One blog, two travelers, three weeks, four countries!

Aug
24
Trip Overview So here are all the stops we made on the trip: roughly a big clockwise circle around Central/Eastern Europe. Not too bad for three weeks!

Trip Overview

So here are all the stops we made on the trip: roughly a big clockwise circle around Central/Eastern Europe.

Not too bad for three weeks!

Aug
23
Legs 12-13: DUS-LAX, LAX-SFO We’re about to head off to the Dusseldorf airport to fly back to the US! The trip is basically complete, it’s been amazing. Hooray!

Legs 12-13: DUS-LAX, LAX-SFO

We’re about to head off to the Dusseldorf airport to fly back to the US! The trip is basically complete, it’s been amazing. Hooray!

Aug
23
Dusseldorf Architecture Panorama

The one really striking thing about Dusseldorf has been how modern the architecture is, especially compared to the rest of the trip.

Along the river, I took this panorama (linked). Most of the buildings are glass, steel and round—definitely not classic European architecture.

A few noteworthy parts:

  • TV towers are a big thing in Eastern Europe apparently. The one to the North is the third we’ve encountered this trip (after Berlin and Prague).
  • Over to the right of the TV tower are a trio of buildings that I immediately recognized as Frank Gehry’s style.
  • To the west (and up) is a really entertaining building with huge figures that look like they are climbing it.
Aug
23
Leg 11: Munich-Dusseldorf We took a really slick train from Munich to Dusseldorf. I’m fairly certain it was the German equivalent of a bullet train. A screen displayed the current speed, at one point in the ballpark of 260 km/h (160 mph!).

Leg 11: Munich-Dusseldorf

We took a really slick train from Munich to Dusseldorf. I’m fairly certain it was the German equivalent of a bullet train. A screen displayed the current speed, at one point in the ballpark of 260 km/h (160 mph!).

Aug
21
Neuschwanstein Castle We took a brief daytrip to see this castle near Munich. It’s pretty awesome, and the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle was even modeled after it.

Neuschwanstein Castle

We took a brief daytrip to see this castle near Munich. It’s pretty awesome, and the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle was even modeled after it.

Aug
20
Sleeper Train We were in a sleeper car for the aforementioned overnight train. I’d never been in a sleeper car compartment before, they’re very “cozy” with six bunks in a very small volume. Once you’re asleep, it doesn’t really matter anyways. And they even give you sheets and a blanket and a pillow. And on top of that, we arrived bright and early at 6:15am local time, so now we have the whole day to explore Munich!

Sleeper Train

We were in a sleeper car for the aforementioned overnight train. I’d never been in a sleeper car compartment before, they’re very “cozy” with six bunks in a very small volume. Once you’re asleep, it doesn’t really matter anyways. And they even give you sheets and a blanket and a pillow.

And on top of that, we arrived bright and early at 6:15am local time, so now we have the whole day to explore Munich!

Aug
20
Leg 10: Zagreb-Munich Definitely the lengthiest leg so far, we planned ahead (correctly this time) and found an overnight train.

Leg 10: Zagreb-Munich

Definitely the lengthiest leg so far, we planned ahead (correctly this time) and found an overnight train.

Aug
20
Zagreb Roof No idea what this roof is really for (maybe a church?) but I love the tiles.

Zagreb Roof

No idea what this roof is really for (maybe a church?) but I love the tiles.

Aug
20
Leg 9: Zadar-Zagreb We are now on the backtracking segment of our trip, on our way back to Dusseldorf for our final flight home next week. We took a bus back to Zagreb since it has the main train station for most of Croatia.

Leg 9: Zadar-Zagreb

We are now on the backtracking segment of our trip, on our way back to Dusseldorf for our final flight home next week. We took a bus back to Zagreb since it has the main train station for most of Croatia.

Aug
17
Fake In-N-Out If there are fake Apple Stores in China, why shouldn’t there be fake In-N-Outs in Croatia? Aside from the fact that In-N-Out has yet to expand internationally at all, the fish burger and sloppy pictures on the menu flag this shop as an impostor. However, they do have that eerily authentic awning over their door.

Fake In-N-Out

If there are fake Apple Stores in China, why shouldn’t there be fake In-N-Outs in Croatia? Aside from the fact that In-N-Out has yet to expand internationally at all, the fish burger and sloppy pictures on the menu flag this shop as an impostor. However, they do have that eerily authentic awning over their door.