Travel – Page 11 – Valerie's Voice

Prague Castle

Prague is home to one of the largest castles in Europe and we went to see it along with hundreds of other tourists. We took the tram to the top of the hill…most castles are on a hill because they are fortresses. We arrived, along with many others, and took our turn “oohing and aahing” over the hugeness of it. It dates back to the 9^th century.

What impressed me the most were the cathedral, the vistas, and the tiny houses.

Another side of the St. Vitus Cathedral…to get a flavor of the Gothic architecture and the hugeness of the cathedral.

On the castle grounds is the Gothic style St. Vitus Cathedral. There was an earlier church on this site in 952 but this cathedral’s construction began in 1344 and was not completed until 1929. Even today, the Cathedral is steadily being restored. It has two tall spires, 270’ high, and is very impressive. It has spectacular stained-glass windows, and one amazing window painted to look like a stained-glass window and it’s hard to tell the difference. There is so much history and opulence inside these cathedral walls.

One of the stain-glassed windows of St. Vitus.

Inside St. Vitus…note people in foreground of photo to get perspective of how big this cathedral is.

There were great views of the picturesque city of Prague from the castle on the hill. Prague is a beautiful city with the Vltava River running through it and diverse, beautiful architecture everywhere, complete with burnt-orange clay tiled roofs.

And then there is Golden Lane.

Golden Lane is a row of tiny houses built into the castle wall. It was a medieval merchant street and it captured my interest. The houses, I’m guessing, were approximately 8′ X 10′.

In 1484 a fortification of the north wall of the castle formed some kind of vaults that were used to house “lesser goldsmiths” until the revamping of the wall in 1591-94 when repairs were made to the vaults. In 1597 artillery men at the gate of Prague Castle asked permission to build little houses within the newly repaired walls which would take up only the depth of the original niches (vaults). The King agreed, however, the dwellings were not given to the men, they had to build them at their own expense. The houses were occupied until WWII, when the government bought them and now are a part of the history of the castle.

Even though the lane was overcrowded with tourists, it was quaint and fun to see these tiny houses that were built so long ago (and I thought the concept of tiny houses was a new one.)

One house on Golden Lane – you can walk in a few feet and look through plexiglass to get an idea of how the tiny houses were arranged inside.

What I find amusing is that we were surrounded by the opulence and magnificence of the castle and I was intrigued by one row of tiny houses built into the castle wall.

Seeing the grand castle and the tiny houses made my own modest home back in Minnesota feel “just right.”

The Hills Are Alive and So Are The Flowers

We had so many adventures during our time in Austria it’s hard to know where to begin…”Let’s start at the very beginning, A very good place to start”…well maybe not…my postings of our trip will not be in chronological order.

I’ll begin with the beauty of Austria…the mountains and hillsides, the streams and waterfalls, the wonderful alpine chalet-style homes with flower boxes dotting the green landscape.

It was a treat to be in a vehicle driving across country. Our friends had a small, white Renault with plenty of room for four people with just enough space for our luggage in the back… it was a puzzle each time we had to repack our luggage but it worked. In the cities we would leave the vehicle parked for days and walk.

Outside the cities, it was wonderful to have the freedom of a vehicle, and having drivers who were used to driving in Europe. We relied heavily on the GPS system. It took us through rotaries (round-abouts) and often took us off the main road unto narrow back roads for a short-cut – sometimes we wondered why – but it added to the scenery and always brought us back to the main road…well, almost always.

The Grossglockner moutain peak is 3,798 meters (12,461 ft), and is the highest mountain in Austria.

One of our planned routes was the Grossglockner Alpine Drive in the Austrian Alps. At one viewing point you could see ten mountain peaks over 3,300 meters, (10,000 feet). We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day. There were lots of cars, some buses, motorcycles and bicycles climbing switchbacks up to the end of the road, to see the glacier. There were many places without guardrails and the roads were narrow and we wondered how the bicyclists could dare pedal up the mountain, especially in all the traffic. Whew…

Austrian Alps: The plaza where you could stop and look at 10 peaks over 10,000 feet.

