how the hell did we do this before the internet?!

Wow. I'm so glad I've spent my last few days in Prague in front of a computer. I spent two FULL days researching and booking hotels/hostels for our 24-day extravaganza (which could actually be considered a 26-dayer, since we'll be shacking up in hotels on the nights before and after our friends' wedding). Two full days.

All said and done, we decided to spend an extra ~$10/per person per night to have a double room. $250 total to not wake up to drunkies, loud snoring or nekkid dorm dwellers? Count me in.

Now that I've wrapped up the bookings, I'll be blitzing Prague to do all the last-minute touristy things that I've put off for so long: paddle-boating on the Vltava, feeding ducks/geese, a beer garden, and a museum or two. Oh yeah, and one last trip to Pizzeria Kmotra. Because that's Czech cuisine.

Next project = packing. Ugh. Although it'll be much easier here, since all of my worldly possessions won't be at my fingertips, I do have a LOT to part with. Luckily, my Mom and the Stepdad will coincidentally be in Munich at the same time we are, and they're graciously taking a suitcase containing stuff labled I-can't-live-without-this-but-don't-want-to-schlep-it-through-nine-countries. Still, how does one accumulate so much crap!?!?!

only 3 more sleeps in Prague...

...and I'm sad. Sad all day. I always told Rob that I'd never want to live in a big city, like San Francisco. Before we got here, someone compared Prague to SF, saying that they were both big cities. I disagree. Prague, to me, feels smaller and is waaaaay more awesome than San Francisco. However, my trip here has created a new sense of city-dom, and I'm planning a few touristy trips to the City by the Bay when we get home. You know, to see if it's all it's cracked up to be...

I thought about ending this post with a list of the things I'm most excited to see, eat, drink, and do when I get home, but then I remembered that I've got 26 days of backpacking before any of those'll come true, so I may as well enjoy my time now. Home (God willing) will be there. Opportunities to galavant around the world don't pop up so often...

Oh, what the hell. Here's a smattering of things I'm looking forward to at home: seeing KaliLou, an iced coffee from Great Bear immediately followed by a Voodoo from BareFoot, sushi, an np3, annnnnnnd Target. (there are plenty more, but I don't want to go overboard...)

Since posts are more post-o-rific with a pic, here's a darling little shot for you:

I'm so growed up.

photos galore!

In the past two days of touristy goodness, I've taken approximately 450 pics. Whoa. We've blitzed Prague big time...we hit the castle, a church or two, Old Town Square, took a ride in a 1929 Ford, and have eaten and drank to our hearts' content...

Tomorrow, I'm heading to Vienna with my Mom and the Stepdad, and am looking forward to adding country number 10 to my list!

Here are a few of my fave pics from the last few days (I do have a whole mess to upload from today's adventure inside a church, but I'm exhausted...so there):

the sky was definitely cooperative this evening!

loved the clouds

on one of the little bridges on the castle side of town, there were lots of little locks hooked on the railing and barbed wire

spring came out of NOWHERE this last week...when we left for Budapest and Bratislava, there were lots of little buds on trees and plants and flowers, and we returned to lush green leaves on trees and gorgeous blooming flowers

I can't take credit for these, but they're effing AWESOME:

Mom's work...the Spanish Synagouge reflected in a glass o' Czech chardonnay - rad eye!

Stepdad's work...it was like 8:30pm. His camera = sick.

more of Stepdad's work...damn, I heart that camera

we have visitors!

My mom and stepdad are in Prague, and we had a very busy Sunday of doing touristy things. Since we plan to hit the ground running tomorrow, I may be out of commission for posting, but will be back in the game soon!

Here's proof that they're here:

planning our adventures from homebase, our apartment

my Mom, enjoying a trdlo (a.k.a. a bread-bracelet or a 'trdlneck')

By-ron's in the reflection...duh

Yay! They'll be in Prague until Wednesday, when I'll head to Vienna, Austria with them....lots of pics to ensue, I'm sure.

why didn't I come up with this?!

Last night I experienced what, in retrospect, should have been my own idea: a self-service bar. One that's not my refrigerator. Its a bar full o' tables that have their own triple-sided beer tap with a tracker, and you pay by the liter...

The place was tricky though, and 'required' reservations a week out. Luckily, as we arrived, a group was leaving, so we commandeered their table. Hah! Can't get rid of the Americans that easily! While prices were fair (I think we paid 75Kc each for a total of 10 liters of brew) the taps were shifty and didn't exactly stop flowing once the tap was closed. They would generously overflow the mugs with foam, wasting (but still charging for) precious beer.

Still, I'm pissed that I didn't come up with this first...

yes...she was with us...

look at that concentration!

a little foamy for my liking, although I drank it anyway

a creative name...but worth documenting nonetheless
(mainly so I can find my way back to it later!)

last night's view

talk about a clear night, eh?!

