#2982 post every day in November - day 1

my wee calendar

Wow! It's November! 

This month I am challenging myself to post something here every day. It's a throwback to the olden days of blogging when November was National Blog Posting Month (NABLOPOMO). I don't know if that's a thing anymore, but I think it will be fun to take the time and the energy to share something here daily. I imagine it will be quite a mixed bag of stuff that shows up. I'm going to enjoy doing it, and I hope all seven of you like it too.

It's 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, and I can't help but think the time passes way more quickly on the weekend than it does during the week. I didn't sleep in too late - it was probably around 8:30 when I got out of bed, and since then the hours have passed by in a hurry. I played with the dogs, I had brunch here at home, and I've been outside getting the potted plants on the deck ready for their winter sleep. I haven't done this before, but I'm hoping it will work out. I have some rocks that I've put on four of the plants, and I covered the other two with high quality topsoil, of which I have quite a lot right now. We had a good frost earlier in the week, and some of the plants suffered. It's a really pretty day here so I took about 90 minutes to trim and winterize these six plants. There are two pots of marigolds, a geranium, an Icelandic poppy, a black eyed Susan, and a tomato plant. 

ready for winter?

Some of the plants came through the frost well. The two Russian sage plants, the guara, the catmint, and one of the coreopsis plants are still blooming. The other coreopsis isn't blooming, so I cut it down and put some white rocks around part of it. The other plant with white rocks is a lavender. She still has a pretty twig that isn't blooming, but it is still vibrant. I will watch these plants over the next week and prep their winter beds when they seem more ready. In the meantime, I will enjoy them!

still blooming, not quite ready for winter!

This past week with the frost and the colder temperatures, the leaves on the maple trees in my yard, and the leaves in the trees around the neighborhood, turned yellow nearly overnight.  The sugar maple in the forefront is really yellow. The northern maple in the back isn't quite there yet, but it's changing.

fall colors in my backyard

We have been having work done in our backyard. MT put up that pretty cedar fence you can see in the background, and along with our contractor, he put in what will be a nearly 60' long flower bed. That's why we have so much topsoil. They built the flower bed along the fence, and there's another good size bed on the side of the deck to the right of the above photo. In addition, the sprinkler system has been updated, flat stones have been placed under the fence to aid in mowing and to decrease the need for weed whacking, and the whole mulberry bush was removed. We'll have to patch the hole in the fence and do a few other things before we stop work for winter, but it's coming along. I think the contractor will be finished next week, then MT will have some things he will work on to wrap it up. I'm excited about the changes and looking forward to making our yard pretty with pollinator-friendly plants in the spring.

If you were expecting to see a vacation memories post today, come back tomorrow. I'll be writing about exploring the castle district of Prague. There are just three more vacation memory posts to do - the one about Prague that I'll write tomorrow and two about  Amsterdam. I'll post those on Sunday, Wednesday, and Sunday (probably.)

Did you have any trick or treaters last night? We had zero. It's the second year in a row that no one has come to our house for candy.  I didn't even see any kids out on the neighborhood at all. I don't think there are many kids in the neighborhood. My neighbors have kids, but it didn't seem like they were home last night. 

That's all for today. I hope you'll check in tomorrow :)

#2981 vacation memories: day 11 - Prague (Monday 15 Sept)

ussie with Prague Castle in the background on the left

The original plan for the day was to take a tour of Prague Castle with a guide, but since the castle was closed this day for some diplomatic thing, the tour was canceled. I think a high-ranking Taiwanese official was in town to meet with the leader of the Czech Republic or something, and there was also something about the crown jewels; whatever it was, we couldn't go to the castle, so we decided to do a self-guided exploration of the east side of the Vltava River. We wanted to go to a particular bookstore, see the Jewish Quarter, and soak in the vibes. Lizzie built a map and off we went.

SPOILER: there are a lot of pics in this post!

