The End

The reason I haven't posted since Salzburg is because after leaving Salzburg for Munich, I made a spontaneous trip to Prague to visit a Czechish friend of mine from my exchange student days. I would have loved to stay in Munich longer than the day and a half I did, but Erika was leaving for Finnland that Sunday and it was already Wednesday. So with very little planning I hopped on a train the next day for Horovice, a small town about 50 minutes outside of Prague, but fortunately directly on the regional train line from Munich to Prague.

It was great to see Erika again (it's been over two years now) in her home country. We relived a few of our exchange student moments, but we did a bunch of new things as well. She toured me around Prague one afternoon. The other day I was there we went to Carlsteign, the Czech Republic's most famous castle. Otherwise we spent most of our time taking walks through the fields, woods, and hills behind her house.
The National Museum, a statue of a national hero, and non-nationals.
Overlooking Prague.

Carls Bridge
Carl.



Astrological clock

Inside of Prague's main cathedral. What's odd is that Atheism is the Czech Republic's official religion...

Erika and I.
Carlsteign, built by the same Carl who built the bridge. He was the Czech's most popular king (and as far as I am aware of, one of the first; guess it went downhill from there).
Horovice:
Believe it or not, this is an ant hill.

Erika had to throw her dog, Benji, into a lake to wash him off during one of our walks. He took a detour through some mud puddles.

Epilogue:

After the Czech Republic I left for Frankfurt, where I met with my host family and ended my backpacking trip. The drive back up to Wesel was only about 3 hours, which seemed incredibly short (I was bracing for 7; I forgot that Germany is so small). I flew out of Düsseldorf on Friday and, after a 5 1/2 hour flight, am safely back in California.