Jak Se Mas

2005-06-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

award winning brick structure

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cutest thing ever

Time is running out

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Our time here is running out so I am becoming a tourist again. The last few days I have been joining the tourists and trying to make sure that I see everything that Rick Steves says to see. I have added in a few that interest me... Rick Steves doesnt know everything! This tunnel won an award for best brick structure... it's some engineering magic. And I went back to see the owls...their just so darn cute!

2005-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Me holding the LARGEST owl in the WORLD!

2005-06-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Eva holding Juliet

Holding some Endangered animals - June 8th

2005-06-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

Eva and I got the chance to hold some really cool owl's at the Prague castle today. Eva held the barn owl, and I the Eagle owl. The owl I held was the largest in the world, well not the largest of its kind. Technically the females are larger, but this particular type is the largest of the owls. He actually only weighed 3.5 lbs.

2005-06-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

trying to stay cool with ice pops

2005-06-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

Goofin around at Fisherman's Bastion

Budapest

2005-06-11T04:13:00.001-07:00

May 27-29 Andy, James and I went to Budapest. We showed up at the train sation after a long unairconditioned train ride and emediatly found a place to stay, we stayed in a flat owned by a man and his wife. It was nice to not even have to look for a place and expecially end up with an incredibly cheap and nice place. Things were starting out well. The next day we planned on taking a three hour walking tour and ended up taking an open air bus tour that was longer and cheaper and no walking, which was nice seeing as how HOT it was there. The trip was fun but unfortuatly it was the end of my travels with Andy. She left from Budapest and James and I took the train back home.

2005-06-11T04:13:00.000-07:00

Andy and me at the Fisherman's Bastion

2005-06-11T04:10:00.006-07:00

Thursday 26th was our last time together as Erasmus students. ISC got us a boat and we went down the river through Prague. It was a heaven and hell theme, so there were lots of fun costumes. We all had a good time, but we are glad its not quite over yet. But its getting sad to have to say goodbye to those that are already leaving.

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View from Neuschwanstein Castle

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Neuschwanstein Castle. Its hard to see but all the little specs at the top of the pic are para- gliders

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James, Andy, and Molly all dressed in black

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Waving to the Bridge walkers who are all jelious their not on the boat with us!

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Drew, Abi, Will, and Molly

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Abi and James in front of the Parlement in Budapest

Expert Bikers

2005-06-11T04:09:00.001-07:00

Now expert city bikers Andy and I ride through the streets of Munich with ease. We make our rounds through the city, of course stopping off at the Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s famous beer hall. We decide that we should cut the next day a little short so that we can stop off at the Neuschwanstein Castle on our way back to Prague. If you think this castle looks familiar then you are right, it was the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. It was absolutely amazing, the castle and landscape surrounding it was the most beautiful I have seen in all of my castle viewing days here in Europe. Then after seeing the castle we had back for Prague.

2005-06-11T04:09:00.000-07:00

enjoying a large! beer at the famous Hofbrahhaus in Munich

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here we are in the blackforest (~scary~)

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Largest Fountain in Europe (not much to it, but it sure is high)

The Biggest Fountain in Europe

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Geneva has the largest fountain in all of Europe!
Our last stop with mom was here in Geneva, she flew out on the 23rd, we were sad to see her go, but excited to get out of expensive Switzerland. Andy and I continued on to venture into the Black Forest. It wasn’t as black as we were expecting, but it was cool. We stayed in the town of Freiburg, which was a cool little town, where we also rented bikes, this time slightly less high tech but without signs so it made us feel like locals. This is obviously my new favorite way to tour. Next stop Munchen.

Interlaken

2005-06-11T03:17:00.001-07:00

Next stop… Interlaken, Switzerland. We stopped here in the town of extreme sports and decided why not do some white water rafting. The Swiss alps were beautiful and we went floatin down them. We even got to jump into the water, yes if was cold.

2005-06-11T03:17:00.000-07:00

Having fun with a tripod

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Whitewater rafting in Interlaken

2005-06-11T03:11:00.000-07:00

Bikin it through Salzburg

Austria

2005-06-11T03:10:00.001-07:00

The hills are alive! Our first stop Salzburg, Austria. We rented bikes (the best way, to see any city) and went through the streets of Salzburg, going along the river was beautiful. We also got to see an army band competition (czech band was in attendance), and the largest chess board in Europe (at least from what I've seen).

2005-06-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

Castle in Salzburg

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Beautiful coundryside on our way to Austria

Road Trip!

