I returned to consumate tourist form today, and hit Prague Castle after a nice breakfast at the hotel. Top Hotel Praha, where I'm staying, actually runs two places. The Top Hotel proper, which is a four star joint, and then the Garni wing, which is basically a high-end hostel. We get use of most of the Top Hotel's facilities (albeit for a price), and get their breakfast free. Hence, most of us gorged ourselves on a fairly decent buffet breakfast. Prague Castle, aside from not really looking like a castle, is huge.I was there for close to four hours, and I [View Full Entry]

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Today was a travel date, and the 8am bus departure was extremely unpleasant given the night I'd just had. Did pass out for a bit, so I wasn't a complete wreck. We were stuck in traffic jam for an hour, so our stop in Dresden was a ten minute scramble. There was a long break after the Czech border however, and an unexpected one at that. Busabout apparently makes a "bonus" stop for a tour of Terezin. I had calculated my last bank withdrawl so that I'd basically run out of euros by today, and rather unfortunately, I was right on [View Full Entry]

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The morning got off to a stellar start with me waking up at noon, thus missing the 11am bike tour, as well as being forced to do some fashion experimentation (details reserved for friends). I did get quite a bit done though, visiting Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag before rushing back for the 4pm bike tour. The tour was well worth the money, as history lessons in the classroom never quite impressed upon me as much as when I'm literally staring right at it. Berlin really is living history in so many ways. Some of the buildings in the Jewish corner [View Full Entry]

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The day started out with pouring rain, so I was quite thankful that most of Berlin's major museums are rather tightly packed on Museuminsl (literally museum island). I did make the blunder of mistaking the national gallery for Pergammon Museum, and wound up in line for close to 3 hours for the wrong museum! I did get to see what all the fuss was about though: special Goya exhibit, which was quite interesting. The guy had incredibly disparate facets - his portraits and tapestries are a world away from his politically motivated drawings, which show a very active and darkly twisted [View Full Entry]

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Pretty much all of today was consumed by the very long and relatively boring bus ride to Berlin from Amsterdam. On one amusing note, at departure, our guide repeatedly stressed that The Netherland's liberal attitude towards various substances doesn't extend across borders. Hence, she made it very clear that we had one service stop before the border, and that any substances onboard had better be disposed of either in the trash bin or the stomach. Only having had one night, this wasn't an issue. If I had more time, I would have been a bit torn. My personal policy is pretty [View Full Entry]

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I was barely awake this morning when Busabout decided to test my nerve and grace. Until today, none of the coaches I've been on have ever been completely full. That changed today. I was one of four stand-by people this morning (my booking for the Paris-Brugge-Amsterdam trip being 2 days too late courtesy of my impulsive decision not to stay in Tours), and the guide informed us that there was one free seat. That turned into two free seats when there was one no show, but two was still two too few. As is Busabout tradition, the driver drew ID cards, [View Full Entry]

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I was supposed to get off at Tours today and spend 2 nights there. When we got into Tours though, not only was the hotel full, but it was raining hard. I had no interest in wandering the town in pouring rain trying to find a bed, and even less interest in biking to the various chateaux is dismal weather. Consequently, I found myself unexpectedly in Paris at around 5pm. My bed for the night was in the Hotel Andre Gill. It cost the same, but was nowhere near as good as my hotel during my first visit to Paris, Hotel [View Full Entry]

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They say all's well that ends well. That's a pretty accurate description of today. The day certainly didn't start well. I had decided to visit St. Emilion (35km south-east of Bordeaux) last night, and booked tickets for a 10:46 train. The train station in Bordeaux is actually quite a ways from the city centre, and getting there took a bit longer than expected. I still got there with about 15 minutes to spare however. That margin didn't last long when I discovered that the automatic ticket machines not only required the purchasing credit card to retrieve an E-ticket (expected), but didn't [View Full Entry]

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I discovered today that wine tours of the Bordeax region are rather popular. So much so that I couldn't get a tour of St. Emillion tomorrow. I did manage to get on the tour of Medoc region today. The coach ride provided some pleasant views of the region (vines as far as the eye can see sometimes), and the tour stopped at two wineries - Chateau Anez (Haut-Medoc appellation) and Chateau Labégorce (Margaux appellation). The wines were quite good, though a bit more full-bodied than I'm used to at over 60% Cabernet Sauvignon. The tour showcased the pleasant aspect of Bordeaux [View Full Entry]

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Despite having spent five days there, I was reluctant to leave San Sebastian. The place just sucks you in and tries very convincingly to keep you there. On the bright side, San Sebastian is a day stop on the Busabout route. Translation: departure time is 3:30pm instead of 8am. Hell Yes. I didn't realize just how close to the French border San Sebastian is, and we had crossed over less than 30 minutes after departure. The whole trip was about four hours, with a couple of episodes of ER to entertain us along the way. Amazingly, I'm the only one staying [View Full Entry]

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