This afternoon we're jumping on a train bound for Budapest, Hungary and then we'll check out Bratislava, Slovakia. I hate to say it, but this'll be a post-free weekend (again). I hope to have lots to blog about when we get back on Tuesday night!

Happy Easter weekend...yay for eggs!

lazy afternoon

For the sole purpose of logging this event so that I can look back in a few months and relish in the glory that was my extended vacation...here's what I've accomplished in the last 3 hours:

• ate pizza and drank beer at Pizzeria Kmotra (so delicious!)
• stopped by the evil Tesco to pick up a few things for dinner
• soaked up sunshine (while rocking a tank top/flip-flops/newly pedicured toes!)
• checked out my fave blogs
• opened another beer to enjoy as I soak up more sunshine from the giant windows in our apartment

Annnnd...here's what I plan to do over the next 3 hours:

• continue to drink beer
• continue to soak up sunshine
• finish a rad book I've been reading
• continue to relax (so I can fight the gnarly cold I caught in Cesky Krumlov)
• contemplate what to pack for this weekend's trips to Budapest and Bratislava

Since every post is better with pictures, here we go:

yeah, it's an old pic from September 2008, but its funny, right?!?!

Cesky Krumlov in a nutshell

Over the weekend, we took a trip out to Cesky Krumlov, a beautiful little castle town about 3 hours from Prague. For a school-organized trip of 63 people, it was well run, actually. The only initial complaint was the shuttle that part of the group (Rob and I included) got to ride in...lovingly nicknamed "the short bus". Lacking isn't a strong enough word for the actual absence of legroom in that thing. Even I, with my short little legs, had to wad myself up to get into my seat...fun.

On our way to Krumlov, we stopped at Franz Ferdinand's old place, Konopiste Castle. An hour's tour taught us two things: 1 - the man hunted, a lot. Like killed 400,000 animals in his lifetime. They were thoughtfully displayed in a 'trophy hall' of the castle, which I snapped some covert pics of (below). 2 - castles are cold and hold old stuff, from times that I don't really get excited about. The trip made me glad that we'd skipped the tour of Versailles' inards.


Once we got to Cesky Krumlov and got checked into our hotel, we were free to roam at will until Sunday, when we were scheduled to tour the Krumlov castle.

view from our room, overlooking the Vltava River

the throne of a toilet in our room - complete with armrests!

Friday night was full of shenanigans, as Thunderbirds took over the sleepy, quiet little mountain town. Rob and I did dinner on our own, and then met up with a group at a little piano bar, before heading to an interesting club.

On Saturday, we slept in and ate a late breakfast (of pizza for me and honey wings for Rob), washed down with a beer. After wandering around town for a few hours, we retired to Cafe Van Gogh and played cards for four and a half hours.

Dave, me, Rob and Jai

After scouring the town in search of good food and more beer, Van Gogh served us well once more with more beer and card playing. We tumbled into an 'underground' bar called Horor Bar (I didn't leave out an 'r', they did...). I'm not even sure where to begin in my description of this place...imagine nooses and shrouded skeletons and a coffin table, and you've got a good start. I'm 'horor-fied' to discover that I took NO pics of the creepy bar...I'll see if I can track some down from someone else...

view of town from Krumlov castle

On Sunday, we rose bright and early to tour another castle. Our guide was, um, strange. English was definitely not her first language, and she tended to stick to the very dry script that she'd clearly carefully rehearsed. We were lucky enough to learn about allllllll the paintings and furniture. A few of my favorite, lifeless quotes:

• "This por-tray-ttt is of (some old guy) and was painted by (another old guy) in year XXXX".
• "The fur-ne-ture in this room is from (some country) in (some year) and is very beautifullll".
• "The view from this beautifullll window is very beautifulll."

The group was half convinced that she was a robot...she never made eye contact with anyone, creeped from room to room oddly, and held her hands at weird angles. I can't replicate the snail-like speed at which she spoke (although I do find myself typing her quotes slowly), or the tone she used, but I'll be happy to try next time I Skype with any of you...

My favorite part was her closing (not just because it was over), as we stood in one of the rooms, when she said, and I quote, "Thank you verrrry much for visiting our beautifulllll castle. I hope you have enjoyed your tour. I wish you good day, goodbye." Um, we're still IN HERE. It was like when you leave a restaurant/cafe/bar/movie with a group of friends, and say your goodbyes right outside, before walking in the same direction to your car, only to have to say goodbye again. You know that awkward feeling? Imagine that, but you're trapped in a castle with a robot, who may or may not self-destruct. Odd duck.

We escaped the tour, hopped on "the big bus" (the one with a bathroom, sodas and legroom) and headed back toward Prague. Exhausted, we traipsed up the 113 stairs to our apartment and fell into bed before 9pm.


