New Blog/Website

Hello!

For anyone who has perused this (very) old blog recently, you can find my newer work on my new blog and website!

It's not really quite up and running, but here is the address...I've decided to move on to Wordpress and test out their blog and website tools.

Hope to see you there!

http://jakedcraney.wordpress.com/

Also if you haven't seen it already, my China/Philippines adventures can be found here.

Ze Germans, Utrecht chillin, Euro-recap and the end

As I'm sitting here watching the Portugal Spain world cup match I have finally brought myself to post what might be the last post on this blog, but you never know I could use it as a psuedo-travel journal in the future...

I have a little updating to do for my final adventures in Europe, my last two weeks were some of the best times I had during my 5 months abroad so here is a small bit about that.

Real quick, after my Mom and Jessie left, I spent a few days in Rome catchin up with the roomies, needless to say we destroyed Rome and the Spanish Steps with our expertly honed tourist skills.



Regensburg/Munich

After running into Jolynn, my teaching partner,

on my train to Munich I spent a few days in Regensburg visiting Jack "the effing man" Gibbs.
I took a day trip to Munich and meandered around the city but the highlight of the trip was the Regensburg May beerfest type festival called Dult, the beers only come in the 1 liter variety, which for the Germans seems to be perfect...


After being heckled by some intimidating Czech police officers on the train to Germany, it was nice returning to Prague without incident and from there I met back up with Max and we headed to Utrecht, Netherlands to chill in his hometown for a good 10 days, here are a few picture highlights from trip.


Kevin, Jaris, and Jim


Chillin on the lake


Max and Anouk


In front of Heineken Brewery


And inside the Heineken Experience


And of course, riding some bikes around all day everyday

So after all this, here is a quick recap on the places that I visited in sort-of order (I think):

Vienna, Austria


Krakow, Poland + Auschwitz



Rome, Italy


Corfu, Greece


Budapest, Hungary


Dresden, Germany


I also spent time in a few other places that I might or might not have mentioned, namely Bratislava, Slovakia, Amsterdam/Utrecht, Netherlands, Munich/Regensburg, Germany, but my favorite of course is the Golden City of a hundred spires, Prague or Praha as we would say. This shot is from my favorite spot in Vysehrad, overlooking the Vlatava river and Prague Castle.



I couldn't have asked for anything better during my time abroad, I saw some amazing places that I had no idea would be so awesome, I learned more history and experienced more culture in a semester than I probably knew in my previous twenty years on this planet, and I met some of the coolest people who I will never forget, you know exactly who you are, and you freakin rule.



Now that I have seen some amazing places on this planet, who knows where I will end of next, all I know is it is sure to be amazing and somehow I will end up back in Prague someday. Thanks for checking out my adventures abroad, maybe you were bored at work or just making sure that I was still alive, I hope that it wasn't too boring and I really hope it inspires you to travel, while the mind is pretty important, the world is also a horrible thing to waste.

Na Zdravi! Cheers, and to Your Health!

Na Shledanou, Adios, and Goodbye!

Greece, Mom and Jess, Dresden, Karlstejn Castle, and the return of VOLCANOES

Dobry Den moje kamarady!

For the sake of not completely failing to document my travels I need to speed-post some of the adventures that have been missing from this forsaken blog for too long. Thus with no further ado lets recap some interesting events of the past weeks and months.

I recently left you, my dear 5+ readers, in a state of disdain and sadness but fear not because the best days of the beach are ahead of us. After flying to Rome for a half day I took a bus across mainland Italy to Ancona in order to catch a ferry all the way through the Adriatic Sea to the economic disaster of a nation we call Greece.

Despite their current economic woes, their islands and beaches are still quite nice if I do say myself...

Not a bad view from our hostel, the Pink Palace, on the beautiful island of Corfu.

After a few days of shenanigans on the island, including ATVs, beach chillin, a cruise which included some 40-50ft cliff jumping, I was worn out and ready to get back to Praha where my mother would be waiting for me at the airport, 1 day after my Greek island adventure.
Much to the pleasant surprise of my mom, we packed up the next day for an awesome 3 day trip to Budapest, Hungary. Unfortunately I lost my camera on the bus, luckily I got it back but I have no pictures of this adventure...perhaps I can get a few from her (you know my email mom) and then I can give a little update on that. Upon our return to Prague we added to our traveling crew one more family member; Jessie all the way from Chicago! Not to disappoint her by spending all of our days in the lovely Czech Republic, we all took a day trip 2 hours to Dresden, Germany.

