North Yorkshire - The Market Town of Thirsk

We arrived in York at about 1:30 PM on 13th August. We located the car hire service and picked up our car - a bright red Toyota Yaris. This time I drove. It took about 40 minutes to drive to the Gallery B&B in the market town of Thirsk. We found it with little difficulty. We've been using Google Maps on our iPhones for turn-by-turn directions and so far the maps have been pretty darned good. The cheap USB cigarette lighter adapters I picked up before the trip have been great to keep our phones charged while using the battery-intensive Maps and GPS features.


One of the first shops we saw on entering the town was a little sandwich shop. But, as it shares a name with one of my nephews, I thought I'd take a picture of it. 
Thirsk is in the heart of North Yorkshire, and is the local town for the surrounding farms and hamlets. The marketplace in the town center is charming and contains eateries, small shops, 3 small supermarkets and about a dozen pubs. Apparently Thirsk has some, err, Thirst.


Thirsk's largest attraction, however, aside from its quaint charm, is the James Herriot Museum.

The Herriot Museum chronicles the life of Vetrinarian James Wight (Herriot was a pen name). The first half of the museum explores the "real James Herriot" and the second part follows his rise to fame through his books ("All Creatures Great and Small" was the breakout hit in the U.S.), the BBC television series that was more popular in the U.S. (the Downton Abbey of its day in the 70s) and the TV movies. The last bit of the museum records the history of veterinary practice.

 
ABOVE, Left: beloved character Mrs. Pumphrey and her dog, Tricky-woo wait to be seen by Dr. Herriot. Poor Tricky-woo has been stricken with flop-bott again. Right: My Dad, also suffering from flop-bott, sits down in one of the TV series sets, attempting to learn his lines. 
The museum was very well done, whether you are a particular fan of Herriot or not. There is also a 20 minute video, hosted by Christopher Timothy (who starred as Herriot in the TV series), which is well worth seeing and which is the transition point from the "real" Herriot to the famous one. There is even an interactive section of the museum, allowing kids of all ages the chance to dig in, elbows deep.



An udderly brilliant experience!We strolled around the Thirsk marketplace, checked out the historic church not far from the center, and took the opportunity to do some washing-up.

 

Next we'll head further into the Yorkshire countryside and explore the ruins of Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey!

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Interesting VacaKen Sidebar, Entry Four:
My favorite travel accessory?  My bottle-opener.  There really aren’t twist-off tops for bottled beer in Europe, and bottles are better than cans.  You can also buy soft drinks in glass bottles with caps – although plastic bottles with twist-offs are taking over.
My second favorite travel accessory?  My toenail clippers.  Although useful to trim your nails, I’ve used them more frequently to open stubborn packages, trim wayward threads and clip open zip ties I’ve used to secure my luggage in the hotel from casual snooping by chambermaids.

Edinburgh, Day 2, Part I - The Castle

We spent the daylight hours of Monday, 12th August touring the heck out of the Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile, which is a road leading downhill from the castle for just over a mile to the Holyrood House at the bottom end.
 The bleachers on the left shown in the second picture are part of the temporary stadium which has been erected in the plaza in front of the castle for the three weeks of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo - we'll attend a performance tonight, to be covered in the next post.

The weather continues to be awesome - high 60s to low 70s, partly cloudy. Dipping into the 50s at night. Great castle-touring weather!
We entered the main gates of the Castle and walked under the teeth of the massive portcullis. In to the outer bailey area we strode.





The Edinburgh castle is a combination of preserved castle, tourist attraction, royal site and more. You see, now that Scotland has received some local autonomy and had opened its own Parliament for the first time in centuries, the castle is also used for political and diplomatic meetings. The Castle also houses the Scotish crown jewels, including the crown, scepter and also the Stone of Destiny, known more generally as the Stone of Scoone. This square slab of rock is a national treasure of Scotland because of its use for centuries in the coronation of Scottish monarchs. It was recently returned to Scotland after being in English hands for centuries. Don't worry - the Scots have promised to lend the stone when the time comes to crown a new King. You see, the stone had been placed in a special slot within the Coronation Throne for the last few hundred years.
 

 
In addition to being a gorgeous castle - and busy with tourists - it also houses a few small museums and exhibits. I mentioned the Scotish crown jewels above. I couldn't take pictures, but I was able to see them. Here are a couple of pics of some of the indoor spaces of the castle (sorry, no dungeons!):

 
We spent the entire morning at the Castle, so we stopped for lunch at a 350-year-old pub - the Ensign Ewart - just outside the Castle. Good lunch and a couple of pints, we tried to stroll down the Royal Mile. We did make it down the entire length of the Mile, but through dense crowds, street performers, and flyer passer-outters. You see, the are a few festivals happening simultaneously in Edinburgh including the huge Fringe festival. 