After breakfast at the hotel in the Cafe Mozart (cool!), we set out to see the town. It was cloudy and cool, perfect weather for walking around. Prague is really beautiful.

the buildings are all different

I mentioned in my previous post that one of the things that makes Prague so charming and unpredictable is that none of the buildings are the same. There are different colors, different rooftops, and different window treatments. In contrast, the buildings in Paris are very beautiful, but all similar because they were designed by one person, Haussman, and it was done with purpose, and it is gorgeous and very identifiable and charming in its way.  Prague is quirky, charming, and well, bohemian.

Prague Castle

This is my first view of Prague Castle. We found a palace with a green space that we could enter free, and gazed across the river to the castle. It's big, and I was enchanted.

Old Town Square

Old Town Square was our home base. If you look over to the right, you'll see an archway with a point; it's the tallest building you can see on the right. That was our hotel. On the left, you see Old Town Hall where the Astronomical Clock is (you can't see the clock from this angle), and of course, Our Lady Before Tyn (pronounced "teen") in the background. This photo was taken later in the day after the sky cleared up. I'm not going in order of how we walked around.

A place that Lizzie and I wanted to go was The Globe Bookstore. I wish I'd taken photos inside the bookshop. It is cozy and full of books, of course, and it's just really, really inviting. In the back of the shop, there is a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating. We sat outside and had a coffee and enjoyed a moment of peace away from the tourist throngs. The Globe is in a neighborhood, not a touristic area. I liked it a lot. I didn't buy any books, but I did buy a lot of postcards and a tote bag. Here's a pic of Lizzie outside the shop:

We loved The Globe Bookstore & Cafe!

We walked around for a few hours, passing by huge, beautiful buildings. We walked by the Jewish Cemetery and the Spanish Synagogue, and a statue of Franz Kafka - not the giant head, but the headless one.  I am not posting my photo of it because I took two pics and both of them are missing the top of the top hat. Honestly, I knew I was seeing something well known, but I didn't know exactly what it was. LOL (That's why you take guided tours!)

We were getting hungry, so Lizzie suggested finding a restaurant she's come across in her research, Cafe Imperial. I was down for it, so we following the blue dot (that's the guide on the Google map program) to the cafe. We were fortunate that we did not need to have a reservation for lunch, and we were seated right away. This cafe is bonkers beautiful. It is over-the-top Art Deco, and I felt super-fancy having lunch there.

 

Cafe Imperial

Even my lunch was super-fancy, but pretty simple. They had a salad on the lunch special menu of arugula with goat cheese, walnuts and pears dressed with a light vinaigrette. Along with a glass of sauvignon blanc and some bread and butter, we felt like fine ladies.

lunch at Cafe Imperial

The main reason we had a light lunch is because we really wanted dessert. There was a display case as you walk in, filled with samples of the cakes that were available that day. Here's an example but there must have been a dozen or so options.

dessert options

I couldn't tell you what Lizzie had, but I had the Imperial - it's the one on the right. It's their specialty, so I thought I'd give it a go.

OH.

MY.

GOD.

This is the part where I tell you that this is the best dessert I have ever had. Ever. Full stop. The top layer was chocolate caramel with a fudge-like texture and consistency. The cake inside was a tender, mild gingerbread cake. The bottom half of the cake was covered in dark chocolate. I don't know if I'll ever get over it. I almost got another piece of it to go. If I am ever fortunate enough to find myself in Prague again, I will make every effort to get back to Cafe Imperial just for this dessert. It was truly incredible.

At some point during our wandering, I got a message from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, that they would be on strike on the 17th and that our flight to Amsterdam was cancelled. As you might imagine, this was upsetting. We went back to the hotel and started messaging The Amazing Candice. This situation right here is why you need a travel advisor on your travel team. She immediately started working on a solution. KLM had rebooked us on a much later flight, but we had tours booked in Amsterdam based on our original flight that we would miss with the later flight. Candice was able to get us on a very (very) early flight out of Prague on the 17th so we wouldn't miss anything in Amsterdam. We would miss something in Prague, but more on that in the next post.

