Clarion Congress Hotel Prague

... the independence of Poland, and in early November, the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Tienanmen Square massacre had also occurred that year. Would the Russians respond with equal force and brutality in Eastern Europe?<br><br>Taking great personal risks, the Czechs made Wenceslas Square the center of their pleas for freedom. On November 19, 1989, the "Velvet Revolution" succeeded. Forty years of oppressive rule were ...

... and also under communism, people actually stood near the hills waiting for Good King Wenceslas to make his heroic return! This story may be familiar to you if you replace Prague with Jerusalem, and Wenceslas with the Messiah... We walked along the Charles Bridge, where we followed another Czech superstition and rubbed a statue dog´s leg for good luck. In the Old Town Square, we watched the Astronomical Clock display on the hour, where a skeleton rang a bell and a ...

... has over 12,000 gravestones but in addition is 7 layers deep. They just brought more dirt in and kept on burying. Christina and I were craving veggies so we went to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch and then headed down Charles bridge to check out the street vendors. There was lots of stuff to choose from but a lot of it was too big for me to buy. On the other side of the bridge we went into St. Nicholas Cathedral. It ...

... between the Main River and the beginning of the Bavarian Alps, is dotted with lovely medieval towns. If you have time for a second stop along the Romantic Road, try Dinkelsbühl. Though not as grand as the more celebrated Rothenburg, it has far fewer tourists and therefore retains more old-time charm. Mittenwald: This town has long been celebrated as the most beautiful in the Bavarian Alps. Its magnificently decorated houses have painted facades and ornately carved gables ...

... our beer glasses together it was a good time to take a second and reflect that not all our motivations here were different. There was the appreciation for the dark flavourful stuff inside the glasses for a start (Staropramen in this case), the admiration of savage dye jobs (him for taking photos and me having willingly experimented with my own blond self-styling a few years ago), not to mention the overwhelming urge we both shared to indiscriminately beat the ...

... my ticket to Prague, returned to the hostel, washed clothes and then packed. Not seeing Mark all afternoon I went out to dinner. On the way I ran into him and told him I was on my way to eat and then a couple of drinks on my last night in Krakow.. He simply said, Skip, "I would not be good company tonight.". So we shook hands and said goodbye. Later, I heard him come in around 4AM. I quietly left the hostel about two hours later to catch my train to Prague

Lots has gone on in the last few days over here, and we have had two very different hostel experiences. Our place in Vienna was fantastic - the bathroom / shower were cleaner than many hotels (no flip-flops required!). We saw quite a bit in our two days in Vienna. On Sunday we walked around the old city, with the parilament, city hall, and Hofburg palace. Not too much was open to go look inside, but it was still pretty nice. <br><br>In the afternoon we went to the Schonbrunn ...

... Everywhere I looked was another amazing façade, church, or bell tower. This is a place where I did come with expectations, and my first impressions lived up to them. The old town square single-handedly had the best variety of ornate facades, Baroque and Gothic churches, historic monuments, and by far, the coolest astronomical clock I have ever seen. Like the Glockenspiel Tower, there is a brief show at the top of every hour, but this time, there is more than just dancing figures ...

... We said okay, after hefty sighs. And the three of us squeezed in for an uncomfortable ride. Though, he was quite lovely and the three of us chatted for hours on end but when we needed to sleep, he just became a disturbance. At about 2am and with a crooked neck, Pete checked out the rest of the train to discover about five empty compartments. I think the poor boy was worried about being alone and having his stuff stolen ...

... of the castle exhibit. More shops along the way, excellent views at the top and lots of old fashioned houses. We then stumbled up on a park that still had flowers in bloom there. Mind you, it's about 30* outside. Then, the girls decided to shop the rest of the day. It was lots of shopping, let me tell you. We headed to a pub for dinner and I got some delicious Goulash. Exhausted and knowing tomorrow will be about the same, we went back to relax. Played ...