From the bottom of the Royal Mile we returned to the B&B for a couple hours' rest before dinner and the Tattoo, to be covered in the next post.

Vienna, Day Three

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, Austria, September, 2012

I'm feeling marginally better today, October 1st, but I'm still really congested.  I didn't let that limit me, however, and I left the hotel reasonably early, after the included breakfast, of course, and walked about 25 minutes to the center of town - to St. Stephen's Cathedral.  An ornate and gorgeous gothic edifice with parts dating back to the 1200s.

I took a good long walk around the massive structure, examining the gargoyles, pictorials, crenellations and superb religious iconography. I ducked the beggars and the guys in powdered wigs who were trying to sell tour packages.  I took refuge in the sanctuary.

The innards of the cathedral are breathtaking, whether you're inspired religiously or whether you appreciate gifted artisans and their beautiful embellishments.

From the cathedral I wandered around the very heart of Vienna, which is also a major tourist and shopping district.  The number of souvenir stands is simply obscene.  There were a couple of newer buildings tucked among the older Grandes Dammes, but I'm not sure how the city allowed them to mar the old town.

 

It's not even a particularly nice modern building, though it seems to have pretensions of grandeur.  Not sure what the building houses, and I don't particularly care.

Surrounding this glass-and-steel curmudgeon are delightful 18th century buildings in a riot of colors, with a rusty yellow seeming to be the most popular.

During the course of my wanderings I spied an interesting weathered copper dome, and I was drawn to it.

It topped a squarish and squat church which looked fairly plain on the outside.

On the inside (and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't take note of the name of the church) it was spectacular, in many ways more impressive than the St. Stephen's Cathedral.

The church's interior was roughly oval, close to circular.  And it was head-to-toe glory-be-to-God in gold and silver.  There was active praying going on in the church, too, so I had to be somewhat circumspect in my picture-taking and gawking.

And gawk I did, for nearly an hour.

 The morning long gone, I had lunch at a so-called English pub and had fish and chips -- overpriced, but I was in a tourist area (the "authentic" Austrian eateries were overpriced here, too).  The meal was decent, but I feel I must mention something about any cafe/bar/establishment you go to over here in Austria (and in Germany, too.) The bars are usually tied to a particular brewery.  There might be two or three beers on tap, at most, and a poor bottle selection.  This particular place had only Zipfer on tap, which is actually a very decent Austrian lager.  You could get Bass in a bottle, for an exorbitant price.

The afternoon was dedicated to the Hofburg Palace complex.  The summer home of the Hapsburg family for a long time.  The place where the royal treasury is housed.  The Lipizzanner stallions be here.

Well, the stallions be here, but they don't perform on Mondays -- I should have researched that, but my stay in Vienna didn't include any performance days in any event, so I didn't miss out by not heading here yesterday.

The palace complex was rife with neo-classical statuary, and every single water fountain had a small sign at the corner informing you not to drink the water.

Half of the palace complex was open, and the other half was closed, because it was Monday.  One attraction open, however, was the treasury -- the Schatzkammer.  What an awesome collection of crowns, gowns, priestly attire, bejeweled everything, and religious relics -- including an alleged piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, the lance with which He was speared, and the Agate Bowl, a huge, err, bowl, carved from a single piece of agate in the 4th century, which at one time was thought to have been the holy grail.

 

This is the Austrian crown, orb and scepter from about 1600.  The Hapsburgs consolidated many national monarchies during their long history, and the collection includes royal vestments from many of the kingdoms, grand duchies,  and principalities from early medieval times through the 19th century.  Also featured are artifacts from the Holy Roman Empire and an impressive collections of objects which chronicle the Order of the Golden Fleece, the preeminent knightly order in Europe.

The treasury also has a huge collection of religious objects and equipment -- gold crosses and chalices, priestly attire and shepherd staffs.

One cool item is a giant narwhale tusk, which was proffered as a unicorn horn for centuries.  Didn't get a picture, but should have.

 No bull about it, I really enjoyed my time at the Hofburg, and my day in Vienna.  The sun setting, I decided to seek out a traditional Austrian restaurant for my last night in Vienna.  I consulted my TripAdvisor app, which will point you to nearby restaurants and provide you with traveler reviews of them.  I found a great place, not too far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is frequented by locals.  The prices were good and the portions were ample.  Reinthaler's Beisl was the name of the place.  I had wienerschnitzel, and it was far superior to the serving I had in Salzburg -- and I thought the schnitzel  dinner in Salzburg was great!  On my way back to the hotel I stopped at a cafe and had dessert --  apfel strudel with vanilla sauce and a tea.  What a great night cap!

Tomorrow I head to the airport, and home.

Sitting outside at a cafe, Wien, Austria.

