The Christmas Crawl

I know what you’re going to say.

Another Christmas post.

Dangit Saint, it’s the New Year already. Get with it.

But Christmas really isn’t over. The 12 days of Christmas go from Christmas to Epiphany, which is when the Three Wise Men get lost in Italy and bring presents to Spanish kids. Or something like that.

So with that knowledge, I bring to you a golden ring of a blog to bring to your reading and viewing pleasure.

Over December, I went on another epic adventure with my wife and parents. This time, we went on a Christmas Market crawl throughout Germany. We started in Munich, traveled up the Western side along the Rhine, then to Amsterdam, and across Saxony all the way to Dresden, then back down to my home in Prague.

So now I’ll share with you our stops and some quick thoughts on each town. Keep this handy next time you’re thinking of a Teutonic visit to top off your charts.

Augsburg

We stayed in Augsburg. It’s a 45-minute train ride from Munich, and with the Bayern Pass, a family of four can make an all day train bound adventure for only 40 euros. Nearly all the regions of Germany have these daily deals and I can’t stress using them enough.

The Augsburg market underneath the "Rathaus", or city hall

I hadn’t been to Augsburg before. I only knew it from Church history. This was the town where there was a final peace agreement between the Lutherans and the Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. It was important for the Holy Roman Empire to finally make peace with the pesky Protestants as the Ottomans were knocking at their door, on the road to invading Europe. Peace was to be held so that Turks could be quelled. This was perhaps my favorite Christmas market in Bavaria. It was at the same time huge and cozy, with tons of different hot wines to choose from. It seems every year that we go to a German market, there’s always a larger and larger variety of mulled wine, or Gluhwein. No complaints here. Munich

Munich is the biggest city of Bavaria, and you’d expect it to have a huge Christmas market. We were hoping to make the Krampus parade that day, but as my parents were worn out from their flight from the US, we had to put off our Munchen visit for later that day. As we exited the metro and came up before the towering Rathaus, trumpets were blaring out a fine Baroque hymn as the snow was falling from the sky. It really marked a beautiful moment.

The Christmas market with the Rathaus tower

We only visited the small one outside the Rathaus, though apparently there was a larger one around the corner at the Wittelsbacherplatz. Then, also we didn't realize there’s a huge winter festival at the Theresienwiese fairgrounds, the Tollwood Festival. Which I can only guess is a kind of winter Oktoberfest, complete with roller coasters and music concerts. We didn’t make it though, as we only had that evening, which had to be completed with an obligatory visit to the Hoffbrau Haus.

Christmas lights line the main shopping street

Landsberg am Lech

This one was a bit of an unplanned gem. I really wanted to see the town of Oberammergau in the foothills of the Alps, and chose this village to break up our route. Was it a pleasant surprise! When we parked, we found ourselves on an old medieval road heading up to the top of the hill, which lead us to a tower, city gates, and a wall. Exploring more around, we found a Jesuit university which is now an agricultural university, where a kind of nature trail winds down the hill and takes you right into the old town center.

the main tower gate at the old town market

Their Christmas market was closed though, as it was too early in the day, so no mulled wine for us.

It’s also got a claim to fame. On the hill peak opposite the university, there’s a castle with a prison. We parked underneath it, which is where I guess the prison cells might have been. Hitler stayed there after his Beer Hall Putsch, and in cell number 7 he wrote Mein Kampf. It was one of the main touristic sites of Germany during the Third Reich.

Oberammergau

This town is a crown jewel of the Alpine foothills. It’s filled with brightly painted chalets, with each chalet presenting a scene from the Passion. The tradition there is that every ten years, they stage a massive passion play that starts in town and ends in a nearby cave. It’s a really beautiful village at any time of year, but they don’t really spruce it up that much for the holiday season (which is weird, considering the clear religiosity of the town.

one of the many painted buildings in town

Ulm

The next day, we hit the road for the Rhine. First we needed a breakfast stop, so we found a parking spot in Ulm (not really a town made for parking). Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein and was long a major economic center of Germany and was a Free Imperial City during the days of the Empire.

