Lake District Part 2

The girls aren't back until tomorrow, so off I went to the Lake District again.  The weather wasn't as nice, but still not bad at all.  I remember thinking at one point that it would be terrible to be stuck on the mountain if it started raining...and it did, but wasn't enough to be completely miserable.

Lake District Hike

England's Lake District rivals Yosemite, and at just two hours from our house, it's a shame we haven't spent more time there.  Since the girls are in MN without me, I made the best of some nice weather nearby.  After a two-hour drive, and a two hour hike, I was rewarded with an incredible view:

Manley Mere Trail

A few weeks ago, we were invited to the Manley Mere Trail with a group of friends.  What a great day out!

1-Day in London

A few quick photos from 24hrs in London:

Prague by Night

It is easy to see why Prague is such a popular tourist destination.  The city is beautiful and comes alive at night.  There are as many people out at midnight as there are at noon.  There is live music everywhere, and Czechs drink a lot of beer.  The consumer per capita is twice that of America.

We capped our trip with a few night photos, and a few more miles on foot.  Kirk snapped a few really pretty pictures of the city.

Thanks for coming to visit Auntie Kirk!  You will be missed dearly!  See you on the other side of the pond. 

Prague Highlights: Part 2

Our final full day of Prague was filled with food, more walking, a coffee experiment for Outing, and some 'pretty good shopping'.

We sampled lots of local fare from street vendors today in the Old Town Square.  Spiral potatoes, some cabbage/bacon/potato mix, Trdelnik (some delicious sugar pastry thing), sausage, and some wonderful Old Prague Ham (except for the hunks that Outing dropped 2 minutes after buying:)).

And finally, Mara narrowly averted being eaten by a hippo in the park:

Prague Highlights: Part 1

Prague is a highly acclaimed city.  We found it wonderful and a lot of walking.  We've been averaging 18,500 steps a day (about 9 miles/day).  Our girls lasted surprisingly well over the 50+ miles this week:)

The cityscapes are incredible, and there are thousands of tourists everywhere.  Prague has over 8 million visitors every year and is 7th among European cities for visitors (top six are: London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Dublin, and Moscow).

We had a fabulous night view of the city from our apartment:

Found another rainbow on our walk home...

We took a lovely boat ride in the rain...
Celebrated Mara the Princess...

Enjoyed the lovely streets of Prague...

Enjoyed a relaxing boat ride...

And saw the world's largest Castle...

Dresden Highlights

Dresden is a beautiful historic city - especially so at night.  The girls had a sleep over with Auntie Kirk, so Outing and I took the tripod out for a few snaps.  The rainclouds made for some dramatic skys over some beautiful architecture.

The city was extensively damaged in WWII bombings through controvercial bombings by the Allies.  Over 90% of the city centre destroyed, but you might never know it by looking at it today.

Dresden has a historical significance as the capital of Saxony, and was the home of previous kings and electors.  Today, it has a population of 500,000 and is one of the ten fasted growing cities in Germany.  It made for a perfect stop for the Anderson's on our travels across Germany...

The Berlin Wall

We explored the remaining Berlin Wall today.  Incredible to see the graffiti artists' work on a 3.6m tall canvas.  It was a really interesting look at history, and hard to imagine this scene 50 years ago.

Trip 36: Berlin, Germany

Berlin is an interesting trip through history.  It is a busy, thriving city, with remnants of the Berlin wall, the Holocaust, and some incredible rebuilt architecture since the bombing from WWII.

The Holocaust Memorial opened in 2005, and is a tribute to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  The design consists of stone columns of various heights on a sloping field.  The columns are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere - which it completely does.  Josh got lost for 10 minutes before he found us on the other end of the memorial:)

We made reservations and got through the rebuilt parliament building: Reichstag Building.  After being essentially destroyed in WWII, it was rebuilt with an ultra-modern dome withe mirrors and a spiral staircase: