Easter Travels
This year we took a slightly different holiday, in that it was very short, and to a place that we would normally never have gone to, had it not been for our youngest child: Slowakia!
Briefly, she has a friend who's father is on foreign service there and they invited us to visit. After convincing ourselves to make the trip there, we also decided to combine it with a brief Vienna and Munich visit.
The route we took was rather direct, (map) and was intended to minimize the kms we had to travel, as the distance was large for such a short visit.
On the way there we overnighted in Vienna at the Danube Hilton. I chose this hotel as it was available for some of my Hilton points. Basicially, this hotel is not a real recomendation, as i've been to many (much) better Hiltons. Even in the middle of China! It was clean (been to some less than clean Hiltons too!) and public transportation is only a 5 minute walk. This is important as the Hotel is on the outskirts of town.
We spent an evening walking around Vienna, and then had a leisurely dinner in an open front Restaurant. The next morning we traveled to Schloss Schoenbrunn via public transport (which is very good in Vienna), and spent some time viewing how the "bluebloods" in a previous age lived. Not bad!
Then off towards Kosice, Slowakia, via Budapest Hungary. There is a shorter way of traveling as the crow flies, but i was warned by many not to take it. All recommended to go via the good highways that are available in Hungary. But, be warned: Budapest is a nightmare to get through, and there is no ring road! So ofcourse we got lost in Budapest and lost an hour before finding the highway on the other side, and continued on.
The last bit of road towards Kosice(ca. 50 Km) is only secondary, and the travel is slow going, but we finally made it. Our friends were happy to see us, and the girls disappeared in their room, happy as can be.
We stayed 4 days in Kosice, and took day trips to several places. Our friends were perfect hosts, and really showed us a variety of things in Slowakia. Not to dwell on that part of the trip, here are a few pictures:
We departed Kosice on Easter Monday and headed towards Munich, again via Budapest. However, this time we were armed with a map, and breezed through the city center, arriving Munich at 20:00, at the Holiday Inn Schwabing. Again, not really a recommend if you have a choice, but it was clean and had a pool, which I promised our 8 year as we left Kosice and her best friend:(
The next day we went to the Deutsche Museum, a very strong recommend for anyone even slightly interested in anything technical or how things work. I've been to this museum a number of times and never seem to have enough time to really feel like i've seen it all. There is simply so much, and most of it is so simply explained. Anyone with kids (or without) will find this a wonderful day. And, you'll feel enlightened on a number of things you perhaps never thought you would understand!
After the museum there was a brief shopping session near the old part of Munich, and then off swimming in the holiday Inn pool. Dinner was a "Leberkaese" Broetchen...you don't want to know:)
One small incident occurred while at the pool in the hotel, which did remind me of a remaining social difference between Germany and the USA. There were some americans at the pool, and one girl (looked college age, so probably on spring break) commented in English, thinking that we could not understand, that the fact that my wife took a shower naked prior to entering the sauna was simply "gross". We dismissed it as just one of those known social differences between Europe and the USA.
The next morning we stopped at the WWII concentration camp Dachau. As both my wife and i had been to this site previously, we would not have made a stop this time. However our 12 year old is learning about the 3rd Reich in school at the moment, and she asked if we could go there.
I do not want to say too much about Dachau, as nothing can explain what you see there. It just reminded me once again of something i heard a long time ago: Humans can be the worst animals in the world. Nothing in the animal kingdom can even come close to what man did to man during WWII. A definite recommend to anyone, anytime.
We traveled home after our trip to Dachau, and arrived that evening to nice weather and a nice beer, for me:)
Briefly, she has a friend who's father is on foreign service there and they invited us to visit. After convincing ourselves to make the trip there, we also decided to combine it with a brief Vienna and Munich visit.
The route we took was rather direct, (map) and was intended to minimize the kms we had to travel, as the distance was large for such a short visit.
On the way there we overnighted in Vienna at the Danube Hilton. I chose this hotel as it was available for some of my Hilton points. Basicially, this hotel is not a real recomendation, as i've been to many (much) better Hiltons. Even in the middle of China! It was clean (been to some less than clean Hiltons too!) and public transportation is only a 5 minute walk. This is important as the Hotel is on the outskirts of town.
We spent an evening walking around Vienna, and then had a leisurely dinner in an open front Restaurant. The next morning we traveled to Schloss Schoenbrunn via public transport (which is very good in Vienna), and spent some time viewing how the "bluebloods" in a previous age lived. Not bad!
Then off towards Kosice, Slowakia, via Budapest Hungary. There is a shorter way of traveling as the crow flies, but i was warned by many not to take it. All recommended to go via the good highways that are available in Hungary. But, be warned: Budapest is a nightmare to get through, and there is no ring road! So ofcourse we got lost in Budapest and lost an hour before finding the highway on the other side, and continued on.
The last bit of road towards Kosice(ca. 50 Km) is only secondary, and the travel is slow going, but we finally made it. Our friends were happy to see us, and the girls disappeared in their room, happy as can be.
We stayed 4 days in Kosice, and took day trips to several places. Our friends were perfect hosts, and really showed us a variety of things in Slowakia. Not to dwell on that part of the trip, here are a few pictures:
We departed Kosice on Easter Monday and headed towards Munich, again via Budapest. However, this time we were armed with a map, and breezed through the city center, arriving Munich at 20:00, at the Holiday Inn Schwabing. Again, not really a recommend if you have a choice, but it was clean and had a pool, which I promised our 8 year as we left Kosice and her best friend:(
The next day we went to the Deutsche Museum, a very strong recommend for anyone even slightly interested in anything technical or how things work. I've been to this museum a number of times and never seem to have enough time to really feel like i've seen it all. There is simply so much, and most of it is so simply explained. Anyone with kids (or without) will find this a wonderful day. And, you'll feel enlightened on a number of things you perhaps never thought you would understand!
After the museum there was a brief shopping session near the old part of Munich, and then off swimming in the holiday Inn pool. Dinner was a "Leberkaese" Broetchen...you don't want to know:)
One small incident occurred while at the pool in the hotel, which did remind me of a remaining social difference between Germany and the USA. There were some americans at the pool, and one girl (looked college age, so probably on spring break) commented in English, thinking that we could not understand, that the fact that my wife took a shower naked prior to entering the sauna was simply "gross". We dismissed it as just one of those known social differences between Europe and the USA.
The next morning we stopped at the WWII concentration camp Dachau. As both my wife and i had been to this site previously, we would not have made a stop this time. However our 12 year old is learning about the 3rd Reich in school at the moment, and she asked if we could go there.
I do not want to say too much about Dachau, as nothing can explain what you see there. It just reminded me once again of something i heard a long time ago: Humans can be the worst animals in the world. Nothing in the animal kingdom can even come close to what man did to man during WWII. A definite recommend to anyone, anytime.
We traveled home after our trip to Dachau, and arrived that evening to nice weather and a nice beer, for me:)
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