Christmas trees lead to the market

Ulm really spruces up for Christmas time, featuring a massive Christmas market, complete with a nativity scene composed of real animals. This isn’t a rare thing, but it was certainly the biggest living scene we came across.

I hope they give those sheep enough wine to handle this

Ulm itself is a really beautiful mix of medieval and modern, with most of the old town composed of half-timbered houses huddled together until they eventual merge into a modern city.

Rudesheim am Rhein

Germany is full of fairy tale villages, preserving perfectly the medieval architecture of a millennium. Along the Rhine is a region full of these villages, one after the other of wineries and quaint pubs. In the summer time, there are dozens of ferries that go up and down the river, along with a light rail system and extensive bicycling and hiking trails. Add this all up with the dozen or so castles, and it’s a real relaxation station.

one of the many pubs of Rudesheim

As we drove to the Rhine, I was doing a last-minute check on Christmas markets on the Rhine village region. I found that there were only two permanent ones on the Rhine, at Rudesheim and Koblenz. Rudesheim even beat Augsburg on the awesome Christmas market list, especially as the town itself is pretty scenic and medieval.

Bacharach

If I were to stay on the Rhine during the summer, Bacharach is definitely the town to choose. There’s not one trace of modernity about it, except for electricity and indoor toilets. In the winter it’s pretty dead, with only a few pubs remaining open, and no Christmas market in site.

the empty winter streets and a nativity scene

Rhens

Rhens is where Charlemagne was crowned King of the Franks. I was hoping it would be as romantic as Bacharach, and indeed the main street behind the city gate and wall is beautiful in its way. But, at least in winter time, it’s quiet and empty, but not empty in the same eerily beautiful way that Bacharach was.

Koblenz

All the towns of the Rhine seemed to be holding their Christmas markets in Koblenz. The town full of them. One after the other, more and more tucked away in all the small streets and squares of the village.

every little corner was full of the gluhwein action

Leiden

I decided we’d stay in Leiden, as I would never have seen it otherwise, and was I glad we did. It’s a really beautiful Dutch town, with at least three huge windmills towering over it. There might have been more, but we didn’t explore the whole town.

one of Leiden's scenic windmills

Leiden houses one of the oldest universities of the world, is home of thirteen Nobel Prize winners, and is regularly ranked as one of Europe’s top schools. The painters Rembrandt and Jan van Steen are both from Leiden as well.

that market is on a barge

At Christmas, Leiden hosts a floating market on one of their canals. It doesn’t quite have the same kitschy charm of the German markets, as it seems to have more of a flea market vibe than a Christmas market, but it is neat nevertheless in that it’s floating on the canal!

Aachen

We had a quick pit stop in Aachen to take a glimpse at Charlemagne's resting place, at the 9th century Cathedral of Aachen. Plus a bonus Christmas market.

the almost Byzantine temple

Amsterdam

The town speaks for itself. Though it does hang up some lights, it seems the Christmas season is kind of just the same, cold rainy season as the others.

bicycle, bicycle

Den Haag

We visited the de facto capital of the Netherlands in order to see the M.C. Escher museum. That’s when we found in the square just in front of it, a bonus Christmas market. That’s where we tried to figure out why Amsterdam was the actual capital, as it lacks all capital functions of a state.

The Dutch Queen's personal market celebration

Osnabruck

This was one of those stops that I had assigned for a pit stop. We were headed to Wernigerode when we decided to grab an extra market in this Lower Saxony town. Osnabruck clearly suffered a lot of damage in World War II, as much of it is modern, but its sprinkled with centuries old buildings as well, which gives it a rather weird, half-American, half-European feel.

This Christmas market had the widest variety of food

Wernigerode

I previously thought that Rothenburg was the most beautiful fairy tale town in Germany. But that claim has been challenged by Wernigerode. Especially at Christmas time, as it sports a bigger mix of Christmas markets, and lots more restaurants. The town is full of half-timbered beauties, and on the hill overhead a castle looms keeping watch of all the festivities.

Dresden

Our final stop to Prague was in Dresden. This is the mother of all Christmas towns, as the city resurrects from the ashes and comes to its peak every December. Big square after big square, along with every cozy square and street, is crammed with market action, selling wines and wood trinkets, and beer, along with tons of rides for the kids, everywhere you look.