Although it was a little stressful, it was good to have a bit of rest after lunch. We'd walked five miles in the first part of the day, and we wanted to get back out in the evening, so the break was good. I recommend taking a break at your hotel or wherever you are staying in the afternoon. Being out all day, seeing new things, being surrounded by people everywhere you turn, and walking so much can be tiring. It's tempting to say, "But (your city here) is out there waiting for me!" but you'll get more out of your time in the city if you have a break. I don't think this is an age thing (I mean, I am older, but I don't think my age has anything to do with enjoying the break.) After hours out in the city, everything I'd seen was starting to run together and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. To rest and regroup and form a plan for the evening was really good for both of us.

Now it is getting to be evening and I really wanted to see the Charles Bridge, which was quite close to our hotel, so that's where we went.

east entrance to the Charles Bridge

Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge

view of the east gate and beyond from the bridge

one of the beautiful statues on the Charles Bridge

another view of Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge

Yes, I have a crush on Prague. Look at it! It's gorgeous.

The small salad and exquisite dessert were long gone, so we went to a pizza place with outdoor seating in the shadow of Our Lady Before Tyn. We'd passed the place several times, and it was always busy, so we had pizza in Prague. It was really good, too! After dinner, we weren't quite ready to go back to the hotel, so Lizzie suggested going to a bar she'd read about, and I was down for that. It was less than a ten minute walk from the pizza place. It was early, maybe 9:00 or 10:00, and there wasn't anyone else in the place, so we were on our own to enjoy a fine Czech pilsner and some popcorn at this really cool bar called Tynska Bar and Books.

Tynska Bar and Books

umm...

so cool!

I'm not really sure what Lizzie was doing in that middle photo. She said she'd seen someone doing this pose somewhere and so she wanted to do it. We often crack up about people posing in weird ways in front of landmarks, like they are having a photo shoot. It happens A LOT. Anyway, since it was just the two of us, it was pretty funny and pretty fun, too.

ussie by Lizzie

I could have stayed in this bar and had more drinks, but it had been a long day and we had to get up early the next day because our hotel would not have water beginning at 7:30, so we wanted to be sure to be ready to go before the water was unavailable.

Since our hotel was right in front of the Astronomical Clock and there wasn't much of a crowd, we were able to take photos.

me!

Lizzie!

Fun fact...we stood right there in front of the clock and called Mom so she could see us on the Cameras Around the World website. She did see us! (We also did this in front of the Pantheon in Rome too, and it was really fun!) 

In case you're wondering, I walked 18,176 steps that day, just over seven and a half miles!

Up next, we explore the city on the west side of the Vltava River including Prague Castle.

#2980 vacation memories - day 10 Cesky Krumlov and Prague (Sunday 14 Sept 2025)

 

Prague!

Our time aboard the Viking Aegir was over. The river cruise was fantastic and I had such a great time on the ship. We met nice people, saw a lot of cool places, ate some seriously delicious food, and crushed a little (or a lot) on the handsome captain of the ship. It was time to move on to phase two of our vacation adventure and head east to the Czech Republic.

The Amazing Candice, our travel advisor, arranged for a private transfer to pick us up from the ship and drive us to Prague. It's about a five hour drive from Passau, Germany to Prague, and we were excited to have a stop a couple of hours into the drive at the town of Cesky Krumlov (pronounced chesskey crumblauv.) It was very rainy in Passau and for about an hour of the drive. The countryside was green and gorgeous with lots of hills and trees. It's Hansel and Gretel vibes. It's Snow White's woods. It's where Aurora meets Prince Phillip. The countryside is a fairy tale come to life, and Cesky Krumlov is part of that fairy tale. 

When we got to the car park, our driver advised us to climb the stairs to get up to the castle, walk around up there, then make our way down to the town. He said he would meet us back at the car in a couple of hours, and then we went our separate ways. I was fine with that, and so was Lizzie. We'd had a week of people talking at us and we were ready to roam on our own, even though we didn't really know what we were looking at.