Dresden was actually very modern, understandably so because it was obliterated in the Allied offensive nearing the end of WWII, but there are a bunch of magnificently rebuilt monuments which create a nice town that is not too touristy but a great place to live or visit for sure.


Dresden Frauenkirche, nearly completely rebuilt from this:


Also around the town center there are several sick buildings, once again mostly rebuilt. The sense of a city rebuilding itself was prominent almost everywhere in the city as you can see by the cranes in the background of this picture of the courtyard of the palace grounds.



We also ventured about 20-30 minutes outside of Prague, depending on who is navigating the trains, to check out the awesome Karlstejn Castle, built by the man himself Charles IV to house the Crown Jewels. Here's a good one of Jessie tickling during the photo-op, as usual.


And here is the Castle in all its glory, actually one of the coolest castles I've ever been to even if we weren't able to see the awesome chapel inside (this shizz is serious, they only let pre-booked tours in the summer while they closely monitor the humidity etc.).


If you give Jessie or my Mom a ring you can hear all about their Euro-adventure, which truly was an adventure due to the Icelandic volcano activity. I sent them on a few day excursion to Vienna to relax them and give them something to do while I was at school.

The same volcano has actually been grumbling again and has caused some flights from England to Portugal to be canceled recently. I only know this because my poor roommate, David O'boyle, was stuck on that horrible mound of dirt they call 'England' when he actually wanted to be in a beautiful Portuguese paradise...sorry Dave.



So what have I been up to since? Just bumming around Prague, we had a stroke of awesome weather until the recent forecast of rainstorms and finals everyday...blehh. But I do have some more time and travels going on after I finish finals and say Na Shledanou to all my awesome friends here. This weekend should be sweet, graduation on Friday and saying our last goodbyes before I have to return to all you kooks...kidding of course!

Also, I was enjoying a nice day at the Letna beer garden, minding my own business when this hat thief came and rained on my parade:

Luckily I was with some friends, so we corned him and stole his money after we got my hat back...but seriously, we had to nearly pry the thing from this poor little guy. I'm just glad that he's still a nuggets fan after this season...

Anyways I've got to run, I'll shoot some updates about graduation and my post-school travels as I have the time. But in the meantime, enjoy all the chipotle you can for me. Please.

Hezky Den!

Krakow, Auschwitz/Birkenau, Salt mines

Ahoj again,

Hasn't been long but I have a lot of catching up to do for my recent travels, and this weekend I have finally sent my Mom and Jessie home after a prolonged visit due to a certain Icelandic volcano...soooo back to a few weeks ago to Krakow, Poland.

I originally had a lot planned for my post on Auschwitz and Auschwitz II (Birkenau), but honestly I've become exhausted thinking about it. If Terezin was a moving place to visit, there could be no possible comparison to Auschwitz. Some of things I have seen there were disturbing, moving, and sickening. Needless to say it is a place that would be betrayed if I actually tried to contemplate it by writing a few hundred word blog-post, so I won't. Anyways here is the small bit of my post that I didn't cut out, its not much but its something:



"Work Makes You Free"- the infamous sign looming over the entrance gate

Here are just a few pictures of Auschwitz that I have decided to share.

(Top) Electric fences surrounding the barracks in the first complex.
(Middle) One of the ruined crematoria with the ruins of Birkenau in the background.
(Bottom) Ruins (mainly chimneys left over) and old barbed wire of the Birkenau complex.







Anyways...like I said I have more pictures etc. if you are interested, maybe I will even set up a flickr account or something but I'll keep you posted on that.

And now on to the beautiful city of Krakow, just under an hour away from Auschwitz and fortunately nearly untouched by WWII.
The main square is set up similar to Prague's, with a nice big central area with clock tower, St. Mary's Cathedral as well as a big market (under construction) in the center. St. Mary's was one of the coolest cathedrals I have ever seen on the inside, it easily rivals Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle.