Austrian Alps with glimpses of the Alpine Drive road.

The flower boxes on homes and business added even more to the beauty of the Austria countryside…they are abundant, overflowing, colorful, often multi-tiered, and just spectacular. Even though I was unable to get many photos of them, much to my dismay, the professional photos we see of these chalets with flower boxes are real. The flowers are that stunning. Here are a few photos but my photos do not do them justice.

Small restaurant along the Danube River.

Even this chicken coop had flower boxes! I love it.

Another Wonderful Trip, Another Interruption of Service

One of many homes with incredible flower boxes.

When we traveled to Portugal over a year ago we experienced an interruption of service. We were on a packed, standing-room-only, bus when it stopped part way to our destination and the driver told everyone to get off the bus…he said it was an “interruption in service.” We got off the bus and the driver drove off leaving all the passengers stranded. We managed to hail a taxi to get back to our apartment.

Click to view

We just returned from a delightful trip to Austria and the Czech Republic and experienced another “interruption of service”.

On Saturday we parted ways from our travel companions and Gary and I took the train to Munich, Germany for an overnight to catch an early morning flight the next day from the Munich airport. We were weary travelers going home after two weeks of touring with our friends. It was not a restful night and we woke up at 5 am to catch the shuttle to the airport. Once there, we checked our luggage all the way to Minneapolis and got on the plane and flew to Amsterdam for our connecting flight.

Click to view

Once off the plane, we grabbed a cup of coffee before heading to the next gate since we had four hours in-between flights. When we went to check the gate number it said our flight was cancelled!

An “interruption of service” I’d say.

We set into high gear wondering what ‘s going to happen. After a series of events (and this is just our story – there were hundreds of passengers on that cancelled flight) we ended up on a flight to Chicago, and a much later flight to Minneapolis.

A young woman in the line next to me who had been scheduled on the same cancelled flight did not have any options for her destination so she was told she had to stay overnight in Amsterdam and catch a flight the next day. She was crying. She told me she had worked on a project for eight months and was to present it to a Board o Regents on Monday. She had to be there, but she wasn’t going to make it.

I thought of giving her my seat but we were immediately whisked away to catch the flight to Chicago…We ran through the Amsterdam airport and a flight attendant came to meet us and escort us to the 747 with only two seats remaining. They reopened the doors for us and we took our seats with a sigh of relief…next thoughts, where in the world is our luggage?

Once in Chicago we were surprised to find our luggage on the carousal. We retrieved it in hopes of getting an earlier flight to Minneapolis. We had to go through customs and that is not a fun thing to do in Chicago. Plus, we needed to go through security again and that is even more not fun in Chicago.

We were put on stand-by for an earlier flight. I said to myself as the plane was loading…it would be a miracle if we get on this flight – so many people are trying to get to Minneapolis… and then I said to myself, but I believe in miracles. Then… our name was called. I was grateful.

Our luggage never did make that flight…the airline delivered it to our house the next day, but we were home safe with many wonderful memories.

We will never know why our flight was canceled but it wreaks havoc for so many people. I do know flexibly and gratitude are helpful attitudes to have while traveling.

Reentry

Over the years, we’ve learned that when we come home from traveling, especially traveling abroad, there is always a reentry period, time needed to step back into life, readjust back to “normal” routines. It’s not a negative thing, its just life.

So as I reenter my life back in Northfield from our amazing trip to Austria and the Czech Republic reality sets in and there is jet lag, travel weariness, and house chores…laundry, groceries, weeding, going through mail and email, cleaning the house. It gets done, slowly.

Part of reentry is wanting to catch up with family and friends… to see what’s been happening in their lives. And then I wonder…did anyone miss me? And then I wonder… what did I miss? And soon realize life back home usually doesn’t change much in sixteen days. I think it’s the other way… we change from our travel experiences. And I’m still trying to articulate in what ways. I know I have been blessed: my eyes have been opened to new sights and I have been reacquainted and exposed to other cultures.