(sidenote: Cesky Krumlov will make you sick...all four of us are stuffed up, runny nosed, sore throated and cranky. Probably has nothing to do with smoky bars and staying out late. Annnnd, it appears as though prescriptions are required for OTC drugs, like Advil or NyQuil. Awesome. Yay for Airborne and tea!)

erratic doesn't begin to cover it

When we arrived in Prague, we were met with gloomy skies and cold winds. A few days before, it had snowed here.

On a cold, overcast morning, I went for a jog. About 15 minutes into my run, snow hit. Ugh. Since it was March, it wasn't totally out of the ordinary, but annoying just the same.

A few weeks later, we got our first taste of sunshine. It stuck around all day and left us with bitter, frozen nights.

The past week has been gorgeous - the kind of gorgeous that drags you out of bed early and makes you get out and do stuff. Evenings have still been chilly, but it seems as though spring has arrived.

Both yesterday and today, we've had tank-top-and-flip-flops days. I've been soaking up the sun like a lizard, sitting in parks and wandering cobblestone streets. Both yesterday and today, rain has struck from nowhere. Huge, torrential, frigid drops of rain on my parade. Just minutes ago, on our 72degree day, we got hail.


What the hail?!?!

weekend plan

This weekend we're venturing out to Cesky Krumlov, an old medieval town 4 hours outside of Prague. I've heard brilliant things about it, and it will be nice for Rob (and the other T-birds) to get away from work for a bit.

This does mean, however, that since my laptop will not be making the journey with us, that I won't be posting until Monday...sorry.

I will leave you with one more reason that I love the Czech Republic, however. Rob and I tried out a local microbrewery tonight (for anyone keeping score, that's like 4 unbroken : 1 broken one now...). The Marzen reminded me of no-pool-pool-parties at Casa LG, and then I tried something that made my heart melt: coffee beer. Sigh. Don't ask me how they do it, but it was fantastic:



Hope ya'll have a fun weekend! : ]

flying solo in Euro

Pat, pat, pat. That's the sound of me not-so-silently praising myself for accomplishing a grande trip goal yesterday: I took a train in Europe, alone. Since college, I've been hearing about jaunts that friends took while backpacking, and the personal growth tied to it. I'll be the first to admit that I could stand to grow a bit, and had been dying to try it myself. So I did...

I got up bright and early Wednesday morning (7:45am to be exact, which is a full 2 hours and 15 minutes ahead of my current routine, thankyouverymuch) and hit the road. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous. What if I couldn't communicate with the ticket salesperson to buy a ticket? What if I got on the wrong train? What if I couldn't figure out how to get back? All silly questions, I knew, but I was a little uneasy, just the same.

I took the Metro to the train station about 40 minutes before the train's departure and successfully purchased a roundtrip ticket (thank God I'd written down my train info, since I had to show it to the salesguy that spoke verrrrry little English). I managed to find where the outbound trains (which obviously leave from a different locale than Metro trains) depart from, and I got to stand and wait and wait and wait for the platform number to be posted. I breathed a sigh of relief (really, what's the big deal?!) when I plopped into a seat.

success, round 1

After an hour trip out to Kutna Hora, I had one final obstacle to maneuver. The train I rode takes passengers to the Kutna Hora Hlavni Nadrazi station, the town's main station (hlavni nadrazi = main station - or something like it - in Czech...see, I can speak the language). To access the town, there's a teeny tiny train that goes to the Kutna Hora Mesto station. Cool. Now, Rick Steves briefly mentioned a transfer, but aside from six words saying that you take a second train, I wasn't sure what to expect. I scooted off the main train and attempted to ask the little train's conductor how to pay for my ticket, certain that he'd fine me 1,000K on the spot if I boarded without one. Since he spoke zero English, we did some wierd pantomime thing and I got on...without paying. Ugh. I thought to myself, "If he's trying to rip me off because I'm clearly a tourist, I'm going to go ballistic," and sat down. Luckily, you could actually buy your ticket on board, and I did, for the low low price of 18K round trip (approximately $0.85USD). Schweet.

mini one-car train

I got into the little town of Kutna Hora a whopping 8 minutes later, and was surprisingly surprised (yup, I meant to type that) at how itty-bitty it really was. I'd read that it was a silver mining town, and home to the first Czech mints back in the day. Like all European towns (I'm learning), it has a gorgeous church and a pretty courtyard somewhere within town limits. I'd also read about an alchemy tour, and a Vietnamese market (sidenote: in the running for oddest experience of my life = hearing a Vietnamese guy speak Czech. So weird that I'm shuddering a little as I type this). Other than that, I knew it was a little town where finding an English speaker wasn't likely...