As with most castles, this one is one a hill above the town and it is an assortment of grand buildings. First we went to the top of the hill to the gardens, and you know what? I liked them quite a lot. 

castle garden in Cesky Krumlov

This photo does not do the place justice. The grounds are so big that there was no way I could really capture it all. This is just the lower part of the gardens - there was lots more that we didn't even see. The sky was cloudy and gray, but it wasn't raining, and the temperature was nice.

in the castle

We wandered down the hill through the castle. An interesting note is that all of these buildings you see are stone or concrete or something, and all the decorations and even the stones are actually painted. It really just added to the overall Disney-esque vibe I felt about the place. The buildings are pretty and colorful and a façade

double click to get a bigger view of the buildings and notice all the detail is painted

We found a tiny doorway from which people were pouring out of and there was a bit of a crowd waiting to get in, so we had to check it out. WOW. The view of the town was...well...look:

Cesky Krumlov

am I looking at a fairy tale town?

Another interesting thing about the castle is that the moat has bears in it. Big brown bears. The moats of the castles of Bohemia were patrolled by bears. I saw two bears, and they seemed to be okay. They don't have much patrolling to do anymore. 

Lizzie and I walked down into the town and looked at a couple of shops. We saw a restaurant patio down by the river and we wanted to have a bite to eat before we got back on the road. It was a little chilly down there, but we enjoyed a beer and a plate of cold cuts, cheese, and bread. It was just what we wanted.

at the restaurant by the river

Soon enough it was time to meet our driver, but first we stopped in a cute little bookshop where I bought some stickers and oh yeah, I think a postcard, too! It began to rain, but we had our umbrellas, so no big deal. I enjoyed the time in Cesky, although I did come away with a blister on the pinky toe of my left foot. My shoes were comfortable, but it was a little wet and my foot slipped around a on the cobblestones. No big problem, though.

Reunited with our driver, we continued on to Prague. From Passau to Cesky, we'd been on the back roads, but from Cesky to Prague, we were on the freeway. The car was a smooth-driving BMW and our driver was very good. When he pointed out Prague ahead and to our right, I was delighted to see a dim rainbow over the city as if it was greeting us. I was immediately enchanted. 

We drove over a bridge past the Dancing House (google it!), then along the Vltava River to the old town. I remember looking out the car window trying to soak everything in and wondering if I would be walking around those same streets in the next few days. (Yes, I would!) We had to park across the square from our hotel since the area around the hotel is pedestrian only, which is cool.

The Hotel Grand Praha is right on Old Town Square directly across from the Astronomical Clock. The location is wonderful, but from the moment we walked into the hotel, the possibility of our stay in Prague being not-so-good was strong. The first thing was that we were "greeted" by a somewhat surly young man. He wasn't very nice, but the woman who actually was working the front desk was nice. The second thing was that we had received notification that the tour we'd booked for the next day to the castle had been cancelled because there was some event involving crown jewels or something going on and the castle was going to be closed on Monday. The third thing was that there was a prominent sign on the registration desk informing us that there would not be water in the hotel on Tuesday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm (oy!) The fourth thing was the room they put us in. It was on the top floor, then we had to take a steep and tiny staircase to the attic. It was a big room, but it gave serious Cinderella-in-the-attic vibes.

the attic room

The only furniture was the bed and that table with two rickety-ass chairs you see on the left. I was worried that I would sit up in the morning and bash my head on the slanted ceiling. We sat on the rickety chairs, barely moving a muscle, and Lizzie, bless her heart, decided to find out if there was a room with two separate beds available. I'm so glad she asked because there was  such a room and we were able to go to it right away. The surly fellow came up and took our (heavy!) bags down the tiny stairs and down a floor or two to our new room. The new room was sort of monastic, but better than the attic.

the nun's quarters

The bed was kind of weird. The pillows were odd. It wasn't what I was expecting, I guess, but the bathroom was nice enough and we didn't really spend a lot of time in the room anyway, so it was fine. The location kind of made up for the spartan sleeping quarters because when we walked out the door of the hotel lobby, we saw this directly in front of us:

the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall

Then I turned to the right and I saw this:

Old Town Square

And when I took a couple of steps forward and looked up, I saw this:

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

It was the golden hour and Prague was showing off. My goodness. I couldn't stop looking at this church. Those spires! The way the sun made the building glow! Dreamy!

