It’s a bit weird to go back from places that no tourist goes (Lublin, Ivano-Frankivsk, Miskolc, Kecskemet) and places that a few tourists go (Lviv, Pecs, Kosice) back to places where all the tourists go (Prague and Krakow). At first it’s refreshing: Back to the Future! Arriving in Prague’s central station is like going to the shiny Tomorrowland.

Also, in Big Cities in Europe the central squares are really pretty:

But Prague is all full of tourists, and tourist infrastructure, and tourist “infrastructure”, which is kind of soul sucking. Instead of a generally pretty good experience like in a small city in Europe, you get a few really amazing moments (like the Strahov Monastery) and a lot of wondering why are there so many terrible souvenir shops and nightclubs.

Whatever. It’s also got good coffee shops. And I got to spend some time with my ever-delightful friend Victoria, whom you might remember from Halloween in Uttarakhand last year. We explored coffeeshops, restaurants, and bars with many basements, cooked amazing zucchini/potato pancakes, and of course played Bananagrams. It was a good couple days.

Now I’m in Krakow, which is another Big City in Europe. It’s got a famous salt mine called Wieliczka, which has a lot of tourists and is kind of soul sucking but also really cool. (sensing a theme?)

Here are some gnomes carved out of salt, but what you’re really looking for is a photo of the famous underground chapel.

Scooter update: they can’t get a new piston, so they’re swapping out the whole engine for a new one. ETA Tuesday? Wednesday? It depends on when the engine arrives, so there’s nothing they can do, but I hope it is no later than that. :O