Thursday, April 11, 2013

Today is Thursday, So It Must Be Vienna!!!

Hey all,

As promised, today I'm going to share some of the photos we took as we did our last travel through Europe.  We had a wonderful three week road trip and made memories we'll cherish for a lifetime!  Such as this beautiful night scene of the castles in Prague!

After leaving Hamburg, we traveled through quite a few countries.  Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungry, Slovenia, Croatia, Monaco and Italy.  It's a good thing we love to go by car, because we spent a lot of hours in one.

But I have to say it was one of the best trips we've done.  No airports or worries that way.  Just jumping in a car and going until we didn't want to go any more.  I'll probably do another blog next week with more pics...breaking it up into two entries, because we did so much and enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly.  God is good.  To give us the opportunity and the where-with-all to make our traveling dreams come true.

So, I'll start at the beginning and today's blog will cover everything but Italy, because that in itself was an amazing 10 days!!!

Ready?  Remember to click on the pics to see them bigger.

Once we left Germany, we went straight into the Czech Republic.  We spent two delightful days in Prague, (remember the picture up above?) which everyone said is one of the world's most beautiful cities...and it is.  The architecture, the art and the people.  I could have spent the whole time there and never been bored.

This is one of their famous landmarks, the clock that sits in the city square.  Unique and beautiful, we bought a copy of it to take home with us.  We were lucky enough to walk by when it was hitting the noon hour and the chimes and music it makes are wonderful!

After visiting Prague Castle - the biggest castle complex in the world and another UNESCO site, we headed for our last destination in the Czech Republic, the little known Bone Church in the tiny town of Kutna Hora.  I'd never heard of this place before a circus friend told me about it.  And once I researched it, we found this small city had not only this amazing church, but several other HERITAGE sites as well.  So we enjoyed ourselves very much.  But the Bone Church is so unusual, I had to show you a couple of pics.  Believe it or not.

 And this is a close up of one of wall arts.  Yes...that IS a parrot on his shoulder!

After we left the Czech Republic, we went back into Austria so we could visit Vienna.  Another old world town with much to see and do, we could only see bits and pieces.  But what we did see showed us it lives up to it's name as one of the greatest places to visit.  My favorite areas were St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Rathouse(city hall) and the many palace complexes.  We were even able to visit one of the most famous landmarks...the main cemetery of Vienna where many of the world's most famous musicians were buried.  Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Strauss to name a few.

 And since Strauss in one of Vienna's favorite sons, we even hiked to his golden statue in the middle of Stadpark.


After leaving Vienna, we drove through the countries of Slovakia, Hungry, Slovenia and Croatia.  We were curious as to what these areas of Europe were like and since we had the time and the inclination, we took a day and a half and just explored.  We found friendly people, good food and some beautiful countryside.  And while we didn't go for any specific attraction, we're glad we took the time to visit.

Slovakian Sunset

Stayed in this unexpectedly beautiful area just on the Hungarian /Austrian border.  When we woke up, we found this small basilica.  So very beautiful and the plain people who worshiped there touched my heart in a special way.

On we went through Slovenia and Croatia.  Slovenia was a pretty country with some beautiful countryside.  Tall trees and hidden valleys.  We loved the short time we were there.

Croatia we didn't spend more than a few hours in.  We didn't have the time.  We'd gone there because when we were in Berlin at one of the Christmas Markets, a group of Croatian dancers had preformed.  The squealing cries uttered by the women dancers intrigued us, so we dipped into the country to check it out.  We didn't see any women squeaking--though I did a few of my own just to say we did--but we did see the BIGGEST SHOPPING MALL IN CROATIA.  I guess it can be another thing to mark off our bucket list.  LOL


Anyway, that's just a taste of what we were able to explore.  I wish the internet was better.  I'd put more pics up, but it took me most of Wednesday to do these.  *sigh*  I'm just glad I can get on at all!!!!

I'll be back next Thursday with lots of photos of Italy.  And a couple of Monte Carlo, Monaco, since we spun the wheel just for luck in that famous city!

Hugs and see you next week!

CJ England









Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com
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4 comments:

Phylis said...

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures of your trip. I am enjoying my virtual travel trip with you!

Ray said...

I love the lighting in the Castle picture.

The Bone Church is even scarier after reading a travel link to the place. It seems a mad monk started making designs with the bones.

I see you kept up your tradition with the clock picture. Love it.

We were on our way to Dubrovnik, Croatia when the towers went down on 9/11/01. That got cancelled and I never got to see the ancient walled city.

And Beethoven still can't hear.

All great pics. Thanks

CJ England said...

Glad you're enjoying them, Phylis.

CJ England said...

I was at the right place at the right time for that castle pic, Ray. I love it when those things happen!