Koln - 7/21/07

With a heavy heart, I started the day by departing Utrecht. The city was a great home for six weeks and I already miss the canals and twisting roads. And the daily room service. I was excited for my first ever foray into Germany. For the first night in my blitzkrieg of western Europe our destination was the city of Koln.



Relying solely upon our tour guide book for things to do in Koln, our first stop was the Shokolade Museum. Sponsored by Lindt chocolate, it was a source of knowledge and deliciousness. Located on prime real-estate on the Rhine River, it also was a spectacular piece of architecture.





We then ventured north up to the Dom. This was by far the largest Cathedral I had seen. Intimidating in size, it was well worth the two euros to scale the belfry to gain a view of the entire city.

Finally, we made our way down to the heumarket area to get some nice bratwurst.



I will leave you with a mobile bar that is powered by patrons’ pedaling while blasting techno music.

Plzen - 7/15/07

This was one Soviet day. Allen, Dan, Mike and I decided to leave the tourist trap of Prague to try to get a true Czech experience. Despite the train station being in plain site from our apartment, it still took us nearly 30 minutes to find our way to the front entrance. Inside we were confronted with some truly Soviet trains. Rusted compartments with stiff seats and no AC, these were a far cry from the accommodations that I had become used to in Western Europe. They were more Amtrak than ICE.



The Czech countryside itself was surprisingly scenic. The train tracks ran parallel to the Berounka River for most of the trip.



When we get to Plzen, the town was…abandoned. It was partially due to it beint a Sunday – but I think we accounted for 20% of all non-Plzen residents in the town that day. After a quick bite to eat we took a tour of the underground storage network that had been in Plzen since the 14th century. It was neat how the entire tour was in Czech, leaving us to share an Engrish transcript of the tour to try to figure out what we were looking at.

After this we decided to check out the world’s third largest synagogue. While it was impressive in stature, it was sad to see the poor condition it had been in. Occupation by Nazi and Soviet forces hadn’t been kind to the local Jewish population, so it had fallen into a state of disrepair since there was nobody left to use the synagogue.



Following the synagogue we went to the Pilsner Urquell brewery to relax and spend the remainder of the day in Pilzen. It was nice running into a group of Chinese tourists there, reminding us that we weren't the only foreigners in town.

Praha - 7/13-14/07

Transportation for this trip was a comedy of errors. From missing our first train in the morning (not that it mattered, it turns out we still got to the terminal before we could check in) to getting back in Amsterdam 2 hours late thanks to a flight delay, it seems that every mode of transportation we took resulted in unintended consequences. Thankfully, the majority of the time in Prague was spent walking around the city.

The first thing we did was to go to our apartment to unload our luggage.



I'm starting to think that the trick to booking a room on trips is to only care about how secure it is. As nice as our apartment was, the most I used it for was to sleep for a few hours and take showers.

Our first day focused around the Stare Mesto/Karluv Most area. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.









The city itself was packed to the brim with tourists. Surprisingly, the majority were not Americans. Everywhere we went we met Germans, British or Danes.

Our second day was spent on the west side of the river, by Prague Castle. The highlight of the castle compound was the St. Vitus Cathedral.



Visitors are able to ascend the right tower, which allowed me to take these shots of the city of Prague.





After climbing down from the Castle we went back over the river to the Nove Mesto area to grab some food and walk around. While Prague was incredible, we decided for Sunday to leave the crowds and head on out to Plzen, the capitol of West Bohemia.

Madrid 7/8/07

After waking up far too early, the final day in Madrid started with a trip to the Palacio Real de Madrid. The exterior of the building, while beyond belief in size failed to inspire me. This changed however after I had entered its main square.



To the south of this square was the incredible Catedral de la Almudena.



The remainder of the day was spent at the Museo del Prado, which arguably had the best art collection I had ever seen. Highlights for me were seeing several pieces by Raphael (the ninja turtle), Bosch and Goya. I now leave this posting with a random statue I saw on the streets of Madrid and liked. I'll be back next Monday after I get back from Prague.

Segovia - 7/7/07

Leaving from the Atocha train station at noon, we took a two hour train trip up to the town of Segovia. Naturally, since we had fled to Spain to escape the rain, it started to pour the second we stepped off the train. We first walked on down to the Cathedral in the town center. While it looked cool - I say it had nothing on St. Bavo's in Harlaam.



From there we went to the coolest castle I've ever seen. Actually it's probably the only real castle I've ever seen.





Here's a neat shot of Segovia from the top of the Castle Tower.



The city wall seen in this shot surrounds the entire old town. I think this town would make a great backdrop for a car chase.



I then had the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Sitting beneath the remains of the Roman Aqueduct, I had churros with my hot chocolate. Quite scrumptious.





We then took the train back to Madrid for the night. Tomorrow I'll post the pics from Madrid on Sunday, but since I haven't really slept since Saturday night I'm off to pass out!

Madrid 7/6/09

For the first time in Europe I saw blue skies with no clouds! Touching down around noon in Madrid, I first swung by the hostel on Calle Gran Via to drop off my gear.



Allen (my roommate in Utrecht) and I then swung out to explore the city center, first heading towards Puerta del Sol. From there we headed towards Parque del Retiro and explored it for a couple of hours.







After partaking in a siesta we then hit up Plaza Mayor and the town center for the night.

Den Haag - 7/4/07

To celebrate our nation's independence, our program went to the Hague to visit a few international institutions. First up was the ICC (International Criminal Court) in its brand new and barely used courtroom.



After meeting the President of the ICC and playing around in the press room, they herded us over to the Peace Palace, home of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration).



It was pouring rain for the entirety of that day so I had the pleasure of hanging out in a wet suit. We met with Thomas Buergenthal, the American judge for the ICJ who gave us an insightful look at the nomination process of ICJ judges and how the court operates. After the Peace Palace we went down to the beach, where the sun finally came out. Hooray for free drinks!