I've also been playing with the "panorama" mode on my camera, which has led to some interesting pictures, both good and bad. Here's one of the Cathedral in Wawel Castle that shows my incredible expertise as a photographer:



Failure.

But on the bright side I actually did get a few good ones:




Anyways, Krakow is an awesome little town with a rich history like Prague's, and it also has some interesting stuff for anyone interested in WWII and the Holocaust. The movie "Shindler's List" was shot in the old Jewish quarter here, which is nearly deserted now due to the events of WWII. But despite lacking a Jewish community there is a really area of town that still has the old Ghetto wall in place along with the old Synagogues etc. Also Oskar Schindler's factory is in Krakow so if you have seen the movie I have a bunch of pictures from actual places from the true events as well as from the movie.

Krakow also was the original place of preaching for Pope John Paul II, and the Poles are incredible proud of this (+90% Roman Catholic in this country), his image is all over the city in the form of statues, posters, and his old church and apartment are in town as well.

If you have a few minutes, check out the story of The Katyn Massacre , a story not given nearly enough attention and if you recall the recent tragic plane crash that killed around 100 Polish politicians including the president Lech Kaczynski, you will find that if you research a bit that this plane was on its way to commemorate the anniversary of the Katyn Massacre, which is still a huge issue that causes tensions between the Poles and the Russians.

On the way out of town we checked out the Wieliczka Salt Mine which was a small warm up for more underground activities in Budapest...but that is getting ahead of myself, I'll post on that a bit later.




Anyways hopefully this is making up for my huge lack of updates, time is flying by and I need to get outside to enjoy the wonderful Prague Spring! And I know it has been some time, but I did recently send a few postcards...many more are on the way, I promise to send them before I go to the airport on June 1st....

Na sheldanou, adios, and goodbye

Apology for the lack of updates, but Mother Nature Reigns

Well hello,

I know most of you have stopped checking the blog fearing that I have

A. I got stranded in Greece, and became a bum on the Corfu beach

B. I became so cultured and European, I don't have time for this American sort of thing.



C. I am simply too lazy and tired to post anymore



D. You were completely understanding of the fact that I have been traveling non-stop and hosting my mom and sister who are going to be extending their visit a couple of days.



If you guessed 'D' you are right!
So here's a quick rundown of places I have been the past few weeks (see my custom map), and I will post a real one for each once I get settled in and have some free time on my hands:

Last week of March-
Krakow, Poland: Auschwitz/Birkenau, a cool city center, Wawel Castle (pronounced Vavel), and the old Salt Mines
First week of April-
Flight to Rome, visited some of the sights (I am returning in 2 weeks so I will have much more time to visit/update), Bus to Ancona, Cruise to Greece, Ferry to the Island of Corfu, a few days at the Pink Palace, beach etc. flew home Monday night and arrived at 2:30am
Tuesday (the next evening) straight from class to the airport to pick up my mom Luanne, the next day we headed to Budapest, Hungary.
Return to Prague Saturday, got in at 5 and picked Jessie up at the airport at 5:45
I had a Sunday field trip to Jáchymov, home of a Soviet political prisoner work camp specializing in work at the Uranium mines, fun. Since then we have traveled to Karlštejn Castle and Dresden, Germany.
Unfortunately my mom and sister are now "TRAPPED IN EUROPE!" due to the unprecedented delays for all Airlines in Northwestern and down into central/west Europe caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcano (check that link, a ton of cool pictures).


They may return around Friday(ish), but while I am busy showing them around and hanging out, I haven't had much time for blogposts.

I hope you will all understand, it is a very, very hard life for me and my blog...

Anyways I hope this will help you last until my next real post, which will hopefully be soon, and of course I will have a ton more pictures etc. You can check the wikipedia links if you are bored at work...

As always, Na Shledanou!

Back from Krakow, Off to Corfu

I apologize for this post, I really would prefer to give a quick update on my Krakow trip last weekend but I simply ran out of time. In hours I will be flying to Rome and then taking a cruise to the Greek island Corfu. Ahhh rough life...but here are a few randoms from a bit more communist-style Prague in place of my usual stuff.