En Route to Vienna

Miserably ill.  Thank the Powers-That-Be for Kleenex pocket packs - I brought three with me on the trip. I have on every trip (never know when you need emergency TP) but I've never used more than half a pack before. Used a whole pack just on the train.

Train Compartment on the Prague-to-Vienna train, September, 2012

My reserved seat on the train from Prague to Vienna was in an old-school compartment with six seats - like on Hogwart's Express. There was even an old lady pushing a trolley through the car, offering drinks and sweets - she said it in Czech, but I imagined she cried, "anything from the trolley?!"

Alas I wasn't sitting with Ron and Hermione. But I did spend the nearly five-hour train trip chatting amiably with a Brazilian from Sao Paulo, David, who, like me was traveling solo for a couple of weeks. David is a high-powered financial analyst who works for a major stock brokerage. Mucho dinero. We shared travel stories, beer, and a great apple torte he had bought to eat on the trip. Much of the conversation might seem boring to you, but we discussed in some detail the political, social and economic realities that David sees as conspiring to erect a glass ceiling on the ability of the Brazilian economic structure to fully modernize. 

The train trip was a bargain that I had scooped up in advance - 567 Crowns, or €22, or about $30.  By comparison, my trip from Munich to Prague, roughly the same distance, was €38, or about $50. 

I arrived in Vienna (the locals spell it "Wien") at about 1:30. Found my way to the hotel by about 2:30. The hotel - the Hotel Admiral - is located just off of a major shopping thoroughfare near to the Museum Quarter. 

This is a picture taken early the next morning of the shopping street (9/30) - normally this street is absolutely bustling with humanity. My hotel is located on the side street to the right. 

I checked into the hotel, unpacked, then went out and did my customary circuit of the immediate surroundings so that I would recognize landmarks, locate the metro station, and find food stores. After that, and early dinner (I wasn't very hungry but I forced myself to eat something, and drink lots of water) I went to bed. 

I hated to miss a half-day in Vienna, but I wanted to feel well enough for my remaining two days. 

Karl-Schweighofer-Gasse 7, Neubau, Wien. 

Prague, Day Three

My third day in Prague was spent in the Prague Castle complex and in bed.

The throat-tickle that had started yesterday - to take a phrase from the Austrian ballad "Edelweiss" - "...began to bloom and grow..." into a full-fledged, runny-nosed and fevered bad cold. I felt not so good waking up this morning (9/28), but felt steadily worse as the day went on. That being said, I wasn't going to waste a full day in Prague, so I headed for the castle.

It was a long, uphill march to the castle. I could have taken public transportation most of the way, but you miss so much by doing so. I didn't set foot on a single mass transit vehicle in Prague my entire stay. According to my TripAdvisor App, the walk was about 1.7 miles - each way, and that doesn't count all of the walking within the huge castle complex.

Here I'm approaching the rear entrance to the castle. My strategy was this - most tourists would enter through the main gates and work to the rear - I pulled a "reverse commute" and avoided some crowds by being off-time arriving at the various points of interest. 

At the entrance were some very good classical music street performers, and, of course, the elite guard for the symbol of Prague:

 

The gates have some cool statuary:

I entered the castle and found the ticket booth. You could buy tickets of a single part of the castle, or for full access - what do you think I opted for??

You enter the grounds and you're first met with the gi-normous church which dominates the skyline of the castle complex. But, if you look closely, there are wonders within its facade:

 

The gargoyles were spectacular. And many of the buildings I will showcase for you are original - Prague was spared from bombing during WWII. 

 

 

The insides of the castle buildings were pretty neat, too:

 

 

And now, what a certain nephew of mine has been waiting for

the dungeon!

The stairway to the dungeon was guarded by a giant crossbow on wheels. I used to know the name of this weapon, but it just won't come to me - I think it starts with a "b."

The pathway to the dark, creepy dungeon was lined with suits of armor, shields, pikes and swords - medieval weapons of all kinds. 

Then, as everything was getting darker, and colder and gloomier - aha! - I had arrived at the dungeon at last!

I was fortunate to find the stairway out of the dungeon before the guards found me and shackled me to a wall!

Once out of the dungeon, I found myself along the castle wall, abutting which are tiny little houses owned by private citizens until the Goverment "bought them out." now the insides are set up with different themes from different time periods during the castle's existence.

From Golden Lane, as it is called, I made my way to the front entrance of the castle and climbed down dozens and dozens of steps. 

From the castle I headed back to the hotel. I had arrived at the castle at about 9 AM and I departed from the castle at about 4:30 PM.  During that time I was feeling progressively more ill - chills, a fever, runny nose and so forth. I walked all the way back to the hotel, crossing Charles Bridge again, and was under the covers by about 5:30 PM. I slept fitfully until the next morning and my train trip to Vienna, to be covered in my next post!

For now, some parting shots of my time in Prague!