Garni Hotel Malekon Prague

... kids, the 3 yr old girl and the 7 yr old boy was back in March when we all went to Norway and Russia. During that trip I learned a great deal. Pack snacks! Kids are always hungry!) Both kids decided they were hungry as soon as we boarded. Luckily I packed some snacks and was able to pacify them for a little while. Oh, it was past their bed time too. Our plane took off at 9:25 pm. The 3 yr old wanted to lay down. So my ...

... eventually we came across the Old-New Synagogue, which is the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe. We bought a ticket for 200Kr and eventually found our way into the synagogue. The building is very old and built in a Gothic style, with no crosses of course. Darren was just starting to feel a bit peeved that we had been well and truly ripped off when a guide gave us a tour of the place. Darren felt a bit better but still thought it was very over-priced. We wandered back ...

... of art and architecture here in Bohemia. Alfons Mucha is a most influential artist in the Art Nouveau style. I don't think there is a painting or lithograph of his that I don't love. If art is not your thing, Prague has an amazing castle isolated in its own section of town. The best part about the castle complex is St.Vitus Cathedral. Fully accessible to all and for a small fee you can buy an audio guide which adds to the interesting story of the ...

... devil is forced to break his pact and the young man and bar maid fall back in love. I thought it was pretty cool to be able to interpret all that without hearing one word, just music. I never would have gone to a silent play before, I still probably wouldn't but this was different. It was so cool the way the colors appeared and disappeared and how people would randomly start flying or scenery would appear. It was a really cool ...

... locker. I am then led by Monika to my locker, she opens it takes out the towel in it and exchanges it with a larger one that she grabbed for me while I was getting checked in. Such concern for my modesty! So a quick peck on the check and I am admiring her backside as she wanders off. I am thinking to myself, Man, you need to get to Hungary! So showered, and towel wrapped around, its time to look for my girl. First, an outline of the ...

... night was unbelievable. I still love going down there at night. The longer I've been here, the more I am enjoying the city. The architecture here is unbelievable. Unlike most European cities, Prague was spared during both world wars. There is a very "old" feel to the ...

... asked twice by the plain cloth transit police to show my validated pass. We are also supposed to have a child ticket if we carry a big pack. We befriended the landlord of the apartment, an American, who took us to a club outside of the city center. Paul had 3 shots of Abstinth (70% proof), which is illegal in US. He tried to bring a bottle of the alcohol back to US, which I found out later, was confiscated in transit in Switzerland. I am grateful that Paul ...

... very nice. Another church? Yes, it's lovely. A picturesque street side cafe for dinner? Sure, why not. Very cheap and good beer? I could be convinced to have another. I'm just not excited about it anymore. Maybe it's because I fly to Bangkok in less than ten days and I'm so excited to see Lee and Jerramy there.

Just a few more quick stops here. C'mon Asia!

... and in a vegetarian restaurant with a starry-night-sky ceiling. The Jewish Quarter was a remarkable reminder of the ancient and thriving Jewish community that was an integral part of Prague before the second world war...and a reminder of the decimation of that population. The Old-New Synagogue, built around 1270 and now the oldest in Europe, was fascinating. Most poignant were the names covering the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue (including the name Fischer, my mother's maiden ...

... find someone who spoke English was the most frustrating thing. We finally found someone who spoke English and discovered that you needed to pay 30€ for a train reservation because it was a couchette train or do what we are now doing. It is so frustrating because we asked this morning and were told that we were fine and then discovered that we weren't. But it could be so much worse- we could hav missed the train, we could have had to pay ...