Na Shledanou

So now I'm home. First off, last day of Dublin. The main sight we saw on the last day of Dublin was the Kilmainham Gaol, a old jail that held many famous political prisoners in Irish history. We also got to bed nice and early because of our early flight the next day. Unfortunately, we missed this flight. We were on time but due to Ryanair, who will be getting a very angry letter, we missed the flight and were forced to stay in Dublin until we could get on the 1 other flight out of the airport that day back to Prague.
Once we arrived in Prague we had to go all the way to Vysehrad to get our suitcases then take a cab to the hotel. By the time we got to the hotel we had about 4 hours to sleep before we had to get up for our flight home. This meant we did not get to spend our last day in Prague like we were supposed to, shopping and such. Now that I am finally home though its a good feeling. It is a bit sad to leave Prague because it was a great experience and a lot of fun, but its time to rejoin real life as I now start working back in DC in less than 1 week.

Last Day of London and Beginning of Dublin

I already forget exactly what I did on my last day in London but I'll give a quick outline of our last day in London. I was awoken by my phone at about 9:30 in the morning to a random number. Fortunately, it was my friend John that I worked with at ICCF. He is getting his masters at London School of Economic but still works for ICCF and will be back there this summer so Maude will work with him. I met up with him and his wife in Covent Garden at a Starbucks. Then I went back to the hotel and Maude was up and we went out to see a few things. We walked back to Covent Garden to wander around and to walk through the market there. Then we went over to Harrods, which is a ridiculously big department store. From there we walked to the natural history museum which was actually really cool. By this time we were getting pretty hungry and we really wanted to get some indian food before we left London. My guidebook had a place called Masala Zone in it so we decided to try that out and it turned out to be really good. Of course, the last thing we did in London was head to a pub and have a few ciders and beers before we went to bed.
Yesterday we arrived in Dublin and our hostel is in a great location right in Temple Bar. We didn't do that much yesterday but hang out with a bunch of people at our hostel. I actually met a fellow Hoya who is a year older and we have several friends in common back at Georgetown. Today we did another free walking tour of Dublin that took us to some good places around the city like city hall, a very famous church, and Trinity College. The other major thing we did today was go to the Guinness storehouse to see how Guinness was made and to have a taste. Like everyone says, it really was the best Guinness you have ever tasted. Tomorrow we are going to this prison that is supposed to be very cool and we might go to the Jameson Distillery as well. Thursday I will be back in Prague so hopefully I can get another post in before returning to the US of A. When I get back I will try to give some more details about this trip and tell a bit more about what I did.
Also, keep an eye out I may be starting up another blog when I get back to the US. I'll be posting again soon and be back to the US in just a few days.

London Day 2

Well its only 3 so day 2 isn't really finished but i'm at the computer right now so I thought I would just write a quick post. This morning we got up and went over to Hyde Park corner to do a free walking tour around part of London. The walking tour took us to Buckingham Palace, where we saw the changing of the guards. Then over to St. James palace where Prince Charles and his family live. From there we went to Trafalgar Square and eventually on to Westminister. At Westminister we saw Big Ben, Westminster Palace (Parliament), and Westminister Abbey. The tour ended and we walked over to look at the Thames River and the London Eye. Then Maude and I got some lunch are are using the internet. We still have some things to see and do so I will update again when I can.

Brussels, Amsterdam and a day in London

This post is going to be very short because I am sitting in an internet cafe in London and want to go eat. On the 16th, Maude and I left Prague to do a bit of traveling before coming home. First we flew to Brussels because the flight was insanely cheap. We spent two and a half days in Brussels and I was shocked at how much I like the city since I had heard some mixed reviews. We stayed in a really nice hostel that was more like a small hotel and was right on the Grand Place, the best place for someone visiting to stay. The square was beautiful and we visited the European Union buildings and some other sites in the city. We also ate almost nothing but frites (french fries), belgian waffles, and mussels, all of the specialties and drank a lot of beer since Belgium is known for its great beer. We met up with a friend of Maude's from NYU and her boyfriend also and went to a bar called Delirium with over 2000 beers, it holds the Guiness world record for most beers at a bar.
After Brussels we got on the train to Amsterdam. Our hostel in Amsterdam was also nice and it was in a cool area right on the edge of the Red Light District. Sadly, the dutch government is slowly getting rid of the red light district and in a few years it will be gone, so its a good thing we got to see it when we did. We went on a great free tour as well and checked out everything else Amsterdam had to offer, on the tour they showed us a coffee shop called Grey Area where Snoop Dogg likes to spend most of his time when he goes to Amsterdam. More details later...
But now we are in London and today we walked (really far) to go to portobello market and see hyde park and kensington palace. Tomorrow we are going to do another free tour, keep you posted hopefully....