Lizzie and I walked around to get a feel for the city. Yes, there were gobs of people everywhere. You couldn't shake a stick without hitting a trdelnik shop - it's the Czech version of the Hungarian chimney cake. There was also wonderful architecture everywhere you looked. It seemed that no two buildings were the same. I was in awe. Here are a couple of pics:

Powder Gate Tower

Wenceslas Square and the National Museum in the background

I was deeply enamored with the city already. It was stunning. We stopped at a restaurant close to Wenceslas Square and had tasty schnitzel, potatoes and beer, of course. (Czech beer is very good.)  After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel and arrived at the square in time to see the Astronomical Clock do it's thing - it's kinda like the Glockenspiel in Munich in that there are moving parts and sounds every hour on the hour. It draws a crowd, and it's pretty cool. I took this pano of the square. People were moving, so they look splinched:

pano of Old Town Square

So, yeah, I felt lucky and happy to be in Prague. I decided to shake off the kind of ominous start to my stay with the sort of weird vibes I got from the staff and I was looking forward to having two more days to spend in the city. 

Next up, our first full day in Prague! 

#2979 vacation memories - day 9 Passau, Germany -> Salzburg, Austria (Saturday 13 Sept)

Salzburg!

We woke up in Passau, Germany on the final day of our cruise. It had been rainy, so the streets were wet but the sky was clearing. It looks like a pretty town.

Passau, Germany

We were not going to have the chance to explore this town, because we were on our way to Salzburg! Of course you know that Salzburg, Austria is NOT on the Danube, and we didn't get there by boat. Salzburg was a tour offered by Viking, but not included in the fee. The cool thing is that our travel advisor, the Amazing Candice, got us enough ship-board credits that we were able to use to totally pay for this excursion. I would have paid for it because I really wanted to see this town. (Actually a city, the fourth largest in Austria.)  

We got on a full-size bus with four other people plus our guide and set off through the German and Austrian countryside. It's about a two hour drive from Passau to Salzburg. We did take the autobahn for a little while, but most of the trip was along the backroads though pretty little towns. We even had a chance to see the Alps!

I edited this photo for better visual of the Alps. It still came out pretty well!

the Austrian countryside and the Alps

As you can see, Austria is very green. They grow a lot of corn which is used as animal feed. The people don't really eat corn there. 

Salzburg is quite a famous city for at least two reasons. First, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born there in this house and lived there through his childhood:

Mozart was born here!

The second reason Salzburg is famous is for the movie The Sound of Music. I was assured by every single Austrian guide that no self-respecting Austrian has seen the movie. However, the hills are still alive with the tunes of Rodgers and Hammerstein as you will hear songs from the movie sung all over the town. A bit more on that in a minute. 

I'm getting ahead of myself. 

When we arrived in Salzburg, we were greeted by a local guide, not the woman who rode on the bus with us. Our guide was a man with wild nose hair who was prone to go off on tangents on some things and skip over other things that might have been more relevant or interesting, and he was pretty free with his opinion on lots of things, too. I mostly tuned him out, to be honest, and just looked around . The town was quite busy, as I'm sure it always is, but it was Saturday and the weather was fantastic, and it seemed like there was a lot going on.

First we got to walk through the Mirabell Garden on the grounds of the Mirabell Palace. The Garden was featured in The Sound of Music.  If you remember the movie, Frauline Maria teaches the children Do-Re-Mi and they dance around this fountain:

Pegasus Fountain in Mirabell Garden

The Garden is spectacular! Nowadays, the Garden is used for wedding receptions, and there were at least two receptions going on while we were there. It was fun and interesting to see people actually dressed in lederhosen. The guide explained that it is becoming quite popular for wedding guests to wear the traditional clothing of the area. We saw stores selling modern versions of lederhosen and dirndl.

