Here we are in Prague with a view of Prague Castle behind, our last day there. More photos coming soon.
In Vienna on a long Segway tour of the city, this photo in front of the Vienna Opera house. Similar to our Berlin tour on our honeymoon (see: Photos from Berlin, September 2015) and our June 2021 Segway tour of Munich (see this link). Some tourists have returned to Prague, Salzburg and Vienna. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
Last day of the month-long trip, in front of the Römer, Frankfurt's restored mediaeval Town Hall.
In Frankfurt, we decided to have some Frankfurters for lunch! Don't worry, we did not eat even a half of the dish, but it was good! Click on any photo to see a larger image.
In a small vineyard in Prague Castle, Lobkowitz Gardens, looking over Prague. On our way to lunch. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
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On Prague's Charles Bridge. The tourists are back! Just hundreds, but not yet thousands.
Nebozizek restaurant with a view of Prague Castle behind. Our second visit here, after Christmas 2013, see the older photo of a large luncheon with the other Cernikovskys.
Before we left Vienna to return to Prague, we had very interesting tour of the Habsburg family's summer palace at Schönbrunn. Vienna used to be dirty and, in the summer, smelly ... so the royal family went far out of town. Our guide was very funny and explained how the Habsburgs got to rule much of Europe for centuries through marriages ... often to cousins. Some queens had 16 or more children. When small, they were looked after by staff, but if they lived to be 6 years old, they were contracted to marry someone in some part of the empire. If one girl died before the marriage, there was always a substitute available. In one case, even the substitute died, but there was #3 ready.
The guide normally has 30 people on his tours, but there were just 4 plus a German girl who did not want to wait an hour for the German language tour. Tourists are slowly coming back.
Sacher Hotel again, of course, but this time no cake.
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Sacher Hotel's cafe. Same as in all of Vienna, yet another portrait of Sisi.
Just four people on the Segway tour of Vienna, with a couple serving in the U.S. Navy in Sicily. This in front of the St. Stephen's cathedral, which we see from our Airbnb.com apartment.
St. Stephen's cathedral is being cleaned and is looking much better than our last visit here in 2014. Left side still black, the front already white.
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In front of the Art Gallery. A splendid tour to get to see many parts of Vienna. The Segways can move quickly, so you see much more than you would on a walking tour. Click to see a larger image.
Two parts of the cathedral, one cleaned on the left, the other on the right, still to be cleaned.
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In front of, right in front of our apartment. Click to see a larger image.
By the cathedral, they had a market with food and drink, full of people having fun.
A full moon view from our Vienna apartment, over the St. Stephen's cathedral in the center of the city.
Halstatt, in Austria, has a fabulous lake and, high in the mountains, and old salt mine, now a tourist attraction. We went to the mine and had a splendid lunch looking over the lake and a number of hangliders flying from the mountains. Spectacular! Austria at its best!
High above Halstatt, a skywalk above the town. See it on the left of the photo, deep below us.
From Salzburg we crossed into Bavaria and took a boat ride on the Königsee. Electric boats have been running here over a century. We stopped at St. Bartolome for lunch ... the only way to reach it is by boat.
In San Bartolome, a trout fresh from the lake!
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We also took the bus high above Berchtesgaden, up to the "Eagle's Nest", Hitler's mountain retreat. An exciting mountain bus ride, a long walk in the tunnel and a 110 meter ride in a brass elevator. His house has been turned into a restaurant. This fireplace was supposedly a gift from Mussolini.
In the Halstatt salt mine, we went on and underground tour.
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We had to dress up for the salt mine tour.
We spent three days in Salzburg, staying on the historic Getreidegasse, where houses are 800-900 years old. This is a view of the city with the cathedral and the old castle above. Click for an even larger image.
On the Getreidegasse, most old houses had signs showing what business was there, such as a tailor, a butcher, a silversmith, etc. One of the oldest signs on the street was adapted by McDonalds with the golden arches in it. Click to see a larger image.
On our trip we had a lot of schnitzels, usually "Wiener schnitzel" or some other variety. Near our apartment was a place selling a "Schnitzelburger". Ugh! We did not try that Salzburg delicacy. Maybe Mozart used to go there. His house was across the street of our apartment.
Across the river from Salzburg, Archbishop Wolf Dietrich, whose main job was presumably in the Cathedral on the other side of the river, built in 1606 this beautiful Mirabell Place and gardens, for his mistress, with whom he had 16 children. Salzburg castle just behind us, so it was close to town for the Archbishop to get there often. Mozart used to play in the palace later on. We came through here with a tour of "My Favorite Things", themed by "Sound of Music" and saw various sites from the famous movie. Click for an even larger image.
The pedestrian bridge across the Salzach River, with the old town behind us. People lock thousands of padlocks to it and the city of Salzburg cleans them out once a year. Click on the photo for an even larger image.
After lunch at Zugspitze in Germany, at 2,962 meters ...
... we crossed to Austria, at 9,718 feet, for an espresso and a cappuccino.
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The next day we stopped at Ettal, a splendid baroque Benedictine monastery, even now with 50 monks. Bavaria is full of baroque gems.
From there we went on to Wies, a beautiful baroque church in the foothills of the Alps, yet another UNESCO World Heritage site, with a good Bavarian restaurant across the street, looking over the splendid church. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
Bavarian farmers demanding better price for milk.
And a beautiful house in Oberammmegau.
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WE also stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle.
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And the nearby Linderhof Castle, yet another that the "Mad" King Ludwig built. He was a genius, laying foundation for a huge tourist industry more that 100 after his death, people visiting all his castles. Click to see a much larger image.
Linderhof Castle gardens. Ludwig preferred here rather than Munich.
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And then we went for a few days to Munich, starting at the colossal Nymphenburg Palace and a rather excellent Italian restaurant nearby for lunch. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
The main Square in Munich, our hotel a couple of blocks away. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
No tourists, so we had a private Segway tour just for us. Click to see a larger image.
We returned for a few more days to work in Cologne. On our way back to Frankfurt (and back home), we had lunch in Linz, an ancient little town on the Rhine river, in one of the restaurants behind us to the right. This time, no more asparagus, but mushrooms. Loraine wanted "small German towns" and she got a lot of them, including this one, Linz.
And then on to Dallas and home. What a trip! In a country quite without tourists.
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