Greetings from the lovely city of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic!

We left beautiful Krakow with a planned six hour driving trip from Krakow to Prague, easy trip all freeway. However, about 150 km out of Prague we see traffic slowing down, not a good sight to see on the freeway. Construction the next 150 km and the freeway went down to one lane. Our six hour trip turns into an almost eight hour trip with heavy rain on top of that. We have decided that the same people who are in charge of making the Polish maps are in charge of road construction in Czech 😳 We check into our Airbnb, which is in the suburbs, a one bedroom apartment in a high rise. Safe underground parking for the trusty Peugeot and right on the tram lines, perfect! The apartment also has two lovely balcony’s. Here’s the view from one. Bet you can guess who built that building🧐

The next day, we head out, get the local currency, Korunas, it’s 20 to 1 for the dollar. Prague is a very inexpensive city out of all the tourist areas. We buy our tram tickets. Okay, ready to explore one of the great travel destinations in Europe!

Prague is a very, very old city dating from 1300 BC, with lots of different people in charge over the years. Celts, Germans, Slavics and Czechs all ruled the area in the medieval times. It is the capital of Bohemia and was destroyed by fire in the 1700’s. The majority of Old Town was rebuilt in the 1800’s, that’s why it looks so similar throughout the Old City. Pragues main industry now is tourism. It’s quite the busy place with river cruises starting here and tour buses by the hundreds, every day. It’s also quite the party city. More beer is drank in Prague than in any city in the world including Munich.

Old Town

The Charles Bridge is a famous landmark

The city is staggeringly beautiful. It wasn’t destroyed in WWII so it has retained its beauty and charm.

One of the things that makes Prague so beautiful is the pastel colors of the buildings and the intricate designs and paintings of the buildings, staggering.

We rode the Tram everywhere. It’s so smooth and efficient.

However, Prague has a notorious reputation as a tourist ripoff city, shortchanging, overcharging and different menu prices for tourists are common. Venders tried both on us, once putting his finger on a scale asking for the equivalent of $17 for a bowl of potato salad 🧐 and once failing to give correct change. They failed on both😎

Beautiful, beautiful city, over 1.3 million inhabitants and the fourth most visited city in Europe. It can be very crowded however, so we started early and beat the crowds!

We did find some beer gardens and a winery 🍺🍷

You know we love to try the local foods. Check out the wiener, Frankfurter and sausage selection in the neighborhood grocery

The local delicacies Trdelnik, sweet dough rolled in sugar, BBQ’d then filled with anything from ice cream to fruits. Very different.

Wonderful four days, we even caught a little rest between the 43 miles we walked in four days. Thank God for the beer gardens and the sausage bar👍

We are off tomorrow for Vienna Austria. Na zdravi. Cheers in Czech 🍺

The city of Krakow is the second largest city in Poland. It has a little over one million residents. It’s world famous for its beauty and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the home to several famous universities and home to Pope John Paul II. It’s quite a splendid city to visit, flat, easily walkable, and by European city standards, very affordable. Over the four days we stayed here, we walked 33 miles. Cindy’s a slavedriver. It’s a good thing we’re drinking delicious Polish beer and eating delicious Polish sausages to counterbalance that👍😎 Ok, let’s take a tour.

The city has no subway system, but the Trams are very new, smooth and affordable. They are easy to navigate and take you where you need to go safely and efficiently.

The city is broken into several areas from the tourists viewpoint, Oskar Schindlers Factory, the Jewish Ghetto and Old Town (or Stare Miasto).

First, Oskar Schindlers Factory. We followed our maps precisely and weren’t even close to his factory. To say Polish maps are accurate is an injustice to map makers world wide🧐 After several stops at businesses in the area (asking for directions), we found the factory. It’s now a museum, which it should be. If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie you should, it’s quite powerful.

Ghetto Hero’s Square, located by Mr Schindlers factory.

Next, just across the river, The Jewish Ghetto of Krakow,

Then, as it’s late Saturday afternoon we take a quick trip into the food and entertainment district, Maly Rynek, party on 👍🍺

Ok, we planned to hit Old Town bright and early on Sunday morning, no crowds, great pictures. Tour director Cindy plans a walking tour that looks fast and smooth👍😎

Not so fast adventurers, we walk down to the Tram, lots of young adults in running gear? Ok, they’re just meeting friends for a run. Off the Tram, Place Matejki, lovely.

