After yesterday's drizzly skies, we woke up today to a bright and sunny Cesky Krumlov. I went out for a bit of a wander and ended up at a beautiful overlook along Horni Street. Sitting there all by myself with this wonderful view right in front of me made be start thinking of how lucky I am to have the means to travel a few times each year. Interupted by others who also came to check out the view, I was off to do a little more wandering. Knowing that it was going to be a day with great weather, I went out in search of a rafting company to see how much it would cost for a short rafting trip along the Vltava River. I booked us all on a raft at 1:00 and slowly ... read more

Today was our last full day in this awesome city and having seen most of the major sights over the last 2 days, I thought we should all head out of town for a day trip to Kutna Hora. However, since we all had a late night of dancing and drinking last night, everyone slept in until around 10:00am. However, by the time I got around to looking into a day trip out to Kutna Hora, all organized day trips had already left and it just seemed a little to difficult to head out there on the train by ourselves. Instead we just chose to wander around Prague aimlessly without any real destination. Today's weather was a lot different than the past 2 days, with clouds in the sky that looked ready to burst into a ... read more

I reserved a private van for our transportation this morning that woiuld take us over to Prague. Splitting the cost of a private van between 6 people was cheaper than buying 6 individual train tickets. Our driver picked us up at 9:00am for our 3 hour drive into the Czech Republic. We drove south through the former East Germany and into the green countryside of Bohemia. Pulling into Prague, I was very excited as this marked the first time I have set foot into one of the former Communist countries of Europe. Driving around town trying to find our hotel, I was in awe at all the beautiful architecture and cobblestone streets. However, one of the first things that you couldn't miss was the huge number of tourists. Our driver had to take a series of ... read more

As is typical with all other trips I have ever taken, I did not sleep very well on my first night. I woke up extremely tired and just wanted to stay in bed all morning. But we are in Berlin for only 2 full days and didn't have any time to waste. After a slow yet delicious breakfast in the hotel's cafe we were off for a full day's exploration of the city. We walked over to the subway over in Rosenthaler Platz and rode it to the exit at the Brandenburg Gate. One of Berlin's iconic landmark's, the Brandenburg Gate is a symbol of the struggles of the Cold War. After snapping our obligatory photos, we sat around and watched all the touts in their Cold War communist era garb trying to squeeze as many ... read more

It was a bittersweet morning as I came to the realization that today was my last day of travelling before heading back home. After breakfast, I set out for another full day of sightseeing around Paris. As I walked towards the Notre Dame Cathedral, another demonstration was being organized in front of the Hotel De Ville. After yesterday's encounter with the anti-gay crowd on the Champs-Elysees, I decided it was best not to stick around for much longer. I made my way over to the Notre-Dame and got in line for the ascent to the towers. Entrance wasn't until 9:00 and I arrived at 8:15 so I had about 45 minutes to kill. However, the whole time while I was in line, I was continually bothered by these gypsy women who tried to get me to ... read more