Our last two days in Prague were great, even though they didn’t go quite as planned. Wednesday’s trip to Kutna Hora and the bone ossuary was an adventure in itself, as we got off at the wrong stop! Ended up having a 1+ hour stopover one stop down the line, but it was a neat little town (and decent weather) so not all was lost. After a quick and tasty lunch we were back on track, and got to the ossuary mid-afternoon. I don’t recall the exact history now, but basically over the centuries some tens of thousands of people were buried at the site, and forgotten. Sometime in the 16th century a half-blind monk was given the task of organizing and stacking all the bones onsite. They remained in piles until the 19th century, when a wood carver was tasked with organizing the bones again. I’ll get my photos up in a few days, but believe me when I say “creative” is an understatement when it comes to this guy’s work! There are 4 main bone piles which people apparently use as a kind of wishing well. The rest are used to decorate the ceiling and walls, create a coat of arms, a huge chandelier, and a number of other objects. It wasn’t even all that creepy, if you can believe it. More strange than anything else, and definitely something we’ll both remember for a good long time.

On Thursday we had planned a day trip to Cesky Krumlov, but this trip also didn’t go exactly as planned. First, we didn’t research the distances at all, so we showed up at the train station, bought our tickets, then realized it was an 8-hour return trip. Crap! In the end we agreed our day would be better spend in Prague itself – Cesky Krumlov will have to wait until next time

We spent the rest of Thursday shopping and enjoying our last full day in Prague. Prices are lower than most other European cities we’ve visited and we found some great deals. It’s neat to walk around with thousand dollar (well, crown) bills in your pocket, that’s for sure!

Today we were up fairly early to finish packing, check out, track down some proper absinthe spoons, and take off for Germany. We both really enjoyed our time in Prague, especially once Kirsten started feeling better! She wasn’t able to enjoy a proper Czech beer because of her antibiotics, but I’m bringing one back for us to share when she finishes them. All things considered it’s been a fantastic time. Can’t wait to come back

The stars finally aligned for us yesterday: good health, GREAT weather (32 in the shade), and lots of energy. We had registered for a 6-hour walking tour the night before, and got up early Tuesday morning to get started. The tour was lead by a local guy with excellent English whose name I sadly can’t pronounce/spell. There was a group of people from Bangkok, another group from New York, and us, totaling 17 people… things got kind of crazy at times with such a large group, but we all made the best of it.
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Kirsten’s been sick for about a week now, and it didn’t appear to be getting much better on its own. Armed with Google and our trusty city map we decided to take the plunge and track down a hospital. Have I mentioned I love both Google and our map (DK Eyewitness Travel’s “Top 10 Prague”) immensely? Well, I do. This map is unbelievably helpful… we’d be lost without it.

Anyways, we Googled a hospital within a few blocks of our apartment, and found it without any problems. The woman at the information desk didn’t speak much English, but with some pointing and assistance from an English-speaking local in line behind us we were send off to the ORL building (like ear-nose-throat specialists, I think). No English signs to be found, so we wandered down the street a bit, found the building, opened a few doors, and finally found what looked like a waiting room. Within 30 mins max we were in with a doctor – wish our system was as easy as Prague’s! The doctor was awesome, and we now have antibiotics and some bacteria-fighting throat lozenges in our grubby little hands… time to get better

It’s about 1:30pm here now, so we’ll probably walk around a bit and enjoy the 30 degree weather. Hopefully booking a big city tour tomorrow complete with a boat ride, admission to a number of important buildings, a medieval lunch, and a free ticket for the Ghost Trail (haunted Prague) tour after dark. Should be an awesome day!

Wow, nothing but impressed with Prague so far! The metro wasn’t too difficult to puzzle out, and both the apartment management office and our apartment itself are a short walk from one of the stations. Our room is so cool! Maybe 200 square feet or so, but it has everything: comfy bed, full kitchen, tv/stereo, bathroom, washing machine… Couldn’t ask for more. We’ve stayed in some great hostels so far, but this is sure a little slice of heaven nonetheless

We’re just outside of the Old Town, and are told that we should be able to get around on foot with no problems. We have a list of things we’d like to do over the next week, including a couple of day trips to nearby cities. Sure am glad we’re here for a week!

There are a half dozen Internet cafes within a few blocks of the apartment so I should be able to write a longer update tomorrow. Fingers crossed for some nice weather…

Wow, Dresden’s pretty damn cool! I’ve heard it was pretty much flattened during WW2 from Allied firebombing. They’ve sure done an amazing job restoring it though. The old city centre has some really amazing architecture and huge plazas. Hopefully some of my photos turn out well… with the overcast skies I’m not too sure the light will be friendly. I sure hope to come back though and spend more than one night here. So much to see!

Kirsten has caught a bad bug and hasn’t been feeling well for the last 2 or 3 days. Good thing we stocked up on Advil Cold and Neo Citran though – she should have this licked soon. We head to Prague for a week tomorrow, and will be able to unpack, relax, and actually sleep in for the first time in two weeks. Should be perfect medicine

I can’t upload any more photos to Flickr on this PC, but hopefully we find something compatible in Prague. Ran into a guy on the tram today who just came from there, and he was saying how much he wanted to just stay in Prague rather than continue travelling. I’ve still yet to hear a single negative thing about the city… can’t wait!

Just a quick update from Berlin! Got in yesterday evening, and we’re taking off again tomorrow morning, so not much time to bum around. We got quite a bit done today though, including a bus tour, a bunch of wandering, and standing around with our mouths open at the Old National Gallery (Alte Nationalgalerie). We sure have been spoiled art-wise this trip!

We’ll be up fairly early again tomorrow, and head to Dresden for the night. We likely won’t have much time to get settled, so the next update will most likely be from Prague. Hope this nice weather holds – it was around 30 degrees today! Far cry from the 10 degrees and raining we’ve had for most of the trip. I’ve uploaded a few photos to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62446209@N00/sets/72157618456842667/. If this link doesn’t work it should link properly off Facebook. Bye for now!

Giant pancake for breakfast got the day started off right. The 45 mins we had to wait in line before entering the Van Gogh museum was totally worth it – some amazing pieces in there, including Starry Night! We went on a canal tour afterwards which took a completely different route from the last time I was here, so we got to see some new sights. Believe it or not the rain held up too, and some of my pics should turn out pretty darn well. After the tour we jumped out at the Rijksmuseum stop, and found that the huge lineup we saw earlier in the day had completely disappeared. Nice! Most of the building was closed for renovations, but there were still some incredible pieces on show. I’m so glad we were able to see both museums today – pretty much my #1 goal for this trip

Off for a night on the town now, and hopefully up early-ish to get some last-minute shopping done before heading to Coevorden. We’ve also taken the hint from our France & Belgium experiences and booked all our hostels for the rest of the trip ahead of time. One less thing to worry about from now on. Only 2 more nights left in Holland… gonna have to do another trip soon!

My blackberry is dead, the charger is broken, and we haven’t had much luck finding Internet cafes – definitely not conducive to regular blog updates. The “quick update” from the other day was supposed to have a few extra paragraphs too… I’ll add them now. Here goes a long one
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