My favorite part of the market was the Rathaus, where they held a medieval market. They built all sorts of little medieval houses, sold wine in clay cups, and all the vendors dressed in period dress.

I hope everyone's holiday season was great and that you're starting your new year right. If you've enjoyed this blog, be sure to subscribe.

#Christmas #Munich #festivals #Amsterdam #Rhine #fairytalevillages #Dresden

Prague For A Day: The Royal Road Pt. 2

We’ll continue on the Royal Road that we started the last blog. The Royal Road was the Baroque era coronation route of Bohemian Kings and Queens, starting at what once was the old palace and ending at the main seat of Bohemian power, the Castle.

Now arriving at the Charles’ Bridge, if you’re not tired of the tourists yet, then good. The crowd only grows, but soon there will be a relief, don’t fear!

There’s some guys there in sailor costumes trying to sell boat rides for Prague Venice. It's actually a pretty decent deal at 340 crowns: you get some beer, hot wine, an intimate tour on one of the cute small boats that goes up the canals, and a ticket to the Charles Bridge Museum. Actually quite worth the hour and about 14 euro you’ll spend. It’s not a sail boat or big naval vessel, so don’t be fooled by their funny Village People outfits.

chatting with fam while waiting for tourists

Past the sailor boys, you go up on the bridge. The statues look quite medieval, but most of them are copies. The real ones are hidden away in the what-seems-to-be-permanently-under-renovation National Museum. The copies were made and placed there in the 19th century, so they’re actually kind of historic themselves.

If you look over the right side, really really carefully, you can find a face etched into the water wall. That guy marks when it will flood. If it comes up to his nose, don’t go to old town, because the streets will soon be underwater. He was put there and used as a prediction device to tell when the Vltava was getting too high.

View from Charles Bridge

Further down, you’ll find the statue of Saint John Nepomuk. He was a famous guy who got into a bit of a spat with the King. He was the confessor priest to the Queen, and as the King suspected the Queen was cheating on him—don’t they all think that—he demanded that Nepomuk tell him the sins that the Queen had confessed. Nepomuk refused and was thrown off the bridge—throwing people off of stuff is just about a favorite Czech pastime. That of course, might not be the actual story, which might have had something more to do with some shady land deals the Church wouldn’t let the King in on down in the countryside.

The exact spot where he was thrown off is marked by a little icon on the right-hand side of the bridge. The next statue is a dedication to the saint, and if you rub it, you get a blessing of Holy Strength, which is a +5 Stamina for the next three hours. You'll need it to get to the Castle.

St. Nepomuk and the Castle

Finally off the bridge you’re onto one of my favorite streets. There’s not much to do on it outside of getting ice cream, having piranhas eat the dead skin off your feet, or go to McDonald’s, but it really is a nice street to walk down. The street you pass on the left leads to the Order of Malta Church, they're kind of like a modern day mafia group, and then onward to the Lennon Wall (which they own).

the Lennon Wall is great for selfies

The street ends behind the enchanting and captivating Saint Nicholas Church.

If there’s one church you go inside on your visit, this is the one. Seriously.

Inside the Baroque era Saint Nicholas is the most incredible illusionist murals that you’ll ever see. When you’re standing in the middle of the church and look up at the ceiling, it’s painted so that it seems to keep going up and up and up. But when you walk up to the galleries, you can see the skewed perspective of it all.

the backside of St. Nicholas

Rumor has it, that when the Viennese painter, Johann Lucas Kracker, agreed to paint the ceiling, he did so on the condition that no one would watch him do it. But a certain friar kept spying on him, so he painted the friar’s image into the ceiling. When he later brought his accusation before the Jesuits, he was able to show them which friar it was that was spying on his work.

Last I was there it cost 60 crowns to go in and wonder around while there was no mass going on. If you pretend to be a Czech Catholic, then you can get in for free during mass, but they won't be too happy about you walking around. And it's really noticeable, since there are about 3 Czech Catholics in the country.

