The backstreets of České Budějovice.
In half a year of living in Vienna in 2008, we were able to take small European vacations in every direction – Ljubljana, Venice, Salzburg, Krakow, Bratislava, Budapest. But we never went to the Czech Republic. It was right next door and it had Prague! Ashley had been there in the early 90s so she always lobbied to go someplace that was new to her. Finally, four years later, she was ready for a revisit, partly because of my lobbying and partly to meet a colleague with common teaching interests. Ashley’s colleague was not actually in Prague. He was in České Budějovice, South Bohemia, part way between Vienna and Prague. A quick Internet search revealed a big and beautiful old town square. And the town’s name in German is Budweis, as in Budweiser beer. I needed little convincing to schedule a stop there on the way to Prague. Read more
Here’s a great keepsake for your kids! It’s free, fun, educational, and functional. Find a decent map of whatever city you happen to be visiting and give your son or daughter a highlighter and a pen. At each destination, highlight the route that you’ve just completed, mark and annotate where you are and what you see. Want to make a really cool map? You’ll have to be willing to walk a long way! Keep the maps from various cities as a reminder of where you traveled, what you saw, and what your kids enjoyed most.
Then (1991): The dusty train station was mostly empty except for a few tourists. I was approached by enterprising Czechoslovakians holding out pictures of rooms to rent, most in private homes. I rented a room near the old square with a view of the river. It was a bedroom in the apartment of a middle-aged woman. She was kind, charged a reasonable price, and spoke little English.
Bremerton WA – A great destination for kids? Yes! Bremerton is the home of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and that’s all many Seattlites know about it. But, we have spent a night or two here every year for the past few years and there is more to explore every trip. 
Traveling, perhaps by definition, is the act of covering a lot of place in a little bit of time. What happens when a lot of time is explored over a very small amount of place? Is it a kind of traveling? 
