Prague, Czech Republic

When we arrived in Prague, the weather was unfortunately a bit crappy. The first day we were there it rained and was kinda cold the whole time. We didn't let it drive us inside though, we did a pretty decent amount of exploring in the rain.

Walking from the train station we saw the city municipal house, which was very impressive. We also got a decent feel for the normal part of the city before getting to the old town area. The architecture in the city was pretty amazing. Our hostel was right in the middle of the old town, and a few minutes walk for the old square. In the square is the Old Town Hall with a huge moving astrological clock and the Tyn Church, both of which are in Gothic style.






In the afternoon to early evening we crossed the Vltava river to visit Prague Castle and cross back over on Charles Bridge. The castle had an amazing view of the city, being on the hill. Inside the walls of the castle there were a few museums and small shops and a huge cathedral of St. Vitus. It is also in the Gothic style and it's construction began in the 14th century.




Charles Bridge was also very impressive. The walk was absolutely packed with tourists, but was well worth the trip. The bridge has dozens of impressive statues lining the walk across the river.


After seeing a ton of sites the first day, we headed to the huge hill back across the river. First we saw a strange warped looking building as we crossed over another one of the city's bridges. I forget the name of it, but it's pretty well known I believe. One of our main goals for the day was at the top of the huge hill, The Petrin Tower, which is like a mini-Eiffel Tower, but not very impressive at all.



After our trip to the tower we went to a mirror maze and fun house mirror place nearby up the hill also. Then headed halfway down the hill again and lounged around in the nice weather. It was a good change from the previous day of rain.



The last day before the train station we ran into an old car show and spent some time in shops at the station. In the bookstore-type-place I saw a ton of copies of Word, Excel and Access 2002, which I thought was pretty funny. We killed a lot of time at the station waiting for our train. Then, about 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave we realized we were at the wrong station!



We had just assumed that the station we came into on an international train would be the same one we left from. However, it wasn't! We started thinking that we would have to run across town or take a taxi, but instead found out that there was a metro that ran to the other station, in only 3 stops. Luckily we arrived with some time to spare and caught our train.

The next stop on the trip was the Slovak Republic, to visit Bratislava. Check back soon for the continuation!

Poland

After Berlin I took a train to Warsaw, Poland. I was only there overnight before heading to Krakow to meet up with Cao. On the train I talked with a few people in my cabin. One girl was Polish and traveling with her Aunt. She taught me a few Polish phrases, which turned out to be pretty useful. As it turns out, I'm interested in learning more Polish also (add that to the list). I think it's because I really enjoyed my short time there and would like to spend more time there in the future.

Warsaw (pronounced more like Vashavah) is in the middle of a ton of reconstruction. On my way into the old town area to look around and to find dinner I had to dodge and detour a ton of fenced-off areas in the streets and walk around piles of stones and walk on dirt paths. It was harder to appreciate the city unfortunately, because it was night, I was tired, hungry, and got lost looking for the place I was told to eat (which turned out to be closed). I still had a good time, and met some cool people in the Hostel, who were Polish.



The next morning I took an early train to Krakow. After meeting up with Cao and checking into our (extremely nice) hostel, the city proceeded to be awesome! We went to the main tourist destination, the old town, to have a look around. There were certainly plenty of tourists, but it felt more like a functioning city than only a destination to visit and regard.



We had some very good pierogi at a small restuarant for lunch. Back in the main square we were suckered into playing with pigeons, which was hilarious, although kind of dirty.



In the afternoon we spent some time by the old castle, where we saw a huge walking mug of beer and spent some time relaxing by the river. Relaxing came to be one of the main themes of my voyages after that. After seeing tons and tons of monuments, sitting or laying down is always a nice break, plus it's nice to take in a city, not just by seeing it's historical buildings. Plus, the weather in Krakow was amazing!






At night we went to dinner at a restaurant by recommendation of the hostel. The place was awesome! For under $10 I got a soup, kielbasa with potatoes and salad and a beer. On top of being really really affordable, the food was actually very good!


After dinner we meandered through the old square again where we found fire dancing. There was a group of people, playing drums with others dancing with whips, and torches of fire. It was a lot of fun and pretty awesome.





Krakow, was my favorite parts of Poland. I'd really like to go back to spend more time there and give Warsaw another chance. I'm sure I would have appreciated it more under different circumstances. After Krakow, we moved on to Prague. Check back soon for pictures and the synopsis of our time there.

Do widzenia!

Berlin, Germany

After Amsterdam Austin and I headed to Berlin, where I had a great time. It started off a bit rocky because we were tired and it took hours to find our hostel, which was in the middle of the woods, but by the next day things were going much more smoothly.


The hostel was pretty awesome. It was a bit outside of the city, but the staff (a guy and his wife) were really nice, and the place was comfortable and had free breakfast and a lounge to use the internet and watch TV or movies. Plus, 1€ beers from a vending machine.

We saw quite a few sites during our days in the city. I don't remember the exact order but, I think we started off in Alexander Platz and headed out from there. We saw the huge TV Tower (nearly impossible to miss), the Brandenburg Gates, the Reichstag, and several other sites in the area.





While stopping for a Bratwurst, actually I think it was Currywurst that time, we ran into a squirrel-like creature. It looked a lot like a squirrel, but with a different shade of brown fur and tufts of hair on its ears. I got to feed him a walnut and got him to come over to my hand a few times.






The third day we stumbled upon a soccer field and watched a game for a while. It was also right near the ruins of an old train station that was used to send Jews to Auscwitz during the Holocaust. Then we headed along the Spree River to see one of the famous bridges (I forget the name now) and a strange trip of huge holey men. On the way to seeing the men we came upon a Universal Music office and the Berlin offices of MTV and Nickelodeon. We also visited Check Point Charlie witch was one of the more famous crossings between East and West Berlin.




The last day of site seeing we visited the Gendarmenmarkt, named for the French Gendarmes. In the square are two cathedrals, one French and one German and an Opera. We also visited a memorial to the Berlin Wall and saw some of the pieces of it still standing. Finally we headed to Potsdamer Platz which had some really cool modern architecture.




In our adventures we also stumbled upon a lot of really impressive graffiti. I took some pictures, so I hope you like all of them too.





I had a ton of fun in Berlin. We had tons of wurst and lots of German beer. I would really like to go back to Berlin again in the future and also see more of Germany. I got to see a bit of Munich on my last day on the way back to Paris, but not as much as I would have liked. I'd definitely like to make it back for one of the beer festivals in the future also. Finally, I think German has officially made it onto my list of languages I would like to learn.

Hopefully I'll stay on top of updating about my trips. The next step in my adventure is Poland. I saw a bit of Warsaw at night and spent a day in Krakow, check back soon!

Auf weidersehen!