The Beautiful and picturesque "TV Tower" complete with statues of babies crawling up it...



No, the war hasn't begun and Russia hasn't invaded, this Tank sits outside the museum of war on the northeast side of town near the TV Tower.

Until next time, see you guys soon

Around the Dorms, Terezin, Lidice

Once again here I am dragging myself to do something productive on a sunny but quite chilly Friday afternoon, and what better to update my state-side friends on the Czech life here in Prague. I've had mixed feelings on what to write but I figured I would do a little piece on my trip to Terezin, a concentration camp north of Prague, and Lidice, a small town that Hitler leveled after Reinhard Heiydrich was assassinated by Czech paratroopers.
I really was dreading writing on this, but it really is an important part of Czech history during WWII, so here goes.

Just one wall of 3 or 4 with names of the victims who died in Terezin.

We took a day trip to both these places but I'll start with Terezin. While the Nazi's never finished any gas chambers at this particular concentration camp, there were thousands who died due to the horrible living conditions here and if you made it out you were most likely heading straight to Auschwitch concentration camp. The tour took us inside the Guards offices, prison cells, isolation cells, the group shower area, a room of fake sinks for a shaving area, and around the town where they shot a propaganda film of imported Hungarian Jews playing soccer and enjoying the ghetto, all of whom were executed after the film was given to foreign inspectors. All this info you can look up on the links if you want to see the sheer size of numbers of deaths and other horrible living conditions the prisoners were forced into.


The sign reads, Work Makes you Free, a now infamous Nazi quote from the concentration camps.

A really confusing and hard part of this ghetto to understand is the Nazi's obsession with creating the worst conditions for living while putting much effort into showing outsiders that everything was fine with the standard of living. The fake sink/shaving area I mentioned was set up entirely for Swiss inspectors to show them that prisoners were treated fine, despite the fact that they were literally dying in the camp all the time. I won't go into detail on many of the more grotesque images here but you get the general idea. I will say that seeing these places in person allows you to take more time to think about the reality of it, it's one thing to learn about the Holocaust in school but being there gives you a very unsettling feeling.

Part of the monument at Lidice, the museum is to the right side of the building.

Lidice on the other hand was a small town outside of Prague, mostly village life and farming, but it was destroyed after the Nazi leader of the protectorate of Bohemia, Reinhard Heiydrich, was assassinated. These people were not necessarily Jews, but just commoners who were innocent, but the town was literally leveled and nearly all of the inhabitants killed on the spot or sent to Auschwitz to be gassed. There is a memorial and museum built where the town was, and a replica town was reconstructed after the war as a sort of tribute to the families who died there. This particular instance of brutality shows the sheer recklessness and destructive nature of the Nazi regime.

Now I will gladly switch gears a little bit and lighten up the mood by showing a little bit more of the dorm life! I've been waiting to do this post until I settled in a little bit, so here is your sneak peak into the Karlovo Dorms at Vratislavova 10.

Here is the desks/"upstairs" of the dorm, somehow I got seriously the biggest dorm in the whole place, don't ask me how...

And right to the back of that angle is the shower/kitchenette, there is a fridge below the sink and the shower has a heated towel rack, living the life of luxury


Here's my view from two different windows, a castle wall in my back yard, no big deal.

And I couldn't have a post about the dorms be complete without showing Mexico, the sketchiest, smallest bar you may ever have been in. Frequently out of beer, a mediocre selection of liquor, but two great bartenders, and you can always meet some crazy foreigners in here. The potraviny to the right is like a 7-11 or something, usually owned by immigrants from Thailand, this is where I have to buy my pre-paid phone cards that seem to last for a day and a half or so.

So thats the dorms, it's a sweet setup and there are 3 good and very cheap restaurants very close by. I might just have to head down to the Chinese one now, you can't say no to a $3.50 kung-pao chicken dinner, can you?

Also a quick side-note, I hit up a Sparta hockey game the other night which was sick. Sparta and Slavia are the two main Prague teams, although I haven't decided which one that I prefer yet. Sparta was down one goal when we arrived but dominated the rest of the game to win 4-1, it was awesome and tickets were about 7 bucks, can't find that deal at an Avs game I'm sorry to say. Until next time, Na shledanou!