Photo gallery

I have cleaned up the photo gallery a bit and posted the pictures from the latest trip. Check out how beautiful Prague is! I do have a lot of other pictures to post, hopefully I will get them up soon.

G

Budapest Hungary - All good things must end

Budapest is a much larger city than any of us expected. Both Prague and Bratislava had city centers that were intimate and walkable. Budapest on the other hand feels large and expansive. There are a few walking streets, but the main attractions are spread throughout the city and require taxis or public transportation. Not to worry as the public transportation is really good! The buildings in Budapest are historical, but really show the scars of WWII and many years of communist abuse. Prague feels like Disneyland in comparison. We did not realize till the last night that all the night life action happens on Dream Island located in the middle of the Danube river. We figured we were either in the wrong areas or that the city does not really have a night life. Next time I will have to make sure to hit the island to check it out. We did go to the Terror Museum which was very interesting. It is dedicated to the impact communism had on the citizens of Hungary - not a happy story.

This trip is now over and it has taken me around the world! I started off leaving SF and crossed the Pacific ocean on my way to Seoul S. Korea. Next was Cairo Egypt by way of Dubai (just a stop over), then the vacation started in Prague. My trip home from Budapest took me to Frankfurt and then west over the Atlantic to SF. I will have to figure out how many miles I traveled in all. As much fun as it was to see all the new sights, I have to say that after three weeks I am glad to be home. My schedule slows down a bit in back half of the year, so my post will get much more sporadic.

As soon as I can get pictures process and posted I will let you know.

Cheers,

Greg

Bratislava Slovakia

What a great find. This destination was added to the trip at the last minute as a way to break up the journey from Prague to Budapest. We arrived to our hotel at about 3pm and headed out to the main city centre walking street. The streets were packed with restaurants, cafe's and bars all with outside seating - I assume the outside seating goes away in the cold months. We noticed that as the evening started, the crowds changed as all the locals came out. The crowds were thick with people out having dinner, drinks and walking about. We had a fabulous dinner in a very chic restaurant (resonably priced). After dinner we ended up hitting a few pubs. We met some locals and before we knew it the night had turned to early morning. We got back to our hotel rooms at 4am!!! What a fun night. The next morning we were up and off to Budapest, I think next time I am in the area I will give this little gem of a desitination two nights. I would have to recommend a stop in Bratislava for anyone traveling the area. Make sure you hit it on a weekend night. Also be warned, that outside of eating, drinking, light shopping and hanging with the locals, I don't think there is much else to do there.

Goodbye Prague, Hello Bratislava

Well those few days went very fast. Overall I have to recommend Prague to anyone that wants to explore a romantic old European city. The crowds I complained about in an earlier post did die down after the weekend ended. The summer days were beautiful and make putting up with some level of crowds a worthwhile trade off. So, if you come here in August just avoid the weekends. As far as timing goes, I think four nights is enough to get a good feel for the city. Day one is arrival and a bit of jet lag. Day two and three is a lot of walking and seeing city sights and by day four you have seen all the main sights and can shop or hang out. The main city centre area is small so it does not take much time to completely explore. English is very common in the main parts of Prague. The further you go outside Prague the less English you will find. However, even outside of Prague most menus are in multiple languages.

I did get some great shots of the city, so look for the photo gallery to be posted.

Things you must do:
- Take the 2 hour segway tour of the city. The Segway’s are fun to ride and you get to quickly see the city highlights and learn a bit about the history of Prague. You can then go back and explore the areas that intrigued you in detail. http://www.segway.com/segway/

- Hike up to the top of the ridge where they have a small version of the Eiffel tower. What a view of the city!!

- On the way back from the hike see the Prague Castle - the church inside is a must.

- Have a meal with outside seating and a river / bridge view at one of the many restaurants along the river near the Charles Bridge.

- Eat dinner at Bravda on Parizska street! Praizska street is like 5th ave in New York, only much smaller.

- Sit in an outside café in old town square and people watch.

We did take the train to a small city about 1 hour outside of Prague to see the ‘bone church’ – 40,000 people buried there during the plague and various wars. They have decorated the ossisiary with human bones, very macabre. Overall the church was anti-climatic and not really worth the trip. However, getting outside the city and seeing some country side was very nice.

Right now I am typing this on the train ride to Bratislava in Slovakia.