Last Day in Prague

Last night's trip to U Flecku was spectacular (thanks Uncle Michael)! We first took a trip to an island that lies in the middles of the Vltava River (runs through Prague) and enjoyed a drink riverside. Afterwards, we found our way to U Flecku, a "local's favorite" brewpub that served some of the best dark beer I have ever tasted. While they were out of their tasty cheese, the environment was booming with excitement. From music and singing to one drunk Czech's yelling (trying to sing), it certainly made the trip worth it. We passed the National Theatre which looked absolutely brilliant when lit up at night.

Today was a laid-back day. We started with breakfast around 10:00, and headed off to see the various churches of Prague. We ended up actually touring three churches (a fourth was just too expensive to go in). Tyn Church, a Hussite Church, and St. James Church were our three visits. Tyn was very gothic-styled church with a lot of detailed artwork. It sat in the center of town (near the astronomical clock). the hussite church was interesting, but the MOST interesting church was that of St. James Cathedral. Its style was elegant and fascinating, yet there was one part of it that topped the whole place off...

Legend has it that one day, long ago, a thief broke into the church. As he tried to steal something off of a statue of the Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mary grabbed his arm tightly so that he couldn't escape. The next morning, the priests and clergymen found the thief, stuck with the Virgin Mary, inside the church. In order to let him go, they cut off his arm. Afterwards, they hung the arm up

as a warning to all those that tried to steal from the church (see photo). While not visiting churches, we searched for things to buy. I never found anything that interesting (I did pocket a few beer glasses, however), but Matt found a great-looking Prague football jersey. Jimmy didn't find anything, either.

Afterwards, we did our daily trip to the supermarket to pick up food. We ate a nice dinner of sausages and spaghetti, and went out for a few beers by the river. We tried the original Budweiser and another beer native to Prague (I've forgotten the name, but I took the beer glass). We returned to the hostel, I typed this blog, and went to bed! Tomorrow, we wake early to catch a plane to Dublin... can't wait!

Mahalo... Thomas

Quick Note

Hey... a few notes to keep in mind:

1. I added a few pictures on older blogs, so make sure to check those out. From now on, I will have pictures loaded with the blog, so you won't have to look over older blogs.

2. My partners in crime, Matt and Jimmy, have a blog, too! If you are interested in gaining a different perspective from what I am experiencing in Europe, check out their blogs...

www.mattinireland2009.blogspot.com

and

www.jimmybackes.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Places in Prague

Hey all! It's been a day or two since I last "blogged." Prague has been a terrific experience. Everything here is pretty cheap relative to the rest of Europe (almost like reasonable USA prices). Yesterday, I woke up with Jimmy and went running. The streets were busy. As I ran over Charles Bridge, the river sparkled as the sun's rays bounced off the water. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and although I couldn't quite keep up with Jimmy the whole time, I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. We came back and grabbed a breakfast supplied to us by the hostel (cereal and yogurt). At 10:45am, we took a free tour around Prague learning about various churches, statues, buildings, etc. The tour wasn't as fulfilling as the last one we had experienced in Munich, but it still helped us get familiar with the area. We saw the world's largest Astronomical Clock in 'Old Town Square.' Learned a little about Charles Bridge, St. James and Tyn Church, Powder Gate, the National Museum, The Jewish Quarter (including the Jewish Synagogue and Cemetery) The giant Metrodome, and even Prague Castle. Prague is really neat because it has all of the stuff that the rest of Europe used to have before WWII destroyed everything. Lots of old, tall, majestic buildings in baroque and gothic styles.

After the tour, we went and found a grocery store to get food supplies for the rest o

f the day. We returned to the hostel to eat our fresh food. Matt mentioned that he was tired and was probably going to take a nap. While Matt was resting, Jimmy and I took a trip up to Prague Castle, where we explored its beautiful gardens and took some breathtaking pictures. The streets in Prague are cobblestone and add a lot of personality to the feel of this historic city.

Upon returning, we woke up Matt and ate dinner. After dinner, we walked up to a beer garden that overlooked the city. We each enjoyed wine as we looked over an illuminated Prague- it was awesome.