Barbakan, Gate to Fortress Krakow in the 1400s.

Rynek Glowny , The Central Square of Old Town, is the largest medieval square in Europe. It’s unbelievably beautiful!

The square is filling with thousands of people for a huge relay race, streets are closing and people are everywhere. We do our best, but have to abandon the walking tour and do the best we can to see the beautiful city.

Ok, Tram ride home safe and sound! We had no expectations when we came to Poland. Both Warsaw and Krakow are wonderfully clean, safe and beautiful places. We had a wonderful, educational experience here. Highly recommended!

On to Prague tomorrow, five nights there👍😎🍺

P.S. It’s turning into fall here, rain and only into the 60’s.

The weather was changing when we left lovely Warsaw for our five hour drive to Krakow or Crakow as the Poles spell it.

The drive was easy, new four lane highways then, two lane roads running through a city. Welcome to Poland. We checked into our Airbnb, very basic, but clean and functional with safe secure parking underground for the trusty Peugeot. The Airbnb in Warsaw was awesome, one of the best, so far!

After moving in, we went for a walk around the neighborhood, lots of high rise apartments with young families and lots of little kids. Very safe and surprisingly quiet at night. We found the Tram stop about 1/2 mile away, so we are ready to explore Krakow, one of Rick Steves favorite city’s.

But first we get up bright and early on Friday and drive one and a half hours to the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

We reserved tickets for the English speaking tour in June as they offer very few English guided tours. Had a little trouble finding the parking lot, but a nice polish police officer drove up and guided us to the parking lot, even giving us a map. I told ya the police officers love Cindy 😜

The check in was a little disorganized, but we overcame and watched a short movie while we waited. Then our tour started. A very nice polish woman was our guide and her English was excellent, however, her passion about the camps was even higher.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures. I wanted to respect the over one million people who were murdered in this area. However, I again would like to share some facts about Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Entry into Auschwitz

Auschwitz 1 was established in 1940 as a political prison. It grew to over 40 camps and factories before it was liberated by the Russians in 1945. The exact number of people killed at the 40 camps and factories is unknown, but estimates range from 1.3 million to over 2 million in these camps alone! The prisoner’s worked 11 hour days and stood at roll call for hours on less than 300 calories a day. It was hell on earth. They were beaten, hanged, shot and starved to death before the Nazis came up with the idea of killing by poison gas.

Birkenau

In 1942, the Nazis began what they called “the final solution to the Jewish question” and the death camp Birkenau was opened. It was truly only a camp to kill people. The trains delivered Jews from across Europe directly to Birkenau and they were gassed and killed less than one hour after arrival. Thousands were killed daily, families were torn apart on arrival, some killed, some sent to work until they died. It makes you numb to hear the truth. People who were too sick to work were sent to building to die as the Nazis didn’t want to waste gas on them. They suffered horribly until they died.

The Soviet army liberated the camps in 1945. The main group of prisoners had been forced marched West as the Red Army approached and the majority died on the Death Marches. The few remaining prisoners in the camps mostly died when the Red Army liberated the camp as they were to weak to survive.

90% of all prisoners who entered Auschwitz camps died! It’s that mind numbing.

The tour is heart wrenching and disgusting at the same time. It’s a very hard 4 hours but we must remember the past. Hundreds of high school age kids were taking the tour, we must never forget that these monstrosity’s happened. It’s hard to believe, but there are people in the world and country’s in the world who deny that the Holocaust happened. We can’t let this happen, please read history and don’t let sick people try and change the past.

We must remember what happened in the past, so it will never happen again!

As you are aware, we were staying in the outlying area of Berlin, so it only took 15 minutes driving for us to reach the A2 autobahn, where the GPS told us 578 km to Warsaw and our new home, so away we go! About one hour of driving we reach the Polish border. The border agent asks a couple of questions and we are in Poland. We notice the gas prices posted at the highways stops are much different here? So we roll along until our old friend, the Toll booth, shows up for a visit! The electronic sign at the booth says 38.00. I reach for my wallet and start to complain about tolls, I pull out 40 euros and the person in the booth says Zlotys not euros. We didn’t know we would need different money here😳 They were nice enough to take our euros however. The drive between Berlin and Warsaw is flat through forests and fields, no city’s and no livestock?

