Blogs from Czech Republic, Europe - page 228

To begin, I hereby promise not to bore you with the mundane details of travel, including but not limited to traffic jams going to the airport, long waits at airport security, boring airline food or even more boring airline movies. Also not to be mentioned are service at the hotel, the quality of the beds and the enormous amounts of food available at breakfast each morning. Nor will I mention problems with the exchange of money, the constant chattering of the other members of the group while traveling on the bus or anything at all about our guides. What I want to convey are moments of excitement and danger, highlights of the entertainment/arts, gleanings of conversations with local people and some sense of the remains of the Jewish presence. Prague was clearly as beautiful as ... read more

Praha, Cesky Krumlov, and Plzen (or as you English speaking people say....Prague, Czech Krumlov, and Pilsen): Quick Notes: 1. Shout outs to Jon Lim, Brandon, Caroline, and Tim for their comments. I believe Jon is in the lead still with Caroline a close second. And by the way Caroline, that hairy creature broke down and got a hair cut in Prague. Brandon, Matt liked the rabbit and Christina has had it before, so, like they say in Italy "No problema." Thumper was delicious. 2. Thank you Patti for the message. Unfortunately, the down payment on Sleeping Beauty's castle was outside our daily budget. 3. Border Crossing: We cross the border into the Czech Replubic and a few kilometers in (yeah, I'm getting the hang of this metric thing) a guy comes up behind us, flashes his ... read more

A lot of people I've met rave about the Czech Republic, especially the cheap beer. On a per capita basis, the Czechs drink approx 160 litres per annum. We even did a tour of the famous Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Plzen, established since 1842. I can see why Connie loves Cesky Krumlov so much; it's like a fairytale place. The townsfolk and tourists were all a-buzz as they were filming the movie "Hostel 2" which stars some random dude that plays George in Desperate Housewives (WHO????). And Prague is a really beautiful city; very easy to walk around. Mini and I saw everything in 2 days. Also went to a cool lounge bar to listen to some local jazz (U stare pani). There are quite a lot of tourists and beggars alike, more so than any ... read more

October 5th-- We took a train (7 hours) from Budapest to Prague, admiring the changing landscape and quaint villages along the way. The Czech Republic turned into rolling green hills, lush with trees, and picture-perfect little towns until we got into the city. Prague is just as mystical, old, and magical as one could expect. We both loved this city, despite the cold temps!! I had to buy a pair of gloves! We stayed in a couple of different hostels near the Old Town and spent our couple of days walking everywhere. The weather was cloudy, but it somehow added to the "eastern europe" feel of the place, and it made the hot beef stew taste even better :) The beer was delicious and cheap--we found a hole in the wall local pub by our hostel ... read more

So being in a city that I didn't know, feeling like I should have died the night before, I decided to get out and about. Mustering up all my strength I forced myself to get out of bed and put some clothes on, if Prague wasn't so cold I would have just gone around in my jocks cos I just couldn't be stuffed. But I did final get out of the hostel and took a short walk to the town square and then to the Jewish area where I found a little market lane which was kind of cool. By the time I made it through the market the hangover jitters were coming on strong so it was time to force feed myself and get a heap of water in my gut. After my lunch and ... read more