Eastern Europe Trip - Page 1 |
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 I
went to Eastern Europe in 1999 at the end of the year to see the new millennium
ushered in in Prague. I had been to Prague at New Year's a few years
ago and found it to be a crazy, fun filled experience with people drinking
in the streets, a sense of brotherhood, and the launching of fireworks and
firecrackers across squares and at people's feet. It feels alive to
be there and something like that could not happen in the US for fear of
lawsuits.
Anyway, I flew on Czech Air into Prague and the first day I traveled around with a Romanian guy I met on the plane. Mostly the first day is about staying awake so that when I go to sleep I can sleep until the next morning and have my internal clock more or less reset. So this is the cathedral up in the Prague Castle area. I stayed in Prague a few days to get adjusted to the clock and to not speaking English 100% of the time. |
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 As
you wind your way up to or down from the Prague Castle you can see the red
roofs of the buildings in this older section. There are several
churches in this area and almost nightly classical music to attend. |
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 This
is the town hall. I had to go to the town hall to get directions
from the information desk to the Pension I had set up on the
internet. The internet has changed the face of travel at least for
me and at least in Eastern Europe. Before leaving home I had put
together a train itinerary off the Deutchs Bahn website. So I new
what trains I was going to take and on what days, etc. But I had
forgotten the slip of paper that I had written it on and so I went to an
Internet Cafe and sent a note to my friend, Rick, asking him to go to my
house and log on to my computer and send it to me. He did and I was
back on track - but what would I have done if I couldn't get it?
That's how it used to be. I was also able to keep in touch with
friends and family the entire time. That makes a trip to Europe a
little less isolating. I think that's not a good change. You
grow a bit if you are all alone. |
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 This
is Prague Castle on the hill overlooking the rest of Prague. |
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