I told you it was a little town...this is one of like 13 total streets/alleys

it appears as though some Western culture has hit Kutna Hora...the kid on the left was sporting saggy, baggy jeans and a faux-hawk. nice.

Finding the sights in town was easy, since it was small and I had a map. The market offered a smattering of random shoes and sweatshirts and jackets, a few canvas bags and scarves, and some wierd lawn gnomes and deer. There weren't multiples of anything, so it reminded me of a garage sale, or they'd just found the stuff laying around somewhere and chose to sell it. Oh-kay...saved my moolah for elsewhere. I wandered the streets and came across St. Barbara's Cathedral, which was beautiful (even if there were construction scaffoldings along one side). Did I go inside? Nope, I'm good...


I sought out to find the silver mine museum next, which was less than impressive. In a little tiny building off a random road, 7 or 8 people sat and waited for a tour. Um, is it a tour of a museum? Am I really not allowed to check out the museum without going on a tour in a foreign language? I'll pass...

I found some lovely views next, and then headed to the alchemy museum. As Rick suggested, the tour was run by an eccentric Englishman. I didn't expect, however, a one-on-one tour with a slightly smelly man, whom the term eccentric doesn't quite cover. Before we began, he mentioned that he had to leave for an appointment 10 minutes after I arrived, but managed to talk (waaaaay over my head) for a full 40 minutes. Most of the talking took place in a cool, leaning tower that the building had been built onto, with an amazing ceiling (what is that called, when it's all fancy? a facade?). I queried if it was wood or plaster, only to find out that it had been carved out of a single block of stone in 1513. Holy crap:


After our 10/40-minute tour, I was free to roam about down in the basement, an actual former alchemist dwelling. I'd had my fill of Kutna Hora at this point, and was ready to catch the train outta there. Knowing that trains left only every two hours, I hustled through the basement on my own and skipped on out. On my way back to the Mesto train station, I saw the Englishman tour-guy walking his dog. An appointment, eh?

a cool, random candy machine that caught my eye

I got back to Mesto with about eight minutes to spare, and was ready to rock. The ride back to Prague was uneventful, and I was so inspired by my new solo-traveling skills that I ventured to a teashop that I'd read about...

my chai n' mixed nuts at Dobra Cajovna

the place is adorable...you sit down and are presented a thick menu (which explains 100 teas in detail) and a bell. when you've selected your tea, you ring the bell and a tea-pro comes to take your order (and give suggestions, as needed). the shop is teeny, dark and awesome.

All in all, I'm proud of myself for my successful adventure...yay!

Prague street food = way better than tacos

During our Saturday afternoon wanderings, we stumbled across two of my favorite things: H&M and food! After seeing the prices at H&M, I must admit that I was more excited about street food. We were lucky to discover that Prague will host an Easter/spring festival over the next 3 weekends, and we took full advantage of the food booths.

Up first was a trdlo, which we lovingly refer to as a bread bracelet. It's a wad of dough rolled out into a snake and rolled around a huge wooden dowel. Then, the dowel is rolled to smush the dough together, and the whole thing is rolled in cinnamon and sugar. The doughy dowel is then baked/roasted spit-style over a wood fire.

The finished product is like a giant, piping hot churro. For a whopping 50K (a.k.a. $2.50USD), you'd better believe that I'm heading back again. I even found an all-the-time stand that sells them near our apartment...yesssss.

Rob was pleased to find wood fired sausages...just imagine the delicious smells that were floating above us.

midday meandering

When I woke up to sunshine and (respectively) warm weather this morning, I was inspired to go a-wandering. Unfortunately, midday sun isn't ideal for photography, but I did scope out some sick spots that I'll return to as the sun moves lower in the sky.

I ventured across one of the bridges to the other side of the Vltava River. More specifically, I chose the bridge just to the south of the tourist-ridden Charles bridge (the Most Legii), and got to experience a bit of Praha that differs from the typical go-to spots.

I found an awesome little park that's off the beaten path...and it followed suit in having random gorgeous artwork strewn about.

I definitely have no idea what this represents, but these guys were standin' in the park

even the lampposts here are fancy

a view of Prague

The architecture in Prague is astounding. And I'm not even referring the the castles and churches...where you'd least expect it, there are ornate carvings and gargoyles and spires. Even unassuming buildings, like the apartments across from ours, have amazing busts and cherub sculptures on them:

our view, one way (I've not yet figured out what that spire is, but there is a second one...)

our view, the other way

a few pics to whet your whistle

Since I'll seriously need 3 days to blog about our adventures in Paris and Ireland, please enjoy the following tidbits...and get used to seeing those black North Face jackets, since they're the only things between us and frostbite.

on the Charles Bridge

on the Charles Bridge

dinner (something fried, of course) on our first night - and our first beers...Budvar (a.k.a. Budweiser) tastes different here

our roomies Katarina & Chris