Category: Travel

Yesterday was our last full day in Prague.  We spent the day exploring the Prague Castle and it’s many neighborhoods.

Greetings to all from the Czech Republic!

It’s been a couple of very busy and cold/wet days exploring Prague.  Nonetheless, Prague has rewarded us with gorgeous architecture beautiful monuments and delicious food.

Here are some of our favorite photos to date.  Our hotel room is on the 6th floor.  It’s high enough to yield some interesting shots above many of the rooftops.  Some are interesting, others a chuckle.  Enjoy!
J&J

Greetings from Prague, Czech Republic!

It was an interesting travel day yesterday.  We had an early wake up call and a 9 a.m. Uber pickup from the apartment.  SURPRISE!  Our street was closed due to street repaving.  We left the apartment early to see if our Uber pickup was in sight.  Long story short, Uber canceled our order.  Surprisingly a local taxi was both faster and cheaper…

We had a pleasant Air France flight from Paris to Prague in 1 hour, 20 minutes.  The big surprise arriving in Prague was the cab ride to the city center took longer than the flight due to massive traffic.

This morning we took a quick walk around the old town city center.  Here are some of our photos.

Within the next few hours we will check into our new hotel and meet the rest of our travel companions for the next two weeks.

Today brings our first week in Paris to an end.  As always that means getting reacquainted with the familiar and making new discoveries at the same time.

We decided to explore the Rodin museum after we calculated it’s been over 25 years since we had been there.  We did not recognize it at first glance.

His former home (a mansion actually) is now a museum along with the estate’s grounds.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the day.

 

 

 

Each visit to Paris reminds us why we keep coming back. It’s the ever changing, always evolving, never disappointing Paris we have grown to love.

There is an energy here that is hard to describe. It is reminiscent of the US of our younger days. THANK YOU Paris for opening your heart to those seeking a safe and caring place to thrive.

Here are some of our favorite photos from yesterday.

The weather is slowly changing with only an occasional drizzle and just enough sunshine to make Paris glow.

Yesterday was filled walks through Les Halles and the Beaubourg neighborhood, followed by a movie and a casual walk home the Marais.

 

Today we explored the 9th Arrondissement known for its covered shopping passages, varied shops, the famous Follies Bergeres and a relatively low tourist presence.

We enjoyed a lunch of  Moules Marinieres (mussels in a garlicky wine sauce) and Frites with a nice bottle of French Sancerre wine.

It was a delightful day getting reacquainted with a part of the city we have not visited in recent years.

The weather cooperated again today as we racked up 5.3 miles on our health meter.  Here are some of our discoveries.  

We arrived in Paris midday yesterday via the Eurostar fast train after a pleasant 2-1/2 hour ride from London!  What a nice and affordable way to travel from the UK to Europe.

Today we started one of several walking tours on our agenda including the Viaduct des Arts, Bastille to Les Halles, a movie at Les Halles shopping center and entertainment complex.  And finally back to our base  near the Bastille (11th arrondissement). 

We recently spent a weekend with Jeff and Wendy, long time friends of ours. They invited us to their mountain home near the small town of Arnold, near Angels Camp at the 5,000 foot level of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

It’s a bucolic setting with endless rivers, streams, hiking and magnificent forests and scenery.

A high point of our visit was an afternoon strolling the Calaveras Big Trees State Park, home to one of the largest stands of giant sequoia redwood trees, many dating as old as 2,000 years.

Some of these trees are over 325 feet tall and some have trunks 33 feet in diameter. The Park is popular in good weather. It’s visitor friendly, children friendly and there are ADA facilities throughout.

It was another glorious day of sunshine on the coast.  Generally clear skies and near perfect weather conditions.

Our only wish would be to replicate this weather for all our friends and family in the areas where the weather has been so frightfully cold.

Until then, we hope a few more pictures will be welcomed by all.  Mendocino felt surprisingly quiet, uncrowded and we had a leisurely day visiting the shops, headlands and an afternoon hike to the Cabrillo Light Station.

Here are our favorite photos from day 3.