October 19, 2015

Prague travel highlights

Cesky Krumloff, Charles Bridge, Local Art, Old Town Square, Prague, Prague Castle, Tynn Church

stayed: An air bnb right on freakin’ Old Town Square, which is where a ton of the major sites are located. It was baller status people. You could spit on the Tynn Church if you wanted to. Highly recommended and the host gave us all sorts of restaurant recommendations, which is a huge help when you have to make that decision three times per day. #travelerproblems

saw: Old Town Square including Tynn Church and the Astronomical Clock.

The mall Footlocker twice. You’d be surprised just how hard it was to find decent replacement tennis shoes, which I never did. Anyone want an EU Footlocker gift card?

Charles Bridge on a rainy, moody afternoon. Do your research before rubbing a status on there for good luck. We rubbed the wrong one. Whoops.

A day trip to the charming castle town of Cesky Krumloff. Note to travelers – use Student Agency bus service. It’s very easy AND they have wifi! Join up with a walking tour with local guide. And don’t forget to see the bears. Rawr.

John Lennon Wall and other cheeky Prague art.

Prague Castle, which I’d recommend get there early, like right when they open. They have a decent audio tour that’s reasonable. Note to travelers – before you do anything else, get into the Cathedral before the hordes of tour buses arrive.

conquered: How to successfully ice my feet each night. Frozen water bottles = success.

Prague public transportation. The maps look confusing but it was pretty straightforward. Great for getting around if you aren’t able to walk a ton.

How to avoid “noise” in photographs. Prague is crowded with a capital “C” and trying to capture photos around them is an acquired talent.

other travel notes: Good restaurants include: Mincovna right on Old Town Square and Lokal, which is near the Jewish Quarter. Our host told us that restaurants don’t stay open late, and he was right. Note to travelers: plan on eating dinner semi-early in Prague. Bars are open until the wee hours though. Breakfast is hard to find too. Cheerios, yogurt and apples became our go-to for the rest of the trip.

If you see something you think you might need, buy it right then and there! You don’t know how many times I kicked myself in the ass on this one. Ugh. A prime example – a pharmacy is different than a drug store. You can only find important things such as Aleve at a pharmacy NOT a drug store. Get that ‘ish when you can.

Dogs can go everywhere and 99% of them are off leash, even on busy streets! Those were some well-behaved pooches. Perhaps I should ship Stella off to Eastern Europe for some training!

October 11, 2015

Amsterdam travel highlights

Amsterdam, Anne Frank, Apple Pie, Bike Tour, Leidseplein, Rijksmuseum, Vondel Park

OK, quick and dirty recaps of each city we visited coming your way! First off, our first stop – duh. Amsterdam.

stayed: An air bnb in the Leidseplein district. We stayed in a shared apartment on a canal (!) that was very easy to get to from the airport. We took the bus into town with no issues. It was a classic, old school apartment with crazy narrow, steep steps. I don’t know how an intoxicated person would make it up and down them without breaking a leg! It was very close to the museums and Vondel Park, but not so close to the bustling Red Light district and where I’d say the better restaurants are located.

saw: A dad on his bike, with a dog in the front basket and his child standing on the back hanging onto his shoulders on the way to school. Talent. Pure bike talent. A lady on a bike full on kick a car who almost hit her and the street fight that ensued. I thought Amsterdam peeps would be a lil more chill then that :-/ Tons of canal boat houses that made me want one – BAD. School kids taking recess in a local park playing, wait for it, dodge ball. That would never happen in the U.S.! Such a dangerous game 🙂

conquered: Rijksmuseum. I die for those still life paintings. And Rembrandt? You’re cool and all but man, the crowds! Note to travelers – bring your own ear buds so you can follow the free app tour on your iPhone.

Apple pie with extra whipped cream? ‘Nuff said.

The line for the Anne Frank Museum. We got in line a little after 8:00 a.m., thinking we’re smarter than everyone else. Yeah, not so much. Hundreds of others thought so too. We did eventually get in around 10:30 a.m. Note to travelers – purchase this ticket ahead of time if you can. That way, you won’t have to stand in that long line.

