But I did want to capture my last few trips here and share them with you too. So here are some retroactive blogs that I hope you will enjoy about my last few trips around Eastern Europe.
Czeching out
Back in late April, some of my good friends from the USA mentioned that they were going to be going to Prague for Memorial Day weekend and wanted to know if I could come. At this point, I had seen none of my American friends since I left, and I was ready to see them again! So I booked my flight, and a month later, headed to Prague.
I had been to Prague before for a conference in 2004. During the conference, I did have some free time , but I didn't get to see everything I wanted. Also, Prague (and the Czech Republic in general) is known for their great Pilsners and Lagers and I hoped that I would be able to try some of these on this trip.
I arrived on Saturday morning, and my friends were just waking up. We were staying in some great apartments about a 10 minute walk from the Old Town Square on the other side of the river. It was a great location. Nice, quiet, and convenient.
True to form, though it was nearly June, it was grey and cold in Prague. I rarely saw the sun during my Eastern European adventures!
Gothic Church near Old Town Square
Statue made of keys. We wished that it would shake so we could hear the jangling of the keys!
Old Town Square. It really reminded me of a bigger version of Timisoara in Romania.
Saturday we walked around town and it was very crowded. We saw the Astronomical Clock. It goes off every hour, but is very crowded and I really don't recommend wasting your time looking at it.
We had a great lunch of goulash and a great dinner of fish from the river. We went to a pub near our apartment with a water mill and had some Czech beers. My friend R nearly got into an argument with a guy in the bathroom line because as R was waiting, a large dog came up to the door and started jiggling the handle with his paws. The dog then ran away, and when the guy came out, he thought it was R that was being impatient. Apparently he wasn't very happy and R tried to explain in English about the dog, but the guy just walked away.
On Sunday we went to Karlstein castle. I had been there before (as I realized when we got there), but it was nice to get out into the countryside. Our tour guide was a bit robotic, and we thought maybe she was not human. Nonetheless, it was an informative tour, though not that interesting.
Monday we went to the Jewish quarter. That was one part of Prague that I had not seen before. We went on a guided tour, and once again I was shocked at the treatment of the Jews in Eastern Europe during WWII (and before).
The "regular" clock and a clock that runs backwards with Hebrew numbers.
The Jewish cemetery. There are about 10-20 feet of bodies stacked up under the grass.
All in all, it was a great trip and I got to catch up with R&J and G from the UK. We drank many good Czech beers and saw some historical sights. It also made my 14th country in 6 months! There is nothing like old friends when you have been isolated and I had a great trip.
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