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Europe 08 Here we go, my first trip out of the states and its a big one, 48 days (thanks ZOOM!)

HALLO! (zee German for Hello) from WIEN (Vienna)

AUSTRIA | Sunday, 22 June 2008 | Views [590]

We're in Vienna, Austria, we arrived from Prague by bus last night. Our last few days in Ireland, and our three great days in Prague, were a bit hectic but very much enjoyed. I would say that until half way into the first week we still had the feeling of being out of place but now we seem to have settled into our constantly changing surroundings, if that makes any sense. We spent our last few nights in Ireland in the southern city of Cork before departing early Sunday morning to tour Dublin (working on getting some pics up, promise). Our flight to Prague was so early Monday that the best option was to sleep in the airport the night before. The buses from Dublin city proper to the airport in the morning do not start running until after our flight departed (Cabs are exorbitantly expensive). Anyways there were quite a few people sleeping in the airport and that combined w/ sleeping on the flight plus taking a nap in one of Prague's city parks after a few (kinda) early pilsners everything worked out fine :) When we arrived nearly everything in the airport was in Czech and English making us think, well hope, that navigating the public transportation system wouldn't be such a chore. We purchased some transit passes and headed out to the bus stop where we fell into a bit of luck. It seems the best way to identify a traveler's nationality is by the brand of their backpacks. Just the logo alone is enough for a lot of people to know we are American. I was trying to pack my carry on back into my backpack when in a distinctly American voice asked if I had been in Europe long. As it turns out the guidebook I was carrying was in part written by the girlfriend of the recent Harvard Grad were sitting next to. With a bit (ok a lot) of his help we arrived in the city after just one fairly painless transfer. After the price shock of Ireland it is a bit of a relief to find out that 200$ US Dollars is about 3000 Czech crowns and a beer is about 20 crowns. Everything you need is very cheap (Food, Drinks, Transit Tickets) everything you don't (Fancy Clothes, Electronics) are very expensive. Imagine 1/3 the price you do for food in US but twice the price for electronics of half the quality. Prague is an amazingly beautiful city that I can imagine you could never see all of in three lifetimes let alone three days. There is one of the largest Castles in the world here and it sits up on a picturesque hill above the rest of the city. Architecture is part of everything here and no city I have ever seen is even close in the level of detail and sheer quality of design. Almost everyone we met spoke English quite well, although the number of tourists here in the summer outnumbers residents 9 to 1 in the summer. If there are three things I will remember about the my time in Prague its that they love their Foosball, Beer, Dogs and 6 month old American pop hits, ok that's four, but remember all those songs they played on the radio until the point you were sick of them? Well they are just getting into them here. Well that's all for now, this is our first day in Vienna and the city is buzzing with the Eurocup football (soccer) tournament. If the internet here is fast enough I will get some pictures up soon. I'm also working on getting a phone card as the call shops that were all over the place in Ireland aren't very common in Prague or Vienna it seems.

Note: We are now in Bratislava, Slovakia at a four star hotel which we are "reviewing", well our host in prauge is reviewing it for his magazine and we are the photographers :) I'll post some updates tomm and pictures now that we have a good net connection and place to stay for a few days.

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