Bienvenue a Paris

Hello Everybody!

We woke up quite early this morning to catch our flight to Paris! Mom is very excited to be here, and I'm happy to be back in this city with someone who knows all about art. If you can believe it or not it pretty much took us the entire day to make it from Prague. So we dropped our luggage at the hotel and went out to dinner. On the menu was this delicious mozzarella roasted eggplant dish and French onion soup! Did you know that people watching is a big part of Parisian cafe culture so our chairs were actually sat side by side facing the street rather than each other. I feel like I'm already a really big people watcher, so this was right up my alley! Basically the world was our runway, and I saw some really cute outfits for future inspiration. 

Having sat in a car or plane all day, mom and I decided to take a little after dinner walk around the Seine river and actually ended up walking a few miles to the Eiffel tower. 

The views were so lovely!

And we even caught sunset!

I loved having rows and rows of trees all along the path. 

I even convinced mom to take a selfie with me! 

And voila! We made it! I remembered the Eiffel Tower being a lot taller than it was, but that's probably my childhood perception. It really is remarkable engineering and I feel so lucky that I get to see this twice in my lifetime! 

This trip is already off to a great start with a major landmark ticked off on our first day! Wish us luck tomorrow, we're going to Versailles and there's an unexpected heatwave so it's going to be 97 degrees Fahrenheit and no access to AC whatsoever. 

Lots of Love, 
Carolyn

Prague Municipal House and Zoo

Hi Everybody! 

Unfortunately my Saturday plans for the zoo got postponed because on the way there I tripped over a tram rail while crossing the street. Thankfully, it's just a sprained ankle, but it immediately started swelling so I hobbled to the pharmacy across the street and then back to the hotel room to rest. The closest thing I got to a zoo was watching Kung Fu Panda. I've learned that wherever I am in the world, cartoons are pretty universal, so even though I don't speak any Czech I knew what was going on lol. It also helps that children's film plotlines aren't too hard to follow lol. 

I spent 99% of the day in bed resting, however yesterday we had already bought tickets to the concert with ballet and opera at the Municipal house next door. So I rallied; I put on my new charity shop dress from Jersey and earrings from Austria and made my way to across the street. 

I will say that one benefit to being injured is that I got to ride this very cool glass elevator to the fourth floor whilst everyone else had to take the stairs. There was an attendant and everything, and he literally had to lock us into the elevator before having it go up! I felt like I was in an old Hollywood movie. 

The Municipal House was built from 1905-1911 and used to be the King's Court royal residence. However that was eventually demolished, and this building was intentionally created instead to be the center of Czech social life and historical events. The Art Nouveau style was beautiful and mom and I had the best seats on the balcony. I can see why back in the day they would spy on others in the boxes to the sides or on the people below them, it was prime people watching territory. Next time I'll definitely need to bring binoculars. 

We actually went to a show off season, so they only had a small chamber orchestra, a soprano opera singer, and four academy ballet dancers. They played a lot of Mozart and Dvorak and for the finale, they played a march where the conductor had us all clapping in time. It was nice to get out of the room for an hour and listen to live classical music.

Afterwards mom and I were a bit hungry since we skipped dinner. It was 9 pm and I had the entire municipal house cafe to myself! I felt like a princess and had to document the moment of course. 

After the concert I went straight to bed and it looks like all that resting paid off because the next morning Mom and I made it to the zoo! The zoo here is the third best in the world and they have over 5,000 animals and over 130 threatened species. This zoo was built in 1931 with the goal to advance the study of zoology, protect the wildlife, and educate the public. They did a great job because they had some of the most well taken care of animals I've ever seen. 

Also, something really crazy is how many enclosures you could walk into. As you can imagine I walked through every single one of them. Even the one with the vultures who where more than half my size and feasting on carrion. Here I am with some kangaroos and pelicans. 

The lion and the tiger were both really showing off for the cameras! I'd like to think it was because I kept calling them by saying "here kitty, kitty" and therefore have special feline superpowers. However, I think the more accurate assessment is that it was getting close to mealtime lol. 

The zoo also had these huge tortoises and the only Western Santa Cruz tortoise in Czechia. Apparently the higher a tortoise can stretch its neck out, the higher it is in the hierarchy. We think this guy was probably the tortoise mob boss despite being the smallest one there because she could stretch her neck the highest of them all!

The elephants were at the top of a very large hill so mom and I stopped for ice cream along the way. While this isn't Jersey soft serve, the chocolate was a true dark chocolate soft serve and it was so yummy!

