Sunday morning marked the perfect weekend trip - the first trip I have gone on since my arrival in the Czech Republic where it did not rain during some part or most of the weekend! Yet another glorious, sunny day! After breakfast, I went with everyone to the Demänovská Ice Cave. The caves were quite pretty, but not as impressive as the Macocha Abyss, located near Brno (I have pictures up on an earlier blog). The tour lasted only about an hour or so. It was fun, but I would have preferred to be outside in the sun than in a [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday, I woke up to a room flooded with warmth and light from the sun - I couldn't believe it - two whole days of such beauty! The bus took me to the Vratna Dolina Valley, which is a valley located in Mala Frata mountain region. For about 2.5 hours, I engaged in one of the most strenuous and rewarding climbs in which I have participated. The day was so beautiful and it felt so great to stretch my body that I simply could not complain, but many of my fellow climbers were not as optimistic and loudly proclaimed their [View Full Entry]

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The morning dawned brilliant and warm, with promises of a lovely day and hope for an eventful weekend. After wishing Amichai a very happy 22nd birthday via Skype, I boarded a bus that took me to a small town called Piešťany, famous for its sulfur healing waters and beautiful surroundings. A few people loitered in the sunshine as they walked to various destinations and I had the chance to meander through the town and see the abundance of shops and aquatic activity centers. The smell of sulfur from the springs was present and unpleasant, but kept largely at bay by the [View Full Entry]

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Okay so this is a little late, but just pretend like I wrote this 2 weeks ago. Martin picked me up from the train station and after apologizing a million times for his “bad English” we drove to his apartment. I was so tired that I felt like I was floating. We got to his apartment and I immediately took a shower. Not only was the train not very comfortable… it wasn’t the cleanest thing either. Martin’s wife, Natalia, had left us breakfast which was a meat plate, a veggie plate, and bread. Interesting what other cultures consider breakfast. On their [View Full Entry]

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This trip was early in November. The Aberdeen guys went through Amsterdam then onto Vienna.They then had a short bus trip over the border to Slovakia where they hooked up with The Lithgae Lads who had taken the a flight from Edinburgh to Pargue where they stayed overnight. They then took the train into Bratislava the following morning. This was our first venture into Eastern Europe where we found it very hard to spend our money with beer being 40p a pint!! [View Full Entry]

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....and welcome to the land of no vowels, spotless streets, beautiful buildings and 24 hour partying!!! Ive been attempting a whistle stop tour of Slovakia, Poland and Austria and spent a few err...strange hours in the Czech Republic too! Admittedly its been a few years since ive had the pleasure of experiencing the open road and going wherever fate takes me! Some things change, but unfortunately some things never do!!! In the last few days ive travelled through 4 countries and made some interesting observations, especially about those who are doing, or attempting to do the same thing as me. So, [View Full Entry]

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3/6/08 Ahoj kamaradkas! It has been a long time since I checked in with you all. This is partly due to an increased workload in my academic studies with CIEE and FAMU, although they are hardly rigorous in the traditional sense. This week I was required to attend an Open Mike Concert featuring my professor. It was a strange evening of performances by people who were once highly subversive in the Czech Underground scene of the Communist Era (ala Plastic People of the Universe, Egon Bondy, Vaclav Havel, etc) and can’t seem to get over being strange for strangeness’ sake. For [View Full Entry]

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Bratislava... It was here that I decided I needed to find a Slovakian wife. Why? Well let me tell you. We got into Bratislava and walked down the historical district towards our hostel. It was quite nice and we took out some Slovakian krowns which ended up being $45 and that lasted us the entire trip! We got to the hostel and messed around a bit on the computer and played some foosball. We went out that night for dinner. Here is where the major reason I NEED a Slovak wife. We got some tradition Slovakian food consisting of Pierogies and [View Full Entry]

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My friend Milka was very kind in inviting me with her friends to a village in the Slovensky Kras national park for new years. It was a spectacular time with wonderful people! During New Year's Eve the wine, Hungarian cherry liquor, and champagne flowed merrily down the old gulliver. And even a village with maybe 100 people had fireworks!! The following day we got over our headaches and spent the afternoon in the hills. We brought a sled which was the key to our joy out there. We happened upon some dried, thick vines which we used in creative ways: [View Full Entry]

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Just after Christmas I travelled to a village called Podmanina near Povazska Bystrica, which isn't far from Trencin or Zilina. Since the whole country has beautiful nature this place is no exception. The mountains might not reach as high as the Tatras there, but the rock formations and beech forests more than make up for it. Sadly, there was no snow so I couldn't try cross-country skiing. The best way to travel in this region is lightly- take a train and go to tourist info to find privats or pensions for as cheap as 10 or 20 euros. Local grandma's will [View Full Entry]

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