walki-talki.com Travel Blog

Scientists to exhume remains of Danish astronomer – USATODAY.com

Is it good to be a celebrity? It certainly seems that way when they’re alive. They have it all: good times, fame and fortune. Tycho Brahe was no exception to this rule. The brilliant Danish astronomer was man of considerable stature in his time, and he used his intellectual cachet to live an extraordinary life of privilege and accomplishment by making himself the most desired guest to the most power kings who ruled continental Europe.

And, that’s how he ended up in Prague. After falling into disfavor with the king of Denmark, Brahe accepted the invitation of Rudolf II, the king of Bohemia, to move his unrivaled research facilities to Prague. In Prague, Brahe continued to excel as the world’s best astronomer and trained the next great name in astronomy, Johannes Kepler, until his untimely death at the hands of a bladder infection, a demise documented thoroughly by Kepler. (The infection may have resulted from Brahe’s refusal to leave the royal dinner table to relieve himself, from his insistence on “holding it in”, as it were.) Now, some of Brahe’s compatriots from the University of Aarhus wish to verify that it was, in fact, a bladder infection that claimed the life of this most famous of Danes. They suspect that kidney disease or mercury poisoning might have been the culprit, and because Brahe is so famous and they are so curious, they have obtained permission to exhume Brahe’s 409 year-old remains from the Our Lady Before Tyne cathedral in the old city square in Prague in order to investigate this celebrity death.

So, is it good to be a celebrity? Are modern celebrities damned to this same fate? Will we exhume Marilyn Monroe’s body to reexamine her death? Is Elvis Aaron Presley’s corpse guaranteed any sort of restful, eternal sleep? Will Michael Jackson ever rest in peace?

The answer might depend on your perception of celebrity. Some might reduce it to the adage “there is no such thing as bad press”, not even exhumation.

But, what is definitely cool about this particular celebrity death is the location. Prague is an awesome city. The old city square is magnificent and magical, and the mystique that surrounds Tycho Brahe is but a small part–yes, really, a small part–of all the intrigue, mystique and history that are alive in Prague.

And, that’s why you should go to Prague. And, we have you covered. Our Lady Before Tyne cathedral is stop number 8 on the walki-talki tour of Prague. Get it now from our online store, or get it from The App Store for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

This much is for certain. Tycho Brahe’s grave is among the most exciting celebrity graves one could visit.

We have come one step closer to transporting our entire catalog of digital walking tours of European cities to The App Store with the release of the walking tour app of Geneva, the pearl of Switzerland.

Geneva is the capital of the Francophone region of Switzerland. It has played crucial roles in the protestant reformation, became a hub for Calvinism, contributed handsomely to the watch industry for which Switzerland is so famous, became a critical center for the writing and signing of international treaties, and, absurdly, was home to a bizarre casino fire that inspired a very famous Deep Purple song.

It sounds like too much history to come out of a small town nestled between the Alps and Lake Geneva, but it’s all true, and our audio walking tour of Geneva will convince you of the veracity of every single claim made in the above paragraph. A beautiful map, helpful pictures, a friendly, knowledgeable guide and a bevy of enhancements introduced in our 1.1 version of the app will assure you of a memorable walk through this fantastic Swiss city.

So, grab your iPhone or iPod Touch, buy the walki-talki.com walking tour of Geneva from The App Store, and enjoy a wonderful stroll through Geneva.

Don’t have an iPhone or iPod touch? Then grab the generic Geneva walking tour from our online store. It plays on any device.

36 Hours in Berlin  |  NYTimes.com

The New York Times recently published a fairly detailed itinerary for the hurried traveler in Berlin. Berlin is a rapidly changing city. Consequently, it’s hard for me to vouch for every one of the stops mentioned here, but based on the stops that I know, this is an excellent plan for you if you find yourself with fewer than 2 days to see Berlin.

Of course, an entire year is probably not enough to see everything that Berlin has to offer. Visiting the hundreds–yes, hundreds–of museums alone will take at least two years.

Fortunately, however, you have a nice list from the New York Times on all the current hip places to see, and you have the walki-talki.com walking tour of Berlin to blast through the city’s illustrious and unmatched history. The tour is available as an app for your iPhone or iPod Touch through The App Store, and as a combination of mp3 files and PDF map for any device.

If you’re in a hurry to see Berlin, this is your itinerary.

We did everything we could to get the iPhone app walking tour of Munich out in time for Oktoberfest (or Octoberfest, if you so prefer), and we succeeded. The walki-talki.com self guided audio walking tour of the historic center of Munich went on sale today as an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (OS 3.1 tested) through The App Store.

Hofraeuhaus, stop number 11 on the walking tour of Munich.

Although this tour is not by any means an authoritative guide to the famed and fabled Oktoberfest, it will provide you with a nice background on the significance of beer in the city named for the monks who brewed the master brews that make Munich so famous. (München is the Bavarian dialect word for “monks”. For the record, the high German word for “monks” is “Mönchen”.)

Whether or not you are among the privileged few who managed to secure a seat in one of the VIP tents, get a copy of this tour and take a walk around town when you feel it is time to break from the merriment in order to avoid its toxic excesses. We are quite confident that this walking tour is every bit as entertaining when you are inebriated as it is when you are sober. And, if you harbor any doubts regarding this assertion, you can take the tour as many times as you want–drunk and sober–to find out for yourself because you are free to take the tour whenever you want and as many times as you so desire.

