WUGO | Greg Macek

Travel

Read stories and reflections from my travels.

  • It’s Time to Come Home

    What a month it’s been being away from everything. Today is my last full day in Prague and while there’s a bit of sadness to leave the life of international travel, seeing new places, and trying new things, my heart knows that it’s time to go back home. As I’ve mentioned before in a previous post, I know that I will have taken away more from this experience than will be immediately apparent. Perhaps it will be months or years before certain things reveal themselves to me. Though I certainly have some immediate take aways and areas to focus on once I’m home.

    And before everyone asks, “How was your trip? What was your favorite part?”, let me stop you now and request you try not to ask me. Of course there are highlights, but immediately upon getting back I will have little time to process everything and will be unlikely to have an answer for you in the near future. It was months, if not years, after my 2006 trip that my stand out moments came to me (a long, relaxing dinner at an outdoor cafe in Salzburg, Austria and being at Mont St. Michel in France). I encourage you to read through the blog (again) and note what I deemed worthwhile to share. We can start the conversation there. Besides, I want to know what’s going on with you beyond what you share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blogs, etc.

    It will be good to be back home in a land where just about everybody speaks English I can understand and signs make sense again. It would not be an understatement to say I will not quickly forget my time here and think of it frequency with fondness. Simply thinking of my sabbatical will continue to shape how I think, see, and process the world for years to come. Thanks for following along here on the blog. Stick around for more WUGO blog goodness in the weeks, months, and maybe years to come.

  • Karlstejn Castle

    Today I left the city of Prague to city a town called Karlstejn that has one Karlstejn Castle. Charles IV once lived here (he was once also the Holy Roman Emporer.) It was a 40 minute train ride outside of Prague. Have I mentioned how much I love trains? They go everywhere and are so affordable here. Anyway, I can only share photos from the outside, as this was another location where photos indoors were not allowed. However, they have done a great job keeping the castle frozen in time as much as possible, with some relics and paintings dating back to the 14th century.

    Enjoy the photos. As with any of them, full resolution versions available upon request.

  • The John Lennon Wall in Prague

    Per the Wikipedia article,

    The Lennon Wall is a wall in Prague, Czech Republic. Once a normal wall, since the 1980s it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs.

    During my meanderings around Prague yesterday afternoon, I finally found it, though by accident. Most of the original Lennon art is gone and covered up by other things with a fair amount of Beatles related graffiti.

  • Prague: Feels Like Home

    Yesterday I came back to what feels like my home away from home: Prague. After spending 2 weeks here to start my sabbatical, I’m back at Sir Toby’s where I first stayed when I arrived – even back in the same room! There’s a certain comfort in starting and ending this trip in the same place. I suppose it gives it a sense of completeness, like closing the loop on the experience this has been.

    The above photo is of the Charles Bridge that I took during my first week. I took it from I believe the south tower of St. Vitus Cathedral. It’s incredible to see how many people cross that bridge when they come to it. 🙂

    I only have 5 more full days here before I return to reality on Friday. Though there isn’t much I want to do, I plan to make the most of the time by seeing one or two more sights and spending my free time reading and journaling/blogging. One of the main purposes of this sabbatical was for rest and I have no qualms about the fact that I didn’t see everything. Even if I had, would it matter much in the end? And while I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being away, I do have some excitement building in me for getting back to what is familiar.

    The photo below, also taken during the first week in Prague, was taken just outside this hostel as I was heading out for the day. For anyone from or connection to Chicago, this will bring a smile to you. I think I now know where Chicagoans got the idea.

  • Pressing Rewind

    Today marks the first day of me retracing my steps on my journey. Up until now, every place I have been to was the first time I was there. This afternoon, I left Lucerne to head back to Zurich, where I am now and where the above photo was taken a few nights back. Tomorrow I head to Munich and the day after that back to Prague before coming back home.

