Category: travel
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Taiwan – Yushan (Jade Mountain)
I’ve climbed a fair number of mountains and completed many hikes, but none has been so embroiled in bureaucratic bullshit and red tape as was Yushan (a.k.a. Jade Mountain). Typically, when I write up a description of my hikes, it’s just that – the hike. But I’m going to use this page to detail how…
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Prague Day 9 – Debi’s Tour and a “Medieval” Dinner
Debi’s workshop was over and she had one day to see some of the things she had missed in Prague. I had been telling her about my adventures throughout the week. From my adventures, we came up with a list of highlights: Museum of Communism, Speculum Alchemiae, and the Waldstein Gardens. We also managed to…
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Prague Day 8 – Libraries and La Sylphide
This was the last day of Debi’s workshop. I had the day free and decided I’d try to visit two things in Old Town I’d missed: the Idiom art installation in the Municipal Library and the Clementinum library and observatory. Also, this was the first day when the weather was actually summer-like. It was sunny…
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Prague – Walking Tours (free, downloadable guides)
We had a chance to spend just over a week in Prague, Czechia in the spring of 2023. My wife was participating in a workshop and, while I had a lot of work I needed to do while I was there (I was supposed to be on vacation), I did have a chance to explore…
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Prague Day 7 – Church Visit, Recovery, and Dinner
As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m getting older. The 9-mile hike I did the day before to the summit of Snezka left me tired and sore. Luckily, with complete autonomy over my schedule, I could take the day off. And, so I did. As a sociologist of religion, I do try…
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Czechia – Snezka
Whenever I head to a new country, one of the first things I look up is the highest point in elevation. I’m weird. I know. In Czechia, that is Snezka, a mountain that is on the border with Poland. While some might find my interest in climbing highpoints obsessive or strange, it actually has a…
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Prague Day 5 – A Long Walk and a High Lunch
To date, I had only ventured into Old Town and west of the Vltava River. One of the lists I had consulted suggested a couple of interesting things to see that were south and east of Old Town. I put together a path to follow and headed out. First up was a painted nuclear bunker…
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Prague Day 4 – Strahov Monastery and West of the Vltava River
With Debi in her workshop all day, I came up with another walking route to see some sights. I headed from the AirBnB through the Petrin Gardens and up to the Strahov Monastery. I would strongly encourage anyone headed to the monastery to walk through the gardens. They were quiet, have great views of Prague,…
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Prague Day 3 – Old Town Sites of Interest
Debi was off to her workshop so it was just me seeing the sites. I used a number of websites, including this one, to come up with things to see and do in Prague. My plan was to go see and do things each morning then spend the afternoons catching up on work (I was…
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Prague Day 2 – Prague Castle
On our second day in Prague, after trying to stay up until a good bedtime so we could get adjusted to the time shift, we decided to spend the day at Prague Castle. We figured there was enough to do there to make it a day along with getting settled. We purchased the standard circuit…