Blogs from Czech Republic, Europe - page 256

This afternoon as Mori and I returned to the seminary from downtown Prague we saw an elderly man standing outside the reception building. He nodded to me and said, “Hello.” Mori and his wife, Lillian, are Japanese Americans from Hawaii. Mori was the pastor of a church in Pearl City for 45 years. They came here to work for a month as volunteers. Mori is painting and Lil is working in the library. They are a really neat couple. “Hello,” I replied. We talked with him a few minutes and then he said, “I worked here for forty years when it was an electronics plant.” I knew that after World War II, during the Communist era, that the original buildings here housed a secret electronics plant. But I had never met anyone who worked in the ... read more

Well what to make of Prague? Well it could well be my favourite city ever! My favourite city list is topped by Vancouver, Canada but Prague is nipping at it's heals. An amazing mixture of fabulous architecture, vibrant nightlife, a somewhat unusual culture and relative cheapness makes it a worthy contender. While it probably won't take home the cup, it's safe to say it comes in at a close second. After getting off the plane and having my newly purchased transit tickets thrown at me by a staff member who seemed highly underwhelmed about seeing another damn backpacker, I made my way to the bus. I saw the bus and started my pursuit. I had been previously informed that having a ticket meant nothing unless it was validated by a little yellow box. I started a ... read more

again we set out to enjoy the beauty of Praha. we took a tram to the top of the hill to see the Peter's Tower. this tower looks like a miniature Eifle Tower. actually, it is the same height as the eifle tower if you include the hill it sits on. we walked to the top of the tower, up the stairs. 500 steps. by the time we reached the top, i was on my hands and knees crawling up, since i was ready to fall asleep anyways. after our climb (which led to some beautiful pictures) we went to lunch at a cute czech pub. after a czech espresso, i was awake enough to make it back to the Prague Castle. went to several exebitions and museums, which left me feeling numb and even more ... read more

To cap off our adventurous spring break, we headed to my personal favorite city in Europe, Prague. The great part about it was that we were meeting my dad right when we got there and he had rented an apartment. When we arrived we headed to the apartment to quickly drop off our bags as we were trying to catch the start of a hockey game. We were slowed down when we got there though. Not only because everyone had to pee, but becase we were in awe of the apartment. This place was swank. It was swank for America, let alone Europe. Anyway, we made it to the hockey game just a little late. The atmosphere at this place was awesome. It was totally local. I can pretty much guarantee that we were the only ... read more

We arrived into Prague station shortly before 7pm after a very picturesque journey along the banks of the River Elbe, currently flooded due to rain and snow-melt. The train runs right alongside the river for much of the journey, often engulfed by steep cliffs making for a very pretty journey. It was raining when we arrived in Prague so we opted to take our first taxi to get to our hostel called Travellers Hostel (very original name!). Unfortunately the charge of 30 Euros for a five minute journey meant that we had paid well over the odds for the ride but such things happen and I guess that you learn from your mistakes. We stayed in the hostel bar for the evening, buoyed by the price of the cheap beer (less than 50 pence a pint). ... read more