medieval estonia

magritte meets tallinn

old town square

medieval streets of tallinn

laurel says:


tallinn is a little charmer and its remoteness ensures that tourism does not overwhelm.  at times you feel like you are at a 'medieval times' theme restaurant.  there are people wandering around in chain mail, folk music is playing and you can shoot an arrow from a cross bow for 1 euro.  the old town has been perfectly preserved and it is literally like going back in time as you stroll thru the 14th century meandering streets.  but then tallinn keeps it modern by surprising you with some of the best food we have had all trip, fun pubs and lively nightlife all at the lowest prices we have found in all of europe.  not too shabby for a country that only gained its independence in 1991!  overall a fun, authentic and unique stop.

russian influence

yet another church shot

overlooking tallinn

guinevere

emil says:


effervescent little city. cobblestoned streets, good breweries, surprisingly solid food in a funky, (if not at times a bit creepy) medieval setting. much more authentic and less touristed than prague and more quaint and better laid out than budapest, tallinn is a genuine spot. the downside is it's a bit removed from the rest of europe and there is probably not enough to do here to justify a week vacation but add a hop to russia and it's a great trip.  however if i hear laurel say one more time 'that's such a cute church' or 'that's a cute medieval castle' i may just jump headlong into a drained medieval moat.

medieval times

our fave bar

the presidents pad

team polska

little gnome sculptures are scattered throughout wroclaw

with aunt milusia at our fave cafe 

emil says:


just great to see my fabulous family here in poland. they are all happy, healthy and just a joy to be around.  my aunt milusia and uncle wladek are a ferociously energetic bunch taking us to numerous cafes, bars, churches and the international film festival which was in town (note to self stay away from 'european experimental short films' and movies about twitching hemaphrodites) and teaching us how to make sensational berry-filled pierogies.  my cousin pawel is just a superstar.  sadly we skipped the great city of krakow on this visit to poland, but wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wahf...thank you pawel) proved to be one of our favorite little cities in europe.  wroclaw, home to the recent euro 2012 cup, is a grown up little city with solid beer gardens, terrific little central town-square, and a self-aware determined vibe in the air.  along with the likes of the economies of turkey and australia, poland looks like it's doing quite well for itself.  i am surely a bit less than objective than most since i cannot say a bad word about my parents homeland but it made me quite happy to see all the progress and the energy this country is exuding.  i look forward to seeing my tremendous family again soon.  

laurel really got in to the gnomes

overlooking wroclaw

in the main square

day drinking with milusia

laurel says:


polska is really on a roll.  the economy is booming and people are shaking off the soviet era and soaking up their new lives.  new malls are popping up, real estate is on fire and cute new restaurants and cafes are spring up all over the place.  it is a significantly different energy to our last visit here just 3 years ago.  after so many years of tough times, it is refreshing to see poland in such a good place.  and it was wonderful to see emil's family.  i am so proud of them and the life they have created in wroclaw, a hip little university town in western poland.  milusia, emil's aunt whom i absolutely adore, kept us busy with a tour of the city, multiple movies at the international film festival, a visit to the botanical gardens, a fantastic concert and some fab beers from the local mico-brewery.  and in between she managed to whip up several delicious meals including my personal favorite perogies!  thank you to emil's family for the gracious hospitality.  team polska!

emil the proud pole

at the botanical gardens with the fam

beer garden in the main square

milusia with her famous berry perogies

pawel and milusia see us off at the airport

czech mate

astrological clock from 1400's

st. vitus cathedral

overlooking prague

laurel says:


i wish i could have seen prague like my dad did back in 1970.  as he tells it:  'when i was in czechoslovakia in 1970 it was still occupied by soviet troops and travel in/out was very restricted.  we had to check out at the german border, then walk on a road across a 1 km 'no-mans land'- the ground to both sides was filled with land mines and guarded by machine gun towers- before reaching the czech border station. not another person or vehicle moving along the road, pretty creepy. but once we got in we had a great time, three things i remember pretty distinctly: the girls were very pretty, the beer was very good and because they were unaffected by ww2 bombing or combat, the medieval architecture was wonderfully preserved.'  now that would have been a real adventure! (and also noted where i get my love of travel from.)  these days prague is the 16th largest city in europe and the 6th most touristed city on the continent.  this tourist to local ratio just does not work and sadly the city is simply overrun with tourism.  the good news is, you just have to wander a few blocks off the main drags to discover the character and charm that originally put prague on the map.  spectacular architecture, a rich history and a taste of the real bohemia await.  and who wouldn't love a place where the beer is cheaper than water (no really- it is).

prague castle

trying to be a vegetarian in prague is not pretty

charles bridge

oldest working synagogue in europe

emil says:


standing on the charles bridge and looking out over the medieval city-scape is amongst the most visually stimulating scenes of the trip. it's fascinating not only for its castles, spires, towers, oh my but for the millions and millions of tourists from all corners of the planet that descend upon this city.  prague is just overrun, filled to capacity. it is difficult to take a photograph without someone in the way of everything at all times.  hordes of folks walk the main thoroughfares at all hours of the day and night. gangs of pub crawling high school kids, flocks of bachelor parties, herds of my-first-eastern-european-vacation.com members abound. but all that diatribe aside it's a glorious physical spectacle of a city. there's a reason why folks come here en masse. the nightlife (at least that which laurel allowed us to experience) is first-rate, the cuisine is international enough if you can't handle anymore ghastly goulash and the women are amongst the most beautiful anywhere (aside from loveland colorado of course). i would come here again but next time in the middle of winter when hopefully it feels a bit more genuine. 

