I am currently on the train on my way to Florence (Firenze!), Italy! I am also currently nursing a wound that I got from trying to push my bag under my seat with my feet. Apparently, if you slide your ankle , against the air grill thing on the side of the wall (I know you now I have no idea what I’m talking about), it will slice your ankle like a razor. Yummy. I also can’t get out a band-aid because if I unzip my suitcase, it might never get zipped again. Hrmph.
Anyways, Venice. Beautiful. When we arrived, we came out of the train station only to discover that we had to take a bus to our hotel, and not just any bus, but a WATERbus. We thought about taking a WATERtaxi, but settled on the waterbus instead (it was significantly cheaper). So, we hopped on the waterbus to the stop nearest our hotel and got a GREAT view of Venice. It really is beautiful. There are no cars, only boats, and lots of high-arched bridges (so that boats can get underneath). The buildings’ facades are very much what you would imagine – kindof old looking, but beautifully designed at the same time. Our hotel was hidden in the depths of Venice (it’s a labyrinth. Seriously.). We managed to find it, and checked- in around 8:30pm.
After checking-in, we ventured out to find somewhere to eat. We wandered for a long time before settling on a cheap little restaurant that served, you guessed it, Italian food! (Who would’ve known?!). I had chicken with tomato sauce and a salad with oil and vinegar. I thought my chicken came with pasta, but it was delicious anyways. After dinner we headed out wandering some more, stumbled upon the Per San Marco, and ate some gelato (delicious, by the way). Then, we discovered that we were totally and completely lost. We wandered for a long time down alleyways and roads, but it got us nowhere we recognized. Luckily, Alex has a GPS on his Blackberry (thank goodness for Blackberrys! [Blackberries?]). We used it to get us back to our hostel. Unfortunately, all of the roads are named nearly the same thing (Calle de San Zulian, Calla de San Zulian, Casa de San Julian, Campiello de San Julian, you get the point, etc.) and the directions were a little faulty. However, after about 30 minutes of exploring, we managed to make it back alive and in time for bed.
Wednesday turned out to be a relatively stressful day, so we decided to sleep in on Thursday morning so that we weren’t exhausted all day. Around 11 we got out of bed and got ready, getting us out into Venice around 12:30. We walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and found a cute little Italian restaurant right on the water. I had ravioli with tomato sauce, and strawberries with whipped cream for desert (I think they were soaked in a liquor like triple sec which made them extra sweet and tasty!). We went exploring/shopping around Venice for the remainder of the afternoon in the sunshine (it was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny! The nicest weather we’ve had abroad!). I managed to get some cute, colorful glass earrings and some souvenirs/gifts for friends. We also had gelato as a mid-afternoon snack (mint-chocolate chip, yum!). Have I mentioned that gelato is delicious yet?
After we finished shopping, we went out to dinner at another Italian restaurant (luckily, Italian food is my favorite kind of food). The food here was phenomenal. Alex and I decided to split two meals, and we settled on four-cheese pizza and meat lasagna. The pizza was really good, and the lasagna was really delicious. For dessert I got fruit salad with vanilla gelato. After dinner we headed down to Rialto Bridge to go for a gondola ride! It was right around sunset/dusk, so it was perfect timing. After paying far too much money, we hopped in the gondola and were off! It took us down the main waterway, and then off into the “back alley” waterways through the little streets, houses, and bridges. I discovered that many of the businesses had back doorways that led either to a dock or to a staircase that hung above the water so that patrons could tie their boats up outside and get into the building. Cute!
After the gondola ride, we wandered a little bit more, decided to have drinks at an outdoor restaurant in a square by our hotel, and then finally pack and head to sleep. I would mark Venice down as a success. It was nice and relaxing amidst all of the stress that we had experienced in getting there. And now, off to Florence we go!