Couple more Toll stops and we arrive at our Airbnb in Warsaw. Quite a nice place, newer building, underground parking and an elevator👍

On the drive into Warsaw, we notice police everywhere and barely make it across several streets before they are closed. Then while we were enjoying our deck we hear and see huge black helicopters, flying really low, with serious weapons mounted on them? Cindy googles what’s happening in Warsaw? It turns out it’s the 80th anniversary of the beginning of WWII, with leaders from around the world attending the commemorations. Quite a busy night.

The next day we get up early and do a walking tour of our neighborhood, and try to find a bank for some Zlotys! Lovely neighborhood, mixture of old and new, including restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores. A fun spot.

Palace of Culture and Science, a gift from the people of Russia to the people of Poland. Quite an eyesore right in the middle of everything.

We get the Zlotys and decided to try and find a sausage maker I’ve known about and stop by Lidl for some groceries. So off we go in the trusty Peugeot, bad news the sausage guy is closed on Monday, so we get our groceries and head home. Guess what, the roads are closed for the world leaders including V.P. Pence. We drive around in a circle for 2 1/2 hours before they open one of the roads and we make it home. Lucky we did, the roads were closed for the next three hours. Helicopters, sirens and hundreds of police, quite the show. That’s enough for a Monday.

Tuesday, up bright and early to visit old town Warsaw. Great, simple Tram system here and easy to get around.

Old town was particularly destroyed by the Germans in 1939 during the bombing of Warsaw and then completely in 1945 when the Poles tried an uprising. What you see was completely rebuilt after WWII. Now It’s quite lovey and walkable.

As I said, the Poles attempted an uprising against the Germans in 1945, as the Red army was closing in on Warsaw, the Poles knew the Russians wanted to annex Poland. The Germans quickly put down the uprising and burned old town completely, killing 200k in the process. The Russians did not intervene and the Germans were without mercy.

Memorial to Fallen Polish hero’s 1945

The Germans captured over 400,000 Jewish people in 1939 when they took over the city, building a Jewish ghetto in Warsaw that was under 1.3 miles in size. They starved them and then sent over 200,00 to extermination camps. Unbelievable. Only several parts of the ghetto wall still stand

Memorial to Jewish hero’s

Warsaw is an unbelievably beautiful city. However, they do not forget the horrors which happened here, which they shouldn’t.

Part of the old city, saved so we don’t forget.

Ok, tour director Cindy is done with me today. Twelve miles walking today, but we did have some fun in Warsaw. Got to tell ya, we loved this city!

Today another walking tour, the Presidents residence and the parks surrounding it.

Then, through the city one last time. Loved it and highly recommended Warsaw .Only 9 miles today, Cindy’s getting soft with her promotion 😜 👍

Off to Krakow tomorrow, the adventure continues😎✔️

Leaving lovely Dudeldorf, we had a seven hour drive on the Autobahn to Berlin. Contrary to popular belief, there is a large portion of the autobahn that has a posted speed limit, it’s 130 km per hour, or about 80 mph. There are sections however where German law is fast enough for the road conditions, or as fast as you want. Germany is the land of high performance autos, and they let the dogs out on the autobahn. They come up on you so fast they literally ” blow your doors off”! The wave of air that hits you when you are passed by someone going over 150 mph is amazing 😳

Before we see pictures of our three days in Berlin, I think we need a little history lesson on why Berlin is the city it is today. When the United States entered WWII in 1941, England had already defeated Germany in the air battle know as the Battle of Britain.

With the defeat of the German Air Force, the USA and England started to bomb German war sights in Europe and moved further and further inland into Europe as plane technology grew and ultimately started to bomb Berlin. As The Allied invasions into Europe / Africa and Italy and then Germany progressed, the Russian forces entered a bombed out Berlin before U.S. forces could. The Russians brought two million hardened troops to Berlin and seized the city, basically destroying or burning every building in the city. The entire city was destroyed. The Soviet army took no prisoners, every German soldier they encountered was killed. So basically the city of Berlin was completely destroyed and burned to the ground in 1945.

