More Deck...

The deck saga continues.... Here are our latest efforts. Stay tuned for stairs and railings!

THE DECK

For those of you who know Jonathan and I real well, you know we've been talking about this deck thing we are building since about May of this year. Jonathan really got started on it. Did all the dirt work, poured the footers, got the needed inspections and permits, and then it sat.

For a multitude of reasons, it kept getting put off. Most of the reasons were really good ones, some not so much. But we had this thorn in our side every time we even looked to the backyard.

So finally Jonathan and I had a free weekend last weekend and we just went at it. In two days we got the whole lower deck put up. What a sigh of relief. So here is what it looks like so far. Life is creep'n up on us again and we only have Sunday to work on it this weekend, but I really think we can get the posts and beams and some ancillary items completed that day if it doesn't rain. Cross your fingers.

I grabbed the camera late in the process. This is the lower deck w/the posts, beams, and joists put in. The joists are hung between the beams because the deck is so low and the ground is so hard and full of tree roots. Love that Georgia clay! At 16 hand driven nails per joist, it equaled sore arms and a lot of hammering. (I contributed about 7 of the 16 per joist)

Here the decking is going on. We get to use the pneumatic nailer for this part, Jonathan lined up the boards while I nailed. You have to be very quick with the trigger, I was the queen of putting two nails in one spot.

And here is JB cutting off the excess. Yeah!

Prauge 8/19/08-8/23/08

...cont. from Berlin Post
So Brittney and I hop on our train to Prague after getting into the wrong car, who knew the numbers would repeat themselves? We settle in with our four German seat mates and get ready for our crowded 6 hour ride. This was a particularly enlightening ride, culturally speaking, because we learned that some Germans have an extreme fear of shoes touching where you are going to sit.

Brittney, just recently recovered from major foot surgery (her foot was pretty much not attached to her ankle) and all the walking we had been doing made her ankle swell up a bit. so she elevated her foot by propping it up on my seat. The women sitting next to me freaked out about how unhygienic it was for her foot to be on the seat even after we explained why Brittney needed to do this. We transferred Brittney's foot to the other side of me and there was silence in our cabin until our four seat mates got off in Dresden.


We were relieved that we could have some space and stretch out for a bit and this is when we learned that the lady's real fear was not Brittney's "unhygienic" foot, but what her "unhygienic" shoe could potentially put on the seat. As I see it, in America where we would be grossed out by putting our bare foot on an unhygienic train seat, the lady thought we were contaminating the seat by our shoes. Our butts, that would be touching the seat are hopefully covered by clothes, so I think I'm sticking with the America way of thinking on this one.

So anyway, we enjoyed the rest of train ride by sleeping and taking in the scenery. Germany is pretty, looks a lot like, say Iowa, rolling hills, lots of fields, modest amount of trees. I'm guessing this is why so many people of German heritage transplanted to places like Iowa. When we crossed into the Czech Republic it was more mountainous and very pretty as our train followed a valley stream. We also had more visitors to our little compartment. Including some kissing children that Brittney and I both raised our eyebrows at, but maybe we are just getting old.

So the first picture is when we get off the train in Prague and feel completely overwhelmed by the rush of people and our lack of knowing where to go. But, NEVER FEAR, we figure it out and head on the metro to our hotel.

Brittney and I walk around our neighborhood a little bit, but neither of us can stay awake and we decide to take a nap. We wake up just in time to grab some salty food from the hotel restaurant and go back to bed. We chalk it up as a travel day and get ready for tomorrows new adventure.


We begin our adventure at Prague Castle (Prazsky Hrad in Czech) we entered through the second courtyard to stare at St. Vitus' cathedral. The first building on this site was built in the 9th century and replaced with Romanesque Archetecture in the 12th century (can you believe how old that is!) With St. Vitus' Gothic style arcitecture started in 14th century. The other buildings inside the wall of the castle were built in 16th and 17th century styles. It is really something great to see.
















































Here I am trying to get in through the back door because the line is crazy at the front. No Luck!

Lots of People and beautiful buildings everywhere. We also saw some extremely beautiful stemware in a store here that was made using 17th century techniques. Brittney and I made the hike back to Prague castle on our last full day here so I could buy some for my mom and myself. We didn't see anything like them in all of our Prague shopping.