Mike’s bike tour. Highly recommended. I’d suggest doing a bike tour first so you get the lay of the land. Then you can go back to the places you thought were most interesting.

other travel notes: Brown cafes aren’t THAT amazing. Everything purchased were spiffs. You might as well just smoke a ciggy, but I guess that’s how people can spend hours in the cafes and not end up on their faces. Make good shoe choices. I wore Nike Airs on our museum day and got a nice, painful case of planar fasciitis that took a week to clear up. You kind of need to be able to walk whilst traveling and this was a huge setback for me at first. I cried like a big ole baby but then discovered bike tours, which helped me stay off my feet AND still see the city. Mint tea. OMGee. Fresh mint tea. Just take sprigs of mint and shove them in a cup of hot water. Genius.

October 8, 2015

Decisions, decisions

Amsterdam, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Eastern Europe, itinerary, Krakow, Ljubljana, Mostar, Prague, Split, Zagreb

The most common question I got prior to our trip was, “Why did you choose those countries?” When people think of Europe, I suspect London, Paris or any city in Italy comes to mind. Slovenia and Bosnia probably aren’t on most people’s radars and granted, they weren’t on mine either at first.

But in comes my most favorite of all favorite shows, Game of Thrones. Many of the scenes in recent seasons have been filmed in Croatia and that got me thinking…what ABOUT Croatia? I started doing some research and I came across my dear friend Rick Steves Eastern Europe itinerary. After googling a few of the places, we were sold! History, castles, coastline and cheap accommodations? Sign us up.

I basically took his suggested itinerary and adjusted it to the amount of time we were going to be there. Here’s what we ended up with:

Amsterdam, Netherlands – This stop was an add-on more than anything as the cheapest flight was found through here so we added two days to our trip. The flight from Seattle (with a quick stop in Iceland) was really an easy flight. Highly recommended flying into Amsterdam.

Prague, Czech Republic – Seemed only fitting to really start our trip with a visit to the “Paris of the East!” Plus, it’s one of the few cities that was untouched by the war.

Krakow, Poland – Per my hubby’s request. I should have given us a bit more time here, but it’s hard to narrow it down.

Budapest, Hungary – Also seemed to be a “not to miss” place. Like Krakow, another day would have been great here.

Ljubljana, Slovenia – Recommended by a colleague of mine. She said to add a day to this stop and she was SO right. Give this country at least 3 days.

Zagreb, Croatia – The capitol of Croatia. Not a ton to see, but it worked well logistically in our travel plans. It was a good place to reorganize and pick up our rental car for the drive down the coast.

Split, Croatia – Featured on the Game of Thrones. Enough said.

Mostar, Bosnia – A quick side trip that was the biggest unknown. Will it be safe? How’s the drive? What will we do there? All valid questions that were immediately answered as soon as we crossed the border from Croatia. Yes. Easy. Eat, drink and sight see!

Dubrovnik, Croatia – Also a Game of Thrones filming location not to mention a VERY romantic city. A great place to end our journey!

We spent anywhere from 2 to 3 days in each city, which was fine for some and not enough time for others. It was definitely an ambitious itinerary to say the least. As soon as you got semi-comfortable, it was time to pack up and run to the next train. I’m pretty sure we’ll never travel like this again, but it was a memorable learning experience all around!

September 30, 2015

And we’re back!

Eastern Europe

Seven countries and nine cities in a mere 24 days? Yeahhhh, that’s what we’ve been up to this past month hence the zero blog posts. I totally thought I would be live blogging on the road but I barely had time to collect my thoughts whilst running to catch the next train/bus/airplane. Not sure what I was thinking on that one! Luckily, I kept a journal so I can retell our tales from the road in future posts.

In short, I wouldn’t categorize this as a vacation per say, more like a bucket list adventure. The hectic pace left for little relaxation and we both agreed that our next trip will 1) be on a beach and 2) be all-inclusive 🙂

So, how did we do it? Where did we stay? I only packed one bag – what was in it?! I know you are burning with questions. Hoping to break it all down for ya’ll in the coming month so please stay tuned!

September 1, 2015

This dog is turning 10

Dog, Stella

Dog photo collage - cultivatedrambler.com

We don’t know the exact date of your birth, so we’ll just call September your birthday month! Happy birthday to the smartest, most annoying, hangry, barky, cutest, most person-like dog around. Though you’ve cost us our savings many times over, think that the garden patio is your personal toilet and eat things you shouldn’t, we wouldn’t trade you for the world 🙂 Love you Smells. XO.