Summer Trips: London and Prague - Subways

Prague Metro:



London Underground:




I do have a quick Prague Metro story. Upon arriving in Prague, Matt explains to me that the Prague Metro does not check tickets and that it essentially operates on the honor system. The tickets are rather cheap though--about 50 cents--so we buy them anyways. When we get to the ticket machine, there are 10 different ticket options. Since we were only going 2 stops we figure the cheapest ticket would be sufficient. We ride in a similar fashion for the first day or so.

The next night as we're exiting one of the metro stops a man approaches Matt and starts saying something. Now, I should mention that being approached by random people in Prague is not an unusual thing. While walking around town, people would come up to me and ask or tell me all sorts of things: "we have the best beer!" or "a new stripclub just opened up", etc. So when this guy approached Matt, Matt just kept right on walking. Finally, the guy corners Matt and whips out this little keychain fob badge. Turns out he was a Metro official and wanted to see Matt's ticket. Thinking nothing of it, he shows the official his ticket. The official looks at it, then looks at Matt, and it's at that point that I walk up to them with a confused look on my face. Seeing me, the official asks for my ticket as well. I present it to him and then he proceeds to explain to both of us that we had purchased incorrect tickets and that we were both required to pay 500 Krowns immediately.

500 Krowns is about 25 dollars.

Summer Trips: London and Prague - Prague

The lovely cobblestone streets. Matt tells me that walking on cobblestone is better for your feet because the stones hit your pressure points better than flat pavement.

And the equally lovely sidewalks.

Matt thinks about beer.

Authentic Czech cuisine; nothing to write home about.


Matt finds his favorite brand of absinthe.


Synagogue.
Just walking around random Prague streets is an amazing and beautiful experience.


Those pretzels are not free. I learned that the hard way.



It felt great to give $1oo and get 2000 Krowns back.

Summer Trips: London and Prague - London (Part 2)

We explored London by getting off at random Tube stops. One of those stops included Camden Town, which had all sorts of interesting shops and restaurants. It was filled with all sorts of hipsters and malcontents; I liked it. Ran into a Woolworths while walking around. Not sure if this is related to the famous American store or not. (Update: Apparently it is!)
On our last night, we walked around Picadilly Circus, which is London's version of Times Square.

We visited the Kew Royal Gardens on our last day. Did you know that palm trees can grow in England?
This is the London Stone. It's essentially the State and Madison of London--all distances are measured from this stone. Although, the stone has been moved multiple times, and is now in the basement of a Puma Sports store.
Our last stop was the Maritime Museum. There's a nice observation deck at the top of a huge hill. I ran up it; Matt walked. We both ran down. To the right is the London financial district and to the left is the old part of the city.

Summer Trips: London and Prague - London (Part 1)

I just got back from a 7-day trip to London and Prague. The trip was amazing. Over the next few posts, I will be posting stories and photos from my trip.

I got into London early on the morning of May 24th.
Clearing Customs took about 90 minutes and then I was off to meet my friend Matt at Paddington Station.
I was a little jet-lagged.
While in London, I was staying at a flat that Matt's parents will be moving into in the coming weeks. The flat is in Hampstead, which is north of London. Matt found a pub online called the Spaniard, which, on the map, looked walkable. Four miles later, I was eating a cheddar and ale chutney sandwich. What is ale chutney? I asked the very same question and nobody seemed to be able to give me a clear answer. Finally, the waitress gave up and just brought me a sample of the chutney. Simply put: it's a chutney with ale in it. So after all of that, I had no choice but to order the sandwich.

It wasn't very good.
Later in the week, we went to the Tate Modern. We went on a bank holiday and so the museum was quite crowded. It was an interesting mixture of tourists, foreigners, and British people. There were a lot of families and I noticed, on more than one occasion, moms or dads pointing to and explaining aspects of particular paintings (texture, color, composition, etc) to their 10-year old children. Now, I've been to the Art Institute of Chicago many times, and while I've seen 10-year olds in the museum, I've never once witnessed one critically engaged with a painting (I'm not even going to discuss what most of the parents are like).

It was nice to see.

Stay tuned for more!

Venus and the Moon

Much more impressive in person.

Tomorrow I leave for Europe. I'm going in search of adventure with my friend Matt.
I fly into London on Thursday morning and Prague on Friday.

I'm very excited!

Unfortunately I will not be posting again until May 31st.
Stay tuned for pictures and stories!

Summer Trips: Trip to the Grand Canyon

I'm planning a trip to the Grand Canyon. It will be a week long trip in mid-June. There will be three main stops: Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Arches National Park. We'll be camping two nights at the Grand Canyon.

Total: 3430 miles