Praha

March 22-23

Prague is a city rich with history, here is a very brief snapshot: For most of its history Prague had been an ethnically mixed city of Czech, German and Jewish populations. WWI ended with the creation of Czechoslovakia with Prague as its capital. Then from 1939, Prague was occupied by Nazi Germany. While Prague was mostly undamaged by WWII, it still suffered from air raids (US air strikes meant for Dresden). After WWII, Germans were driven out of the city and Prague came under the Soviet influence, and ultimately freeded itself from Russian ties with the fall of the wall in 1989. Then in 1993 Czechoslovakia split and Prague became the capital city of the new Czech Republic. In 2004 Czech Republic joined the EU and removed its border controls with neighboring countries in 2007.

Prague was quite beautiful with old architecture and living history all around. When we went it was also quite cold, but I think it would be a very romantic city to visit in a warmer climate. I heard its very touristy and was indeed very crowded when we visited. It is also more expensive in Praha 1 (the main touristy district) than in other parts of Prague (they still have the Czech Koruna, but have the intention to adopt the Euro by 2010ish or so). With all of the walking, Prague was a bit tiring, but I thoroughly enjoyed our visit there - I cannot imagine how crowded it gets in its high season!!


Photos:
1 - 2 - Sights on the drive down from Berlin to Prague, we passed many small poor villages and Communist looking/prefab buildings once we crossed into the Czech Republic
3 - It looks like Venice, but it is Prague
4 - The long escalators in the Prague metro stations, I heard that the stations doubled or can be bomb shelters as well since they are so deep
5 - Cathedral
6 - Around Prague
7 - Florian and I up on the castle walk with the city behind us
8 - The Prague castle
9 - The water way on the bridge over to the Prague castle
10 - In the metro, just in case you weren't aware you are supposed to buy metro tickets while in the train area
11 - 12 - The old town square of Prague
13 - 14 - The Original Budweiser!
15 - Prague at night from across the Charles Bridge
16 - The old border control checkpoint, everyone gets very confused here if they need to stop or should keep going

Tropical Islands

March 23

No we didn't stop at the beach!! On the way back to Berlin (36 miles southeast of Berlin), we stopped at the Tropical Islands Resort...it is an artificial tropical resort and is said to be the world's largest tropical indoor pool which can accommodate up to 8,000 visitors a day and the world's largest indoor waterpark at 710,000 sq feet.

The structure was orginally built as an airplane hanger - 360 meters long, 210 meters wide and 107 meters high. At 194 million ft³ it is one of the largest buildings on Earth by volume, and is the world's largest single hall without supporting pillars inside. The hangar cost €78 million, but the airship it was intended to house was never built.

When we went it was incredibly packed, couldn't find a free place to sit on the sat or the seats near the beach. This park isn't quite equipped for children nor adults, with only a few slides and water toys. However, it was a sight to see! Also it was very warm and after a chilly Prague this was a tropical delight!!


Photos:
1 - The structure from the parking
2 - Inside view, notice the half sky
3 - 4 - On the crowded beach

Dresden

March 21

Over the second weekend of Easter, Florian and I drove to Prague and stopped to visit Dresden on the way. Dresden is a charming little city along the Elbe river that spent 40 years in the Soviet bloc and is known for the controversial allied bombing right before the Germans surrendered. The rationale behind the bombing was fuzzy: defeat German morale, make a point to the Russians, take out the than 7th largest Germany city because of its industrial importance. Nonetheless, the historical center of Dresden was destroyed in 1945, but has now been rebuilt to its old glory. Curiously enough, Dresden's sister city (twin-town relationship) is Coventry (where Warwick University is) since it had suffered a similar fate in the hand of the Germans.

The Zwinger Palace (rebuilt in 1964) was formerly part of the Dresden fortress of which the outer wall is conserved. Zwinger means outer ward of a concentric castle - the cannons placed between the outer wall and the major wall. It is an enormous palace that was restored nicely. It's one of Dresden's main attractions.


Photos:
1 - 3 - the Dresden Zwinger
4 - Florian and I at the Zwinger
5 - The Dresden Frauenkirche (The Church of Our Lady)
6 - Views of the bridge over the Elbe
7 - View of Dresden historical city center
8 - Dresden at night...I risked my life on the road to get this pic

Helsinki

March 15-16

We took a Tallink ferry from Tallin to Helsinki, Finland and it only took about two hours. We had to literally run almost a mile to get to the boat, because the salesperson sold us our tickets too late and they did a last call even before we three had our tickets.

Helsinki was very cool and you could see the difference in the attitude of the people. We were helped even without asking on numerous occasions. And of course, the Finns speak amazing English! Additionally all the bars/clubs were packed, the Finns like their nightlife. Also, heavy metal/Goth is big in Helsinki!

One of the funniest moments in Helsinki is when we were on the tram in route to the hostel. The Finns have a trusting society and you don't have to really buy a train/bus ticket...but of course we did. At one stop almost 10 ticket checkers get on the street tram (they all wear the same green jumpsuits) and block all of the exits to stop people for jumping off.

Helsinki itself was pretty and you could see some Russian influence however, I look forward to seeing St. Petersburg one day!!

Photos:
1 -The ferry was great, but it was freezing outside
2 - Tallink ferry boat was huge and could transport cars
3 - Me in our hostel, my first community hostel experience...and it may be my last :)
4 - Pizza in Helsinki, fine-dining!
5 - Isa and I at our hostel
6 - The Finns are very much into keeping the environment clean
7 - 10 - Scenes of Helsinki
11 - The Lutheran Cathedral - one of Helsinki's symbols
12 - Ekberg cafe, the oldest cafe in Helsinki, which we didn't know at first when we went in the cafe and saw the 16E breakfast buffet....then found out why it was so expensive and crowded later on our city tour

Tallin

March 14-15

I wanted to explore all of the Scandinavian/Baltic countries but of course there are time, financial and visa considerations. Wanted to get to Russia and Iceland, but my roomies and I ended up going to Tallin, Estonia and Helsiniki, Finland for a weekend.

Estonia became communist and part of the USSR after WWII, but gained its independence again in 1991 and also a part of the EU. We flew into Tallin on a Friday and this was evident right from the start with the attitude of the people that we encountered. We stayed near the Old Town, which is the nicest part of Tallin from what I saw.

The weather was awful while we were in Tallin, cold and rainy!! However, Tallin was an interesting spot and maybe going in better weather would make for a better experience.

Photos:
1 - Rocio and I at our first dinner on our weekend away. It was here that we learned that ordering the cheapest item on the menu is not the best idea - sometimes you get what you pay for.

2, 3, 4 - The old town of Tallin at night

5 - Me in front of the gate of the old town

6, 7, 8 - Views of Tallin from our city bus tour. The buildings have that old commie feel and the circle windows are typical of Estonia.