Here are a few more photos of the Mirabell Garden:

View of Fortress Hohensalzburg on the hill

garden ussie!

so pretty!

delightful

feeling like royalty

I could have spent more time at the garden, but there was more to see, of course. We crossed the "lock" bridge over the Salzach River to the old part of town, and went straight to the main street, Getreidegasse, which is famous for it's beautiful metal signs. My photo does not do it justice. The signs are really cool and artistic, and there are many of them.

Getreidegasse

Mostly I felt like we were rushing around and the guide was talking at us and I felt like I wasn't really soaking in the Salzburg vibe that I wanted. Then the tour was over and we were at a restaurant - the oldest one in Europe! - where we would have lunch and singing.

The restaurant was established in 803. It was an abbey and is right next to St. Peter's Church. We did not sit in the original building; we were in a large and very beautiful room that is likely used for wedding dinners and other events. 

feeling fancy

The room could probably seat  at least 100 people, but there were only six of us sitting at three tables at the front of the room with a view of a stage and a grand piano. We were served a nice white wine along with roasted chicken and pureed parsnips. For dessert, we had the famous Salzburger Nockerl (I didn't take a photo of it?!) which is like a souffle with meringue on top and jam on the inside. It's very light and very sweet, especially by European standards, I thought. The food was all fine. While we were eating, we were entertained by The Sound of Music Singers, three women and a man plus a woman playing the piano. Several songs from the movie were performed, including "Climb Every Mountain" by one of the women dressed in a nun's habit. 

Lizzie said I looked delighted by the singing, and I did have a smile plastered to my face because it seemed like a lot. Like I said, there were six Viking guests and these singers were smack-dab in front of us singing their faces off. I do love The Sound of Music, but wow, I didn't love this experience. 

In fact, when I filled out the questionnaire Viking gave us at the end of the cruise, I went into some detail about how I would have preferred to have the option to get lunch on my own. There was a great looking biergarten and market going on in the town that I would have loved to do instead. I appreciated the history of the restaurant, but the whole thing was very contrived to me. 

After lunch, we only had about an hour to explore on our own. We checked out the oldest bookstore in Austria:

and it was quite modern and nice. We didn't buy anything there. We went into a paper store and wandered around, buying some postcards and maybe a sticker. I don't remember and I haven't gotten to Salzburg in my travel journal yet. We wanted to have a beer and we went to the Hotel Sacher and got a nice table on the patio, but we misjudged the time and had to leave before we could order anything. 

I thought Salzburg was beautiful and I would love to have a day there on my own. I'd love to go up to the fortress and have a view of the town from above. There was a scrumptious looking pastry shop that I'd have coffee and cake from in a heartbeat. The tour just gave me a taste of the town and snatched it away very quickly.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos:

I'd love to walk along that path next to the river and look at those buildings.

I bet the views from the fortress are amazing

Plus, we were so busy scurrying about that I didn't even have the chance to pull out my travel journal to doodle or make notes until we were back on the bus. 

Oh well, it's like I always say, you gotta leave something for next time. 

I'm not sad I went to Salzburg. I'm just sad I didn't have the experience I'd hoped for. 

We drove back the way we came, through the towns. I admired all the pretty window boxes. Austrians are really, really good at window boxes. Because the countryside is so green, the flowers really added a bright pop of color to the drive. It was idyllic. I love to think about people who live in those places and what their lives might be like. It was a nice drive.

That night on the ship, Hot Captain Tomas, Adrian the Activity Director, and the  Hotel Manager (don't remember his name), came into the lounge to have a farewell champagne toast with the guests, and that night, I had the most amazing dinner. Chef George really outdid himself.

Zwiebelrostbraten

This roast was pure comfort food. The meat melted in my mouth. The crunchy onion straws gave the whole dish such a nice flavor. The mashed potatoes were creamy, and the gravy was light and flavorful. Even the carrots were good. I will be looking for a recipe for this dish because damn, even now a month later, my mouth waters when I think of this meal.

After dinner it was time to pack and prepare to disembark so we could continue our great Central European adventure in a different country. 

Next up: a quick visit to Cesky Krumlov and on to Prague!