2005-06-11T03:08:00.000-07:00

Mom and Andy came into town and we went on a road trip. Seeing how I had not been in a car for several months this excites me tremendously! We stayed a few days in Praha, showing them my home of the last few months, then picked up our car (skoda, Czech made) and took off for Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. The countryside was amazing, after several hours of wondering and discussing what we thought the fields of yellow could be, mom decided to stop and ask some random woman on the side of the road, who obviously knew no English. We also stopped to check out an array of gnomes sold by and Asian man in he middle of nowhere. Unfortunately we walked away with out a gnome, most were a little scandalously clad.

2005-05-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Jeanie and Molly, Jeanie's last night in Central Europe...She'll be back in Kansas City on the third of June.

2005-05-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

View of Hungary's Parliament, the third largest in the world, and the Danube from The Castle

2005-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Thilo, our friend from Germany, Dalyn, Jeanie, Molly at the top of Gellert Hill

2005-05-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Danube and a view of Pest, our hostel is in the top left corner. (hi mom, see your name on the center building)

2005-05-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Market hall in central Pest, where you can purchase any type of meat product or souviner you could ever imagine.

2005-05-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Some of our new friends from the Szechenyi Baths, the largest medical bath complex in europe. This place was actually really fun, and we needed to relax after that night train. By the time we got out of the water we were as wrinkled as the rest of the patrons.

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A typical street near our 'hostel', in reality a really nice, small two bedroom flat, which we shared with four super nice british boys.

2005-05-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Molly and Jeanie, at the Fisherman's Bastion, past of the Castle in Buda

2005-05-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Castle

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Jeanie, Molly and Dalyn

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Thilo, Jeanie, Molly and Dalyn at the Hungarian House of Wine, a must for anyone visiting Budapest

Budapest May 18th-22nd

2005-05-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Jeanie left Prague for good today; she’s off to Ireland to met up with our high school friends. Abi is still in Switzerland, she and Andy are scheduled to arrive back in Prague sometime Wednesday then they are off to Budapest.

In honor of Jeanie’s finally weekend in Central Europe, we decided to head to Budapest, via a nine hour night train. We were woken several times by the not-so-nice Slovak Passport Inspectors. When we arrived it was raining so we grabbed our swimming suits, packed our towels and headed for the Szechenyi Bath; one of the many spas in Budapest, and the largest in all of Europe. Jeanie and I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable being surrounded by Speedo-loving-hairy-old men, however, even with the scenery we managed to enjoy the Olympic sized hot tubs. Later, we met up with our friends from school, Dalyn and Thilo, for some delicious Hungarian dinner.

I was surprised by how much larger Budapest is than Prague, but I guess it is two cities, we spent the next couple of days wondering Pest, on the East side of the Danube and Castle Hill, on the Buda side.

For our final blowout, our friends recommended we visit the Hungarian house of Wine. For under $20 we were able to spend 3 hours sampling 35 different types of wines from all over Hungary. We were with a really great group from Albania, Hungary, and the US. Needless to say, the wine tasting extravaganza was about as much fun as our group could handle and after three days of sightseeing so we were back in our hostel by 9pm.
Conclusion…I must come back to Budapest…it's LOVELY! I know that I didn't see nearly enough of the city [even though we ended up spending more time there than any other I’ve had the privilege of visiting]

2005-05-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Amanda Dalyn Molly on Lake Zurichsee

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Limmate River, Zurich Switzerland

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On top of the Grossmunster, Zurich Switzerland

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Molly feeding the Swan, Zurichsee Lake

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Amanda and Molly in front of Corbusier's Weber Haus, Zurich Switzerland

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Dalyn, Amanda, Molly in front of the Reuss River, Luzern Switzerland (see the mountains)

2005-05-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

Jean Nouvel's KKL on Lucern Lake

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Dalyn and Molly on the Chapel Bridge, Luzern

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Dalyn, Amanda, Molly, and the Lowendenkmal

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Swans in lake Luzern

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Luzern and the Alps, taken from the city walls

The Weekend

2005-05-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend Abi and Jeanie stayed in Prague and entertained four of our friends from kstate who just finished up their study abroad semester in Italy. Abi's Mom and Sister are in Europe and schedualed to come to Prague tomorrow morning. This weekend, the three of them are renting a car and driving through Germany and Switzerland.

I, however, went to Switzerland....two days in Zurich and one in Lucern.