After the surrender of Germany, the allies divided Germany into four different sectors, with France, England and the USA joined together to create West Germany. The Russians formed East Germany. The Soviet’s started building the Berlin Wall in 1961 and it was demolished in 1990 when the Soviet Union collapsed.

We are staying in an Airbnb in what once was East Germany. The buildings were all built in the 60’s and 70’s. They all look alike and it isn’t very pretty. The site of the old West Germany looks pretty much the same. Row apartments built in the 60’s and 70’s. Now you know why.

Berlin is a huge city and has a massive tram and subway system, not many buses, but trams everywhere. We took the tram and subway over 25 different times here👍

Very few people own cars here. Everyone gets around on mass transit. The city’s population is very, very young and has a huge graffiti issue. They look at it as art, we, ourselves, don’t find it very attractive. The city reminds us of Multnomah country in Portland, lots of homeless people, but drunks, instead of drug addicts. Tattoo art is right there with Portland and I couldn’t see any real business here, only retail and tourists. The parks are overgrown and weeds grow in the road. Remember, we use Airbnb and stay in the neighborhoods, not where the tour buses drop you off😳 All things said, not our favorite place 😜

However, if you are a WWII buff, this is your spot. The Third Reich rises to power here in 1933. They were elected by a German public that hate the WWI retributions and followed Hitler to the end.

Lots of history to see, so let’s go! Remember, all these sights were blown up in WWII and have been rebuilt.

Brandenburg Gate, the historic city gates and once, home of no mans land.

The famous Fernsehturm TV tower in the old East Germany, widely recognized to us old folks😜

Lots of great sights!

Reichstag building, Germany’s seat of government, rebuilt in the 90’s when Germany was reunited. Hitler’s seat of power in the 30’s and 40’s.

Memorial to Murdered Jews by the Third Reich.

Berlin Wall, built to keep people in East Germany the 60’s, as they were leaving the East and headed West by the thousands. Torn down when communism/socialism collapsed in 1990.

Check Point Charlie, the East-West handoff spot, now home to McDonalds 😳

And the Fuhrerbunker, only a sign in a parking lot. The Russians put this place about -200 meters down with explosives. Hitler was burned here after he killed himself. The bunker is filled in and is now a parking lot. More than he deserves.

We did have a little fun here, Hofbrauhaus.

Don’t want to disrespect Berlin. It’s a very historic city, however we much, much prefer southern Germany, especially the area of Bavaria and Munich to Berlin.

Off to Warsaw Poland tomorrow. That should be interesting!

FYI, it’s 90 degrees here with 60% humidity, I’m a bucket of goo. We are walking 8 miles a day, I need another beer 👍😎🍺

Before I start on today’s adventure, I’d like to add to yesterday’s post. The Europeans love to RV. They have trailers and RV’s and park them everywhere alongside the road, quite crazy. They call it Caravanning here and signs point out Caravan parks everywhere. The Mosel River Valley is a huge destination for caravans. They camp out all summer and then ride bikes on the trails up and down the river. It looks like a great time. Setup the caravan for the summer, bike to the winery’s and restaurants and sleep. Sign me up! Fun place.

Ok, staying in Dudeldorf, we have a central location to visit the area so off we go, bright and early (7:00 AM), easy one hour drive to the Royal Duchy of Luxembourg and it’s capital city Luxembourg City.

While Luxembourg City is relatively small, 300k people and the Duchy is only 51 kilometers in size, it played a large role in history as a fortress city.

The Romans, who else, built the city and throughout the years it’s rock walls and tunnels have led it to be called “The Gibraltar of the north”.

We used the park and ride bus system again, so we safely reached the historic city center, and with the trusty Peugeot safely parked.

First, we went to the local tourist information office and the nice person gave us a map with a three hour walking tour map, excellent 😎

First up, Place d’ Armes one of many main squares. Quite a well laid out city!

Next, Palace of the Grand Dukes. It is a very clean city.

William the Second!

Grand Duchess Charlotte Memorial.

The Corniche, the balcony of Luxembourg.

The Grund, where the walls and fortress with tunnels date back to the Roman days. Where Luxembourg City’s name of the Gibraltar of the North comes from.

