Skiing in Austria

I have come down to three options for where exactly to go skiing in Austria... Innsbruck, Zell Am See, and Arlberg. I may stop in Salzburg for a day or two, which is the home of Mozart, and is known for culture and beauty.

Innsbruck is famous. It had the Olympics. It also has tons of skiing, including 8 major ski areas. All the ski areas connected by bus and with a common ski ticket. Map of region

Zell Am See is close to Salzburg and is a beautiful spot. It seems to have a little less skiing than the other places, offering 54 lifts and 80 miles of total trails between 2 resorts. Ski map of region

Arlberg is the furthest west (close to Switzerland) and consists of a bunch of villages with St. Anton as the biggest. It also has Zurs and Lech. What they all have in common is lots of awesome skiing. It is served by 80 lifts, and the pass has 160 miles of groomed trails and 110 miles of ungroomed trails!!!
Map of region

Some pictures of Prague

Here is a markup of the map of where I'm staying. I'm staying at the place I marked as 1. #2 is Old Town Square, #3 is St. Wenceslas Square, #4 is National Theatre, #5 is Charles Bridge, and #6 is the Prague Castle (just off that map). I am within a short walk of all of those places!










Old town square is the center of the oldest part of town. It has a very cool astronomical clock, a couple of churches and a statue of Jan Hus (a protestant). Prague has tons of churches, partly because Bohemia was the center of many struggles between Catholics and protestants and whenever Catholics won (Which was generally the case) they built churches. Here are some pictures.




















St. Wenceslas Square is the center of the "New Town" part of Prague. St. Wenceslas is the patron saint of Bohemia, its first prince, and is shown in the statue riding on a horse. New Town itself is wrongly named because it's still a very old part of town. This part of town was actually built during the reign of Charles IV and was called New Town because, well, it was the new town at the time. The name stuck. On a side note, I once went for halloween as Charles IV. I bet I surprised some parents with that costume.


























The National Theatre is the most well known theatre in Prague and the Czech Republic. It was built during the national revival at the turn of the century, was burnt down, and subsequently rebuilt. Hopefully, I will go there (and to other theatres in prague) while I visit.


















Charles bridge is a famous bridge in Prague because it is lined with satues on each side. It was built during the reign of Charles IV (he was a good dude). The bridge's statues have varied over time, some were put up, others torn down. But now, there are some 30? statues on the bridge.















Prague castle is the most famous landmark in Prague. The cathedral, St. Vitus was under construction for 1000 years!! Thus, it has just about every architectural style present in it. It was finally finished around the turn of the century. Predominantly, it in a gothic style









That's all for now. More pictures will come later

Travels beyond Europe

My travel plans are getting larger and better. I talked to a good friend of mine who lives in Colorado about the possibility of coming to see him and go on a skiing trip together. He's up for it, so as soon as I get, I am flying to colorado to go ski. I will fly from Detroit to Denver on Feb 3rd and stay the weekend. I still need to make reservations for that travel, though.

Reservations. Set.

I just made reservations for flights. I will be leaving On Jan 3rd and returning on Feb 2nd. I tentatively plan to spend the time in Europe like this...

Jan 3: Transit to Prague
Jan 4 - Jan 19: Prague
Jan 20: Transit to Budapest
Jan 21 - Jan 26: Budapest
Jan 27: Transit to Austria
Jan 28 - Jan 30: Austria
Jan 31: Transit to Prague
Feb 1: Prague
Feb 2: Transit to Detroit

First post about Europe

I have decided to create a blog about my trip to prague. I figure this is easier than emailing everyone whenever I have something interesting to say. I will simply update on what I do and whatnot.

I have decided to travel to europe for a month, following graduation and before I start a job. I am planning to visit Prague, Budapest, Austria (skiing), and possibly Rome.

In Prague, I will be staying with my Uncle John, who is a priest and dominican brother. He lives in a monastary in old town prague. He sent me some pictures of the place. As you can see the place is absolutely awesome and I am extremely excited to stay there for a couple of weeks. He also sent me a map and aerial photo of the monastary. It's right in the middle of the old town! Awesome location. I figure I am a short walk from Old Town Square, Wenceslaus Square, National Theatre, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Petrin Hill. That is amazing. To think, in a month, instead of walking to Siebel I will be walking to Wenceslaus Square.

Map:









Aerial Photo:









Pictures of the place: