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2008 - Washington DC
2010 - Cuba
2011 - DR, Bermuda, & Cruise
2012 - DR & Costa Rica
2013 - Cruise, CR, & USA
2014 - SE Asia
The Year Off 2015 - 2016
- Preamble
- Thailand & Malaysia
- Italy
- Germany, Belgium, & Lux
- Czech, Poland, & Germany
- Austria, Slovakia, & Hungary
- Slovenia, Croatia, Austria & Germany
- England & Scotland
- Turkey
- Colombia
- Peru: Lima & Amazon
- Peru: Cusco & Inca Trail
- Peru: Cusco to Lima
- Mexico, Guatemala, & Belize
- New Zealand
- Australia & Thailand
2017 - The Balkans
2017 - Hungary, Romania, & Switzerland
2018 - New York
2018 - Amsterdam, Poland, & The Baltics
2019 - Costa Rica
2019 - France
2020 - Thailand
2023 - Mexico
2023 - Iceland & Cruise
2024 - Philippines
2025 - Japan
2025 - Iceland
Short Trips
Lists
Links |
| July 5, 2015 - Friday |
Prague |
Czech Rep. |
Going from Germany to Prague was a nightmare. I had reserved a seat on the
train but when I got to the train station the car that my reservation was
for was not attached to the train. I managed to find a seat crammed in
second class before the train filled up. The train was so full people were
standing in the aisles, and it was a long trip, something like 6-8 hours. It
was a relief to finally arrive in Prague. I had a private room in a great
hostel for the next few nights.
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| July 6, 2015 - Saturday |
Prague |
Czech Rep. |
I went to see the castle and monastery areas, which were packed with people.
In the afternoon I joined a group from the hostel and we went to a beer
garden and then hung out at the hostel.
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| July 7, 2015 - Sunday |
Prague |
Czech Rep. |
I did an audio walking tour and walked around the old and new towns, and saw
the "dancing houses" which are named Fred and Ginger because look like they
are dancing. This evening I joined an outing led by the hostel that featured
a lot of drinking. Sort of a bar crawl type thing.
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| July 8, 2015 - Monday |
Prague |
Czech Rep. |
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The day was spent recovering.
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| July 9, 2015 - Tuesday |
Ostrava |
Czech Rep. |
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The next place I wanted to go to was Krakow Poland. It is a long train ride
from Prague, so I broke it up by stopping in a smaller city called Ostrava.
There was not much to do here, and I probably should have just suffered
through the longer ride and gone directly to Krakow. But after the Berlin to
Prague train ride I didn’t want to.
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| July 10, 2015 - Wednesday |
Krakow |
Poland |
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When I arrived in Krakow I was staying in the old town, about a four minute
walk from the main square. Krakow was one of my top places, I really enjoyed
this place.
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| July 11, 2015 - Thursday |
Krakow |
Poland |
I did a day trip to see the Wieliczka salt mines, and this was really cool.
The salt miners had carved sculptures and other things into the salt mine.
They even had a church constructed entirely of salt and was amazing. I
highly recommend seeing this.
 |
| July 12, 2015 - Friday |
Krakow |
Poland |
Day trip to Auschwitz, which was one of the concentration camps from World
War II. Not exactly an enjoyable experience, but one that needs to be done.
Seeing the piles of shoes and other personal effects did not affect me, but
seeing the pictures of the starving people who were rescued did.
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| July 13, 2015 - Saturday |
Krakow |
Poland |
In Krakow itself I did the Wawel Castle and cathedral, and went under the
main square to see the old ruins there. In the Castle complex they also have
a Leonardo D'Vinci painting (Lady with Ewe), so I did see that. Got a
haircut.
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| July 14, 2015 - Sunday |
Warsaw |
Poland |
Took the train north to Warsaw. Big difference from Krakow. You can really
see the communist influence in the buildings here. Went to see a movie,
Jurassic World.
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| July 15, 2015 - Monday |
Warsaw |
Poland |
I did a walking tour of the old town (completely reconstructed after being
destroyed in WWII), and walked around Lazienki Park. Saw some peacocks.
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| July 16, 2015 - Tuesday |
Berlin |
Germany |
From Warsaw I took the train west to Berlin for another three nights here.
Today I did an audio walking tour.
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| July 17, 2015 - Wednesday |
Berlin |
Germany |
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Today I did the Topography of Terror, a paining gallery, and walked through
Tiergarden.
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| July 18, 2015 - Thursday |
Berlin |
Germany |
Went to the Berlin Wall Memorial and then the New Museum (featuring old
stuff). After visiting Berlin for the second time I believe I have seen all
the main attractions.
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| July 19, 2015 - Friday |
Nuremburg |
Germany |
|
I went to Nuremburg. This was where Hitler gave a lot of his big speeches. I
only saw the old town here, I did not make it out to the speech area.
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| July 20, 2015 - Saturday |
Nuremburg |
Germany |
The German train company has a large train museum which I thoroughly
enjoyed. It has a room with a very large working model train set. I also
went to a toy museum which was pretty interesting.
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