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In researching where to go on this trip, I came across the Sedlec Ossuary. It was a simple day trip from Prague and right near the great little town of Kutna Hora. I knew that the “Bone Church” would make a great video, so here it is!

To learn more about the Ossuary, read more: Sedlec Ossuary

Following in the footsteps of Samantha Brown, Sara and I go on a quest to find the “Best Strudel in Europe” in the residential area of Prague.

Directions to the strudl, if you are interested: Samantha Brown’s Prague Strudel Shop Directions

When we were in Prague, I fell in love with all the Art Nouveau architecture. Prague is also home to the Mucha Museum – one of the best collections of Art Nouveau prints in the world.

A walk through some of the older areas of Prague takes us through the Old Town with it’s famous Astronomical Clock, through the Jewish Quarter and it’s striking cemetery, and over the Charles Bridge to the Little Quarter. We finish out the day with some people-watching on the final day of the World Cup.

The Castle is the area of Prague that overlooks the entire city. It has been home to royalty for hundreds of years and features some of the best architecture in the city. It also is the place of the exquisite Mucha stained glass window inside St. Vitus Cathedral.

The final day trip of our time in Albania was to the castle ruins of Berat.

We visited Kruja, the birthplace of Albania’s national hero Skanderbeg on our day off from meetings. We toured the rebuilt castle and got some great views from the castle tower. Later some of us toured an ethnographic museum that showed what life was like long ago in the village. The man leading the tour had his whole speech memorized in English, he did a great job. After that we visited a Bektashi mosque where we got a tour from a man who spoke no English. We did our best to communicate across the language barrier with minimal success.

After Kruja we went to Tirana. It was just days before President Bush was going to visit. An American President hadn’t been there in years so it was quite a big deal. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Albanian answer to McDonalds and then arrived at the radio station offices. I went to go find an ATM and saw some of the colorful concrete buildings. For dinner we took cable cars to the top of the mountain overlooking the city and enjoyed one of the nicest restaurants in the city.

We went into the city of Durrës to visit the ancient Roman ruins and see the rest of the city. It was my first time in an amphitheater and I was very impressed. In the middle of ugly communist-era apartments sat the ruins of an ancient Roman market. It was very strange seeing such historic things in such a (by Americna Standards) run-down group of buildings.

As we walked through the city streets, we saw two boys fighting. My coworker tried to break up the fight even though she didn’t speak any Albanian. It’s kind of funny how age and actions speak more than words. As we continued walking, we stopped by a restaurant with a great rooftop view of the city.

Arriving in Albania, I was amazed at the colors of all the buildings. They were all painted very vividly. I think this was to make up for the depressing style of buildings that marked the landscape leftover from the communist era. We stayed near the port town of Durrës and often visited the beach there. After a few days we stopped swimming out of fear of pollution in the water.

My favorite dinner of the week.

I missed posting a video yesterday, but I am back in full swing now. Inspired by my Father-in-Law’s video for VBW, I decided to make a video about the bike ride that Sara and I took around our neighborhood.

to see everything the route we took on this ride, go here: Bike Ride Map

I have been videoblogging for over 5 years. Over that time I have been mentioned in many newspapers and magazines, and have made many videoblogging friends. This video shows some of the things I have laying around to remind me of my Vlogging Past.

to see everything on the table, go here: The Vlog History Table

Welcome to Video Blogging Week 2010! My first video this week features the culinary skills of my wife and my father-in-law as they compete against each other in a carrot cake throwdown

The end of our trip was capped off with a trip up north to Murchison Falls National Park. The park has one of the best waterfalls in the region and tons of animals. We stayed a Paraa lodge, a very western style place that was quite a change from our lodging of the past two weeks. We went on a boat ride on the nile to the base of the falls and saw many birds and water-animals on the journey. The next morning we went on a game drive and got some great views of Giraffes, Kob’s, Hartebeasts, Crested Cranes, and Buffalo. The most exciting part of the day was when we saw a lioness stalk and chase it’s prey. The lioness missed, but the scene was quite intense. We happened across a herd of elephants that walked right past our truck and then headed back home later in the day.

The next day (Sunday), on our way to the airport, we stopped by a Bari-speaking congregation in Kampala. This is one of the key languages WOH broadcasts in in Uganda and Sudan. We joined in for part of the church service and even got in on some of the jump-dancing. Overall the trip was quite amazing. The people were SO friendly, the places were eye-opening and the wildlife was superb. I would definitely go back in an instant.