I had a foodie love affair in the Czech Republic and I actually cheated on my relationship with chocolate for a daily dose of these sweet fruit dumplings.

Dumplings are a staple part of the diet the world over and I like them in just about every form they come in: from the Tibetan dumplings I chowed down on in Northern India to Polish pirogies and the even the Chinese dumplings last month. Then there are the Italian dumplings (aka ravioli) I eat back home and on as many trips to Italy as I can squeeze into my schedule.

There was a little niggling fear in my heart when we arrived in the Czech Republic; I worried that I was going to encounter some of the same vegetarian food-related issues that cropped up in Bosnia – but fear not because I found fantastic DESSERTS!
Visiting Prague is not an issue for a vegetarian because it’ a big city and there are several tasty places…plus you can nearly always be sure of finding some sort of ethnic restaurant in the larger cities (Chinese, Indian, Thai). The move down to Český Krumlov though was …

Rapid confusion set in on my face as a huge, silent, sturdy Czech guy plunked my raft down into the Vltava River, hoisted up a big water-tight barrel with my purse and camera tucked away inside, aggressively shoved the barrel under the front lip of the raft in one giant thrust and then sauntered back up the slope to the cozy warm van I had just departed.
I had a inkling that this was going to happen but this now confirmed it – Helen, Caitlin, and I were all about to …

The real heartbeat of most countries can be found out in the country in the smaller towns and cities that dot the countryside – even in developed countries I find that the people are much more accessible in the smaller cities. Prague is a huge city and I don’t know that I even remotely felt like I got a taste of the Czech culture.
Just a bit south of Prague though is another very touristy Czech city – but this one is small and consumable and interactions with the locals around …

Lauded as one of the top cultural centers of Europe and a city almost unparalleled for architecture and beauty, I have always wanted to see this place for myself.
Hollywood has romanticized the city and after seeing intrigue and romance unfold in Prague on the big screen this city was lovingly placed into my RTW itinerary. The downtown city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; Prague, or Praha to the locals, actually suffered less damage and destruction than so many other European cities fared during World War II and is …