How Did We Miss This!?

I blurred the picture for the blog...in reality its not blurred at all. 

When we were in Vienna, I posted about an art exhibit that was in town featuring naked men. The advertising around the city drew a lot of criticism and complaints, but also a lot of intrigue.

Dan found THIS article today....we obviously missed out. :)

Vacation in Munich

When we were trying to plan our fall travels for 2012, Germany in October was at the top of our list for obvious- Octoberfest- reasons. Well, finding an apartment in Germany at any point in the month of October is wishful thinking so we settled for a 4 day vacay at the end of our Europe trek.

Munich Opera House

Both Dan and I were looking forward to starting December on vacation in Munich for many different reasons. Dan would have a glorious 4 days off from work after a very busy year cramming in as many hands of poker as possible. I clearly was excited that there would be no work too, but we both had heard so many great things about Munich that we couldn't wait to see them all!

On our first night in Munich we had dinner at the world famous Hofbrauhaus. Incredible. The beers were huge and food was great. We loved the 'beer hall' style where there are tables and chairs and you sit anywhere with other people and meet new friends. Did I mention how amazing the beer was?!

On Friday morning we took a train to Schwangau, Germany to see Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was built by Ludwig II in 1892. Disney used this castle as the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle. It is unfinished because Ludwig ran out of money, but the parts you can go through on the tour are amazing. We also toured the castle Ludwigs parents owned that is across the hill from Neuschwanstein.

Myers in Munich

The whole day was perfect from start to finish. It was snowing the entire time we were there which made the mountains and scenery even more beautiful. We felt like we were in a movie! The little town where the castles are located is tiny. There are three hotels maybe and just a few places to eat. It is a huge tourist attraction, especially in the summer, but a very quiet and quaint town.

Olympic Hall

The rest of our time in Munich involved shopping at the Christmas Market, the Olympic Stadium tour, the BMW Museum and enjoying the beer halls. The markets start in December and run right up to Christmas. They are outdoor markets made up of hundreds of different stalls selling ornaments, Santa figures, pretzels, bratwurst and of course, beers.

Dan picking out his new BMW at the BMW Museum

Here are a few more photos of our favorite things in Germany. We loved everything about Munich and can't wait to plan a trip back to Germany to see the other cities!

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Hand Carving the Horse

Christmas Market

Staying warm by the fire

Hofbrauhaus

The Munich Olympics Memorial Wall

Our new friends

The Lion

Favorite Christmas Market

Hockey Time in Prague

While we were wrapping up our last week in Prague, hockey was still not back in North America yet. We decided to get our hockey fix while in Prague and go check out some of the NHL players on European teams while on the lockout.

We got tickets to the Lev Praha game on Friday night to see them play Lokomotiv Laroslavl from Russia. The game was a ton of fun and everyone was really into it. It wasn't too hostile between the two teams fans since the Russian team lost their entire team in a plane crash in 2011. They had a moment of silence at one of the breaks and played a video. Very sad situation, but the game was fun regardless.

Lev Praha won and it was a high scoring game. We saw some former Penguin players, Zedeno Chara and  Marion Hossa's little brother all play. It was fun and a nice date night. I guess this would have been a much better post if hockey wasn't back in America yet, but Euro hockey definitely is a different game. The area is more like a high school or small college stadium.

Now that the NHL is back we are hoping to catch some Leafs games while in Toronto. We are making a Toronto sports bucket list and are going to check some things off! The first item checked off this weekend was a Raptors NBA game. Look for a post on that later on this week!

Prague Art Scavenger Hunt

While researching things to do in Prague, Dan came across an artist- David Cerny- who had multiple works around the city. Cerny's work is known as a bit bizarre and different. We tried one day to find the most interesting piece that was on the far end of the city, but we never found it. So on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Dan and I researched all Cerny pieces around Prague and set out on a scavenger hunt.

Our first stop was to see Brown Noser- a sculpture of legs and a rear end coming out of the side of a museum. There is a ladder along the legs that you climb to view a very weird video inside of the bum. The video is of two people dressed as former leaders eating baby food set to the tune of We Are the Champions. No explanation. Just weird, but funny at the same time.

This piece is part of the Futura Gallery which was actually an amazing little art space. We saw a documentary there of Hurrican Katrina from the perspective of an art student whose grandmother is a LA native. Very interesting to see American issues through the eyes of a European artist and activist.

The second stop was to see the statues of Babies at the Museum Kampa. The babies are huge, but their faces are blank with just bars from the top of the head to the chin. I know I keep saying this, but there really is no way to emphasize just how different this art was. We did have a great time wandering all over the city and seeing each piece though.