Beautiful city, not too many tourists and easy walking tour. Highly recommended for a day trip.

Now a quick 20 minute drive to the Luxembourg America Military cemetery. This is where 5,000 American soldiers are buried, along with a memorial for those who’s body’s were never found. These brave men died at The Battle of the Bulge. One of the last significant battles in WWII.

General George S. Patton is also buried here.

Just another reminder, Freedom don’t come free!

FYI, it’s 90 with 70% humidity here, but we won’t complain after freezing in UK and Ireland.

Moving day tomorrow, seven hour drive to Berlin, we are there five days should be fun! Berlin is a huge happening city👍🍺😎

Ok, quick and easy trip across Belgium and into Germany (all freeway, no tolls👍) with Dudeldorf as our destination. Say Dudeldorf three times…Dudeldorf, Dudeldorf, Dudeldorf 😜

Dudeldorf is a very small village located next to a large US Air Force base, Spangdahlem, so the town looks very German, but lots of service people and family’s live here, interesting.

Ok, easy check in to our Airbnb, bakery across the street and beer garden down the street👍It’s a rebuilt garment building, lovely studio.

Then a quick, half hour drive to Trier, several of you might recognize Trier as it’s in the Viking Cruise Ship tour. It’s also a destination for US Air Force people so very US feel to the restaurants, Cajun food in Germany 😳 The city was busy, but not to crowed for a Sunday afternoon with two cruise ships in town.

Lovely city, 8 mile walking tour. This is Hauptmarkt.

Next up, St Peters Cathedral and Church of Our Lady, both gorgeous with great gardens and a long history.

Porta Nigra, built by the Romans as the city’s entry point, it’s as old as the coliseum. Unbelievable what the Romans built.

Then a walk through the huge and manicured Palastgarten.

Ok, up bright and early the next AM to visit Burg Eltz Castle, a privately owned castle about one hour from Dudeldorf. Just stunning 👍

Fascinating tour, did you know the world famous Mosel River Valley, with wine tasting, is just half an hour away, let’s go👍😎

We were not fans of Reisling wine until today. Unbelievably delicious wine. It’s grown in vineyards that grow straight uphill, fascinating.

Fun day, tomorrow a trip to Luxembourg City, in Luxembourg. Rumors are, it’s lovely 🍺😎

Think we might enjoy a little Reisling now. Wish you could join us. It’s 88 and lovely here😎👍

Ok, I can tell when tour guide Cindy is excited to visit a place because she makes me do research with her the night before we visit the location. I did research last night on Brugge😎

Brugge is an old city developed by the Romans (who else) and invaded by the Vikings (familiar story). The canal system was built to access the sea for trade with the world. England for wool and then trading of textiles throughout the world. In the 1400-1500’s Bruges was a very, very wealthy city.

However, the rivers and canals silted and became impassable (must be climate change), and Antwerp became the trading partner in the Belgium lowlands. Brugge fell into disrepair and the town was basically abandoned. Then in the early 1900’s the city was rediscovered by rich Europeans and became a tourist attraction. The reborn city was occupied by the Germans in WWI and WWII, but was undamaged.

Brugge is an incredibly beautiful city, but very, very busy this time of year. So, we did our usual plan of attack, early walking tour before the throngs of people overwhelmed the city.

Off we go on the short half hour drive to Brugge. We parked in an underground parking garage. You know your in Belgium when they have a whole level of the parking garage just for bikes.

Pop out of the parking garage and low and behold it’s a market with beautiful food and rotisserie’s. We must be back on the continent😎👍

Nothing against the UK and Ireland but their idea of a gourmet meal is bangers and mash with mushy peas😳

Ok, walking tour of a very, very beautiful city. Nine miles in total before we are run over. Let’s go!

Everywhere in Belgium brick is used. It creates a very clean look.

St. Saviour’s Cathedral…huge

Ok, on to The Markt. Again, very beautiful. We think it’s prettier then the Grand Place in Brussels. It is breathtaking.

Our pictures do it no justice, and even at 9:00 AM it’s filling with people and a concert is being setup.

Ok, let’s visit the famous canals, they are lovely.

The architecture is lovely and constant throughout the city. No homeless, no graffiti, and no drunks, lovely.

Next stop, Burg Square, where several weddings were taking place.

