Today I leave beguiling Prague and head to Budapest, another city I expect I will fall for (I am easy that way!). As always, I wish I had more time. But there’s never enough… *** I spent much of my final full day walking, circumscribing a large loop around the central core of Prague. While I can’t say I went to the outer reaches, I did traverse territory that is typically not covered by most tourists. I started in Vyšehrad, the remains of a castle along the Vtlava, the legendary birthplace of the city. The main reason I came was to [View Full Entry]

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Today was wonderful. After going to breakfast and turning in my papers I came back to my room and took a nice nap for about two hours. After that I did a bit of work downloading and organizing my pictures from this summer (which took entirely too long), then headed over for lunch. While at lunch some of us decided to play volleyball in the afternoon, but we had to wait a few hours to get the court. In the meantime a small group of people came down and played cards and just generally passed the time in my room. It [View Full Entry]

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Prague is probably too beautiful for its own good. Every corner seems to provide a more picturesque vista than the last, a veritable architectural history from Gothic to Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau and…Cubist? And this sweep obviously includes more contemporary design (e.g. the Dancing Building). The city’s beauty draws a heavy crush of tourists, one that almost overwhelmed me when I first arrived and tried to cross the famous Charles Bridge. But I’ve learned a couple of secrets about Pr [View Full Entry]

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Today was composed entirely of writing papers. I had thought they were due on Friday morning, but as it turns out they’re due tomorrow at eight in the morning. The first two papers were easy enough to write (sociology and international studies/history), but the economics paper for Boučkova was a wee bit hellish. I managed to finish that up around two this morning. Actually, since it’s past midnight I wonder if I should change this heading to Thursday… [View Full Entry]

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Although I knew of Václav Havel before I began the seminar in Berlin, I admit that my prior knowledge of his life and work were, well, cursory. I knew he was a playwright-dissident who had become the first post-communist president of Czechoslovakia. That was about it. But many of us in the program became big fans of his writing and ideas as we read his Power of the Powerless and Summer Meditations. Here was someone who at least professed no desire for power, yet had somehow, through the circumstances of the time and place in which he lived, had become a [View Full Entry]

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First impressions can be dangerous things. If you get off on the wrong foot, you might never get on the right one. I have been guilty of letting my first impressions (of people, places, etc.) color my opinions for long stretches -“ one shot, that’s all you got!” So I am happy that I didn’t let that happen with Prague. My first encounter with Prague was not the most pleasant, which was particularly jarring coming off a lovely train ride through idyllic Saxon and Czech landscapes (picturesque villages, castles on hilltops, forests, mountains, rivers). But I was d [View Full Entry]

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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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Well today has been a day that will go down in our minds for eternity! It was the hottest day ever in the record of Austrian history at 37.9 degrees. This is all relevant because we caught a train today from Prague to Vienna for 6 hours... the car we were on had no windows that could open! Now I cannot convey how bad that was... we were wet with sweat from head to toe within about 5 minutes max of being on the train. We eventually moved to a car with windows half way through our journey... thank god for [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 16th July 2009 Up at 6.30am this morning to have bags ready by 7 and breakfast by 7.30am when we leave Kirchdorf, Tirol, Austria and head off to Prague.... It only takes about 30 minutes and we are in Germany, completely different countryside now passes by the windows, Austria was just beautiful with mountains, green valleys and cut houses. In Germany its flat and the houses are diffferent - not that they aren't lovely but it is different to Austria - it's pretty amazing that these different countries have not blended together and lost their identity or culture which why [View Full Entry]

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Today we had a lovely time and we got to meet up with some of Ricky’s friends from the Cruise ships , Renata and Martin with their little boy Phillip ( I hope its spelt right) - thanks for driving all the way it was wicked! We meet at about 10:30 after we managed to get lost 3 times trying to find the most famous bridge in Prague! Yes only us! Hahah anyway eventually we got there and meet up  We then went up to the old castle and walked around the streets on the way up to the castle [View Full Entry]

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