Prior to starting the day today, we needed to stop by a electronics store to work out some camera problems. Matt had rolled over the screen on his camera during

his nap, and my battery was shot (yea Mom... it was not a compatible battery). My battery cost 1696 Korunas! haha.. that sounds like a lot but is really only 100 US dollars (what a weird conversion huh?). After fixing our like we took an entire day and explored the Prague Castle. This castle was extensive, and we took all afternoon to finish exploring it. My favorite part of the Prague Castle was St. Vitus Church, which is the focal point of the castle. While it was completed in the 19th/20th century, some parts of it have been around since the 14th century.

We completed the tour of Prague Castle around 4 or 5pm. Terribly hungry and thirsty, we took a trip to a supermarket and bought tonight's meal (pasta!) and returned back to the hostel. Right now, I've spent the last couple hours updating this blog and loading all of our pictures to each other's computers. The plan for tonight is to go to U Flecku (the oldest continuous brewpub in the world). Tomorrow, we plan to explore some more churches, look at the giant Metrodome close-up, and look for some cool stuff to get from Prague. Hope all is well! Mahalo... Thomas

Change in Plans, Places... and PRAGUE!

After resting from our trip to Dachau, we went to meet another Johnnie by Saint Michael's Church. Nick (or "Salty") is studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria, and he decided to make a trip to Munich to see us. We wanted to make a trip to the Andeches (as described before), but were unable to due to having to find our dear friend and purchase dinner. For dinner we purchased Doner Kababs, a sandwich-like item that is very greasy and very delicious! While we weren't really feeling like a big night out on the town, we still walked around with Salty and explored the streets of Munich. Being a Saturday night/Sunday morning, the streets were.... EMPTY! If you recall from the tour, Munich is a very traditional, catholic town, and NOTHING goes on on Sundays (except for public transportation). We had a good time encountering a street performer obsessed with singing Beatles songs to us 'Americans.'

The next morning, we said goodbye to Salty (who headed back to Salzburg) and went to the train station. Here is where I can describe our change in plans...

After much contemplation, we decided to skip the trip to Vienna. It would mean spending a LOT more money, and an extended stay at Prague (which is a cheaper place) seemed to make much more sense. We were going to Salzburg, but ran out of time in the morning and decided to head straight to Prague.

Packed with a lunch which consisted of loaves of bread, apples, and nutella (a chocolate cream substituted for peanut butter), we were ready to go! We took a train to Nurenburg, transferred

trains, and jumped on a train to Prague, which passed Pilsen (famous beer/brewery). The train ride took 6-7 hours and only cost 17E! The people from our hostel in Munich helped us find that ticket (we could have payed up to 60E each if we hadn't asked). The German landscape was beautiful and serene (rolling hills, typical bavarian cottages) and the Czech landscape was fairly raw (reminding me almost of a fall-winter day in Minnesota) but still pretty and was still warm outside.

We arrived around 7pm and found the hostel within 20 minutes. The streets of Prague were busy and lively. After dropping off our stuff at the hostel, we took a long walk around Prague and got dinner (a cheap 50K (Korona) sausage and a 50K (??? ill get the name later)). We passed over Charles Bridge and went by Prague castle. While passing over the bridge, a violinist began playing. We stopped, entranced by the music. It was simply magical... being on top of that bridge, looking surrounded by a lit-up city (even the old castles were lit-up), and listening to one of the sweetest sounding instruments in the world. I will never forget it.

Tomorrow, we will be attending another free tour... this time for the city of Prague. Can't wait... it should be a great introduction to the city..

Mahalo!

Thomas

Brian, Jimmy, Tom, and Matt after a few on the pub crawl!

More Munich and a day trip to Dachau

Yesterday, we all took a free tour of Munich through our hostel. Our tour guide's name was Ozzi, and it was honestly the best tour I have ever been a part of. We saw and learned in depth about the following places (with my comments in (here)): The Frauenkirche, The Glockenspiel (classic), The Hofbrauhaus (tourist trap), Karlsplatz, Marienplatz (City Centre), St. Michael's (impressive), The National Theatre, Odeonspl

atz, St. Peter's, The Residence (reconstruction though so I couldn't go inside), Viktualienmarkt, Beer Gardens, The Beer Hall Putsch (VERRYY interesting... Dad look that one up its really cool).