The third stop was the Art School near the Charles Bridge called Amoya. In the courtyard of the building there are 4 large pistols hanging upside down. These were also done by David Cerny. While there we saw another exhibit by Cerny that we didn't know about- a man in a fish tank type coffin. 

Near the Castle in front of the Kafka Museum, Cerny created this sculpture/water fountain. Considered one of his most humorous pieces, "Piss" shows two men urinating on the Czech Republic. They turn from left to right and if you text a special number a message they can apparently write your message out. 

Next we walked through Old Town Prague to find the statue of Freud hanging by one hand off of a post over a pub. It is said that Cerny showed Freud this way to signify his constant struggle with his fear of death. Others believe that Cerny was questioning the status quo. The Open Concept Gallery says, "Man Hanging out is a fine example of the reason why Cerny is considered a leading sculptor and pop-culture icon."

Lastly, we stopped at a shopping center near the center of the city that houses Cerny's statue of Wenceslas and his dead horse. The horse is hanging upside down from the ceiling and Wenceslas is sitting upright on the horses' torso. The piece is said to be an attack on the Czech President, who is a fairly common target for Cerny.

Overall this was a great day adventure seeing an "off the beaten path" Prague. David Cerny is quite popular and controversial in the Czech Republic and across Europe. We really enjoyed the day- mostly because it was basically a scavenger hunt of weird art, but also because we aren't huge art people so this gave a humorous side to seeing art.  

Please Pardon the Interruption

Well hey there. I know it's been awhile. A long while. My apologies. We had a bit of a computer crash post Thanksgiving and then the end of our European adventures and regular life all got in the way.

So now I'm back. I want to post a few things this weekend about the end of our Prague trip, our vacation in Munich, and our trip to Miami for the National Championship game. However, after those posts I am not really sure what direction the blog will take.

The last 18 months have been a huge amazing adventure...super fun experience and great to blog about. Now that we are back in Toronto there is much less touring going on and much more real life.Those everyday things are boring to read about and even worse to write about.

This doesn't mean the blog is over. I am sure there will be plenty of recipes and the occasional post about Toronto life...so don't fret :) We want to thank you all for reading my daily (ha! more like weekly) ramblings. I've really enjoyed writing over the last year and half, and it meant  a lot to hear such a great feedback from y'all when we were home over the holidays.

Check back over the weekend and next week to see new posts and lots of pictures.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

The Myers, food & pies I didn't cook (but happily devoured)
and some card games I of course won! :)

Happy Thanksgiving! Just wanted to put up a quick post about our turkey day in Prague. Hopefully you all are stuffed with lots of savory turkey and dressing and filled with plenty of time with family. We are winding down our trip here in Prague...only one week left here before a 3 day stop in Munich and onto North America! 

As for our Thanksgiving, Dan and I were here enjoying lots of food, some American football, a few games of cards and lots of skyping. We don't have an oven in our apartment here and our stove has only two very small eyes so even making dinner on a regular basis is a challenge. A full Thanksgiving meal was out of the question. 

I did some research and found a specialty store that brings in some different items for Americans and Brits. For example you can find marmite, nutri grain bars, and some other specialty items. They also prepare foods for traditional American and British holidays. So I ordered a full meal for us from them, picked it up that morning and nuked it all in the microwave when we were ready to eat! For someone that love love loves to cook it was a bit sad to have a holiday full of take out containers, but not having to clean the kitchen was a prize!

We had salad, pumpkin soup (for me) and corn chowder (for dan), turkey, mashed potatoes, a little stuffing, gravy, a slice of pumpkin pie and a slice of pecan pie. Overall the food was delicious. Much better than I was expecting. 

Tonight we are heading to a Czech League Hockey game where a few big names from the NHL are playing right now. We spent today getting Dan and haircut and wandering through a Christmas market. Basically we are trying to stay busy to keep our minds off of the Notre Dame game tomorrow night! 

Big day planned for tomorrow- we are going on a walking tour of David Cerny's sculptures all over the city....check back Monday for a recap of that tour. He is an interesting bird. Then we will be holed up in our apartment from 4 pm on watching all things football- Game Day, Michigan vs. Ohio State, Alabama vs. Auburn and finally at 2 am Notre Dame vs. USC. Ahhhh! We are beyond excited. 

Hope you all had a great holiday and are steering clear of Black Friday madness. Just a little over 10 days and we are back! Check back in the next few weeks for posts about the end of Prague and our trip to Munich.

What traveling should look like...

Just wanted to put up a quick post this morning passing along something Dan showed me from a fellow poker players life outside of the US....

Here is a video that is mesmerizing to me showing another poker players travels through Indonesia, Malaysia (Borneo), Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, India. He spent about a month per country, with 3 months in India. 

Not all travel looks the same...but this is one amazing view of what travel should look like. Hope you enjoy!