Rozenhoedkaai, lovely views!

Beautiful views everywhere!

Beautiful city, very walkable and easy to navigate. If you like bicycles this is Mecca. Safe riding on bike paths and bikes rule the road😎👍

We are in Belgium, think it’s beer time👍🍺

Ok, travel day tomorrow. Back to Germany with a stay in Dudeldorf, a small village in the Moselle River Valley. Could be Schnitzel time👍🍺

Quick and easy trip from lovey Woodchurch England to Dover and our ferry crossing to France. Using the P&O ferry line this trip, not nearly as nice as Stena lines( no jacuzzi suite 😎) easy crossing, great weather.

Ok, return to driving on the right. Just like riding a bike, ya never forget👍

On to Dunkirk, which is a pivotal city in history. Dunkirk was the port that supported the allied forces of WW1 as most of the war was fought close by here.

French war cemetery WW1 Dunkirk

In

Dunkirk was also pivotal in WWII as Germany quickly overwhelmed the French and Belgian troops at the start of WWII, the British army had to quickly evacuate to the beaches of Dunkirk. Over 500,000 troops were strangled at one point. The British navy managed to rescue 250,000 leaving over 200,000 stranded on the beach. Winston Churchill took over as PM and quickly put together a plan using the British Navy and civilian boats to rescue the remaining men. Quite an epic event 👍

British Memorial, Dunkirk

On to Kortemark area of Belgium our home for the next several days. Our lovely Airbnb is located on a farm, shocking 😜

This is the area, WWI was primarily fought in, its know as the Ypres area, or Flanders Fields. My grandpa Trafton fought in WWI, so it’s a special place for Cindy and I to visit 🇺🇸 Grandpa never said a word about the war, except one time. When I was looking at his medals I said, “How did you become a Sargent?” He said” I survived”🇺🇸

American memorial

Ypres, also known as leper, had three major battles in WWI, and is now a beautiful city

Flanders Field museum, very very well done

Menin’s Gate, a salute to British soldiers who lost their lives in Belgium, from the people of Belgium

J

John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Field in Ypres. We visited his surgery bunker where he wrote the poem.

Next was the Trench of Death, where actual WWI trench’s have been rebuilt. Mind numbing this war was. Back and forth in the mud, snow and heat for over three years in a area smaller than a mile in depth.

The Great War as WWI is referred to in Europe, killed over ten million soldiers from around the world and another six million civilians. The Great War is also blamed for the world wide influenza pandemic in 1918 that killed over 100 million world wide. In every French city we’ve visited, large or small, there is a memorial stone spear with the names of men from that area who died in the Great War. One in ten French men were killed in WWI. Unbelievable that less than 30 years later the world was at war again. Mindless!

The memorials in Diksmuide, No More War!

Just another reminder, Freedom don’t come free🇺🇸

After a six hour drive on the freeway (no tolls), we arrived safely in Woodchurch, England to stage ourself for our return to France, and to driving on the wrong, err left side of the road.

Lovely Airbnb in Woodchurch. It’s location is so quiet, it’s wonderful!

It’s a hobby farm, so it’s got it all…chickens, geese, guinea fowl, rabbits, sheep, dogs, cats, you name it, they’re here! Fun😎👍

We took the morning off to catch up on paper work and take care of some travel reservations we still needed to make, and to rest a little 😓

We did find time for one last fish and chips in UK😎

Then a quick short trip to Rye, 15 minutes away. Old, old city, 800’s and very, very British.

Ferry to France tomorrow at 10:15. We enjoyed our five weeks in the UK and Ireland tremendously. The people were friendly, the scenery beautiful and no Tolls. Gas is relatively inexpensive in the UK, $5.00 or so, the continent $7.50.

We’ve been in Europe about four months or close to half the time we are planning to be here (six weeks in Mexico to end the trip). Some facts that probably only interest us about our adventure:

Miles driven in the Trusty Peugeot-13,500

Driving trips in the trusty Peugeot -80

Ferry trips- 5

Bus/Mass transit trips-69

Miles walked (per Cindy’s fit bit) – 953

Airbnb stayed- 37

Beers/wine/whiskey drank😎🧐

What an adventure. We love having you all travel with us. Now, about your bill😜✔️🍷