Prague and Munich

Sorry for a lack of posting folks, internet time is not easy to come by. Have spent the last six days in the wonderful cities of Prague, Czech Republi and Munich, Germany. Two very different cities. Prague is a city of contrasts. There is the touristy centre which is very beautiful with Wenceslaus square (not really a square) and then the Old Town Square, where Jan Hus was Burned to death in 1415 for Heresy, and the famous Charles Bridge. Then you cross the river and get to the Beautiful Prague castle and can walk a little farther up the hill to the observation tower that looks like a scaled down version of the Eiffel tower. If you go back across the river and leave the touristy areas with their kitchy souvenir shops and expensive restaurants and Pubs, you get to the New town, which is not really new. The New Town is filled with really nice buildings built in the second half of the nineteenth century. What sets it apart from say Vienna or Budapest, is that there is no uniform architectual style. You walk down the streets and every building is different. Then you can walk up past the national museum to the park up there and look out over the town before going for a nice cold beer (Czech Beer is some of the best) in a pub rarely frequented by tourists, which will save you a lot of money. (a beer in such a pub will cost you around $1.25 to $1.50 for half a liter). Going to pub in Prague can be difficult because they tend to be filled with loud, drunken, English people. Munich is different, quite German, quite orderly, but much more laid back than Vienna. Munich is a very nice city with many things to do, and lots of beer to drink if you like beer. The place is filled with Beer Halls and Beer Gardens (it is a bit too cold for a beer garden at the moment) and the occasional older gentleman in traditional bavarian Lederhosen. I went to the famous Hopfbrauhaus, which is a famous beer hall in the city centre. In Bavaria they sell Beer in 1 litre glasses called Maß and there is a very specific way to hold (they are heavy). There is also an oom-pah Band that when they play a specific song everyone stands up and says "prost" or "cheers". I also went to the deutsches museum, the largest technology museum in Germany and got a free three hour walking tour of the city. Munich is great, you should come!