Was a pretty hot day today here in Vienna so decided to head back to what's probably the greatest place on earth, Tropicana Bad. Used to love this place as a kid. Racing down the waterslide, the whirlpool, birthday parties. Oh yeah, awesome place. I can't believe I was able to find it since apparently it has changed names a couple of times. Found the street it's on and was walking around hoping to see something familiar when I noticed a woman with two young kids walking up a path carrying a few bags. Seemed like they were heading to a pool so I followed. Good call Matt. Soon I heard the noise eminating from the place and fortunately it was the right one! Just like everything else in Vienna it really hadn't changed much at ... read more

As exciting as it sounds that I was making my return to the place where I had lived a couple of years as a child, today was really not too special. Just another travel day that I used to catch up on stuff and figure out the rest of my trip. Wrote out five blogs, friended people on FB I had met in the last week, sent out some CouchSurfing requests and most importantly I booked three flights. The first being a flight from Rome to Istanbul, and the second being the return flight. The third is a flight on the 23rd of August from Rome back to Dublin from where I will take my final flight home. So yeh, this means no Greece. It would just be too much money and too much time at ... read more

Got up early as intended to begin our drive out to the summer house. The countryside here is amazing. All these beautiful small Bohemian towns surrounded by meadows and tranquil forests. This is what I need to do more of on my trip. Followed our GPS guide slowly towards our final destination but the drive was still great. Stopped in a small town along the way to pick up a friend of Ninas as well as to pick up some food and drinks we would need for the next couple of days. Made it there around noon and was pleasantly surprised, as was Nina. We thought it would be a fairly small and modern place but no, it was quite spacious and very traditional. She was so excited when she saw the old furnace like stove ... read more

Spent the majority of my day on a slowly moving train that crept towards Prague. Finally got in around 4pm and met my host, Nina, at the Burger King in the train station. Was just a short walk up to her apartment (really really nice new apartment). Sat around for a bit talking about everything and enjoying my first Czech beer. At least, first one inside the country. She had a meeting downtown with an advisor about her thesis so we walked down together and I headed my seperate way for a couple of hours while she had her meeting. Walked around the castle area and Charles Bridge, the two biggies here. Was nice as the sun set. Met up with Nina and her friend Janna and went to a nice little outdoor cafe to have ... read more

Took it easy this morning before heading over to Alexanderplatz to meet up for another "free" tour. This one would be pretty different than yesterdays. It focused on the alternative scene and the counter culture that is a strong force here in Berlin. Enjoyed it just as much as I did the one yesterday. And just like yesterday here is a list of what went down: -Tacheles; old run down building and courtyard taken over by artists who also live there as squats. The building hosts a bunch of little art studios and the entire place is covered in graffiti -Couple of other squat buildings with either cool graffiti or massive murals made by underground artists -50 Faces Project -Bombed out train depot from WWII. They took what was left and turned it into a few ... read more