(P.S. Since I know you were concerned, my ankle has finally stopped bleeding. Sortof…)
Friday, May 21, 2010
European Extravaganza Days 11-13: Zurich, Switzerland
We arrived in Zurich, Switzerland at 7:00pm on Monday evening. We jumped in a taxi only to have a disastrous taxi ride with a man who spoke little English, got us completely lost, and then continued driving us in circles for 40 minutes telling us that the address we wanted to get to didn’t exist, before finally driving us back to the train station and charging us an astronomical amount for it. Ugh. We then got into another taxi, made sure the driver knew where he was going, and arrived in a little less than 15 minutes. Hooray! Unfortunately, we were supposed to meet Ramon at our hotel at 8pm, and it was now close to 8:30pm. (I forgot to mention: Ramon was meeting us in Zurich! He is studying in Madrid for part of the summer, so he traveled between the end of the London semester and the beginning of the Madrid semester. He went to Belgium first to visit his sister who is studying there, and then met up with us in Zurich, which was nice. Yay!)
So, after finally arriving at the hotel, being told that Ramon had stopped by looking for us, and then getting all checked-in, we headed to our real hotel (in the satellite location). As we were walking down the street, someone called out “Alex!” and we found Ramon sitting outside of a café . He came with us to our hotel, where we dropped our bags and then headed out to dinner. (I swear we do more in these cities than eat.) We ate at a place called the Beerhall, where I had some spaghetti Bolognese and a pint of Swiss beer (which was pretty good). Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel because we were tired from our 9-hour train ride. Sleep is good. (We also had the comfiest bed in the world in Zurich. It was huge and fluffy and comfy. Aaaaah.)
Tuesday morning, we met Ramon outside our hotel at 11:15am. We went to Starbucks for coffee and breakfast, and then went to Banhoffstrauss, the main shopping street/district in Zurich. Alex and I were determined to get Swatches, so we searched for a Swatch outlet. We finally found one and each came home with one (or two, in my case) lovely Swatch watches – yay! (And I know you were wondering, so one of mine is brown leather straps with a light blue/brown watch head that is very classy-looking . The other is rainbow-striped plastic with a fun rainbow watch head and cool hand-written looking numbers. It’s super fun.) After Swatch shopping, we got lunch at a Pizzeria (where I FINALLY found some decent-tasting ranch dressing at the salad bar, and thus had a giant salad for lunch – I was practically licking the plate). We then headed to Zurich’s history museum, where it had many artifacts from ancient cultures, mostly of which were Chinese, Japanese, and African. We saw some really cool/scary African masks and sculptures, among many other things.
After the museum, it started to rain, so we caught the tram back to Banhoffstrausse to go to an observatory bar where you could see the whole city. Two (incredibly overpriced) bottles of (delicious) beer later, we headed back down to go to dinner. We searched for a long time for a place to eat before finally settling on an English pub. It was really nice because it was full of people who spoke English, and it had real pub food. We each ordered fish and chips, and although not as good as in London, it still hit the spot. It was also nice and comforting to be in the pub atmosphere again after being away from it for so long. I will really miss pubs when I go back to the US. After dinner we went out to a bar for a couple of hours because we weren’t ready for bed yet, and then we said our goodbyes to Ramon and headed back to our hotel to pack and go to sleep.
So, after finally arriving at the hotel, being told that Ramon had stopped by looking for us, and then getting all checked-in, we headed to our real hotel (in the satellite location). As we were walking down the street, someone called out “Alex!” and we found Ramon sitting outside of a café . He came with us to our hotel, where we dropped our bags and then headed out to dinner. (I swear we do more in these cities than eat.) We ate at a place called the Beerhall, where I had some spaghetti Bolognese and a pint of Swiss beer (which was pretty good). Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel because we were tired from our 9-hour train ride. Sleep is good. (We also had the comfiest bed in the world in Zurich. It was huge and fluffy and comfy. Aaaaah.)
Tuesday morning, we met Ramon outside our hotel at 11:15am. We went to Starbucks for coffee and breakfast, and then went to Banhoffstrauss, the main shopping street/district in Zurich. Alex and I were determined to get Swatches, so we searched for a Swatch outlet. We finally found one and each came home with one (or two, in my case) lovely Swatch watches – yay! (And I know you were wondering, so one of mine is brown leather straps with a light blue/brown watch head that is very classy-looking . The other is rainbow-striped plastic with a fun rainbow watch head and cool hand-written looking numbers. It’s super fun.) After Swatch shopping, we got lunch at a Pizzeria (where I FINALLY found some decent-tasting ranch dressing at the salad bar, and thus had a giant salad for lunch – I was practically licking the plate). We then headed to Zurich’s history museum, where it had many artifacts from ancient cultures, mostly of which were Chinese, Japanese, and African. We saw some really cool/scary African masks and sculptures, among many other things.