Munich in a nutshell: save for 4 places (Glockenspiel, tower at St. Michael's, Orlandoplatz, and some other one I don't remember), all of Munich is about 60 years old as the older building were blown away by Am

ericans in WWII. Its a rich, traditional, catholic culture that likes to keep things as conservative and classic as possible. Munich differs greatly from Berlin, where a much more modernized and liberal culture exists. In Munich, the people still wear Lederhosen and operate in bavarian style. Being a big fan of "traditional ways," I found the Munich culture to be fairly appealing.

After our tour, we came back to the hostel, rested for a bit, and then went out to eat at a place suggested by our tour guide. We ate at the Augustiner Haus, among many locals and true bavarian culture. I ordered a meal which included duck, pork knuckles (delicious), pork roast, and a dumpling (and, of course, a beer and lots of pretzels). It was the best meal I have had in a while (sorry Mom... but this meal was incredible). Afterwards, we walked around for a bit, and ended our night hanging at the bar at the hostel.

This morning we got up, said goodbye to Tom and Brian (who were heading to Northern Germany) and bought some food at a local market. For the first time on the trip, I found food that was actually CHEAP! Very exciting... its been 3 days and I'm already really nervous about spending money. My breakfast (and lunch) consisted of a loaf of bread and some slices of meat, as well as some 'Nutella' chocolate spread that Jimmy bought. Breakfast of champions I guess..

We spent our whole day at Dachau Concentration Camp. This was a somber but fulfilling experience. I don't really want to talk about it that much, but know that if you DO visit Europe, you must see a concentration camp. It's almost like paying your respects... it just must be done.

I'm now resting at the hostel... we will be leaving to meet up with more Johnnies (our buddy Nick and a few others) at 6pm, and then we plan on going to the Kloster Andeches. It's supposedly a beautiful area with lake and gardens (thanks Uncle Michael for reminding me! perfect timing on the e-mail). That's about it for now... tomorrow we will do a short trip to Salzburg!

Mahalo...

Thomas

Munich

Since our times at Stansted Airport, our experiences have gotten much better. After a few naps and a Guinness, we took off at 7am for Memmingen, Germany. The flight was about an 1 hour, 15 minutes and ultimately a easy trip. After arriving and going through customs, we mounted a bus headed for Munich. The bus ride took about 40 minutes. When we arrived in Munich, it was fairly sunny and the city was very busy! We headed towards Wombat's (our hostel). While checking in at Wombat's, we ran into Tom and Brian, some fellow Johnnies who we had discussed meeting up with. We were all fortunate enough to be bunked in the same room. We all settled in and washed up, got some lunch, and then head out to explore the city.

Our first stop was at the Olympiastadion, the setting for the Olympics in 1972. Some may recall that this was the same Olympics in which Palestinian terrorists captured and murdered 11 Israeli athletes. I saw the building where this occurred (see photo), as well as the incredible architecture of the Olympic Hall and Stadium.

After visiting the Olympic site, we went straight to the Hofbrauhaus, where I ordered a a classic meal of 2 veal sausages, a few pretzels, and a big mug of Hofbrauhaus brew. After a tasty meal, we visited the Glockenspiel of the Rathaus in Old Town Hall, and walked among the many little shops and vendors.

We returned back to Wombat's for a pub crawl, which took us to four different pubs and even supplied us with

free beer and stew for one hour. We ended our night with a few drinks at the Wombat's own little bar, and it was off to bed.

I've noticed one thing about my traveling experience so far- you have to pay for EVERYTHING. From the 18E (E=Euro) bus to Munich to the 15E price for the pub crawl, I definitely have noticed that NOTHING IS CHEAP! That's ok... that's why I worked hard this summer..

mahalo... Thomas

Pictures will be uploaded soon