I was actually a little surprised how much Zurich reminded me of Prague-they have a similar scale, and both are friendly and of course beautiful. Unlike Prague, everything is super trendy and outrageously expensive....10.80 francs for hamburger! We walked around the city for hours, ate lunch by the lake, visited the univeristy of Zurich, and climbed the tower of the Grossmunster for a great view of the city, the lake and the alps. The next day was a bit cloudy but we still got in a hike and a bike ride before it started to rain. While it was raining we went on an hour long boat ride around the lake. We were mesmerized by the incredibly clear water of the rivers and lakes, you could watch the fish and swans forever.

Luzern is amazing, it's one of those cities thats a little off the beaten path but totally worth a trip. The most beautiful city, unforgettable, even better than the swiss chocolate. Highlight...Lowendenkmal, a giant lion carved into a cliff in memory of the fallen swiss soilders(mark twain said it was the most moving piece of stone in the world), plus the view of the Alps from the harbor. Jean Nouvel's KKL building was pretty impressive as well.

Other than the night trains and the rain it was a great weekend.

Update May 8th

2005-05-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hope you all enjoy these Italy Pics, they took forever to load, should of been studio but this seemed like more fun.

Happy Liberation Day! 60 years since the end of WWII! Loads of parades and fireworks. The one day euopeans actually like americans.

PS This is going to be a crazy month...jeanies back in prague, Abi's mom and sister are coming, the italy kids just finished up their semester so they'll be coming to prague in waves, my truman state friends are making their tour of europe and will be in prague the first of june, then my cousins katy and laura, our floor is going to be well broken in.

expect pictures of switzerland and budapest in the next couple of weeks

Abi has new prague hair, she's rocking the euro purple, never been more beautiful

PSSmom- happy mothers day, miss ya, love ya

2005-05-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Abis especially excited to leave Masarykova (the ulgy dorm in the background) and head to ITALY!

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Its some sort of rule, take increadibly dorky pictures in front of leaning tower (theres really not much else to do in Pisa)

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Abi and Molly, Cortona and Tuscan Mountains

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With the Italian Kstaters, Cortona

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Sorry this one is a little dark, Adam Mike Aaron Molly Kyle Tanner in Castiglion Florentino square and Cathedral's Bell tower

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Molly Aaron Abi Tanner Adam, Arno River, Ponte Vecchio Florence

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Abi on her way to the top of the Duomo

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Molly climbing the narrow spiral steps (463) to the top of the Duomo (good thing most italians are skinny, this is a two way staircase) (bastard highschool field trips graffitied the duomo)

2005-05-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

At the top of the Duomo, Florence

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Adam Abi Molly Aaron Max, Enjoying the Sunset with spectacular view at Piazza Michelangeo and Tuscan Wine, Florence

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Tanner Aaron Max Molly, Sketching the Pantheon

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St Peters, Vatican City

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Abi and Molly throwing a penny into Rome's Trevi Fountain

2005-05-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

Molly Abi Adam on the Beach, Cinque Terre (five small cliff top towns on the Mediterrranean)

2005-05-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tanner, Aaron, Abi and Molly

2005-05-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Molly and Abi, on the beach in Cinque Terre (with our italian boyfriends, on the left)

2005-05-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Inside Libeskind's Jewish Museum, Berlin

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Maire Elizabeth Luders Haus (German Parliment) and River Spree in Berlin

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Abi and Molly

ITALY! April 21-30

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The best trip of my life! We did so much, I’ve never been so exhausted in my life. Carrying around a forty pound backpack through eight cities, several long trainrides, and one mad dash through Pisa International is hard work, but ofcourse totally worth it.

We went from Prague to Berlin(via 5 hour train) then flew to…
Pisa (the tower really leans)...
Castiglion Florentino, stayed with our friends from Kstate, they took us on a daytrip to ...
Cortona(a perfect little Tuscan hill town, where they filmed under the Tuscan sun)...
two days in Florence (up 463 steps to the top of the duomo)...
two days in Rome (we actually saw the pope, I was literally three folding chairs away from him)...
Cinque Terre (our one relaxing day, got burned on the beach swimming in the perfect and beautiful Mediterranean)...
back to Berlin (two days of exploring some of the best modern architecture in Europe)
6 hours by train back to Prague. WOW. It was crazy!Now it’s time to catch up on the school we missed, it was worth it!

2005-05-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Greig, Aaron, Molly, Jim and James Love That Haggis

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Mashed Potatoes are typically eaten with Haggis (a sheeps stomach filled with minced liver and other goodies) just cut it open and dig in!

