Day 30 | June 25

After a late night out we slept in before heading out to drive to hohenschwangau to see the two castles there. I had some initial reticence about this since the whole thing is such a tourist trap. I have to say, though, this was hands down the coolest thing I’ve seen on the trip so far. Yes it is a tourist trap but the castles and the country side around them are gorgeous. We stayed at the Hotel Mueller which I highly recommend, it wasn’t expensive, the rooms were great and the hotel has views of both the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. I highly recommend.

Day 29 | June 24

A fairly early start to the day had us headed down to the Prague train station to catch a train to Regensburg to see my all time best friend and free range degenerate, Peter. Naturally we ended up sitting next to a mother and daughter from Idaho on the train and chatting with them helped pass the time. I had to do some work after we got to Regensberg and checked into our hotel but after that we met up with Peter and went out for a pretty steadily escalating evening that concluded with us sitting on the banks of the river having beers around two or three am. Having not heard from Peter since seeing him there I can only assume he fell in after I left.

Day 28 | June 23

The first time I went to check out Prague castle and St. Vitus Cathedral they were out of audio tours. As a guy who likes to know every single thing about the sights I’m seeing I couldn’t let this stand. So today we went back and picked up some audio tours. I didn’t realize it was a thing but we happened up right at the changing of the guard at noon which was very cool as well. We spent the afternoon at a cafe in the garden of the castle doing some work before attempting another early evening so we could catch a train in the morning.

Day 27 | June 22

Anyone who knows me probably knows that I hate the zoo. Denver has a great zoo. But after being drug down there to trudge through the hot sun every year of my young life I’d had about enough of the whole experience. I say this to underscore how serious I am when I say that the Prague zoo is awesome. You could easily spend a day, maybe two, there. We dedicated one to it today and it was excellent. After that it was over to a cafe to do some work and then home for further productivity. In the evening there we went to an open air performance by the Prague philharmonic that was held on the square in front of Prague castle overlooking the city. After that it was a quick dinner at Bruxx and another attempt at an early evening.

Day 26 | June 21

There was some work to be caught up on today so sadly that dominated the agenda. Spent some time at Cafe Monolok and Cafe La Boheim with some coffee and reliable WiFi to be productive. In the evening there was more walking through old town and a very intimate classical concert off of old town square. After the concert we hit Black Angels for cocktails which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Prague.

Day 25 | June 20

Back on the eventful end of the spectrum I headed out to the airport to collect one cute girl and take her back to Prague. After several weeks of construction induced sleep deprivation I thought a night a way from that was in order so I booked a hotel for the evening. I had to do some work for a while but then in the evening we walked past the Lennon Wall, over the Charles Bridge and around Old Town before calling it a semi-early evening by Prague standards.

Day 23 | June 18

After a not too late night out at Jazz Republic I started the day with a long walk to Prague’s main bus station to catch the bus to the “Spa Town” of Karlovy Vary. I wasn’t expecting much and I signed on for this trip just go get out of Prague but the town turned out to be gorgeous. The central area is just a long pedestrian walkway down the river coming out of the mountains. It’s your typical resort town dominated by high end shops, hotels and, of course, spas. I swung past the Grand Hotel Pupp which was featured in Casino Royale and then embarked on a death march up the mountainside to the observation tower at the top. I’m told the hike is actually quite easy… if you stay on the trail. Everyone else had booked various spa activities for the day and with nothing else to do I tried to do the same. The folks at The Pupp (pronounced poop) were all booked but pointed me towards a sister spa down the street where I finally got a Thai massage. After this it was back on the bus to Prague, quick dinner, shower, change and then off to the pre-party for our booze cruise. That was predictably a mess so most of us just ended up hanging out upstairs at another bar. The boat party itself was actually really fun. After that it was back to… someone’s apartment for the after party and then wandering the streets as the sun came up to get pizza.

Day 22 | June 17

My intent was to get a lot of work done today and then call it an early night. I started the morning with breakfast at a cafe near my apartment called Sweet & Pepper Days (not sure what that means) and hung out there working for a few hours before heading to K10. My hopes for an early evening were cut short, though, when I heard a group was assembling to go to Jazz Republic. I joined them and we saw a really good local blues/jazz band. Yet another evening out past midnight.

Day 21 | June 16

I was feeling my second all-nighter in as many weeks so went for a slow breakfast over at Cafe Savoy. After that I just came home and worked and read before dinner at Olive Point and then called it an early night.