I knew today's trip was going to be a very thought provoking one, but one I wanted to take. For so many years, I viewed the Holocaust as something very far in the past. It really wasn't real to me until I reread The Hiding Place. My parents introduced my brothers and me to that when we were fairly young, but it wasn't until recently that I truly got the time line. I was born just 20 years after the camps were liberated. Considering that I am a good 20 years older than so many of the summer help at work, it became real. I wanted to see and know more. Today was cold, grey and rainy. At points, it just poured down rain. Luckily we only had rain; snow is forecast for Wednesday our guide ... read more

Had a nice, relaxing morning with coffee in the breakfast room. I had packed before going down, so was able to store my luggage and head off exploring some more. Went down to the Old Town Square to see a few things I had missed. One thing that I did want to do was a Tower Climb behind the Astronomical Clock. I popped for the 70 KC so I could take the elevator. So far I have done more walking than one person should do in a month let alone 4 days. The views were nice up there, but the weather turned and was chilly, very overcast, grey and sprinkling every once in a while. Ick. I have to say that I really enjoyed Prague. It was a great start to the vacation and a beautiful ... read more

Today was a day trip to Kutna Hora, a small town featured on Rick Steves' show. I know, I really planned this whole trip around his guidebooks and videos. I took the Metro, changing trains once, and was at the Main Train Station without a problem. Through some trial and error I was able to find where tickets were sold and easily bought a round trip to Kutna Hora. I have to say that it is so different for me to not know what is going on, and really not be able to ask. The train stops weren't called out and to make matters more interesting, we passed most of the stops along the way. I had to trust in myself that I was on the right train and we just weren't stopping at those stops. ... read more

Well, I am finally at the computer. It seems so long ago that I left the house, although it was really only about 20 hours of traveling. I have to admit that flying Economy Plus wasn't bad. The food was pretty darn good, which coming from me is something. I had great connections and was met at the Prague Airport by the driver who gave me some good pointers as we drove. After checking in, showering and just plopping on the bed for a half hour, I went out exploring. My hotel is quite nice, quaint and located in a neighborhood not far from Wenceslas Square. I took a tram across the river so I could walk across the Charles Bridge. Having little to no confidence in my ability to remember the name of the tram ... read more

Wow, today was a lot of fun. I headed back towards Trieste, Italy (but stayed in Slovenia) to an underground cave system called Skocjan. It was huge. In America only Mammoth Caves and Carlsbad Caverns are larger. The tour was about an hour and a half through 2 separate caves areas. One was the silent cave and the other was the murmuring cave because it has a river flowing through it. I'm telling you, the caves were absolutely huge. I bought the book on them they were so impressive. I took a couple pictures although we weren't really supposed to and other people were as well. I also drove about 40 km per hour over the speed limit, so I didn't feel so badly. The caves were filled with Stalagmites and stalactites and columns, where the ... read more