The elephants will always be my very favorite and we spent the most time enjoying watching them.

Although these bat eared foxes were quite cute too!

And I had quite a laugh at the Turkmenian kulans who were literally labeled as "Asiatic wild ass" lol! You and me both kulans. 

Something I totally didn't expect to find was this giant triceratops skeleton, which is a model of a real skull named Trick's who ironically was found in Montana but lives here in Prague at their dinosaur museum. Wonder how that trade occurred. 

Even trying to keep the walking to a minimum we still managed to hit 6 miles, which my ankle didn't love. But this Ferrero Rocher cake was great incentive to leaving the zoo and getting back to the hotel to rest more!

And just like that our time in Prague has ended. While it was more resting than I intended to do, I really did enjoy my time here. 

One more week before I'm home. 

Missing you all!

Lots of love, 

Carolyn

Prague Day 1 and 2

Hi Everybody!

Today was a very special day because Czechia is my 31st country visited in 31 years! So after a beautiful train ride from Venice to Prague mom and I celebrated with a rafaello mini cake! I wish I could say that I internationally planned my outfit to match my dessert but I didn’t lol, it was a happy coincidence! 

Every princess moment needs a little reality check lol, and mine came right after dinner. We arrived too late for any coin laundry machines to be open, and I wasn’t about to pay $27 to have my socks dry cleaned, so I had to do a bit of tub laundry. I will say that even though I’m pouting in this picture I actually had a great time! I put on some old Bollywood music and danced my way through the washing. Mom and I even staged an entire video and laughed so hard we were sure that the front desk would call up with a noise complaint. 

The next morning we headed into town to see the Prague Castle, since it was on the other side of the river we tried to call an Uber and we couldn't get one to pick us up! They also have no taxi's in the city so mom and I decided to start walking there and see if we could pick up a ride later along with way. It was a great decision since we walked right through the Old Town Center. 

First we saw Powder Gate Tower, which was originally representational fortification. Then it was supposed to host Royal audiences, however it was never completed. Due to Prussian shelling in 1757, there was extensive damage and it was alleged to hold gunpowder (hence the name). The Tower was reconstructed in the 1800s which is what we see here today. 

I loved the gothic architecture interspersed with the city. 

Old Town Hall was established in 1133, the oldest part being the Gothic Tower and astronomical clock. Every hour it rings and 12 apostles appear. The town hall actually served as an underground Prague Uprising against the Nazis and was almost completely destroyed by shelling. Thankfully not all was lost and after repairs we get to enjoy the clock tower again today!

Mom and I crossed the bridge and actually walked all the way to the bottom of the hill before we realized that unless we wanted to spend most of the day climbing we needed to find a better way to transport ourselves there. Apparently Prague is one of the most walkable and leading city in public transportation. That's why they don't have any taxis, and why we couldn't find someone to pick us up in an Uber. So I put my travelers hat on and figured out the bus, tram, metro lines and got us all the way to the top of the hill! I'm quite proud of myself, especially since they don't speak any English here. Which is totally fine, but also meant that all the signage and maps were only in Czech too. Thankfully everyone I've come across has been incredibly patient, one girl even pulled out google translate to help me figure out if I could validate my ticket on the tram. It was quite hilarious with us passing our phones back and forth using the translate app to have a conversation. Thank God for modern technology. 

Once we reached the top of the hill we strolled into the Royal Gardens. The sun was rather strong this day so we decided to take refuge in the churches. 

This was St. Vitus Cathedral, one of Prague's largest and most important churches as many coronations and famous funerals happened here. It was actually quite interesting to see how many fantastical creatures were included in the cathedral decorations. Mom and I thought this door looked like an Ent from the Lord of the Rings and they had some gnarly looking gargoyles as rain gutters too. But our favorite pieces were the stained glass windows. By far they are some of the best I've ever seen with all the fine detailed work. 

After seeing the opulent palaces of Vienna it was hard not to compare them to the Old Royal Palace which in its own right is steeped with over 1,000 years of history and is considered to be a UNESCO monument. When we arrived in Prague our front desk person said, Vienna has lots of museums, but Prague is the museum. He wasn't wrong, everywhere you step is like stepping into history. The Old Royal Palace in particular was quite plain because so much had either been destroyed through the various wars (the 30 year war and World War I and II seeming to do the most damage) or a lot of people in power try to redo what was done before them, for instance the president had all the walls stripped when turning it into his office, erasing years of art and history. 

