Blogs from Prague, Czech Republic, Europe - page 178

This was my second visit to the capital city of the Czech Republic, the first being a 3-night stay as part of an interrail tour in the summer of 1994. I stayed in a convenient location in Vinohrady, and it was a good base for getting around the sights and sounds of a city which has gone through so many phases over the years, and somehow never managed to shrug off its 'tourist hub' tag. Whether you associate the city with drunken revellers on Stag party breaks, or with the stately, classical and downright picturesque architecture and charm probably depends on what type of experience you've had there, but for my money, it still retains a lot of its original appeal. From one visit to the next, it appeared as if just about everything had gone ... read more

Well, we made it to Prague! or, as the locals call it, Praha. we had an interesting train ride, because of the flooding we had to make a detour thru slovakia and got stuck, so we were 90 minutes late. Eugen, a boy from Praha who i met last year when he was an exchange student, picked us up in his car and took us to the hotel his mom booked for us, Caesar's Palace. lets just say it is a 4 star hotel in the center of the city for an incredible rate! beautiful! but boy, are my feet tired!! yesturday we went for a walk to see the city as it was closing, which ment no people! i got a pic with the castle guards where you normally have to wait in a long ... read more

arriving in the czech republic, for us at least, is the same as arriving anywhere else in that it rained heavily. everytime we get somewhere on the first day it rains. i guess crowded house were right and everywhere you go you do take the weather with you! but why does always have to be british weather? so we stay in the hostel (Travellers Hostel) play a lot of table football and drink pints for 50 pence. that takes the first night out of our hands. the second day we go to Kutna Hora, a small village just outside Prague to see the Sedlec Kostinice, a church which is decorated on the inside with bones from 40,000 human skeletons. despite being a little weird and making us feel at times like Indiana Jones its cool, really ... read more

When we first arrived in Krakow, we took a quick walk around the Old Town, simply trying to find the Cubs ESPN game on a television. When predictably rebuffed, we planned on finishing our Guinness, heading to a supermarket, and making it an early evening. We swear. But then the bar filled up, and a group of Brits sat at our table, eagerly anticipating the Arsenal / Juvantus playoff match. Next thing we knew, we were at a really bad Polish dance club, sipping vodka and apple juice, discussing writing and debating whether Britain or America was more multi-cultural. So much for good intentions. The next day, Chris got hit with a pretty bad case of the sniffles. Eastern Europe is the place where smoking went after it got drummed out of the U.S., and every ... read more

Today we leave the city that we have spent the most time in apart from New York. At once it feels like we have been here forever and that we have just arrived. The past few day we have managed to keep the delicate balance of being productive during the day while enjoying the local brews during the night. The day after I last write, Pudd headed out with our mates from Wisconsin while I did a walking tour of Prague that focussed on the Communist era, basically post-World War II. It was a bitterly cold day so the tour was only myself and and an old American Professor who had come to Prague to teach Jewish Mysticism, he had quite a few interesting questions to ask. The tour basically talked about the era as one ... read more