The views from the back entrance of the castle were equally amazing! Prague is so beautiful you actually get desensitised to it. To know that some of the apartment buildings in Prague really rival some our our most beautiful buildings is humbling .

Here is an example of how pretty and ornate the buildings can really be.

We then sat down for what we truly hoped would be an excellent meal after having a sort of gross continental breakfast at the hotel and a super salty dinner the night before. ...and we did. We ate at a little place that had a pre-fix menu and tables made out of the bottoms of old sewing machines.

I had the beef goulash. Now that looks very different from the North Dakota version! It was really good and those white disks are bread dumplings.


Brittney played it safe in case mine was truly awful and got the chicken risotto which was more of a chicken and rice.







We then walked around to the front of the castle gates called the first courtyard. The sculptures that greet you there make me think that they were not always so nice to each other.





















This leads to Hradcany square which is a big open area full of extremely beautiful buildings, including the Schwarzenberg Palace that has black and white triangles all over it and looks kind of like Asian meets renaissance. Very cool. My guide book told me this motif is called sgraffito facade and it was built in 1719.

This area also includes Loreta which was a building covered in angels.

We started out the next day farther north in the city at the Jewish Cemetery. Another sad place, but very interesting. Jewish people were buried her until the 1800's and they buried people one on top of another, The stones look so mishmash because stones that were associated with people who were buried earlier were pulled up and kept in place with the newer burials. I guess it is a prayer or a sign of respect to put a pebble or a note on the headstones because many of the sites had numerous pebbles or bits of paper placed on them.

We then headed to the Old Town square, this is me informing Brittney what we are suppose to be learning while we are in this area. I figure everyone already can tell I'm a tourist so there is no reason to try to hide it.

Around the corner is the astronomical clock. It tells you everything from what phase of the moon we are in, to zodiac symbols, to the regular time. Now if I could just figure out how to read it...


We then climbed Petrin Hill, which Brittney will say was our second time climbing the hill, (We took a wrong turn on day two and walked the northern half of the hill) so I had to convince her that this side would be more interesting and totally worth our while. It wasn't much more interesting , but we got this picture for Brittney's mom (she loves pink and her daughter so this was a good combo). We also got some ice cream and Brittney got a chance to really try out her new ankle by running down a very steep hill (I took the stairs next to the hill, that Brittney apparently didn't see) She did very well regardless.

We spent the evening on the Charles Bridge, which every guide book tell you is a must. It was extremely pretty. We came, we saw, we conquered and we shopped!

Brittney diligently downloads our days photos in our hotel room. We also got to see so of the Beijing Olympics while in Prague because that was the only English speaking channel on the tube.

We spent our final full day south of the city center following a walking tour in our guide book. Which was a tour around the grounds of Vysehrad. A castle built in the 10th century. It is said that this settlement was the first to really hold in the area and really established what was to become Prague. It was abandoned in the 14th century when Prague Castle became the strong hold.






Very cool looking sculptures of the people of the day and the Cathedral of St. Paul and Peter were really the sites to see. As well as, the Vysehrad Cemetery where famous Czech people and their relatives are buried in very elaborate grave sites.




















We also found an area that was growing grapes. Brittney jumped the little wall to grab a couple (she found them to be a little sour). Then we turned the corner and saw a much easier place to grab one or two. I thought they were very good.

We left the castle and headed down to the Vltava River walkway to see, well the river, and the Cubist houses that line it. Neither one of us was impressed with this form of architecture and I don't think we thought that it even warranted a photo.

But I did find a little outcrop of rock. I took a picture of the hill to show Jonathan that I looked at some Czech geology on my vacation.













This was Brittney's reaction to it, "OK, you can take that photo, but no more wasting film on uninteresting things." And here is the face that went along with that comment.

We continued on and found the "Dancing Building" It is suppose to be reminisent of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astare. I think they did a pretty good job with it. It is so much more modern than any of the buildings around it, but somehow it fits.












