This past week during my October break at ISB, myself and three other teachers, Mona, Rana, and Lucia, decided to go to Prague! We started our first day in Prague with a free tour of the Old Town. Our tour guide was quite eccentric and opinionated, but she managed to bring us to quite a few places and point out some great places to eat. She first brought us to Wenceslas Square, where there was a statue of St. Wenceslas (same as Good King Wenceslas from the Christmas Carol) and the National Museum of Prague. This square is quite a busy [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone! Things here have been pretty exciting- I've just returned from a week in Dresden (Eastern Germany) and Prague (Czech Republic) and a week ago from Malmö (Sweden). I have a new appreciation for the size of europe- pretty much wherever I want to go on the continent or in the UK, the plane ride takes approximately an hour. Seriously. To Prague it was an hour. To Dublin its an hour. To Copenhagen its an hour. I really really like the travel capabilities. Sweden Irmela and I stayed for five days with a good friend of hers , Lotta Hamfelt [View Full Entry]

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My second time in Prague I got to see much much more than 1 year ago. It's absolutely necessary to spend at least a couple of days in Prague. We stayed in Zhizhkov and walked around the town by foot all the time, using the tram only once. Also we of couse went to my favorite place on earth, Kutna Hora, which is definitely worth a visit of a couple of days too to see the sights and feel the atmosphere that rises especially by night. Also the drinks and the food is terrific, I can't reckon eathing something as tasty [View Full Entry]

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If you have been to Prague you probably have seen the plaques below the statue og St John og Nepomuk on the Charles Bridge. (see picture on: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/John_of_Nepomuk.jpg) People touch both the plaques, and there are different beliefs as to what magic powers they possess. Some say the one on the right can be touched for good luck or you can make a wish, others say that when you touch it you will return to Prague. The plaque on the left depicts a dog. There are various myths connected to this plaque: Touching it means good luck or bad luck, you [View Full Entry]

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Since i wrote last i have done the whole northern loop. From Paris we went to Bruges. which is a little medievil type town that doesn really have much to do. There is a quote from the movie In Bruges that goes a little soething like this.... "Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn , so it doesn ." but one thing it does have going for it is the FOOD! glorious food.. Firstly belgium invented the fritz or fries as we [View Full Entry]

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MONDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2009 - PRAGUE After a late arrival I took my time getting up this morning. After a quick shower (and realising I have no voice at all) I headed out to change some money before coming back and paying for the hostel and having breakfast. They were good enough to let me stay in the room they put me in the previous night - which is great because it is only an eight bed dorm with a shower, which is a lot dearer than the 10 bed dorm without a shower that I actually booked!! Maybe they felt [View Full Entry]

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All right.. so the first month while we were here... we going on trips to other Czech towns, exploring the city of Prague, and of course Czech intensive class.. Now the real classes have begun. I just finished my third week of classes. Well, for me it was the second because I skipped the first week to go to Poland :) I am very lucky to like all my classes because most of my friends have at least one class they don't like. So what classes am I taking? Jewish History in Eastern and Central Europe. This class is sooo interesting.. [View Full Entry]

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It was off to Prague bright and early on the bus with Dax. We stopped off on the way at Terrizen Concentration camp for a tour and a look at what really went down in these Nazi run playgrounds. Its hard to believe that humans could actually treat other human beings this way...The cells were tiny and dark and the conditions were undescribable. We even got to see the execution grounds were their was a deadly feeling in the air...All together it was a really confronting experience and tis so hard to believe all this went down only 50 odd years [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Prague (or as the locals call it Praha) made me realise two very important things. Firstly I haven’t really seen a real winter now for about 18 months (for which I am very grateful for..) and secondly, purchasing my new black jacket in Berlin a couple of weeks ago was possibly the cleverest thing I’ve done in a very long while… because it was wet, cold and windy! grrrrrrr As I mentioned in my last blog we ended up catching a later train from Austria to Prague which meant we didn’t get into Prague until late at night. Luckily [View Full Entry]

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Had a nice, relaxing morning with coffee in the breakfast room. I had packed before going down, so was able to store my luggage and head off exploring some more. Went down to the Old Town Square to see a few things I had missed. One thing that I did want to do was a Tower Climb behind the Astronomical Clock. I popped for the 70 KC so I could take the elevator. So far I have done more walking than one person should do in a month let alone 4 days. The views were nice up there, but the weather [View Full Entry]

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