April 2007
The Archives
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London Pride!
So we found a good pub to watch the game. We’re in a Chelsea friendly neighbourhoud near Paddington station in a pub called ‘Fountains Abbey’. The place is packed. I think I’m going for Liverpool though. A team that wants to buy a championship doesn’t get my support. But I hope van der Sar can win another Champions League with Man U.
I’m enjoying my luke warm beer, popred with a hand cranck tab. But I’m enjoying it double because it happens to be the beer that was the project name for our UK website we launched last summer.
Game on!
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One more day in London
We’re back in London, in a hotel about half a block from where we were a month ago. The trees in the park are now covered with leaves. It feels like coming home…
We’ll be in London for one day. Tomorrow we’re flying back to Vancouver. Our last days in Prague were pretty cool. We went to a concert and yesterday we watched Man U play Milan in an Irish pub full of Brits and the occasional Italian. Great game as well.
The plan for tonight was to go see a show. but we’ve changed that plan. Chelsea is playing Liverpool for the other semi in the Champions League, so we’re going to find a pub and watch the game instead. You have to have priorities in life. -
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Prague, off the beaten path
Sheri with the castle in the background
In an early 1900’s cubist cafe
Municipality House, I’m once again in love with a building.
May I have this dance Ginger? -
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A day in Prague
04.23.07 | Permalink | 2 Comments
We started to look at the Medevil Clock, to see the show on top of the hour
Then we went on our way to Charles Bridge.
We crossed the romantic Charles Bridge and stopped to look at the statues
We couldn’t figure out where the road to the castle was at first.
The city view from the castle was very nice.
We joined the line-up to enter the cathedral.
The gates to the first courtyard. The courtyard is designed by Jože Plečnik (yes, the same guy from Ljubljana)
By the end of the day, we were fully used to the situation. -
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Prague
So Sheri read my previous posting and wanted me to nuance my rant a bit because during this trip, it’s her blog too. I’m not really known for my nuancing skills but here we go. Prague is a beautiful city and it’s worth a visit. But please be advised of the situation you will encounter. Large number of tourists, traveling in groups through all the main sites. Souvenir shops everywhere. People trying to sell you stuff in the streets. But if you venture off into the side streets where there’s amazing architecture, you’re going to have a great time. Especially the Art Nouveaux is everywhere and beautiful.
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Prague – The assault of the Tour Groups
Remember when people said “Go to Prague before it get’s too commercial and run over by tourists”? Well, change that to “Don’t go to Prague, it’s run over by tourists”. Prague is big and beautiful, but not big enough for the volume of tourists that go through the “top sights”. It’s only April, I can’t imagine what happends when it’s summer.
We’re still having fun, it’s just a bit tough sometimes go move through hundreds of people following flags, raised books, antenna’s with stuffed animals, cloaths, ribbons, fake flowers and more. The tour guides are miked up and have a little speaker hanging on their stomach. It’s a zoo of different languages, all screaming through each other. Every store is converted into a souvenir shop with tacky tourist souvenirs.
We’re starting to make fun of the whole situation. And we’re using our “Venice Strategy”. Visit a main sight we want to see and venture off into the little streets to get some space and authenticity. So we ended up in a beer hall where everybody was smoking (guarentees us that no North American tourist will visit there) and there was a whole procedure about how to order beer, all done through the placemant of beer coasters (that eliminated all other tourists). And the price of a beer was 10 percent of what it costs on “old town square”.
Prague is beautiful, but if you’re planning a visit to Eastern Europe, also consider some of the other destinations a little less touristy so you can get a feel for the local culture.
And pictures will follow, I forgot my adaptor.
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On our way to Prague
04.19.07 | Permalink | 2 Comments
We’re on the train to Prague. We’re sharing a couchette with 3 girls from Japan (FIT!). We’re packed in like sardines. Pretty funny.
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Krakow – Poland
We’ve been in Krakow for a couple of days now. It’s a nice town and the people are very friendly, in an Adam kind of way. The old town has a huge market square, buzzing with activity. We sat there in the sun for a long time yesterday. We also walked around the old town. It has a lot of interesting buildings, dating back hundreds of years. Pope Jean-Paul II came from this area and was Arch Bishop here and we checked out his church. A very nice building with beautiful decorations.
Another train ride.
Sheri on Market square.
The Jewish district is reviving as a tourist district. There are only 200 Jewish people living here now. Before World War two, the population was over 60,000 This is the old synagogue.
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William Bakker is Chief Strategist at Destination Think!. These are my personal thoughts.