The belltower, which you can also climb for a fee, has the perfect view of the US Embassy. This was not lost on the Czech government during the Communist times, and they would regularly place their spies in the tower to keep a watch over the Imperialist Capitalist pigs.

Behind the church is a plague column. You see these things all over Europe, and they’re made as a dedication to the lives lost to one plague or another. Plague was always a big thing throughout history, and was the number one killer of Europeans until the two World Wars, when Europeans became the number one killer of Europeans. Now it’s heart disease.

looking up Nerodova

Past the plague column, we’re on Nerudova. Notice how the crowds seemed to have lessened? No worries though, because the beauty of the city certainly hasn’t. Keep going up this street and you’ll see all these beautiful and overpriced little cafes. Why not have a beer there? The most price-normal place is the first café on the right, almost directly on the square with the plague column. Further up they get more and more expensive, but the street-served mulled wines in the area in winter are always a fair price.

looking down Nerodova

It’s quite a steep haul, and then you get to go up an even steeper ramp to the Castle. If you don’t turn off Nerudova, you’ll end up at Strahov Monastery, a really breathtaking monastic area complete with a medieval library, and three restaurants serving local brews. Actually, those are all great places for lunch, and then you can stroll downhill for the Castle. Likewise, you can also stroll across the hill to Petrin and get a really remarkable view of the city from the top of Prague's very own miniature Eiffel Tower!

almost to the Castle!

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#history #Prague #traveltips #touristicsites

Prague For A Day: The Royal Road Pt. 1

Prague can be a bit intimidating. It’s an overwhelmingly beautiful city, and to really experience its full life, all its corners and alleys and neighborhoods, can take a pretty long time. But if you’ve only got one day to go, then its best to hit the real sights. So today I present to you, the lightning tour of Prague. If you’ve got only one day to visit the city—or if you’ve got a lot of time but want to get all the tourist mumbo jumbo out of the way as quickly as possible—then this is the tour for you.

While I’m at it, I’m also going to let you know that I do have an GPS-activated audio version of this tour here. That’s only a couple of bucks, but it’s a bit more in depth and for your phone, versus the not-so-in depth version that you have now before your eyes.

Starting point: Palladium. If you’re coming from the train station, it’s a straight shot down the road. If you’re coming from the airport, take the AE bus and it will go directly here. Otherwise, find the Namesti Republiky station on the metro and tramway map and get over there.

the Prague old town square

This route that I’m showing you is not really a secret route. It was the main coronation route of Bohemian kings. They’d start from the limit of the old town, which we’ll get to in a moment, march through the town square, across Charles’ Bridge, and then up to the Castle. It takes in all the main touristic sites in just a few hours. Then feel free to linger wherever you passed.

Not quite the old town

First, you’ll need a sugar and caffeine buzz to prepare you for this jaunt, so start off at Cacao Prague, not far from the tram station. It’s a modern coffee joint full of delicious cakes and pastries. By any means, it beats a Costa or Starbucks, but it tends to get super crowded. It’s right next to the Museum of Communism, so you can get a dose of modern Czech history before strolling through the ancient and medieval.

From there, it should be easy to see a green topped building towards the old town. That’s the Obecny Dum. It was designed by Osvald Polivka to the influence of the great art nouveau master, Alphonse Mucha, whose works you’ll have thought were French. There used to be a stellar presentation of some of his work there, but no more. Soon hopefully though, they will exhibit his Slavic Epic there. A perfect house for his masterpiece cycle of paintings based of the histories of the Slavic peoples. Definitely check the website if you’re visiting and don’t miss that exhibit.

Obecny Dum at night

There’s a restaurant of the style that I like to call “First Republic”, which captures perfectly the atmosphere of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire and the First Czechoslovak Republic. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s also some of the most expensive coffee and cake in Prague. There are other beautiful First Republic places. It also houses Smetana Hall. If you can see a show there, do it. It’s the most epically insane auditorium you will ever experience. Pass on the coffee, pay for the concert.