We walked multiple miles daily and I am grateful for my health. I often thought of people who would not be able to see what we saw simple because it was tough getting there…mostly steep climbs, uneven roads, cobblestone streets, rugged paths, and lots and lots of steps…most sites are hundreds of years old in Czech Republic and Austria. There are not many handicap accessible accommodations at these sites.

It’s also fun to take some time to recollect, to reread journal entries, and look at photos to remember and relive all the wonderful adventures we had with our friends during our short time away: the special places we went, the magnificent scenery we saw, the delicious food we ate, and the fun people we met along the way.

Looking towards the Kapuziner Church in the monastery behind a wall, in Salzburg.

I delight in thinking about the morning my friend and I went on an early morning hike up Kapuzinerberg (a mountain behind our hotel in Salzburg, on the bank of the River Salzach) to Kapuzinerkloster, a walled monastery. Once inside the wall we followed it and saw wonderful vistas overlooking beautiful Salzburg. We came upon the Kapuziner Kirche (Kapuziner Church) and quietly stepped inside and heard the monks praying in a different room. From their cadence I think they were praying the Lord’s Prayer. In the sanctuary, where we stood, were two stations near the entrance…one for lighting a candle and the other held a basket for prayer requests on a table beneath a photo of Mary and Jesus. I wrote out a prayer request and since then, I have thought many times about the monks praying over my request….praying for a stranger they don’t know, from another country. It warms my heart.

So these are some musings on our first days back…I am grateful…for the many rich experiences…I look forward to writing some of them down. And most of all, I thank God for safety, protection and the health we enjoyed during our travels, and for bringing us safely home.

A Table Creation

When my friend and I travel we often say it would be fun to look back on a map showing all the places we dart in and out of in one day. We criss-cross all over town, rarely following an organized route anymore since we have GPS. We have a list of the names and addresses of places we want to visit and plug the info into GPS. We also stop at places along the way that look intriguing.

We both agree, a map of our day would look somewhat like Billy’s trails portrayed in the comic Family Circus.

At the end of one day, on our recent trip to Oshkosh, we were headed back to our hotel when saw a garden shop so we stopped in for one last escapade. The nursery had slim pickings of annuals, and no perennials. So we decided to go into the gift shop next-door. As we looked around we noticed a few tables made from glass tops put over different items. We both thought a glass-top table might be something we could make (we’re always saying, “We can make that!” HA.) We had been looking at small tables on this trip, because I wanted one for our living room.

Back in Northfield I told my husband the idea and he thought it just might work. So we ordered a piece of glass cut to the size and shape we wanted. We found a mirrored, ceramic pot at Menards that happen to be the right size and height we wanted, and I cut a circle out of a place mat.

We turned the ceramic pot upside down, placed the cut-out place mat to secure the glass and to cover the bottom of the pot (which was now the top), and put the piece of cut glass on top of it all…and voilà…a wedge table to fit between our two recliners!

I have learned… you never know what ideas will generate when you step into new places.

1,000 Crèches

Definition of Crèche according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: a representation of the Nativity scene.

Last December I read an article about a church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that permanently displays one woman’s collection of 1,000 crèches. It immediately piqued my interest and I told my friend about it. We decided right then that we would meet in Oshkosh for our next annual get-away.

This was a beautiful hand-painted porcelain crèche from Ireland.

We were not disappointed. The Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church indeed was open and welcoming. The church office administrator brought us downstairs and unlocked the door to three rooms for us to peruse 1,000 chèches from around the world. She turned on the lights, and turned on Christmas music to set the mood, then left us alone to take it all in.

Mildred Turner started collecting nativities in 1988 to help her overcome some set backs in her life. We wanted to know more about her but couldn’t find much information. Was she married? If so, what did her husband think of all these crèches? Where did she find room to display them as she was collecting them?