As always, if the iPhone and iPod Touch are not your devices of choice, the digital self-guided tour of Munich is still available through the walki-taki.com online store for any device capable of mp3 playback.

Eat, drink and be merry. That is the purpose behind Oktoberfest. A superb festival in a world class city.

The catalog of self guided walking tour apps for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) on The App Store improved dramatically yesterday with the introduction of walki-talki.com’s iPhone OS app walking  tour of Venice.

All of this tour’s fantastic narratives of the major tourist attractions in Venice–Basilica di San Marco (Saint Mark’s Basilica), Piazza San Marco, Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge), Palazzo Ducale and many other eye-popping historical treasures that make Venice a tourist attraction unlike any other are one click away on The App Store.

Basilica di San Marco, stop number eight on walki-talki.com's iPhone app tour of Venice.

Walk the steps that ancient Venetians laid upon the water a thousand years ago in this little corner of the Adriatic, see the places that Giacomo Casanova must have exploited in his countless seductions and learn why masks are such a big deal in Venice and why you should make an effort to return for the Carnevale.

The interactive map will guide you without an internet connection, the personable guides will tell you all of the most interesting stories about this dreamy land, and it will all be done on demand, whenever you want, from the convenience of your iPhone or iPod Touch. (We have tested the tours with the iPhone OS up to version 3.1.)

And if you have plans to catch the tail end of the Biennale, this tour is the companion you seek.

Of course, it bears reminding that the generic mp3 walking tour of Venice is always available for any mp3 capable device through the walki-talki.com store.

I am extremely happy to announce that walki-talki.com’s self-guided digital walking tour of the historic center of Prague is now available as a fabulous app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (OS 3.0 or higher tested).

Tyn Cathedral, track number 8, of walk-talki's walking tour of Prague.

Prague is a wonderfully preserved medieval city, and its remarkable history spans every major war, cross draft, intellectual movement, and cultural development that has alternately gripped and liberated Europe for the past 1000 years. From the spectacular Tyn Cathedral, Tycho Brahe’s burial place, to Kafka’s house, to Wenceslaus Square, the old Jewish Ghetto and the major sites of Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution, you will see it all in this fantastic walking tour of Prague.

The entire self guided walking tour–including an interactive map, the audio tracks and instructive images–resides on your iPhone. The app requires no data connection, and you won’t incur any additional charges beyond the price of the app. There are no maps to print out, no tedious software to deal with and no walking tour meeting points and schedules to contend with. Get the tour from The App Store, load up your iPhone (or iPod Touch) and see the city when you want and at your own pace.

Prague awaits.

(Of course, if you don’t own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can always buy our regular walking tour of Prague for any device capable of mp3 playback; even the cheapest media player.)

It took some time, but we’re happy to announce that the walki-talki.com self guided, mp3 audio walking tour of the Red Light District of Amsterdam is now available for sale through the App Store.

The red light district is, of course, best known as the unabashed showcase for prostitution and soft drugs, but it is, in fact, the oldest and most historic district of Amsterdam with many landmarks dating back over 1000 years. In this walking tour, you will get an excellent introduction to this history of Amsterdam, you will learn about the subtle differences in Dutch architecture, and, you will be introduced to old and modern Dutch culture, and you will be guided through the illustrious history of  Dutch trade which had made Amsterdam the center of global trade in the 1600s.

And, yes, the tour does include a rather comprehensive section on the trades in flesh and drugs that are invariably conjured by the words “red light district.”

This walking tour is distributed as a self-contained app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (OS 3.0 or higher required). It requires no internet connection to operate. All you do is run the app, and follow the route traced on the interactive map. Press the play button whenever you want your guide to speak, and press the right arrow in the point of interest pop-up button to see a picture related to that particular stop.

This tour comes with a 17+ rating in The App Store, but do not be alarmed by this rating. The tour contains no profanity or foul language. Prostitution and drug use are described with cheeky humor in about three tracks.

You had better hurry, though. The red light district might be closing soon. If that happens, our jokes won’t be as funny.

And, if you don’t have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you need not worry. You can always take our standard mp3 walking tour of Amsterdam. This tour plays on any device that can play mp3 files.

The Walki-Talki.com self guided mp3 audio walking tour of Paris’ Montmartre neighborhood is now available as an iPhone app

I’m happy to announce that our Paris: Montmartre tour is now available on the App Store. Just like the London tour, the map is included in the app so that you don’t need to print a map or even have a network connection to walk this walk.

We are hard at work preparing even more walks for the iPhone, so stay tuned for the next release!

The walki-talki.com self guided mp3 audio walking tour of London is now available as an iPhone app

I’m happy to report that our London tour is now available as an iPhone app. The app version of the tour features a dynamic map, so no more printing maps! In fact, locals just might ask you, the tourist, for directions.

We designed the app with a self contained map. Therefore no network connection is needed while you are walking, so there won’t be any unpleasant surprises when you come home and get your phone bill.

London is available now in the App Store. Our other destinations will be available in the App Store soon. We are very excited about the possibilities that the iPhone opens for our tours. Stay tuned for more updates …

I am happy to report that our site has been successfully migrated to a new server. All remaining bugs have been zapped, and normal sales have resumed. Therefore, you can shop walki-talki.com with confidence. And, don’t forget that we have made a total commitment to our customers. If you encounter any problems at all, use our contact form or click on the “skype me” button on the bottom of every page on our store to contact us. All questions will be answered, and all problems will be resolved. 

Thank you for visiting walki-talki.com.