Blogs from Czech Republic, Europe

I really wanted to see the Czech Traditional Musicians and Dancers but really didn't want to go on a commercial tour. This amazing trip has unfolded with such uncanny spontaneous manifestation I should not have been surprised when on the way to the metro an open air market was in full swing. Lo and behold they had these authentic and energetic performers. The men throw their legs in the air, tassels on their boots flying high. There were smokers made from wood barrels and the end result was the smoked fish you see. I proceeded to the Tower Park Prague, one of the few structures disturbing the unique panorama of Prague. The tower, stretching to all of 216 m, is by far the highest in the Czech Republic and during days of clear visibility it is ... read more

Auf weirdersehen Dresden, Dobr den Praha Grunes Gewold or The Green Vault was King Augustus Strong's baroque treasure chamber. The galley is outstanding, and in order to enter you pass thru a special chamber that apparently assists in keep the environment controlled, especially dust. Much of the exhibition is not under glass, but you are at all times under great scrutiny by numerous guards. The extravagant collecting tastes of Augustus the Strong and his son Augustus III developed what is today the most important collection of it's type in Eurpoe. The Dresden Green Diamond, also known as "Dresden Green", is a 41 carats natural green diamond, which probably originated in the Kollur mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. My mother who likes to comment "You can never over-accessorize Janie" should have met good ... read more

We over slept a bit as the alarm didn’t go off, but that was really ok since today was a pretty chill day. We hadn’t really planned to do a lot of things but more just stroll around old down and the Jewish Quarter. We are at the point in the trip were we are pretty tired and our feet can’t take a lot of walking around (well might feet can’t). Jerry slept so hard and long in one position he woke up with a slight ear ache, so we spent a great deal of the day looking for an open pharmacy to buy some hydrogen proxide. In any event we went down to our breakfast, today they had the basic plus two hot items, bratwurst with onions and scrambled eggs with Vienna sausage, both were ... read more

We are now on the train bound for Prague. First class travel on the Hungarian rail system is not quite the same as the OBB of Austria. This is more like Italian first class where you are in cars that seat 6 people with an isle the runs the length of the car. The seats are very comfortable and recline to a flat position, only if no one is sitting across from you. Jerry and I have windows seats so we are sitting across from each other. We are sharing our car with three German (I think) men, who haven’t stopped talking yet. This is a long train ride. We left at 9:25 and will arrive in Prague at 4:30. There is a dining car so we will probably take advantage of that. Before getting on ... read more

A walk in Šárka Valley from Divoká Šárka to Jeneralka I spent the entire day on Friday proofreading doctoral dissertation chapters written by various PhD candidates. This is work I really enjoy doing but by the end of a week of Masters and PhD papers with the sun shining outside, the temperature in the low 20s Celcius (low 70s Farenheit) I find I am just about too lazy to do ONE-MORE-THING. So along about 15:00 or 15:30, I decided it was time to give up the fight to stay awake and head to the room for a nice nap. I went to the library to find Bill but he was not where the others thought he was. A student caught me and had me help him find some books he needed to work with over ... read more