Next we embarked on our real adventure. The guide book recommended this little restaurant about a block away from the Dancing Building. It was said that this place had great local fish and seafood a decent price. We hadn't had any sort of fish on our travels so we thought what the heck. The place didn't have an english menu so the waiter read it to us. Very nice of him. And we both decided on the daily pre-mix menu of grilled trout with potatoes, crumpets with berries and espresso for dessert.

And here is what we received! Brittney was such a trooper and did her best to eat it, while covering up the head with a piece of lettuce. She only got mad at me when I said the tail was really good and Brittney said that that is not appropriate take for the dinner table. We finished as much as we could and then the waiter brought out two giant desserts of thick pancakes and hot berries. Way too much, the waiter was disspointed in us that we did not finish it, but what do you do. We drank our espresso and Brittney got her second wind and then some. She was actually kind of hyper and silly for the rest of the day. See whole fish wasn't so bad even if he looked like he could take a bite out of you at any time.


We ended our day by going back to Prague Castle and checked out the Royal Gardens that we missed on our first day. I really loved the Arboritum they had at the back of the gardens.










This tree is actually self pruning! It creates these large knots over the location where the limb was to protect it self from infection. I thought it was cool anyway...











Here is hyper Brittney sliding down a "Yeah to the fall of Communism" Monument.

















And me finding some nature on the streets of Prague.














And I think this is a really true picture of Prague. 17th century arcetecture and a Budweiser sign welcomeing you to take part in every part of Prague.



We wandered around and saw some more random things and got back to the hotel kind of late to pack up our things, as we were going to have to leave for the airport at around 4:00 in the morning for our 6:30 flight.

We tried to stay up all night, but sleep got the best of us and our 3:00a.m. wake up call we ordered was very welcome.

We had a semi-scary moment with our taxi (that is the only transportation we could take at that time in the morning). Prague guides really warn against crooked taxi-drivers, but we did everything that they suggested. We had the hotel order it and had a set price, but when we were driving, it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere and he could just drop us off and take off with all our stuff or just take us anywhere because there was nobody to be seen for miles. Thank goodness, however, he just brought us to the the airport and the price he gave us was 200 crowns less than the quoted price. So no worries.

We finally got on our plane to for a short jont to Frankfort and then had an ungodly layover for our flight to Atlanta. Let me tell you I was so ready to get back on America soil. We finally crossed the big blue without problems and Jonathan was there to pick us up. We ate at the US Cafe in Smyrna to commerate our long awaited return and shared out journey with Jonathan.

Glad to be back...

Berlin 8/14/08-8/19/08

Brittney arrives in Atlanta on the evening of the 13th. We gladly catch up with each other and plan our final packing for the "Much More Fun Than a High School Reunion European Vacation." Jonathan gets us through Atlanta traffic so we make our international flight just on time, plus we help a Bulgarian lady through security and to the gate. She seem slightly frightened to go it alone not knowing English. Brittney and I thought maybe it would give us some good karma because we were heading off to Germany and Prague without knowing German or Czech and would be in the same situation soon enough.

When we arrive in Berlin it is about 12:30 in the afternoon, we figure out the bus system with some confusion and hop on the S-Bahn to the stop that is closest to our hotel. No problems, but excited to get rid of our heavy luggage.

Here is the first picture we took in Germany. It was just outside of a small park on our way to the hotel. Brittney and I thought it was just hilarious. Just remember to bring a scissors to any park you go to in Berlin because you may get stuck and have to cut yourself loose.

We decided it would be a good thing if we stayed awake to get acclimated to the time change. We decided to walk around neighborhood called Kreuzberg. The neighborhood is very multi-cultural and has a strong Turkish influence. We tried to make it to the Turkish Market, but the rain kept us away. It was rainy but we braved a nice walk anyway. We went through Victoria Park and saw a really pretty waterfall and some nice architecture along the way.

Then we found a great little Thai place for our first meal in Germany! So glad to get out of the rain!

We're beat! Back to the hotel to crash.

The next morning we are up bright and early to visit the Reichstag, Germany's Parliament building, well not early enough because the line to go up in the dome is unreal. Brittney makes the best of it by strutting her stuff out front. Then Brittney and I get a rare photo together with an odd sculpture near the Brandenburg Tor.

