Wilson European Odyssey

[AVC]

Wait a moment, didn't you hate that thing (iThingy).
Or have you made up now?

 

[QF WP]

No, I love my iPhone, but have had some issues because of the number of photos and videos maxed the space requirements.

Been doing some spring cleaning and now manageable, so long as I keep on top of it and post photos then delete.

 

[straitman]

No, I love my iPhone, but have had some issues because of the number of photos and videos maxed the space requirements.

Been doing some spring cleaning and now manageable, so long as I keep on top of it and post photos then delete.

Good to see you have kissed and made up :!:

 

[medhead]

Glad you've come back to this report. I'm looking forward to the end.

 

[Major]

I was concerned that this would be the never ending story. I am pleased this is not so.

 

[QF WP]

Day 11 - Thursday 2 June
Prague sightseeing

We woke up early but excited that we were going to show our kids my wifes' favorite city. It was also a nice feeling that we were in one place for 4 days and in a hotel we had both stayed before, so we relaxed in our room, tried to find a TV station for the kids to watch and sat at our coffee table looking at the view of Prague out the window as we sipped our morning cup of tea. That atmosphere was picked up by the kids and we took our time getting to the Exec Lounge this morning, letting the morning rush go first. The walk around to the lifts allowed the kids to explore, play hide and seek in the doorways (apologies to anyone sleeping late for the peals of giggles [from us] at our kids antics). We shared the duties of pressing the lift call button and floor number within the lift, then my kids ran over to say hello to the hotel staff member manning the Business Centre desk - something they did every time we passed. We greeted the staff in the Exec Lounge (who hadn't met my kids yet, but that was soon accomplished) and loading up for the days walking started in earnest:



along with snacks, cheeses, yogurts and pastries for a light lunch. As we had brought the pram with us, it was soon weighed down

After adjourning back to our room to clean our teeth and collect the city map, we decided it was time to brave the traffic with our kids - the joys of having a lightweight stroller with a Buggy Board for my daughter.

So out the main entrance we went, and upon reaching the nearby train station, my wife convinced me to turn left even though I thought the main part of the city (and Charles Bridge) was to the right.

As they say, a happy wife is a happy life, so I went her way - she pulled out the map (a dangerous act in itself, the stories are true about the female race) and failed to see that the streets were heading away. As we spoke no Czech, it was hard to find anybody who spoke English so I stopped at a park with a playground so my daughter could play on the swings, whilst I tried to convince my wife of the correct way. She wasn't moving from her belief, so we kept going for another 500m or so before it started to dawn on her that this wasn't the main part of the city - rather it was getting into derelict buildings with tags and let's just say, unhappier people. So she begrudgingly turned around and we walked all the way back to the train station by which stage her map reading skills were rallying and she thanked me for not being too hard on her.

I was more worried about how long my son would last in the pram and my daughter standing on the buggy board, so I picked up the pace as I noticed it was 11.40 and we headed towards the Square with the Clock Tower that chimes at midday every day.





Thought the kids would like it which they did, however the crush of people was disconcerting as a couple of people trying to get closer for a view tripped over the front of the pram, hurting my sons legs. We moved away and had a snack, before deciding to visit the Jewish section.

What we didn't realise until we got there was the inability to take strollers, so my wife did a tour whilst I took the kids to play in a small park. As fate would have it, the kids both wanted to go potty, so I strolled into the nearby Intercontinental as if I was a in-house guest and headed past the bar to the toilets. Disaster averted, we went back to the park and played hide and seek until the allotted meeting time. We were all hungry by now, so we walked diagonally across the road and sat opposite these two statues near the river and devoured the lunch we had purloined from the Exec Lounge.

Knowing that we had a 30 min walk back to the hotel and the kids were in need of a sleep, we felt that we'd done enough for our first day.

We took some obligatory shots of some important landmarks as we headed back:





We arrived back and put both the kids to bed. My wife and I separately went to the Exec Lounge for afternoon tea and read up on what we wanted to do tomorrow. We also needed to do some research on buying car seats for our impending car trip, so my wife went back to the main department store we had cased on the way back to see if she could score some bargains. She messaged me chuffed that she had found exactly what we needed and had through a broken English conversation with the salesperson, purchased them and arranged that we would pick them up tomorrow morning.

After the kids awoke, we freshened up and made our way up to the Exec Lounge to see what delights were available for our dinner tonight. We weren't to be disappointed...

Exec Lounge Day 2: Mushrooms stuffed with duxelles; Chicken yakitori with chili mango salsa

Sated, we bade the Lounge staff goodnight and put the kids to bed, turned the lights out and waited for the snoring to begin, before we put on our reading lamps to finish our research and discussion on our itinerary tomorrow.

 

[anat0l]

Exec Lounge Day 2: Mushrooms stuffed with duxelles

So whole mushrooms stuffed with finely chopped up mushrooms?

 

[QF WP]

Whoops, ran out of photo space in that post:

 

[jetlagger]

Nice.. Continuation Thanks Lindsay... .. Looking forward to the rest..