After the museum, it started to rain, so we caught the tram back to Banhoffstrausse to go to an observatory bar where you could see the whole city. Two (incredibly overpriced) bottles of (delicious) beer later, we headed back down to go to dinner. We searched for a long time for a place to eat before finally settling on an English pub. It was really nice because it was full of people who spoke English, and it had real pub food. We each ordered fish and chips, and although not as good as in London, it still hit the spot. It was also nice and comforting to be in the pub atmosphere again after being away from it for so long. I will really miss pubs when I go back to the US. After dinner we went out to a bar for a couple of hours because we weren’t ready for bed yet, and then we said our goodbyes to Ramon and headed back to our hotel to pack and go to sleep.
European Extravaganza Days 8-11: Berlin, Germany
Friday evening we arrived in Berlin. We took a taxi to our hostel, the Generator Hostel, which was really nice. We went out to dinner that night at an Italian restaurant near our hostel. Since we had arrived so late and wanted to do the tour in the morning, we decided to take it easy and watch a movie in the hostel’s lounge area instead of going out. Then, we headed to bed early (although we kept getting woken up as our six other hostel mates came in at all hours of the night.
Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, and ate breakfast just to discover that it was pouring rain and freezing outside. We had planned on going on a 3-hour walking tour that morning, but decided to wait it out and see if the afternoon cleared up and we could go on the tour in the afternoon. When it was still pouring rain and cold at 1pm (the time of the second tour), we decided to take it easy for the day because of the miserable weather (our hostel was far from the city center, so it would have taken about 30 minutes to get there in the rain). We did decide, however, to venture out a little bit in search of food. We asked a worker at the hostel for a recommendation of a stop on the S-Bahn (one of Berlin’s public transports) where we could get some good food. Despite his advice being terrible, we still managed to find a restaurant (he sent us to a place full of dollar stores and erotica… not really sure what he thought we were looking for when we said ‘food’). After dinner we went back to the hostel, watched another movie, and went to bed early again in hopes that the next day the weather would be nicer.
Our wish was granted on Sunday when it finally stopped raining. The weather was still chilly (mid-40s), but we ventured out to the main square of Berlin to meet up with the free tour. The tour began at the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin. We then got to see a number of important sites, including the bunker where Hitler shot himself (now a parking lot), some remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie (an American Army checkpoint during the separation of East and West Berlin),German Parliament, the site of the Nazi book burnings, ex-Nazi and Soviet Union headquarters, and a Jewish Holocaust memorial. Each of these sites had so much history, and it was especially interesting how the history tied in to the history of the rest of the world, and especially the rest of Europe.
Once we finished the tour, Alex and I headed towards Potsdamer Platz, a main shopping and entertainment district in Berlin. We had decided that we wanted to see the Blue Man Group in Berlin, and Potsdamer Platz was the location of the theatre and ticket office. Amazingly, we managed to secure second-row center seats (at a student-discount price!!) an hour and a half before the show. We quickly grabbed dinner at a German restaurant (surprisingly, Germany restaurants are hard to come by in Berlin) before heading to the show.
As a preface, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to see the Blue Man Group. Apparently Alex did. When we arrived in the theatre, there were rain ponchos on the backs of our seats that we were instructed to put on. Only the first five rows had ponchos. This scared me a little bit, but in the end they turned out to be slightly unnecessary (mostly because we weren’t in the line of fire). The show was a mix of rhythmic/drumming and comedy. The Blue Men loved to make the audience uncomfortable, which included climbing over the seats, making awkward jokes, and picking people out of the audience and bringing them on stage. The whole show was very entertaining, and the men who perform in it are extremely talented. I had no idea that the show required so much talent before I saw it. I also must recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity (they perform in a number of locations around the United States ,as well as in Berlin and Tokyo.)