a view of the Powder Tower, next to Obecny Dum

This building was once where the old palace where the king of Bohemia would stay if he wanted to be in the city, it was also the extent of the first old town of Prague. You can tell the edges of the town by the placements of the towers, which marked the original entry gates. The king stopped using the palace though after some riots in the 15th century, when they measured that it would probably be better to stay well-guarded and away from the pesky rabble. It fell into disuse, but the tower was kept and made more and more beautiful as time passed. It’s called the “Powder Tower” because the palace had turned into an armory, along with the tower, and they had stored a lot of gunpowder up there. It was certainly never a good defense from invading Swedish armies for this reason.

looking up Celetna Street

If you look down one street, you can find all of your favorite non-Czech stores you know and love, like Mango, H&M, and Zara. That street is called in Czech, “Na Prikope”, which means, “On the trench.” That’s because from the tower down, instead of buildings there was a big wall, and outside the wall was a trench. Fun fact.

Into the old town

Go through the old town and now you’ve started on the path that the Kings of Bohemia have been using for thousands of years, all the way since 1836. Stick on the pedestrian road. This is Celetna. It comes to a church. Keep going straight. To the right is a good area to explore though, and there was the old market, where they used to hammer rule breakers’ tongues to the post. The medieval times were good old times.

Finally, old town square! Yay!

the most romantic square in Europe

That big church behind you is called Our Lady before Tyn, which means, “Our Lady in front of the Market”, “tyn” is an old Slavic word for market. The modern Czech word for market is not pronounceable. It’s literally three consonants thrown together and coughed out.

Our Lady before Tyn was founded in the 14th century, but those beautiful spires you see weren’t finished until the 19th century. You can see the different phases of construction. It looks like each architect that was in charge had a different architectural idea that didn’t agree with the ideas of the other architects before or after him. But strangely, it all works to make one of the more remarkable churches in Europe. If you’re here just after Halloween, go for the Requiem Mass, where they do a mass to the music of Mozart’s Requiem.

Grab a beer while you’re here. Or a hot wine, called “svařak” (pronounced "svajak"). Get it from one of those stands next to the tower. A price of beer there is 50 crowns, a beer at a restaurant here is about 100. You do the math.

the Prazsky Orloj, or Astronomical Clock

That tower you see used to be connected to a huge town hall, which was burnt down by the Germans during World War II. The clock on it is from the 15th century and has been mostly ticking since. It also tells the zodiac, which is why they call it “astronomical.” This is a great place to watch Japanese and Russian tourists, as they marvel at the ancient technology of what essentially is an over-sized cuckoo clock with a skeleton and some apostles. The show itself is definitely not as fascinating as the tourists who are eagerly anticipating the clock strike while getting their pockets lightened by the friendly local pickpockets.

This is probably the most recognizable monument in all of Prague, so get your selfies here.

Lunch or Dinner?

Follow the crowds onward and you’ll find yourself in the “Little Town Square”, or Maly Namesti. If it’s already lunch time, find a small door on your left, go through it and descend some stairs. There’s a restaurant called “Las Adelitas” which is the best Mexican food in Prague. Beats the local gulash any day. Order a dark Czech beer called “Master Tmavy.” In pairs similar to Negro Modelo, but it’s an insanely better beer than anything Mexicans can do.

The road then turns left, but you’ll want to hang a right. It’s easy to see where to go because there are lots of people where you’re headed. As you walk down this pedestrian street, you’ll notice all sorts of people holding what looks like cinnamon rolls with ice cream. Those are trdelniks. I dedicated another blog about those here.

a trdelnik, or chimney

They used to be just a cinnamon roll shaped like a chimney, but then this one place on this street got the wise idea of throwing everything but their mother in one, and now it’s like that through almost all of Prague. The best are the “original” ones though, which typically cost from 50 to 60 crowns. They’re delicious. Eat one.

Look, more hot wine! Drink!

Old school

While you're eating, take note of that massive wall you're walking alongside. That's the Clementinum. It started as a Jesuit college in the 1600s and then was nationalized in the 1700s under the Empress Maria Teresa and was merged into Charles University. Check out the tour here and see the library where once Tycho Brahe and Copernicus browsed through books, and then go into the observatory tower where there's the best 360 degree views of Prague's old town.

View from the Clementinum tower

Check out the next blog to read on from Charles Bridge.

#Prague #touristicsites #restaurants #streetfood