Prague is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. It was largely preserved during the war, although it was bombed toward the end of WWII. However, any damage caused throughout the decades has been replaced or restored, in some cases with even greater magnificence.

When you walk around Prague, look up. Some of the cities most beautiful and unique treasures are on top of buildings, or sometimes even hanging over the edges. For a while it was quite popular for young, undiscovered artists to take it upon themselves to decorate the city with sculptures (sometimes in random places). They often received no fame or recognition, nor did they expect it; it was simply their contribution to their beloved city.

Even the houses are decorated. Each building has (or had) some type of unique sign by which it could be identified. Before street names & numbers existed, you could send a letter to “the house with the three flying ducks”, and the messenger would know where to deliver it.

It’s hard to imagine that such a beautiful place was under such oppression not so long ago. We took a free walking tour (yes, we’re becoming quite fond of the free walking tours, especially when we don’t have a lot of time in a particular city), and our tour guide was a girl around 30 years old named Victoria. She was a Prague native, born into communism, but her parents gave her and her brother “Western” names in hopes that they could grow up and immigrate, in order to make better lives for themselves. Thankfully now, it is not necessary for them to leave their country to find opportunities.

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Cesky Krumlov takes the cake for the “Most Likely to Make You Want to Stay Longer and Do Nothing” award. When you plan your trip, figure out how long you want to stay, then add a day or two. It has the relaxing feeling of a beach resort, except that there are no beaches and it’s not overpriced.

It’s a charming medieval village set in what feels like the middle of nowhere (about a 3 hour bus ride from Prague). There’s a river that winds through the town, on which you can raft or kayak in the summer months, but don’t bother trying to orient yourself based on the river as you will get lost following its many twists and turns. However, as our hostel host told us when we first arrived “getting lost is just part of the experience here.”

It doesn’t take much aimless wandering before you stumble across the castle, which includes one of my favorite attractions of the city. Back in the days when the castle was still in use, the mote surrounding it was stocked with bears for protection, rather than water. The bears are still there just for nostalgia, although they are well-fed, slow-moving, and don’t look like they’d really give a rip if you fell into their mote. That happens to be my favorite kind of bear.

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After our near miss of the flight from Vienna, we arrived in Poland and promptly took the least efficient route to our hotel. We finally identified the correct bus, which was packed to the gills, and figured it would eventually take us to city center. We’ve been to enough airports now to know that the road leading into town always looks the same… a highway, on which you can expect to pass an Ikea, Carrefour, and some random office buildings. Not Poland. It was just a 2-lane road through the countryside that reminded me of driving from Lodi to Acampo. If you don’t know where that is, I guess that is the point.

Our primary reason for coming to Kraków was to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is about an hour outside the city. There’s really not much around Auschwitz, so most people stay in Kraków then make a day trip to the largest of the former concentration camps.

I went back and forth on how much I wanted to write about Auschwitz, or if I wanted to (or should) write at all. I hesitate to impose my experience on someone else, at the risk of it affecting your own personal experience, should you ever choose to visit it yourself. There are also those people who have never visited Auschwitz and have no intentions of doing so. I was kinda one of those people. Scott almost took this leg of the trip on his own, but I later decided that it was something I… wanted isn’t the right word… needed to do? Felt like I should do? Might regret not doing? I dunno. Anyhow, I went.

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This was our first trip with sunshine since we went to Italy in September/October. How refreshing it was! I was so taken with Vienna, but I honestly don’t know if it was the beautiful city, the sophisticated culture, or just the fact that it was sunny. Probably all of the above.

I got a bit of the German vibe in Vienna, and not just because of the language. I think it was the tidiness and efficiency. The Viennese also have a soft spot for romance. Beautifully maintained (and restored) buildings, parks that beg you to stop what you’re doing and sit down for a while, appreciation for music and art, even their own waltz.

Austria claims to be the capital of classical music, and rightly so, as the home of some of the worlds most famous composers, including Mozart and Strauss, as well as one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, the Vienna State Opera.

