Ah, the first full day back home. I don't think I have jet lag too badly... I managed to stay up until 10pm last night (meaning I had been up for about 28 hours) and slept off an on until about 8:30am this morning. I kept having dreams about being in Poland, one in which someone was trying to kill me. I guess that's fitting after everything we saw there. My throat is scratchy this morning... this is probably just psychological but it never fails that I feel ill after coming home from a trip. I wonder... if I just [View Full Entry]

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We had a bit of stress leaving our hotel for the airport this morning. A driver was supposed to pick us up at 7am to take us to the airport to catch our 8:40am flight to Munich. When noone had arrived by about 7:15 we decided to take the hotel transport instead. We got to the check-in line at the airport at 7:40am, which seemingly took FOREVER to get through. After checking our bags and getting through customs and airport security, we made it to the bus that would transport us to our plane with just minutes to spare. As much [View Full Entry]

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Today we took a city tour of Warsaw. The day started off with a bit of sunshine so we thought we might have some luck while touring the city (boy were we wrong!). The tour started off with a bus ride through the city, passing several monuments commemorating leaders from the past as well as those who lost their lives during both the Jewish and Warsaw Uprisings. We stopped at the Monument for Heroes of the Ghetto, a tribute to those who lost their lives during the attempted uprising of the Jewish Ghetto that took place the year prior to [View Full Entry]

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We took the 10am train from Krakow to Warsaw. The train ride wasn't anything to write about, but once again, I have to comment on the toilets (I think I could write an entire book about European bathrooms). When you push the floor pedal next to the toilet to flush it, the hole in the bottom of the toilet opens and you can see the ground passing underneath you. This, of course, means that whatever business you just took care of is now lying somewhere along the tracks of Poland. Eww! The rest of the trip I spent imagining what [View Full Entry]

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Our day started off with a city tour of Krakow. We went first to Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter (and also the location where some scenes of 'Schindler's List' were filmed). There is a memorial in the center of the street commemorating the lives of the 65,000 Jews from Krakow who lost their lives during the Holocaust. To my surprise, there are currently only 150 registered Jews still living in the city. I guess it was too hard for many of the survivors to stay after the horrors that occured there and many relocated to other areas to start new lives, [View Full Entry]

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We spent most of today on the train. Our ride from Prague to Kostnice, Poland, took about 6 hours that seemed more like 12. The WCs on the train did not have toilet paper (thank goodness for carrying tissue!), so that was a bit disgusting. Some women boarded about 2/3 of the trip through to stock them so I took advantage while I had the chance. I've heard horror stories about the WCs in the actual stations so I haven't attempted to walk into one. When we arrived in Kostnice, I was a bit worried about what Poland would be [View Full Entry]

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Today was our day trip to Kutna Hora to see Kostnice, the bone church in Sedlec (next to Kutna Hora). Since we had purchased our train tickets yesterday and familiarized ourselves with the train station a bit, the morning was a lot less stressful than it probably would have been had we not been prepared. Almost everything in the train station is only written in Czech, but there is an international information station that is very useful to help you find your way to the right place. It is also a good idea to print the train schedule ahead of [View Full Entry]

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Today was a big walking day in Prague. We passed the Municipal House and Powder Tower (which we have seen about a dozen times already since they are next to our hotel) and headed into the main square of Old Town. Our first stop was the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, a beautiful church with twin spires that tower over the town center. Inside the church lies the tomb of the famous Danish astronomer Tycho de Brahe, but, like many of the other churches in Prague, we were unable to take pictures. We headed back to the square to [View Full Entry]

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We started our day off by taking the metro from Namesti Republicky to Nadroni Trida. We then transferred to Tram 22 and rode it past the Prague Castle to the Belvedere Palace. The palace, a Renaissance style building, was the summer palace of Queen Anne and was built in the 1500's. We decided not to tour the actual palace because it now contains an art exhibit that didn't look very interesting. Instead we wandered the gardens and came upon a grassy area that had several birds (hawks, eagles, and owls) on display that you could hold for 100 kc (about [View Full Entry]

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Our day started off with a guided city tour of Prague. Our guide, Eva, took us first to the Strahov Monastery located on Petrin Hill just past the Prague Castle area. The monastery, built in 1140 by Prince Vladislav II, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in a gothic style in 1258. We took some photos of the outside of the monastery and then headed to the Loreto, a baroque church from the 17th century. At the end of the block was a statue of Edvard Benes, the second President of the Czech Republic. We toured the inside of the Loreto [View Full Entry]

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