Sizes ranged from a miniature crèche, about the size of the tip of my index finger, to large public outdoor display pieces. There were crèches made from just about any art medium you can think of…colored crystal bells, Lladró’s fine porcelain, metals, stone, pottery, shells, clay, wood, fabric, ivory, yarn…the list goes on. We didn’t know what to expect but this was a wonderful display of quality crèches. Even the two crèches made of Popsicle sticks were well done.

Popsicle sticks and cloths pins and felt. This could possibly be a future project for grandchildren…

Although there were many unique crèches I think the story behind the wood-carved crèche deserves extra attention. German prisoners of war carved it during WW II. They were housed at Green Lake, about 30 miles from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Several of the men whittled this set during their free time. It is not known why this nativity set was left behind when the prisoners were transferred to another camp a few months later. It’s wonderful that this nativity scene is a part of this collection.

Part 1 of the German Prisoner’s wood-carving.

Part 2 of the German prisoner’s wood carving.

All the crèches were cataloged and we could look up individual pieces if we wanted to, but that felt overwhelming. Thankfully a lot of the crèches were labeled as to where they were from and/or the medium, although I didn’t capture the info in my photos. We spent a couple hours enjoying all the pieces, pointing out the unusual, taking pictures of our favorites.

The stars lit up on this ceramic crèche light.

This was our first morning in Oshkosh. Our trip was off to a good start.

Additional photos:

A unique porcelain music box nativity, that plays “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” apparently Mildred Turner’s favorite.

Counted Cross-stitch. This piece has the date 1988, the year Mildred Turner started her collection.

Delaware

Our planned route for our road trip to the East coast took us close to Delaware. I have never been to Delaware so I thought it would be a good idea to drive through the state and add it to my list of states I’ve been in. When I mentioned this idea to our host the morning we were leaving Washington D.C. heading to Pennsylvania, he suggested we go to the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. So we did.

The Hagley Museum is along the banks of the Brandywine River and is the site of the gunpowder works founded by E.I. du Pont in 1802. The du Pont company became the largest American manufacturer of black powder.

A side view of the Visitor’s Center and museum.

The Visitor’s Center and museum, in a beautiful brick building, includes three floors of exhibits.

More beautiful and interesting brick building walls.

Outside the museum, there are 235 acres with historic buildings to explore, and tour different parts of the gun powder operation, including the the Powder Yard with live demonstrations.

One of many buildings along the Brandywine River used to manufacture gun powder.

A demonstration of gun powder being ignited.

You can walk up to Worker’s Hill where the worker’s lived on site, and tour Eleutherian Mills, which was the first du Pont family home.

The du Pont’s first family home. – both ends have been added on since the original was built.

I especially like touring older homes…like the Rockefeller’s in Williamsburg, and now the du Pont home in Wilmington. This was du Pont’s first home in America (they immigrated to America from France)…a few miles away is Winterthur, another du Pont home where the family lived, with 175 rooms. It is now open to the public but we didn’t have time to go see it. (Maybe another trip to Delaware – who knew there were such interesting places to visit in Delaware?)

I liked this wrought iron bench painted turquoise, and the yellow pansies and the lamppost at the entrance to the house.

The du Pont company went on to become the country’s largest chemical firm. The exhibits in the museum showed many examples of their inventions: nylon (including nylon stockings), Teflon, Kevlar to name a (very) few but there are so many more.

We enjoyed this museum a lot and I said to Gary, “It’s interesting that this morning we never even heard of this place and now, here we are this afternoon, touring it and enjoying it.”

O, the joys of travel.

Memorable Hikes – Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia 2013

Continuing my series on memorable hikes…

Gary and I flew to Nova Scotia in 2013 and rented a car to tour the provinces of Nova Scotia (including the Bay of Fundy) and Prince Edward Island.