It costs 15 Euros to tour the Wiener Staatsoper, or Vienna State Opera, and considerably more for a seat at an opera or ballet. However, we had heard that if you wait in line a couple hours prior to a performance, there’s a possibility of getting “standing tickets” for only 3.50 Euros. Hmm…. 15€ to visit the building while it’s empty, or 3.50€ to see it with a live performance.

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Hey, check it out… KarieandScott.com is currently listed as a Featured Blog on www.TravelBlogs.com!  Each week the site interviews a new featured blog, and this week, it’s us!  You can find the interview on their home page, or click here to go directly to it.

P.S. If you’re reading this because you found us on TravelBlogs.com, thanks for clicking.  We hope you have a seat, stay a while, and feel free to leave us any questions/comments.

After dropping off our travel partners from Munich, we headed for our next adventure in close quarters with someone we don’t know – Couch Surfing!  Over the next 5 minutes, some of you will be thinking about how you can work this into your next trip, and others of you will think we are insane.

Here’s how Couch Surfing (CS) works: go to www.CouchSurfing.com and create an account.  Members can specify if they have a “couch” available for “surfers”, meaning, space for a visitor to come stay with them (a couch, extra room, dog bed, patio furniture…).  If you are traveling, you can visit the website (after creating an account) and search for available couches in the city you are visiting.

We found a wonderful girl in Zürich who agreed to let us stay with her and her two cats for 2 nights.  She had a gorgeous flat in a great location, she was friendly & hospitable, and gave us a wealth of information about Switzerland… the kind of stuff you would never know without spending a few hours with a local.

Here’s a little more about how it works, for the “tell me more!” crowd:
The people who make their couches available are typically travelers themselves… generally outgoing, like meeting new people from different places, and know that some day the favor will be returned when it’s their turn to travel (kind of pay-it-forward-ish).  For the travelers, it’s a great opportunity to really learn about the city from a local perspective.  Not to mention it’s usually free, although I personally think it’s appropriate to buy your host dinner, or something to show your appreciation.

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In order to fulfill Scott’s dream of driving on the Autobahn, we rented a car and drove from Berlin down to Würzburg, which is somewhere in the middle of Germany, not too far from Frankfurt.  Unfortunately, we were not able to rent a Porsche, but our little Opel didn’t embarrass us too badly.

Scott is convinced that German drivers are the best in the world.  I’m sure this has nothing to do with the fact that he is of German decent.  Ok, I also admit that there seems to be a mutual respect on the road.  Drivers reserve the fast lane strictly for passing, no one cuts anyone off, and rules of the road are obeyed (whether those rules are laws or just unspoken etiquette).  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the right lanes, at a comfortable 130-180 kph (roughly 80-110 mph), and kept the left lane open for the Mercedes & BMWs that regularly fed us their dust as they flew by at 200+ kph.

After a 5-or-so-hour drive from Berlin, we stopped in Würzburg for the night, which is the beginning of the Romantische Straße, or Romantic Road.  Our hostel, on the other hand, was not representative of this title.  It felt more like an old hospital clinic than the gateway to the most beautiful scenery in Germany.  At any rate, we didn’t spend much time there, as we were off again early the next morning.

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I learned more in Berlin in 2 days than I learned in all my years of schooling combined. What a fascinating place, AND, to top it all off, the best things in Berlin are FREE!

If you remember one tip out of everything I share from our entire year here, let it be this: take the New Berlin Free Walking Tour. If you are ever in Berlin, or anywhere near Berlin, please take this tour. If you have been to Berlin and did not take this tour, go back and take this tour. The company, New Europe Tours, now offers free tours in several major cities, including Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc., but the history of Berlin made this one of particular interest to me.

The philosophy of New Europe Tours is that every person deserves a high quality informative tour, regardless of status or income level. The reason it works is that the tour guides are extremely enthusiastic about history, and they have to be good at what they do because they work solely on tips. So while it’s nice that the tour is free, that’s not necessarily why I recommend it. In fact, make sure you take money with you because you will want to tip your guide generously.

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