 

[QF WP]

Day 12 - Friday 3 June
Sightseeing - Prague

On our last full day in Prague we hoped for more fine weather as we wanted to take the kids to Charles Bridge. Whilst we'd have loved to add Prague Castle to the itinerary this trip, walking wasn't an option so we made do with yesterdays' photo.

After a sumptuous Exec Lounge breakfast with more snacks secreted in the stroller for lunch, we headed out first to the Department store to pick up the held car seats - which I had the pleasure of carrying back to the Hotel, no mean feat considering how bulky they were.

IC Prague:


Jewish Section:





Today, we walked Charles' Bridge and went into a lovely playground at the foot of the far side, however I took photos on my daughters iPhone which now appear lost

On our return, my wife was wheeling our son ahead of me and I was carrying my daughter and only had a cut down view of her catching the front left wheel in a crack/hole in the pavement and cry out as the pram overbalanced and fell sideways. We consider ourselves extremely lucky that he fell onto a bag of shopping and it didn't impact his head as severely as direct contact with the pavement. Needless to say, he started screaming and my wife picked him up and was distraught at the thought that she had caused it. I pointed to the crack, told her it wasn't her fault and we all had a family hug, whilst most of the passers-by did exactly that. I took him and checked for any obvious signs of head trauma but it appeared he was okay. Looks like tonight will be a quiet one in-room, so we made our way back. Trying to keep him quiet was going to be a challenge but after a DVD and family cuddles on our bed, we ventured up to the Exec Lounge for our final night meal and drinks. A couple of these took his fancy and soon we were all sated.

Day 3: Mini Beef Burger with Tomato, Onion, Gherkin, Mayonnaise and Ketchup; Broccoli and Cheese Nuggets

 

[ellen10]

Nice to see a new addition to the post, enjoying the trip report.

My son will be in Prague in 2 weeks time. Its still on my list to visit.

 

[QF WP]

Well ellen10, what will excite you more is that we now start our touring in the car (from Day 14) as we wind through Germany, Switzerland and then into France (which I know you are looking forward to reading about).

 

[anat0l]

Just out of interest LW, I realise your kids are young (I might not suppose they are overly sophisticated....yet ), but did you all manage to satisfy yourselves completely from the food in the Exec Lounge?

If so, what did the kids end up eating?

I always wonder because the food in such lounges seems so "adult"; seems to be nothing much for the kids (nutritious, delicious, not too "out there" in taste...)

 

[QF WP]

Thankfully, on all 3 nights, one of the 2 items on offer were acceptable for my two picky eaters - and at 2 and 4 they don't eat a lot.

The nightly specials were supplemented by cheese, vegetables (mainly carrot sticks and celery), bread (toasted and with condiments). We took them up for them to choose, so they felt involved. Of course, warmed milk was a favourite. The Exec Lounge staff were excellent on the whole looking after us.

 

[ellen10]

Well ellen10, what will excite you more is that we now start our touring in the car (from Day 14) as we wind through Germany, Switzerland and then into France (which I know you are looking forward to reading about).

Yes Lindsay you know me well. I also love Germany & Switzerland although have not been there in many many years.
But I am headed back to sample a little more France this September. Starting in Bruges, the Flanders fields, the Somme, some Normandy and then finishing up in the Loire.
I will look forward to your next instalment. Your kids must be well seasoned travellers by now.

 

[QF WP]

Day 13 - June 4
Prague to Munich, pick up leased car and drive to Nuremberg, dinner with FT friend fuzzyNUE

Firstly, before we set off this morning, a bit of background. We had organised to lease a brand new Citroën from an Australian company and the furthest east they could provide a car was Munich airport (and that was with a fee for providing outside France). So my research gave some options - private car transfer, hire (Europcar or Hertz the popular and known options) or flying. The exorbitant tickets ruled out flying first and I wasn't confident about driving on the opposite side of the road in a country where I didn't know the language so we had negotiated a €330 fee for both the airport pick up and this transfer. We both felt it was money well spent and given my wife wasn't keen on driving a brand new car on the autobahns, it looked like I was going to shoulder the driving responsibility. So we came to an agreement, I'd do the driving and she would pack the bags every time we moved. In hindsight, it really suited us - I enjoy driving and she could also keep the kids entertained. My daughter had the DVD player so we knew she was going to be fine from her previous experience in England.

We had confirmed that Damian, the driver who picked us up on arrival in PRG, was also going to be our driver this morning down to Munich, where we were picking up the Citroën. We had used the time last night in the room to pack and we had an early breakfast in the Exec Lounge (I opted for the omlette):



whilst my wife chose this delectable option:



With our final choices for lunchtime fare selected (a large number of the bite-sized chocolate donuts found their way into our pram), I checked out at the Business Desk and we got our bags and went down to the Lobby.

We had arranged to meet Damian at 8.30am, as we needed to load the van and we had opted to try out our new car seats in the van. We had a pick up time of 1.30pm, so with no time to waste we loaded up and off we went.