Explore!

Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague

So concludes day 2 of my Prague adventure. It’s been really great here. There’s so much to see that I’m kind of regretting only spending 2.5 days here! After finishing up the rest of Little Quarter, Ngoc and I decided to cross the Charles Bridge into Old Town.

View of Little Quarter from Charles Bridge

So in the less than 24 hours I’ve been here, I’ve already taken over 1600 pictures… Uh oh. Luckily I have 18gb of memory with me… unfortunately… I won’t have enough space on my computer, so I’ll have to work on figuring out a way to get all the pictures (ok, not all 1600, a selection) onto Flickr and so on.

Anyway, Old Town was amazing. We walked around for awhile before we arrived at Old Town Square. There were amazing views of Kinsky Palace, the Tyn Church and we also saw the astronomical clock.

Tyn Church

We walked until my feet were completely dead. Old town is very beautiful. There are a lot of little alleyways to see and some of them are even deserted so you can sneak in a great picture.

Deserted Street in Old Town

Then we made our way back across the Charles Bridge into Little Quarter. The sun was setting, so we had some great shots of the pink sky behind Prague Castle.

Sunset over Prague

Afterwards we had dinner (which was very expensive btw). One thing I dislike about Prague is touristy-ness of the prices for food. The food isn’t anything special and should not be priced as it is… I expect NYC style meals for what I’ve been paying for grilled fish or roasted duck (which was very gamey).

I am saving my money for Rome and eating my weight in gelato. So… it’s unfortunate that I’m spending a fortune on Prague

My pictures will be up on Flickr soon – so check them out – Prague Day 1 – A Selection!

Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague

Ngoc and I have just gotten our room at the hostel and… it’s HUGE! There’s 3 beds a dining table and a kitchen complete with fridge, stove and sink. I can’t believe we have this room with an awesome view of St. Nicholas’ Cathedral for only US $30/night!

The day started out slow. Ngoc arrived at the hostel a little past 9:30am and from there we set out to Prague Castle. First was breakfast. We stopped at a small café where we had toast with delicious rich and creamy butter, juice and espresso. After eating, we walked up this hill that overlooks the city then into the castle gates where throngs of tourists were trying to get pictures with the guards.

St. Vitus’s Cathedral has been the most impressive part of the castle grounds. We didn’t go inside due to the long lines, but we did a 360-degree walk-around of the cathedral. The gargoyles and flying buttresses were the most impressive part, as well as the huge stain glass window in the front. The gothic style architecture is similar to many other cathedrals in Europe. Construction began in 2344 and fully completed by the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

St. Vitus's Cathedral

Walking toward the back of the castle grounds, we ended up in a vineyard that overlooked more of the east bank of Prague. We circled back to go to Golden Lane, which turned out to be, sadly, unimpressive. I had thought there’d be much more to see, but there was only one little souvenir shop. Golden Lane is lined with colourful artisan shops that are built long the inside of the castle wall.

View of Prague from above

After Golden Lane, we ended up walking outside the castle walls in a hiking/outdoor area. We were down in a field of wildflowers taking pictures of us cartwheeling and jumping around. It was so strange to be surrounded by so much silence. I haven’t been in that kind of silence for so long so it seemed like I had entered a different world.

We then ended up back up through the castle front gates and down a street filled with shops and restaurants. We were starving so we stopped at a traditional Czech restaurant. I ordered the quarter duck w/ cabbage dumplings. The duck was a little gamey, but overall delicious! Very heavy for a “lunch” meal.

Now that I’m all cleaned up (I had to shower) we can go out and check out Little Quarter and the Charles Bridge (and river area!)

Time to head out. Pictures will be loaded tonight!

Location | Little Town Budget Hotel – Prague

I’m currently sitting in the internet lounge at the Little Town Budget Hotel. It’s crazy that I’m here already! The flight was ok, didn’t get any sleep, but it was a relatively pleasant experience. The flight took off on time and arrived in Prague earlier than expected. From the airport I was able to navigate my way through customs easily (they basically scanned and stamped) and then I just went straight through, got a bus ticket, hopped on the bus, went to the metro, got off and walked to the hostel. The hostel is really nice actually! Very clean and in an awesome location. I’m excited about seeing our room. I hope it’s as nice as the outside of the hostel.

Pictures and uploads to come soon.

I think my biggest problem in traveling to “foreign lands” is the fact that I don’t know what language to speak to anyone… do I start with English or is that presumptuous? Do I just look at the other person and see what they want to say? A guy just came in and I think he was Italian? Assuming that his “Ciao” was Italian and not any other form of “Ciao?”

Ahh, Ngoc needs to get here sooner. I’d like to play now! (Oh and eat breakfast — I want Turkish coffee!)

Location | JFK Airport

Funny how things work out. Of course the day my trip starts I get a bomb dropped on me at work. I now get to actually assume the role that matches my title. I’ll be the Marketing Manager of Fortune, Money and Real Simple Magazines. Along with this, I’ll have an associate manager under me. While both exciting and disheartening (they broke up the dream team of Steve and me), I am a little ambivilent toward the situation.

I guess I shouldn’t talk about my job on this blog, but I thought I’d get it in there that it might affect how I write about this trip (I hope not!).

Location | New York City

Tomorrow I leave for Europe. As most of you know, I’ve been talking about this trip nonstop for the past 2 months and now I’m finally going! I’m a little bit scared (only because the first 3-4 hours will be on my own and without my security blanked aptly named… Ngoc) but I think if I can survive New York, I can survive anything!

Let’s see. I have one rolly suitcase. Mainly filled with clothing, my lovely brand new camera and various other essentials. Other than that, I’m not bringing much. Mainly due to the fact that I definitely do not want to lug it all around.

I’ll leave you now with this complimentary picture of a flower that I took in Madison Square Park with the new camera I got.

A photo I took in Madisqon Square Park

Current Location | New York City

The first entry should always lead off as an introduction. Well, this is my little introduction into why I am creating this blog. Although I’ve had my fair share of travel in the past 24 years, I hope to diversify and see all that I could possibly see while I am still young, able and have a disposable income. I decided to create this blog as the beginnings of my travels – aptly naming it “Explore!” although I am sure I could come up with a more creative name with some time and a little thought.

The first trip on my itinerary will be my late July 2009-early August 2009 Europe trip. Although I won’t be bringing my computer with me, my friend (and travel buddy) will be bringing hers along. The itinerary is as follows:

July 31st – Arrive in Prague from NYC

August 2 – Arrive in Budapest via overnight train

August 4 – Arrive in Rome via air

August 8 – Return to Prague via air

August 9 – Return to NY

It’s not the longest trip, but we should be able to thoroughly enjoy what Prague, Budapest and Rome have to offer! I will update with more info and also links to my new Flickr account once I get it set up!

More to come!