Vilseck, Prague, and Nuremberg: days 5-8

Those of us arriving home from Turkey decided to take the train from Nuremberg airport to Vilseck.  It's a relatively quick trip, and not too expensive.  And I don't live too far from the train station...

Recently arrived to the Vilseck train station

We were all saying how it would be nice if Amie arrived from Munich with the van before we got to Vilseck, and she'd call and ask where we were, and we could have her pick us up.  But that didn't happen.  So we dragged our suitcases down the hill from the train station, and through 'downtown' Vilseck, and past the old church, and up a steep hill past the cemetery, then turned onto my street.

As soon as we approached my drive way guess who showed up???  Amie, and the van.  With sweat on our foreheads I think we all looked up to heaven and thought, "Good joke."

But even so, it was good to be home!  We collapsed into chairs and talked.  And ate Doritos.  And then ate ice cream sundaes (and called it lunch.)  Hyrum would have never approved, but hey, he was at work.  :)

Now a word about the van.  Dad coordinated with Enterprise to rent a Ford Galaxy.  (Its amazing how few vans there are to rent in Germany... guess people don't have big families.)  Because it's an American car we would be allowed to drive it into Czech Republic.  Other Enterprise vehicles weren't allowed to drive there.  After talking for a while Amie mentioned that she enjoyed driving fast on the Autobahn, and how the Volkswagen was a good car.  "The what...? You didn't get the Ford Galaxy??"  There was some more stress about how we'd be able to visit Prague if we couldn't drive the van.  We were supposed to drive there in the morning.  And the rental company was obviously closed for the day.

That night as I distributed towels, sheets, bedding, and pillows to the masses, I asked, "Is there anything else I can get for you?"   Someone responded, "Yes, a Ford Galaxy!"


Things worked out in the end.  Enterprise said we could drive the Volkswagen into Prague without any problems.  And so we did...

We enjoyed all the touristy spots-- Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, the Astrological clock.  When Mom, Jenna and Amie decided they wanted to go do more walking up to the Jewish Cemetery dad and I took our cue to find a quiet place to sit and drink a coke.  Then everyone else came back and crashed the party.

We attended an organ concert at St Nicholas church before eating some food, at a restaurant Jenna and Amie have been raving about since their last trip to Prague 5 years ago: Klub Architektu.  The goulash, pork chops, and dumplings did not disappoint. The restaurant felt like it was in a cave, and we enjoyed being loud since there weren't any other groups around us. I'm guessing Jenna and Amie will be talking about it for another 5 years.

It's convenient living to close to Prague.  We did it all in a day, and drove home that night.  Thursday morning we slept in and lounged around.  I took everyone to eat MORE doner sandwiches at the shop in our town, because they're delicious.  At least as good as what you find in Turkey.  Then we went on a walk around town (which only takes about 15 minutes) before checking out the Army post (which also only takes about 15 minutes.)  My family got an idea of what I mean when I say I live in the sticks.

Mom and Jenna made dinner of cobb salad, potatoes, and meat.  It was delicious and felt good to not eat at a restaurant.  For dessert we had brownies and ice cream, plus tres leches cake for Amie's birthday.  We did not suffer for lack of food (or sugar)!  We spent the night playing games and watching tv.  (Hyrum was thrilled to have people around to watch "The Office" with him, since I hate that show.)

And finally on Friday we drove into Nuremberg to see all the things we didn't get to see on Tuesday (when our museum was closed.)  We visited the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, which has a large museum explaining the rise of the Nazi Party and the events during WWII.  We were able to walk around the original roads and structures built to hold large-scale events.  Then we visited the Nuremberg Trials Museum at the Palace of Justice.  It explained even more about the trials, and we could sit in the court room where the trials were held.

Where Nuremberg Trials were held. 

No German outing is quite complete without some sort of hotdog-- currywurst.. bratwurst... I'm not picky.  

Amazingly, we all still had room to eat Italian food that night at a place with extraordinarily large portions.  Matt downed an entire lasagna that I think could easily feed a family of 4.  It took him a while to forget that.