A much Needed Update

Hello and Good day to y'all--

Writing to you from our wonderful (read:cheap) hostel in Prague. We are spending our second and last night here by staying in and drinking some local beer, taking it easy after a long day of walking around town.

So here's a trip overview so far. We have free internet in this place, so sorry if this gets a bit long winded.

After our time in Venice (as outlined earlier) we moved on to Bologna to meet up with our amazing host Bethann McDowell. It was particularly nice getting of the train and seeing her and Drew's smiling faces waiting for us to arrive.

Our time in Bologna was great. Bethann's roomates were extremely accomodating of the Americans sleeping on their couches. Waking up with the smell of strong italian coffee on the stove. We ate almost every meal together as a group, serving from the same big pot of food. ...and they can cook. Delicious. We spent about 5 days there, wandering around the city, a traveling bazaar, the church on the hill, the Juvi-Milan match, and John's birthday.

On the night of the 31st (John's Birthday for those who don't know), we had a party at Bethann (&all's) apartment. Great fun had by all. Kept going to the wee hours of the night, finishing off bottles of wine as quickly as they were opened. Unfortunately, the plan also included getting up at 6:30 for a train to Zurich. Ouch.

We then went on to Zurich, the banking capital of Europe. We payed for it. Everything was really expensive there, so we basically ate street food and big free breakfasts at the hostel. Speaking of, this hostel was by far the best we have stayed in in our lives. It was nicer than our college dorms. Cleaner and quieter for sure.

In Zurich (as with every city) we spent a lot of time just walking around getting a feel for the city. I want to live there. Badly. Everything was so clean, the people seemed very friendly, good food, etc. We also spent a good deal of one day in the Kunsthaus, the art museum there. They had a really impressive collection, with an emphasis on swiss impressionists and modernists. They also had some great Rodin and Monet works.

From Zurich, we unfortunately had to part ways with Drew. He went straight to Paris for 5 days or so, while we continue to wander around the east.

We ended up spending about 8 hours in munich on a layover between Zurich and Prague. Note to anyone traveling by Eurail: Getting drunk before taking a night train is a BAD IDEA. Sleeping is not an option. Our parents would be happy to know that we went to Hofbrauhaus and mingled for a while during our stop. We were also able to find the restaurant that we had eaten in 7 years ago when we were last in Munich. Ah Memories.

So about the night train. We though having a few drinks would be a great idea. Get a little sleepy, fall asleep quikly on the train. So after a few drinks of "5 star American Bourbon," we went to sleep. Wonderful. Then the first ticket takers woke us up. Crappy. More sleep. Then German border guards woke us up. Crappy. More Sleep. Czech Border guards. I can hostestly tell you dealing with an angry Czech Border guard while you're half asleep is no fun. After rifling through my belongings "you don't have anything you shouldn't? No Drugs?" and emptying my pockets, I was free to sleep again, until, of course, the last set of ticket takers came through. All in all: we decided no more night trains.

Prague has been fun, but a little to fresh in my mind to write about it now. I hope everyone reading this is well. We'd love to hear from you, as always.

Later on,

Justin