The Brandenburg Tor was amazing, such a symbol of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Cold War. People were everywhere and it felt like you had to keep moving while you were trying to get a good look. There were actors posing as soldiers and some people protesting the "thing" to protest that day.

So Brittney and I continued on to the Holocaust Memorial and Museum. It was a very sobering affair, but well done and informative. At the entrance of the Holocaust Museum there was a girl who would give you a brochure and tell you how to go through the museum. She automatically started to speak English to Brittney and I, then went to the next group a started speaking Korean, and then to the next group in Italian. I find it amazing that someones brain can work like this going from one language to another fluidly without falter. I hope they pay her a lot for her skill. Probably not, however.

We spent the rest of the day around Potzdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie, where the Americans acted as border guards between East and West Germany, as well as much random wandering around getting the lay of the land. We ate lunch at a great little organic cafe. Tomato Basil Soup was beyond excellent. (Really need to try to recreate that basil pesto they put in it)

Also, I broke one of my cardinal rules of souvenir shopping. We went into this "Always Christmas" type store near Checkpoint Charlie and I fell in love with their handmade Christmas windmills. You know what I'm talking about? They are made of wood and you put lit candles on it and it turns the windmill above it and makes the little wooded figures move in a circle at the base. Well, anyway my rule for souvenir shopping when a plane is involved is that it has to be compact and be able to fit in the suitcase with no issues. Well this has all the issues. As you will see in many travel pictures to come I am carrying a big box in a bag. I'm glad to say, however, all the trouble the "Hummel" (The name it was given on the trip) caused was worth it and it arrived in Atlanta in one piece. Now I just have to wait until Christmas to use it!

The next day we saw a very strange site at the parking area for the S-Bahn stop near our hotel. We figured out that this was a couple who thought they stumbled upon a very "innovative" way to use their teamwork skills. This couple first of all drives a very large van and Brittney and I see them just dumping lots and lots of cans out the back of it. First we think, "Wow, how rude, I can't believe they are just going to dump all that stuff out." But then we realize their master plan. The guy's job is to move back and forth over the cans to "effectively" crush them, while the lady runs to and fro to pick up the sufficiently crushed cans. (They were still working on this plan when we returned to the hotel several hours later) Those Crazy Germans. :-)

So, today was spent checking out the Ku'Damm area and Schloss Charlottenburg. We wandered around took pictures with some of the many Berlin Bears we saw around. Schloss Charlottenburg was beautiful, but kind of felt out of touch and slightly boring at the same time. Guess it not really my thing. I thought the gardens would be immaculate, but they were so structured their beauty was kind of lost on me.

We had a really great meal at Brauhaus Lemke. Very German, but very North Dakota at the same time. Great Dark beer and Brittney really enjoyed her wiener, as well.

We then checked out the big flea market at Tiergarten. Lots of stuff to plunder through, but nothing really caught our eye enough to buy. Then we strolled around the Museumsinsel area and looked at more flea market finds. We were kind of wandering around quietly seeing things, but not being wowed and then all of a sudden we rounded a corner and saw it. The Berliner Dom. Awe worthy, it was hard to take pictures of it because you didn't know what to take first. The cathedral still has daily mass and is under construction right now, that is why it doesn't have its steeple on top.

The following day started out at the East Gallery, where there are 1200 meters of intact Berlin Wall. It was really interesting it view and we even got to listen in on an English speaking tour guides commentary.

We wandered around some more taking in the sites with our final stop being the TV Tower, which was slightly underwhelming and more of a hassle than we would have liked. We also got to fully experience Europe's non-appreciation for personal space while waiting in line to go up, as well as some distinctive odor in the extremely fast elevator ride to the top, oh and on the way back down as well.

We went back to our hotel for a final time and packed our stuff up (this was what our hotel room looked like by the way, more dorm room than hotel, but completely adequate), so we would be ready for our early departure to Prague by train.

Brittney will not enjoy that I put this picture up, but it is the only one I have of this momentous occasion.

Berlin was really great and we had an excellent time. We could have even used an additional day to really focus in on some areas we just glanced at. I would highly recommend the adventure. I will put an entry about Prague in a separate post...