the hordes at the main square

town square

bridges of prague

beautiful skyline

sunset on the charles bridge

picturesque prague

prague by night

hungary games

the chain bridge linking buda with pest

synagogue in pest (one of the few that survived the war)

streets of pest

a random old castle

hero square

terror museum

outside parliament

crossing the chain bridge

emil says:


budapest is ok.  i would not go so far as to suggest one not come here but i would not suggest a precious 1 week vacation be used in this fashion either.  it is filled with unique habsburg-esque barogueness mixed with a flury of drab 'n' sad soviet influence. the russian tanks left here only about 20 years ago so i get the sense folks are still rebuilding and rediscovering their selves. a fitting phrase might be 'budapest looks like prague did 20 years ago' and i get the sense that city planners are trying to make a push towards the coveted tourist trade. i am sure that as prague gets even more overrun with tourists budapest will surely see some needed spillover. one can see this in pest where vast stretches of the city's main avenues are littered with rather modern commercial ventures but sadly there just does not seem to be enough bodies to consume the goods.  it is almost spooky.  the castle type structures on the buda side are fantastic and the bridges spanning the twisting danube river are seriously lovely. add a sweet detour to a 100 year old funky hungarian 'bath' consisting of thermal springs in various lukewarm indoor/outdoor pools/ponds in varying states of hygenic acceptability filled to the brim with all sorts of chernobyl babies and 300 pound masseuses named 'igor or ivana' and its a decent way to spend a few days.  budapest felt a bit more interesting than austria, but not by much.   

atten-hut!

laurel says:


budapest was one of emil's picks for the trip- not on my list of must sees- but everyone was raving about how budapest is the new prague, so i figured we should go check it out.  in the words of randy jackson: 'it was just al-right for me.'  it is a 2 day max type of town.  you can definitely get a feel for the real eastern europe here- it is much more raw and gritty and remnants of the soviet era still loom in the air.  but they are actively sprucing up the place in hopes of luring tourists.  the castles, churches and bridges have been beautifully restored.  and walking around castle hill on the buda side showcases some stunning architecture and views of the danube.  afterwards you can soak in the famous gellert thermal spa (if you don't let your germaphobia remind you that it is just one big petry dish of foulness.)  at night there are some cool restaurants and hipster bars to keep you busy.  it was cool for a weekend stop but overall, not a love.

streets of buda

matthias church

overlooking budapest 

the winding danube

ancient austria

the hills are alive with the sound of music

schloss mirabell gardens in salzburg

salzburg (aka laurel's happy place)

fairy tale town

how much pedaling did laurel really do?

laurel says:


austria.  what can i say about you?  you are old.  your heyday was in the 19th century.  your only claim to fame since mozart's time is 'the sound of music'.  and based on the number of people roaming around vienna dressed up as mozart, you are still desperately trying to cling to the past.  they say here 'if it isn't baroque, why fix it' but the fixation on the past without an ode to the future just makes for a boring, sleepy country.  that said, salzburg was the highlight and dragging emil onto the sound of music themed 'frauline maria bicycle tour' was the ultimate guilty pleasure for a girl who grew up singing 'doe, a deer a female deer' ad nauseum.  i loved living out my family von trapp fantasy as we pedaled our tandem bike thru the sound of music highlight reel.  our next stop was vienna, which is home to the grandiose habsburg palaces and some stupendous music, but beyond that it is a snooze fest.  so i say to austria: so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye.

reliving a sound of music moment

albertina museum vienna

emil says:


all the history that makes germany a fantastically interesting place to see, makes austria just a bumbling mess.  vienna is to cities what sanskrit is to languages...dead.  vienna is trapped in time and trapped in celebrating a history that maybe to some is interesting but not for this guy.  the glorious castles of franz josef and the habsburgs' make for a decent visit from the outside, incredibly manicured gardens and such, but from the inside it's room after room of banal cutlery, candelabras, and china which is simply painful.  i get the sense that austria was just on the wrong team for both world wars and as a result is stuck embracing its former glory which ended at the start of world war 1.  the baroque architecture throughout vienna is awesome and a sight to see but the main thoroughfares are plastered with mcdonalds, starbucks, and h&m's with little originality. walking around vienna one gets attacked by guys in mozart halloween costumes pushing the benefits of operas that run throughout the city on a daily basis (i cannot attest to the quality of the performances but how many luciano pavorottis can really be performing on a nightly basis at numerous concert halls at the same time?.  mozart, a touristy-feel, baroque architecture, old vienniese gardens...if thats what you want to hear and see there is plenty of it in vienna.  we also hung out in the town of salzburg, location for the famous movie "the sound of music". a cute little town and i did get dragged along by laurel on a rather sweet bike tour of all the movie's famous locations (which made laurel so happy it's scary).  but without the movie this town would have little to celebrate and the small quaint towns of germany are far more interesting. austria is a one and done visit for me. 

the worst museum of all time

hofburg palace

stephansdom church vienna

museum quarter in vienna

schloss schonbrunn palace gardens

the habsburg's great ballroom

pretending to be sisi (aka empress elizabeth)