I do have a fun story about this particular building. Defenestration was a popular punishment at the time, aka throwing people out the window. During the Bohemian Revolt, three of the leaders were defenestrated, but somehow managed to survive with minor injuries. So they were exiled from the empire rather than killed, which probably was for the best since the 30 year war began shortly after. 

Mom and I stopped for a much needed coffee and cake break. We had to try their local vetrnik, which was absolutely decadent. Think of  it like a boston cream donut but instead make it a choux puff pastry filled with caramel whipped cream and custard, and topped with caramel icing. 

Fueled to conquer the rest of the castle mom and I strolled down Golden Lane which was a series of houses created in the 15th century. Now it's mostly shops but they have a few exhibits like the one below where they staged the residence  of the famous people who lived there. This was the home of J. Kazda who was an amateur historian. He singlehandedly saved Czech films and documentaries as they where were ordered to be destroyed during WWII by hiding them in various warehouses and discreet places. He also documented who and what they were so that information wasn't lost. How spectacular is it that years of names and faces in history were saved because of one history nerd. 

It was a great day and we had an uneventful ride home. I felt like a total pro navigating the tram lines and stations. Anyways, I'm off to bed. I'll be sure to update you all tomorrow!

Sending Lots of Love, 

Carolyn

Kunsthistorisches and the Albertina

 Hello Everyone!

Today is the last day in Vienna so mom and I planned quite a busy day trying to check off the last places on our list. We started the morning off in an incredibly cute cafe that had avocado toast! I know it isn't a traditional breakfast, but my California girl heart couldn't resist when I saw it on the menu. 

We walk by the Hofburg palace every morning and today mo'm realized we never took a picture of the front for you! So here it is, in all its palatial glory,(and by "all I mean just the front part, the sides wrap around and continue for blocks!) 

We made it to the Kunsthistoisches Museum, which was built by Emperor Franz Joseph (aka Sisi's Husband) to accommodate the centuries of artwork collected by the Habsburgs. The museum itself is a total work of art. Gustav Klimt worked on paintings in the grand staircase, and the cupola hall is breathtaking. We decided that because there was so much art to see we'd prioritize the top floor which had works by Breugel, Vermeer, and Raphael. The Vermeer was probably my favorite because if you stood back far enough it literally looked like an actual photograph instead of a painting. 

Here's the cupola, it was so striking mom and I decided to get coffee and cake in the cafe there. We got a Sisi torte and two einspanners, in other words the most Viennese things on the menu. The torte was a marzipan and chocolate hazelnut cream, and it was way lighter than we were expecting. I'm definitely taking full advantage of being able to eat nuts now and going to miss all these lovely cakes!

I actually really wanted to go shopping, so mom and I only popped into St. Stephen's Cathedral before heading over to Zara and Swarovski. 

Since Swarovski is Austrian they have a huge flagship store with lots of decorations, think of it like the Tiffany store in New York City. They seriously had an entire wall of crystals, ribbons made out of crystals hanging from the ceilings, and their latest limited collection of animal sculptures. The cheetahs were my favorite, I can't imagine the amount of patience it took to put the crystals on one and a time. Don't worry, I'm not crazy enough to spent $28,000 on a decoration, but I did treat myself to a new pair of earrings! 

All that shopping was hard work so we stopped by the restaurant next door for some lemonades, pizza, and truffle fries. These by far were the best truffle fries I've ever had. First of all, they had actually shaved truffles on them, and second of all they had a mountain of fresh parmesan on top! I don't know if I can ever order this dish again without being disappointed after this. 

We took a quick rest and dropped all our stuff off before heading back to the Albertina. Along the way we accidentally stumbled upon the Lipizzaner stallions! I was so excited to take a picture for you all. It was so funny to see them in their stalls at the palace because it looked like they were people watching out their apartment windows. 

We then made it to the Albertina museum. They had Monet, Degas, and Renior paintings upstairs and I was in impressionist heaven. They even had a floor dedicated to sketches that mostly noble travelers would make as they toured Europe. It was really cool to see how some of the places I've been to had changed over the years. I guess without cameras, painting some of the highlights of your travels was the only way to show everyone back at home all the things you saw. Thankfully we live in modern day so I can take you on this trips with me through this blog! 

Since the Albertina was actually a Palace in the 1740s gifted by the Emperor Franz II to his daughter and son-in-law, they preserved and restored an entire floor of state rooms/ It was all very glitz and glam, quite fitting for a princess. I even convinced mom to take a selfie with me in the golden mirror below.

And on that note, mom and I finished our tour of Vienna and are going to catch a train to Prague tomorrow.

Sending you lots of love, 

Carolyn