Umm... I just got back from a few weeks in Eastern/Central Europe and Warsaw is really nice! It wasn't one of my favourites because it's one of the bigger and more skyscrapery (¬_¬) places but the old town is definitely worth a look and I think calling it a dump is somewhat over the top. Just be careful if you go to a museum called... I think... the History of Warsaw Museum on the main square, it's full of stuff they rescued from the war bombing and is pretty interesting for a bit but after the fifth floor and no place to escape from the guides who see you've finished a room and appear immediately pointing to the next one and saying, "PLEASE!
" in a way you can't refuse, I kind of wanted to smash up their history.
Riga and Vilnius are really nice places like Cloud said, I preferred the latter because it seemed to have a bit more to do in the centre without losing too much quaintness to tourism, and there's a bit just off the main centre called Uzupis which was made by artists and musicians of the city: "In 1997, the residents of the area declared a Republic of Užupis, with its own flag, currency, president, constitution, and an army (numbering approximately 12 men)." The constitution's up on the wall there, I thought it was all pretty charming and not (yet) filled with wannabe bohemians (except myself).
Budapest is a really beautiful city if you're going that far, but unfortunately I coincided with 43 degree heat/no air conditioning ANYWHERE and release of Harry Potter 7 there so I can't recommend much apart from the baths (really good ones at Széchenyi near Heroes Square) and the castle bit over the river in Buda. The public transport system was a bit confusing and ended up being much more expensive than other places although I may just have been being stupid and not realising how to use it propaly.
Prague is my third or fourth home and I lav eet, probs would recommend everything the guidebooks say: the Old and New Town Squares, the castle (and the other castle Vysehrad), Letna park (Letenske sady) is nice for a walk and beer garden and then there's a nice view from the top looking down over Cechuv most and the city, and Cross club near Holesovice is my favourite bar, with lots of contraptions for decoration (like that woman's garden in Harriet the Spy) and usually some interesting music. There's a website called
Expats.cz - Prague Jobs, Prague Community, Prague Real Estate in Czech Republic with job listings and loads of other useful stuff, I worked in Prague and it's quite hard to find an enjoyable job with no Czech at all but most of the hostel/hotel ones require excellent English and only conversational Czech. I'm not sure about anywhere else though. Oh and Cesky Krumlov is approx. half populated by tourists and very small but it's still worth going for a couple of days, to see the castle, go along the river in inner tubes and just wander about a bit.
Naturally, all of these places are also inundated with groups of men wearing "LEE'S STAG DO 2007" t-shirts and causing an unpleasant ruckus.