prague. It was quite an experience getting our Sr. Ticket for the Tram from the dispenser. Even a Czech gentleman stopped to help us and he was stumped. Finally a shop owner came out and helped us get our day passes. Then onto the Tram and across the river. We walked much of the area and then stopped for water and a latte later in the morning. We saw this old convertible which a young man was driving giving tours of the area. Wearing down already in the day, we decided to give it a shot. We had a 40 minute tour of Prague highlights in an authentic 1930 Praga convertible. It was fully restored and is a car that was manufactured in Czech Republic.

Day 3: August 19, 2009 Prague, Czech Republic

Details: Category: Welcome to the Danielson Walker Europe Travels 2009; Published on Thursday, 20 August 2009 09:37; Hits: 552

CIMG0449 All were up early today and ready for our last full day in Prague. We left the apartment and headed for the bakery for breakfast. We had our latte’s and bakery goods on our sidewalk table as we watched the folks of Prague venture off to work.

Our day pass on the Tram is good for 24 hours so after breakfast, we jumped on Tram 22 and headed the direction that we had never gone before. Just exploring on the tram route. We went higher up on the hill that we were on and the area became increasingly newer than what we had seen before. Single family homes and offices. Eventually we saw vacant land so we knew we were approaching the edge of town. Finally the tram came to a stop at the end of the line. We hopped off and walked up to the Tram at the front of the line for our ride back into Prague.

We went past the Castle District and the New Quarter, crossed the river and through Old Town until the other end of the Tram 22 run. We got off there and walked about 3 blocks to Wenceslas Square(Vaclavske Namesti). It was here that in 1989 300,000 Czechoslovokians gathered to protest Communism. When Breshnev did not apply any military force, they knew that the end of Communism was near.

Day 4: Thursday August 20, 2009 Hungarian Independence Day

Details: Category: Welcome to the Danielson Walker Europe Travels 2009; Published on Saturday, 22 August 2009 13:09; Hits: 475

CIMG0478 An early morning as we got up to move out of the apartment and meet Peter our cab driver to take us to the Holsovice Train station to catch the 7:30 am train to Budapest. We will be going through the country side of Czech Republic, Slovakia and into Hungary. Arrival at Budapest at 14:32.

We left the station in our 1950’s vintage railcar. The four of us shared a 6 person cabin in first class. We only had a little Czech cash left and a few Euro’s as we forgot to stop at an ATM. We were able to get 3 coffees, and orange juice and 4 croissants with what we had and we were on our way.

The area around Prague is relatively flat and agricultural. About 1 hour out, we began to get into rolling hills. We passed a lot of villages, farms, a few nuclear plants and worked our way into wine country. There were vineyards alongside of cornfields. Around Breclav, we were back into flat country with corn, sunflowers and winter wheat. It is a pretty day for a train ride. We continue to be amazed at the amount of graffiti all over the area.

Most of the homes along the way have been of brick or stucco construction with tile roofs. A lot of gardens in their yards and some just by themselves that people came out from the cities to tend.

We crossed into Slovakia at a little after 11 am. There is no border check anymore as the countries have all adopted an open border policy with neighboring countries. At about 1 pm we crossed into Hungary and followed along the Danube for a while and then into Budapest. Our driver today was there and waiting for us. His name was also Peter.

Day 5: Friday, August 21, 2009 Walking around the Pest area of Budapest

Details: Category: Welcome to the Danielson Walker Europe Travels 2009; Published on Saturday, 29 August 2009 11:27; Hits: 388

CIMG0504 We all slept in a bit today to catch up from our late late night. However at 8:30 we left the hotel to catch a bus down the hill and head to the Pest (pronounced Pesht) side of the river. We boarded the bus which is built for about 25 people and generally occupied by at least 50. We were fortunate to get seats right away and not much of a crowd. However, after two stops later we determined that we had gone the wrong direction and were at the end of the line. We got off the bus and walked across the street like this is what we intended to do and caught the right bus going in the right direction. Again we got seats being that this was the first stop of an empty bus. Good planning.

We got off the bus at Roosevelt Ter. which was dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt for his role in WWII. We then proceeded to sniff out the closest bakery(California Coffee Company) and ended up in front of St. Stephens Cathedral which is the largest Catholic churh in Budapest. It was built in the 1890’s which is rare for any cathedral in this part of the world. We had our breakfast and coffee and moseyed on down the street.

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