Czech Republic

I've so far seen As We Were three times this year, at Fluff Fest, Klub 007, and Cafe na pul cesty, so I guess the only band I've seen more times this year would be Gattaca, who I've seen four times so far. They're from Burlington, Vermont, of all places, which actually has a healthy hardcore scene.

This bright, high-contrast, yet reasonably sharp shot was a lucky accident that resulted from my desperately trying to fit a shadow problem with the very-crude exposure controls my cameraphone has. The band are called Downfall of Gaia.

If you're into Norah Jones, Alanis Morissette, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Jamie Callum, or Justin Timberlake...........then Wolf Down probably aren't your thing. :-D However, if you hate all of the above, then maybe you will like Wolf Down, especially if you think Megadeth are wimpy soft rock for Clear Channel. :-D

Someone at the swimming pool called Wolf Down hipsters. Now, maybe they often get confused and call themselved Wolf X Down, as they can't seem to settle on a name, but labels are another story. No, not record labels. I mean, if they're hipsters then......who's NOT a hipster????? The guy in question, who wasn't from New York or even from America said they're hipsters because one or two of them have baseball caps...............................................................................................................................................huh? Besides, they're not from New York. They're German. :-)

No, they're not going to play that nice song you know. :-D

This is not Avril. :-D

The guy on the far left is hiding his face because he's wanted for listening to Nickelback.

Supposedly Vitamin X have been around since the early 1990's, but they haven't settled down.

Vitamin X had as much of the crowd as possible get on the stage and then rush the crowd, jumping into it. It makes a cool video, but mine isn't the best.

I got to see Enough at Cafe na pul cesty back in 2012, and we talked at length. I got to see them at Fluff Fest this year, over the fence as I was pitching my tent, and randomly I met them on the way out. Much more surprisingly, they remembered me.

This was as I was waiting for the train back to Prague. I was hoping for some decent train shots, but didn't have much luck. At least I got a night shot of the station.

This is the Nymburk hydroelectric dam, built in 1914-1923 and designed by Frantisek Roith, Josef Bartovsky, and Emil Zimmler. It recently was restored with EU funds, and still functions.

I took two alternate shots of the Nymburk dam, primarily for the reflections in the Labe. As I was riding a rental bike and wanted to travel light, I only had my cameraphone with me.

This was maybe my best shot of the three.

This was the rental bike, which I acquired from the Hotel Golf. It appears to be a make called 4Ever and a model called Galant. I'm never sure with bikes. In any case, the hotel appeared to have two of these. I made two trips over almost the same route on different days, and this one, the first one that I used, seemed to run better. In general, while I've never heard of the make "4Ever," this was a relatively smooth-running bike that was easy to get up and down hills quite quickly.

This was my favorite part of the bike, a Shimano shifter that accurately locked the derailer into each gear. It would be one thing if this notched shifter were the same as all the others I've tried, which have never worked, but this one worked perfectly.

This is the Hotel Golf itself, which is located not in Nymburk, but in Podebrady. Our bike trip took us primarily along the River Labe between the two cities, and then back via the opposite bank.

After the Podebrady-Nymburk-Podebrady bike trip, we went to the Zamek Loucen, which is an old castle, or by some definitions chataeu, in Loucen, obviously. Today it's used for many different purposes, most of them to do with tourism. There are extensive gardens all around it, as well as labyrinths and mazes.