We were hiking around the Bay of Fundy during low tide. It was amazing to hike far out from shore on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, knowing in a couple hours water would rise to cover the entire area once again. And it would be deep waters. The record tide recorded is 53’…it was 43’ the day we were hiking around the sea floor in the Bay of Fundy. A park interpreter making a presentation on Alma Beach, at low tide.

According to Wikipedia: “The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the state of Maine. It has the highest tidal range in the world.”

I don’t really understand how tides work – I do know they’re connected to the moon’s cycle. I remember when we took a trip to Maine in the 80’s I learned there were two tide cycles each day: two high and two low. I was so surprised. Growing up in the Midwest and not living near the ocean I didn’t know such things. I guess I wasn’t listening in school either. HA

I remember while hiking in the Bay of Fundy, I once again was in awe of God’s amazing creation. When the massive tides recede, the endless mudflats are home to many sea creatures and people love to search for them when the tide is out.

We just enjoyed walking out on the sea floor.

(photo taken from travel brochure)

Who built the ark? Noah, Noah

And then some 700 more carpenters, including a few Amish men, rebuilt a replica of the ark in 2017.

On our way back to Minnesota from the East Coast we decided we were close enough to detour a few miles south to northern Kentucky and check out the Ark Encounter.

We asked a stranger to take our picture by the door of the ark. The door is too large to capture in the photo.

A Christian Foundation had the vision to build a replica of Noah’s Ark (without taxpayers money) to show people in this day and age what the ark might have looked liked.

The structure itself is massive… 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, an impressive sight to see for sure. These measurements were carefully calculated from information they studied about cubits, a term of measurement used in the Bible.

They researched the Bible and other resources to get an accurate design. Inside the ark there are three levels, with several exhibits on each deck.

They’ve recreated what the cages might look like, a possible watering system for distributing water to all the animals, and there was even an explanation to a plausible way Noah could have discarded animal waste, and so much more.

An idea for providing for reptiles and amphibians.

Different size cages for different sized animals.

A possible technique to feed the animals.

A possible technique for distributing water to the animals.

A possible technique for air ventilation.

Life-like images of Noah and his family were placed throughout the ark.

Life-size image in the “kitchen” area of the ark.

A work area among the living quarters for Noah and family.

It was well thought out and very interesting.

We decided it was worth the detour to get a new perspective on an old, old story.

This is a partial wall in a room filled with children’s books telling Noah’s ark story.

Click here to link to the Ark Encounter website.

Sight & Sound Theatre

While in Pennsylvania, visiting my husband’s family, we often take in a show at the Sight & Sound Theatre in near-by Lancaster.

The founder of Sight & Sound Theatre, Glen Eshelman, grew up on a dairy farm and attended the same country church that my husband attended in his childhood. Glen started painting landscapes when he was a boy and then started taking photographs to paint and then photography became his passion.

This passion prompted Glen to start showing nature slides set to music, to church groups, and this is how Sight & Sound began back in 1964.

The Thursday night performance we attended was sold out. Wednesday night was our first choice when we ordered tickets before we left on our trip, but that performance was already sold out. The theater holds 2,000 seats.

Today the theaters (there are two: one in Lancaster PA, and one in Branson MO which opened in 2008) feature full-length Biblical story productions with professional actors and actresses, outstanding costumes, professional musicians, live animals, all performed with realistic time-period backdrops and props on a 300-foot panoramic stage. The performances are so elaborate they continually perform the same show for a year. It is difficult for me to describe the brilliance of these productions.

It was unbelievable how believable they made the water look on stage. The disciples were in an actual boat on stage…and the wind was blowing throughout the audience in their seats. Throughout the performance animals were on stage and in the aisles, and doves flew overhead.

This year we saw the production Jesus. I love this description from the brochure:

“What you are about to experience is not a history lesson on the most famous person ever to walk the earth. It is not even necessarily a story of Jesus’ life. It’s a story of Jesus’ love, which we believe, is life.”

The production was over-the-top wonderful.

Click on this link to learn more about this incredible theater experience.