Heading to Praha eh? Tory's Top Ten Tips Below are my top ten tips/things to see and do in Prague based on my 6 weeks in and around the city. But, even before this top ten, the FIRST thing you need to do once you get settled into your hotel/hostel is get a good map and study it. Identify the places you want to go and which trams/buses/subways you need to take to get there. Believe me, this will save a lot of time wandering and despite the signs it's easy to get lost in Prague. Buy daily, or maybe a [View Full Entry]

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Slovak Starry Nights - a weekend in the High Tatras mountains So this weekend I went on an impromptu trip with a group of friends to Zdiar, Slovakia, a lquaint village nestled among the stunning High Tatras mountains near the border of Poland and Slovakia. Three of the seven of us incuding myself decided to leave right after class (as opposed to a night train that got there at 6 AM, not recommended). A note on train travel: a disadvantage of day trains is they often involve a lot of transfers. We had a total of 3 transfers, and then 1 [View Full Entry]

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Kutna Hora: The Bone Church and Silver Mine Memoirs So the original plan for that particular weekend was to go to Cesky Krumlof, but 2 days before I couldn’t get a ticket via bus or train there because of the huge yearly festival that was going on in Krumlof, so I decided then and there at the train station to change my plans and go to Kutna Hora. All I really knew about it was that there was supposed a to be a famous bone church and there was also a silver mine I could tour, so I decided, why not? [View Full Entry]

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Cesky Krumlov: fairytales, gyspy madness, and Hostel 99 Just back from Cesky Krumlov, "the fairytale village of South Bohemia" it is called. I love it, it had such charm, with its cobblestone sidewalks, babbling river (not as innocently babbling on this trip, I'll explain later), colorful castle tower, and hilly landscape. Though it is the second most visited place in the Czech Republic and has its share of souvenier shops and touristy gymics (including the Museum of Medieval torture=the the stereotype museum in every Europeon village), Krumlov has an old-worldl [View Full Entry]

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The Prague Zoo, Skoda tour, Laterna Magicka, and tram calamities So, I'm a bit behind in my blogs, here's a summary on what's happened the last week. 1) Visited the Prage Zoo, which was the most beautiful zoo I've ever scene. With rolling hills and real-life simulations of the animals' natural habitats (like the Brazillian jungle and the Africa saranghetti), it really was an amazing experience, plus the weather was beautiful. There's is a mix of free roaming animals and one's in exhibits, so the ones that are hard to catch sights off free roaming can easily be vi [View Full Entry]

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Day 6, "Czech out my pot"..... No, I haven't started smoking marijuana since I've arrived in Europe, but it took me forever to find a cooking pot here. ;) Today was pretty quiet, still recovering from my illness. Started researching bands for United Islands next week. I'm familiar with absolutely none of them, which is kind of exciting, everything will be totally knew. I may go back to guitar shop the next couple days and get some top recommendations from the guy that says his band is playing in the festival though. Got out around 6 searching for a place to [View Full Entry]

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Day 5 Wandering Old Town and "Carmen" So I decided to stay in Prague for the weekend, to try to get my bearings. Most of the people in my program are traveling this weekend, a group in Barcelona, some in Vienna, Salzburg, Poland. I've decided I want to concentrate most of my outside Prague traveling in the Czech Rebublic, Poland, and maybe Budapest. I'm likely going to Poland two weekends from now, to Krakow and to seek out my grandmother's family's village (I am Polish). So this weekend I rocked it Hans Solo style. Slept in late, then took the tram [View Full Entry]

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Day 4 The Jewish Quarter So today I went to the Jewish Quarter with a group of people from my program. First we searched for lunch, and I do mean searched, even with a map Prague is somewhat difficult to navigate on foot and its easy to get disoriented as the streets are normally very curvy, I really need to sit down with a map and enjoy some kava mleche (coffee with milk in Czech. We finally found Bohemian Bagel, this little place our tour guide had recommended for cheap quality food. There was an English menu, which my classmates loved, [View Full Entry]

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Day 3, June 9, 2009 Vysoka Skola economicka and the great guitar quest Took the tram by myself to school this morning, didn't get lost, I've been shockingly not getting lost on the trams thus far, quite pleased with myself, ha ha. Was the first class today for the class being taught by the Vyosoka skola economicka (school of economics) professor. The class is called "Doing Business in Center/Eastern European countries", and that's basicaly what's it about, how to do business in Central and Eastern Europe, include culture, customs, legal matters, etc. Lots of history inte [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 The bar downstairs This will be short. I got pretty sick, I think because I haven’t slept as there is a bar located right underneath are room that parties and plays loud music until 5 AM morning, and I’m a really light sleeper. Yes, a bar in a dorm. F.Y.I. The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world, about 40 L per person a year! Had my first day of class and our group of students was given a four hour walking tour of the city. I wish I could tell you more, but [View Full Entry]

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