Eastern Europe - Day Two

Even with us getting up on the late side it was full and wonderful day – starting with the weather which was clear and in the forties when we woke up and went on up to the upper sixties into the early evening.

Early April should be a nice time to visit Europe right? It’s before the heavy-duty summer tourist season right? Wrong? Turns out that April has been turned into Euro-student travel season. Prague was crawling with tourists, the vast majority students, from every part of Europe. Throw a few adults and Chinese groups and it was the tower of Babel.
Since, I am officially “going for the ride” for this trip, I had no expectations and no agenda other than my usual one in Europe of soaking up the ambiance, eating and drinking. Therefore our good friends at Cruise One Travel, Al the Armenian, Sandy plus Wife hand an agenda all laid out.

I won’t go through the whole thing since it won’t mean a lot, but we did a lot of walking, saw the castle, the monastery, lot’s of castles, squares, clocks and buildings. The decoration on the buildings was different from other places I’ve been with lot’s of geometric patterns in subtle coloring.

Here were the highlights of the day for me.

Music all over the place – there was a four piece group (flute, bass, violin, accordion) playing great stuff (both classical and folk) in front of the castle and I stayed there for an hour listening to them while the others went on. We also heard a couple of guys doing bluegrass, a choir group from an English University singing a capella and went to a chamber music concert in the evening.

Drinks on the plaza – The must thing to do every day you’re in Europe. Find a nice location, camp out, buy one highly overpriced drink, sit back and soak in the ambiance
Following on with Al and kibitzing with anyone and everyone – Al has a wonderful feeling of curiousness about people and never let’s language be a barrier. We talked to locals, Italians, Englishmen, etc.

A 30-minute conversation with an Italian about Ethiopia – Did this one on my own. While listening to the group at the castle, a gentleman sat down beside me and we struck up a conversation. He is a teacher with a passion for Ethiopia and we talked about tourism there, development, politics in our two countries, travel, music, etc.

Dinner – Roast Duck (mmmmmm). Wife had a pan fried Trout (mmmmmm). Sandy had a Potato pancake with chicken in it (sounds weird by mmmmmm). Al a Veal dish (only ok).

Some Pictures

Mrs. de-I on the Monastery Grounds

Church on the Monastery Grounds

Mrs de-I Looking over the City after the Monastery

A Hint at the Masses of Humanity We Really Ran Into

View of a Major Church on the Castle Grounds

Looking up the River

Masses of People in Front of a Special Clock Ready to Ring

Example of Neat Buildings

The Team from Cruise One Working for Us
(Let's see, we have an unscheduled stop for a drink, that's and upcharge of.....and he went off on an unauthorized kibitzing conversation with an Italian, that's and an upcharge of.....)

Culinary Highlights

Our Dinner

Could it Get Any Better than This?