Shopping in London, Freezing in Prague

My first trip to London was back in October. I went to watch World Championships and to see some old friends.
My second trip to London was last weekend and it was a bit of a different experience.  Instead of traveling alone, I went with some new friends I met during my short time at Louis Vuitton. Traveling with three fashionable Italians, I guess I should have known right away what would be on the agenda for our few days in a city with so many stores...shopping. We barely had time to drop our bags in the rooms before we headed to Oxford St. to start our shopping spree. For the next three days we basically lived on Oxford St., Regent St., and Bond St. We went from Primark to Dolce & Gabbana...and everywhere in between. In most cases I am a fan of shopping. In fact, I probably spend more than I should on clothes so the first 100 times we went to a store I didn’t mind so much. It definitely got a little ridiculous after a while though. When the Italians found out that they could return clothes they didn't like and get their money back, their eyes lit up. Apparently, in Italy if you buy something you can only exchange it for something else in the store...no money back. They were pretty excited at the idea of wearing something one night, leaving the tag on, and then bringing it back the next day.

While I was there, I also had dinner with the same photographer friends I mentioned in my last London entry. They had just gotten back from a trip to China and Japan where they were working on a project with some Asian athletes. We talked a bit more about working together and they are now planning on coming to Rome in June to do the photo shoot. They have worked with some of the biggest athletes in the world, so I’m pretty excited to have a chance to be part of one of their projects. Here is their website to get a better idea of what kind of pics I”m talking about...

http://www.andersonandlow.com/

Prague

A couple days after getting back from London I headed to Prague. I had a friend who went there for business and so I met up with her for a few days.

When my plane landed in Prague, I felt like Rocky Balboa going over to Russia to fight Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (one of the greatest movies of all time...haha!). Everything was white, it was bitterly cold, and it had that gray look of a sad place. I had heard so many great things about Prague, but the area surrounding the airport is far from paradise. My first impression of Prague can probably compare to when people fly into Newark airport for the first time and think that Jersey is a nasty place. But being from Jersey, I know very well that you need to see more than just the airport before you can judge a place.

I can normally deal with unpleasant weather conditions. Prague was my seventh trip this winter and every place has been cold, but the weather in the Czech capital was on another level. I had to prepare myself mentally whenever I went outside. I sucked it up though and I spent three days seeing a good amount of the city. Prague is similar to Florence in that it is small enough to walk and there are interesting spots worth stopping for down every street. It is one of the most picturesque cities I have ever seen. From the Charles Bridge, to the Prague Castle, to Old Town...there is no shortage of things to see.
During one of my strolls through town I also ran into one of my old friends from Stanford and the Olympic Training Center. She was on the 2008 USA Olympic Volleyball Team and she now plays professionally in the Czech Republic. I hadn’t seen her since Beijing, so it was cool to see a familiar face in a new city.
Along with all the beautiful scenery, another thing that made Prague such a great city for me was the friendliness of the people. On multiple occasions complete strangers went out of their way to help me. Those are the kind of things I really appreciate and remember.
The only thing I would suggest if you are interested in visiting Prague is to go in the summer. You’ll spend most of your time outside so why not go when you can enjoy the weather too. Plus, since everything was covered in a foot of snow and ice, I think we missed out on some stuff.

These were my last two trips until the end of March when I head to Barcelona. I am having knee surgery in a couple days to repair my torn ACL. This will be my third ACL repair, but my first on my right knee. I’ll be doing rehab over the next month so that I will in good enough shape to travel. Wish me luck on my surgery...