    I think it’s actually quite fitting for me in a literal and symbolic sense to travel “backwards” on the same paths and revisit places I’ve already been to. It just reminded me of that scene at the end of “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” where the kids find the old lamp post and slowly find the old trees and path back out of Narnia and into the room with the wardrobe where their story began. From here on out, I’m actually staying in hostels I’ve already been to, including the one in Prague where I first stayed. I fully expect some deja vu in the next week; I already am as I sit in the same Starbucks in Zurich as I did a few days ago.

    This is the part of the trip where I can look at places and go, “I’ve been here and here’s what I remember and like about it” or “what does this place make me think about?” I’ll pull some photos from the archives that haven’t been shared yet as I continue to share here on the blog, as I don’t expect I’ll want or need to take many more. Now is also when I begin to pull the trigger on silly souvenir purchases. There was no reason to buy them and carry them around for longer than necessary.

    Questions about my trip so far? Ask in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer. Know I’ll probably have more to say on reflective topics vs. historical. It’s just where my head focuses.

     

     

  • In Love With Lucerne

    Days like today make everything about this trip so worth it. I opted to take a 1/2 day excursion on “The Golden Round Trip” to Pilatus. It consisted of a boat ride across Lake Lucerne, a cogwheel railway ride up to Pilatus Kulm, the noted high spot of central Switzerland and high point of this outing. Afterwards, you descend back down via cableway cars. The views were breathtaking to say the least and while the pictures give you a nice view, obviously there’s nothing like being there. I have photos of the city of Lucerne itself, but I will save those for other blog posts. These are all of today’s outing and maybe, I believe, are postcard ready. 🙂

     

    That’s me!

     

  • A Brief Look at Zurich

    My Internet time is somewhat limited, so I’m only posting a couple photos of Zurich by night. Tomorrow, at some point, I will head off to Lucerne where I’ll stay for 3 nights. I seem to be feeling a bit better finally. Maybe it just took some new scenery and sunny skies (thanks for all the rain, Munich!) to clear me up. For now, enjoy the few pics below.


  • Munich: Land of Rain and Baguette Sandwiches

    (Rain: please stop!)

    Oh Munich, how I wished I 1) could see more of you and 2) had really good protective rain gear for myself and my camera gear. Shortly after arriving in Munich I realized two things:

    1. It’s much cooler here than Prague. (Apparently nobody told Prague we had transitioned to fall temps.)
    2. It had rained and the dark clouds “hinted” at more rain to come.

    At one point, I thought I’d give it a go and trek outside, only to be quickly caught in rain I didn’t want to walk around in. So I came back to hostel (3 minutes away from the train station BTW) to do some stuff online and read. I ventured again last night, sans camera gear hoping maybe the rain would hold out for a little walk. I made it about as far as Marionplatz when I found myself frustrated with getting wet, also without umbrella and knowledge that the rain would go away or come down harder. The rest of my night was spent reading a book and writing (in that super secret journal.)

    I woke up today to the sound of moderately heavy rain – and some incredibly loud snoring, which also greeted me throughout the night. The joys of hostels and room sharing, right? Hopes dashed for the walking tour, I did some more reading and went out for a couple hours this afternoon. Though still greeted by some rain, it was mostly of the drizzle variety. Part of it came while I walked through the English Gardens. It’s huge, twice as big as Central Park according to them. I’m sure I only saw a sliver of the whole thing, but what I saw was beautiful and well kept.

    Appetite is there, only because the headaches tell me I need to eat 🙂 Not knowing yet if anything will reignite the events of early last week, I’m keeping diet to things I can quickly recognize. It’s a good thing I like bread/preztels and sandwiches, because that’s what I’ve been having for meals in Munich. They satisfy well enough aren’t making me ill anyway.

    Tomorrow early afternoon I hit the trains for Zurich, where I’ll spend one night, then likely another on my way back to Munich. I’d be happy for better weather, but Sunday and Monday aren’t looking good, if we’re to believe weather.com.