The European rail network is a vast system spanning over 160,000 miles that connects every major city in Europe. Travel is comfortable and convenient with a railway that is renowned for its reliability and speed.

The railway is used both by tourists and locals alike and is undoubtedly best way to see countryside. My travels took me from Prague, in Czech Republic, to Dresden, Germany, and finally to Vienna, Austria. Each city has a train station that is within walking distance and directly connected to city through metro system.

My rail adventure started at historic and picturesque city of Prague, in Czech Republic . The station was built from 1901-1909 by architect Josef Fanta. The main architects include Ohmann, Bendelmeyer, and Kotera. These architects gave main station, Hlavni Nadrazi, its unmistakable style that reflects opulent 1920s.

The station is a masterpiece of symmetry and contains incredible sculptures, stained glass, and ceramic frescos. These all reveal greatest artistic influence on Prague Art Nouveau. This style was created by a Czech artist by name of Mucha. Art Nouveau embellishments are seen everywhere in city, including main train station.

"What happens at a dude ranch?", he asked clerk who was helping Bob buy new cowboy boots. She said that her husband had been a wrangler — a horse handler — at a dude ranch for years. We were at Big R. in my hometown of Greeley, Colorado, just a couple of hours east of Rawah Guest Ranch. The farm and ranch store, Big R, is something of a local institution. It's where you take your out-of-town guests to buy cowboy hats and boots. On other side of store is all manner of hardware for repairing your Zimmatic irrigation equipment, watering tanks, corrals and fences, and lots of riding mowers and tractors. It's Home Depot for ranches. Bob strolls around aisles before setting to task of boots. Now he is asking simplest of questions, and one of slipperiest of answers. What exactly does happen at a dude ranch.

The clerk said: "It's a resort with horses." It was a great place to start our exploration.

Rawah Ranch is counter sunk in Laramie Range of Colorado. = Rawah Ranch (pronounced RAY-wah) is nestled in Colorado ’s Laramie River valley, adjacent to Rawah Wilderness, an enormous area of pristine mountains. Named for a Ute word for "abundance," wilderness is available to everyone who is on foot or horseback only. Wildlife is all around ranch. Moose, deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, big horn sheep are in backyard.

Rawah Ranch hosts a maximum of 32 guests and boasts a high staff-to-guest ratio, with 20 on staff. Our week, we are outnumbered because we arre among only 19 guests. We drop off our luggage in our cabin and change for pre-dinner reception. With so many boots and hats, it is difficult to distinguish guests from staff. We first meet a large man in an apron. He thrusts out a meaty hand and says, "I'm Ray. Welcome! How would you like your steak cooked?" A friendly hello followed by a dinner order. Things arre shaping up quite nicely.

We also meet Nick, who is a wrangler and had worked previous year at Rawah on grounds crew. Equally welcoming is Ben, head wrangler who orchestrates our rides for week. Pretty quickly, we meet all staff and our fellow guests. If we had been least bit nervous about spending a week with a bunch of strangers, we quickly realize that we aren't going to be strangers for long.

At 6:30 dinner bell rings as it will for breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout week. We sit at table with one family from Massachusetts, who are returning for their third vacation at Rawah Ranch. Kathy and Steve brought their two sons, Jeremiah and Josh, who are both in their early twenties. It makes me wonder, when was last family vacation I took with my parents and siblings? I couldn't remember.

"We like it because it's not all tarted up," Kathy said. "It's closest to real thing that you can get." Rawah Ranch offers something that almost no other guest ranch offers: custom rides every day. At many ranches, rides are prescribed. Thursday might be all-day ride day. Not at Rawah. Each morning and afternoon, we have choice of two half day rides, a full-day ride, or a riding lesson. Then we tell Ben what type of scenery we want to see, and he recommends a particular ride. Often there are multiple full-day rides going to different places. And of course, we always have option of not going. We try to do it all!

What about steaks? They are cooked to perfection and served outdoors on back picnic tables along with potato salad, rolls, salads. The Laramie River gurgles happily in background. We chat with other guests: Steve and Sheri are from southern California; Cathy and Steve, and their children, Matt and Kristen are from Pennsylvania, as well as Sue and Cindy from a nearby Pennsylvania town; and Pat and Jon and their children, William, Nicole, and Chris, who turns out to be charmer of group. I was closest thing to a local, having grown up nearby and hiked and camped in these mountains as a kid.