Fontainebleu

Dave's folks stayed with us a few days longer because of Irene. On Saturday we placed a call letting their ride know and headed out to Fontainebleu. It is, yet another, royal residence with a magnificent park and a glorious history.  It is also where Napoleon 'resigned' as Emperor.

These newly weds, with their wedding procession, broke down just in front of Fontainebleu

Luckily the car started again, just minutes later the skies opened up, a small taste of what it must have been like back home.

The famous double curved stairs of Fontainebleu

That's the library!

Here we are having a nice French dinner on what we thought was the parents last night in Paris!

Prague & Vienna (Vienna)

If you might remember our camera was baptized in Cesky Krumlov so we have many pictures of Vienna that look like this one of St Stephens Cathedral
We have no pictures of the Winter and Summer palaces (camera sigh!)  but the Summer palace was great, nice gardens and just the right ratio of commentary to rooms. It focuses on just two rulers, Maria Theresa and Franz Josef, so it is comprehensible.

 

The view from St Stephens

KunstHausWein a museum devoted to an artist who believed the straight line is an abomination

Here we are atop a hundred year old ferris wheel, expensive, but you can arrange a romantic dinner with a new course every time the wheel goes around

The future Lipizzaners, the show horses were on vacation, but we got to watch these younger horses frolic

Prague & Vienna (Prague)

Charlesbridge with Prague Castle in the background, this was the view from the (affordable!) restaurant we ate at in Prague

 Wow! Prague is incredible. Not being bombed during the war and suffering under Communism did wonders to preserve the historic city.  Prices are much lower than in other parts of Europe we have visited and Dave really enjoyed the meat heavy traditional Czech food.
  It was raining for most of the start of our visit which is the day we decided to do a walking tour but even so the scenery and history was incredible.  Between the tour and our own explorations, we hit the New Town Square, site of the Velvet revolution, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge and Prague Castle.  Prague Castle is actually more like a complex with lots of history. Dave enjoyed the Golden Lane where the castle guards built houses into the castle walls and each house was set in a different time period. Mary preferred the gardens and walking in the park in the old moat.  We also took a day trip to Karlovy Vary which was a pretty spa town but not so interesting.
 We are going to break from our habits to post an actual album on The Facebook since we have so many great shots. 
  After Prague we went to Cesky (pronounce chess-key) Krumlov which was a quaint medieval village. Complete with castle.  Dave convinced Mary to go canoeing on the spur of the moment. This was a complete success!  We successfully navigated three of four flumes on the river and the cost was only twenty euros, one sandal and a waterlogged camera!  Thus our Vienna pictures are a bit sparser until the camera finished drying.

Another view from the restaurant

View from the vineyard on Prague Castle

Old Town Square

View from castle in Cesky Krumlov

Mary canoeing

Dave canoeing (last photo for a bit due to waterlogged camera)