2005-05-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Aaron, Greig and Abi enjoying a breakfast of Black Pudding (main ingredient...pigs blood)

A Scottish Feast? April 15th

2005-05-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

So do you know what Haggis is? How about Black Pudding? Well last night Abi and I had the pleasure of tasting these Scottish delicacies. After our friends had raved all semester about how great they are, Jimbo asked his mum to send some so we could make up our own minds. And, surprisingly it wasn’t that bad, I preferred the haggis while Abi liked the black pudding.

2005-05-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

Greig, Abi, Jimbo, and Molly in front of the Zwinger and the Semper Opera House in Dresden Germany

2005-05-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Jimbo, Abi and Greig awed by the beauty of Dresden, at the Bruhl Terrace on the Elbe River

2005-05-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

Abi and Molly in front of the Church of Our Lady, One of the few buildings that was rebuilt after it was bombed during WWII, using many salvaged blocks.

Dresden Germany April 10-11

2005-05-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

After visiting five small Czech towns and six Castles, we finally decided to leave the Czech Republic. Destination Dresden, Germany, two hours northwest of Prague. We bought rail tickets and planned to get up early, spend the day there and catch the last train home. Fortunately we’ve learned to be flexible, we ended up staying the night because our friends, James and Greig decided to go last minute, so we didn’t cross the border till mid-afternoon.

We found a really nice little hostel near the art distract and a great Mexican Restaurant, two rarities in the CZ. In fact everything about Germany is nice…architecture, streets, trams and people. Dresden is spotless, not a tourist attraction like Prague. It was leveled by bombs during WWII, so new architectureis booming. After two great days, we caught the last train back to Prague to find anxious roommates who weren’t informed of our change of plans.

2005-04-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

April 6, 2005

This week we are settling back into our normal routine, without visitors, and have been visiting the museums in town. On Mon. we went to the National Museum, on the first mon. of the month admission is free (Wahoo!). Here we saw, what seemed to be, the largest collection of stuffed animals in the world. They also had fossils and minerals, but who really cares about that stuff. After classes on Tuesday we went to Veletrzni Plac the modern art museum in town. We only had a few ours before our next class, so we were only able to visit two floors, featuring: Picasso, Van Gogh, Cézanne, and some interesting work of Czech Cubists in Prague (Molly’s favorite). There we also saw furniture done by many famous designers (of course Abi’s favorite). This weekend we are planning a trip to Dresden, a town just on the other side of the border in Germany. Yeah, we’re leaving the country finally.

2005-04-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Sam, Molly, Jeanie, and Abi on Charles Bridge in Praha

2005-04-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Jeanie, Abi, and Molly at Praha castle

2005-04-13T21:52:00.001-07:00

Jim, Lindsay, Molly, Jeanie, Abi, Aaron, Sam, James, Tanner eating champaign and honey cake (Czech dessert)

2005-04-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Abi, Molly, Jeanie out on the town

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Jeanie and Sams first Czech meal...YUM!

Jeanie and Sam visit Praha

2005-04-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

March 28-April 1

This week we are entertaining our friends from home that are studying in London. We are taking them around to see all the sights of Prague, and showing them what we have been up to so far in the CZ. This week is exceptionally busy because of the Easter Holiday. The town is full of tourist. It is strange to here so many English speaking people around. April 1st has also started the invasion of many elderly Asian tourists.

2005-04-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Abi and Molly in Cesky Krumlov

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Janna, Justin, Molly, Abi, Amanda, Michelle, Will, and David in Cesky Krumlov

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Abi and Molly outside cabin in Cesky Krumlov

2005-04-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Molly and Abi in Cesky Krumlov

2005-04-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Molly and Abi at Zamek Hlubka castle

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Abi and Molly Zamek Hluboka Castle

2005-04-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

Clint, Abi and Molly at Cesky Krumlov Castle

Cesky Krumlov

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April 2-3

This weekend we took a trip with our international club to visit two towns, Budejovice and Cesky Krumlov, both in South Bohemia. First to Budejocive to visit another beautiful castle, with amazing interiors, most ornate and Abi’s favorite so far. Then we went to Cesky Krumlov, a very quaint and beautiful town. First we stopped at our lovely accommodations, 10 small cabins just outside of town, and had dinner in the small pub run by the owners. After dinner the group ventured into town to see the breath taking views of the town at night. The next day we toured the town, this time with a guide. He explained all the interesting history of the town and showed us more of the castle, including the lovely garden. We’ve now seen 5 small towns, and 6 castles in the Czech Republic.

2005-04-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Abi inside window at Karlstejn castle

2005-04-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Molly and Abi at Karlstejn castle