Monday, April 12, 2010

A European Tour


I have just returned from a nine day vacation with Katherine. It was the second week of her two-week Spring Break from her studies this semester in Copenhagen. Our plan was to see three cities in one week. We started in Copenhagen -- so that Katherine could show off her new "home" to me -- and we then proceeded to Prague (in the Czech Republic) and Vienna (in Austria). We had a wonderful week together, and I will now be spending considerable time over the next few weeks trying to faithfully record some of the wonderful things that we saw and did.

These three cities are equally enchanting but they are very distinct each one from the other. Copenhagen is a city of the sea. It is defined by its extensive watery coast, inlets and canals.
Prague is a city that reeks of history. It has a very old, very charming city center which is watched
over and dominated by a medieval castle on a hill. Vienna is the most cosmopolitan of these three cities, but it maintains a strong classical music tradition and is home to some grand 17th and 18th century palaces. I loved each one of these cities.

I have selected three photos for this first entry in this blog series. The first photo is a view of a portion of Copenhagen that features the inner harbor, the Christianshavns Canal and, at the top of the photo, the city's beautiful opera hall.
The second photo depicts one corner of the old Town Square in Prague, taken from the top of the famous Town Hall clock tower.

The third photo is of the Schoenbrun Palace, located only a few miles east of downtown Vienna. This was the Hapsburgs' summer palace and was built during the middle of the 18th century. It was intended to rival Versailles, and it does a pretty good job of it.

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