Travel

Prague, the Golden City

Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic. Also known as the "golden city" and the "mother of cities," Prague has been a major city in the region for over a millennium. It was once the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and of Bohemia.Of all the great cities of the world that I've seen, there are few that ...
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There’s more to Munich than Oktoberfest

We needed a distraction from the huge crowds and many liters of beer of Oktoberfest. So we did some wandering around in Munich. This gave us an opportunity to appreciate crowds and beer in other areas of the city :)Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square) is the town square at the heart of Munich. It's been around since the Middle Ages - ...
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/ travel, trip-oktoberfest

Eins, zwei, drei – Oktoberfest in Munich!

I was pretty excited to travel to Munich for Oktoberfest. How many crazy big parties are there in the world? Carnivale in Rio, the running of the bulls in Pamplona - what else? Oktoberfest is right up there - one of those things you need to do before you die. I've been to Oktoberfest in other cities. Chicago has a ...
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A quick stroll through Zurich, Switzerland

Our Oktoberfest Euro trek started in Zurich Switzerland. Alex, Mo, and I originally had a flight connecting through JFK New York and landing in Zurich at 7am. However, bad weather in NY caused our flight to be canceled. We were re-routed through London and finally arrived in Zurich around noon. We had a train scheduled to depart for Munich at ...
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/ travel, trip-oktoberfest

Trip preview: Oktoberfest in Munich – 1 day to go!

You heard it right - it's time for Oktoberfest! Not at the local bar, not at a local German festival. Tomorrow, we're going to the heart of it all - Munich, Germany! It's the last weekend of the 200th anniversary of this fine festival. Alex, Mo, and I will slip on our liederhosen, blend in with the German-speaking locals, and ...
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Utah 2010 Trip Intro: Salt Lake City to Moab

A business trip brought me to Salt Lake City on a Friday in July. The meeting was set up with little notice; we only had a week to make plans. Luckily, I didn't have anything huge going on the following weekend, so I decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. You know it's going to be a gorgeous weekend ...
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A Morning in Arches National Park

Arches National Park is a beautiful place, with a unique geology that features crazy rock formations everywhere. You can see over 2000 monoliths, rock fins, spires, balanced rocks, and natural arches in the park. Here's a cool interactive map of the park, from the official park website.I made two trips to the park: one on Saturday morning, and the other ...
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/ trip-utah-2010

Dead Horse Point State Park

It was late Saturday afternoon in Moab. I had just woken up from a peaceful air-conditioned siesta in the hotel, while the sun was bearing down outside with 105F temperatures. Hopefully it had cooled down a tiny bit. Time to head out again and do an evening hike.The original plan was to go back to Arches National Park. But as ...
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/ trip-utah-2010

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Aside from Arches, Canyonlands National Park was the other major attraction to see on my Moab trip. Canyonlands is a very different land than Arches. In Arches, you look up or climb up to see most of the landmarks. The rock formations sticking up from the ground are is due to periods of geological turmoil and uplift, plus erosion. In ...
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/ photography, travel, trip-utah-2010

An Evening in Arches National Park (Arches Part 2)

Arches National Park was so cool that I came back to see more the next day (Sunday). This time, the visit started in the early evening. My goal was to capture the warm evening sunlight against some of the rock formations I (intentionally) skipped the last time. In case you missed it, here's a link to my earlier visit to ...
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/ photography, travel, trip-utah-2010