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rainy wachau valley
phewww, still out of breath from the weekend. mainly, because i said YES to everything. yes, i will go to a concert of a legendary 1980’s czech punk rock band! yes, i will go to the easter market in the square and eat all the food! and when my tour-guide landlord came and knocked on my door at 8:30pm saturday night and asked if i wanted to go to the wachau valley in north-central austria at 7:00am the next morning… well, of course i did! so we set off bright and early, crossing the border into austria about forty-five minutes into the car ride. as soon as you cross the border,…
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karlovo náměstí
prague’s “other” square is actually quite larger than the more famous old town square at approx. 70,000m² (the 27th largest in the world). it’s the absolute heart of prague’s nové město (new town), founded in 1348 by who else but bohemian king charles IV. when it was built it was supposed to become the most important square of new town until vaclavske namesti (wenceslas square) became far more famous and used in modern czech history. although much quieter than the other famous square in this district, i like it for its proximity to the river and everything that seems important in prague. wenceslas square is great for shopping, but this square…
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pre-marital travel
ever wanted to know if you and your boyfriend or girlfriend will make it in the long run? feeling confident? having your doubts? take an extended trip together. it will either bring you much closer… or you’ll realize some things about your relationship that you will have wished you knew earlier. plus, if he won’t go on a trip with you, you can just nip it in the bud right now. (below, fishing on the west coast of scotland) before setting out on this adventure with alex, we had been dating for one year and some odd months. in the grand scheme of things, that’s really not that long. we…
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Living Without Stuff
i came over to europe with only those things that would fit comfortably in my (large) backpack. well, fit comfortably isn’t exactly correct because it was totally over-stuffed and weighed more than even alex’s bag and huuuurt if i wore it for over an hour. ouch. (below, me and said backpack in gimmelwald, switzerland, 2008) but i am now settled in a place: České Budějovice for the time being. it’s nice to live somewhere. to have plants (my small “herb garden”) and make baked goods. to have people over for tea or dinner. this is living as usual and it’s nice. since i’ve stopped moving around in january of this year…
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Iceland Uncovered: How My First Ever Trip to Iceland Went
right around new year’s day, 2011 (about a year and a half before this adventure began), i won a sweepstakes contest to win a trip to iceland. i was naturally ecstatic about this development, as i’d been dreaming about the country for years. about two and a half years ago, i went on said trip. however, after my return the photos i took never really surfaced anywhere and weren’t really shown to anyone… because at the time, the trip was not my idea of an ideal vacation. it left a bad taste in my mouth and a chill in my bones. to be fair, there were circumstances unrelated to iceland…
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Stockholm
definitely enjoyed my time in stockholm. when people ask me how was it, it’s really hard to describe it in a concise and telling way besides saying it was “great”. it was big, easy to get around, very maritime, very clean, very nordic… it was like going home, except things were generally in swedish and really expensive. really, it felt like i was going “home” when i was there. sometimes i would forget that i had to go back to czech republic, as if i was going to just stay forever. my favorite things i did in stockholm…. wandering around gamla stan on the first evening– a warm and balmy…
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Leaving Home, Living in Europe
when i left seattle last july–almost a year ago–i didn’t have a goodbye party… something i sometimes kick myself for. although that’s what most people do when they go away for a long time, it didn’t seem real to me then. i told everyone where i was going and when but i didn’t feel like the occasion warranted a full-out goodbye party. sometimes i downplayed my departure. that seemed too definite at the time. when i packed my clothes in anacortes last august, i didn’t quite understand what i was packing for. even though it was august, i forced myself to pack a warm winter hat and a sweater or…
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Linz-erdays
took a weekend jaunt to linz, austria… just over two hours south of us by train and even faster by car. it’s the third largest city in austria and twice the population of budejovice. it doesn’t have the tourist draw of vienna, salzburg, or innsbruck but it was a medium-sized city in austria that was relatively close to get to. that’s mainly why i wanted to go, even though i found out later that linz does have a rich history but it’s just not quite talked about or as exciting as the other cities. who can compete with ‘the sound of music’, anyway? it’s also where people in budejovice go…
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travel bests & worsts
hey er’body! this weekend has been all about SERIOUS relaxing in preparation upcoming weekend jaunt to linz, austria. park days saturday, sunday, and even today before the nice weather goes away. also, finishing the wire’s last season (incredible: one of the best TV shows of the 21st century thus far for sure). today my class was canceled so i had a nice sit…. seeing how’s i’ve spent over nine months “on the road” and have lived almost entirely on things that i brought with me when i packed all my belongings up last july. it sure is daunting to pack for over a year, and i’m surprised it went so…
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a viennese easter
haven’t had a lot of time to post about easter holiday weekend as i’ve had to jump right into teaching madness: moderating another english competition (this one for 14-15 year olds) then zooming to three other parts of the city to give my lessons. although CB is a city of about 100,000 people, it is surprisingly compact and getting around from north to south really takes no time at all– even on the bus! so great. today i taught my first of three conversation classes at the university! only two people came, which was totally fine by me because it gives the students speaking time. the czech people get are taught…