After we left the show, we decided to head back to the Brandenberg Gate in order to do some souvenir shopping and then eat. We ate at an Argentinian steakhouse and had the most rude waitress. She basically hated us for being American/speaking English, and was polite to every other table except ours. However, I have to be grateful that this hasn’t happened in any other places thus far, as I have heard that many people are particularly rude to Americans.
After dinner we headed back to our hostel, hung out for a bit, and then headed to bed. We packed up in the morning and caught the train to Zurich, Switzerland!
Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, and ate breakfast just to discover that it was pouring rain and freezing outside. We had planned on going on a 3-hour walking tour that morning, but decided to wait it out and see if the afternoon cleared up and we could go on the tour in the afternoon. When it was still pouring rain and cold at 1pm (the time of the second tour), we decided to take it easy for the day because of the miserable weather (our hostel was far from the city center, so it would have taken about 30 minutes to get there in the rain). We did decide, however, to venture out a little bit in search of food. We asked a worker at the hostel for a recommendation of a stop on the S-Bahn (one of Berlin’s public transports) where we could get some good food. Despite his advice being terrible, we still managed to find a restaurant (he sent us to a place full of dollar stores and erotica… not really sure what he thought we were looking for when we said ‘food’). After dinner we went back to the hostel, watched another movie, and went to bed early again in hopes that the next day the weather would be nicer.
Our wish was granted on Sunday when it finally stopped raining. The weather was still chilly (mid-40s), but we ventured out to the main square of Berlin to meet up with the free tour. The tour began at the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin. We then got to see a number of important sites, including the bunker where Hitler shot himself (now a parking lot), some remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie (an American Army checkpoint during the separation of East and West Berlin),German Parliament, the site of the Nazi book burnings, ex-Nazi and Soviet Union headquarters, and a Jewish Holocaust memorial. Each of these sites had so much history, and it was especially interesting how the history tied in to the history of the rest of the world, and especially the rest of Europe.
Once we finished the tour, Alex and I headed towards Potsdamer Platz, a main shopping and entertainment district in Berlin. We had decided that we wanted to see the Blue Man Group in Berlin, and Potsdamer Platz was the location of the theatre and ticket office. Amazingly, we managed to secure second-row center seats (at a student-discount price!!) an hour and a half before the show. We quickly grabbed dinner at a German restaurant (surprisingly, Germany restaurants are hard to come by in Berlin) before heading to the show.
As a preface, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to see the Blue Man Group. Apparently Alex did. When we arrived in the theatre, there were rain ponchos on the backs of our seats that we were instructed to put on. Only the first five rows had ponchos. This scared me a little bit, but in the end they turned out to be slightly unnecessary (mostly because we weren’t in the line of fire). The show was a mix of rhythmic/drumming and comedy. The Blue Men loved to make the audience uncomfortable, which included climbing over the seats, making awkward jokes, and picking people out of the audience and bringing them on stage. The whole show was very entertaining, and the men who perform in it are extremely talented. I had no idea that the show required so much talent before I saw it. I also must recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity (they perform in a number of locations around the United States ,as well as in Berlin and Tokyo.)
After we left the show, we decided to head back to the Brandenberg Gate in order to do some souvenir shopping and then eat. We ate at an Argentinian steakhouse and had the most rude waitress. She basically hated us for being American/speaking English, and was polite to every other table except ours. However, I have to be grateful that this hasn’t happened in any other places thus far, as I have heard that many people are particularly rude to Americans.
After dinner we headed back to our hostel, hung out for a bit, and then headed to bed. We packed up in the morning and caught the train to Zurich, Switzerland!
Friday, May 14, 2010
European Extravaganza Days 5-8: Prague, Czech Republic
Alex and I arrived in Prague Tuesday evening. We had originally booked a 12+ bed hostel room, but when we saw ours, we decided to upgrade to a double room. The room in our hostel had 20 beds, and there were another 20 beds in an adjacent room, all connected by a common kitchen and a door which led out to the main hallway. The beds had no privacy (most hostels have curtains you can pull around the bunks), and the room was gross. The double room was much better, and only cost us a small amount more per night. It was totally worth it.
After checking in at the hostel and getting our room squared away, we went out for dinner at a cute restaurant near our hostel. Then, we walked around for a little while before getting settled and going to bed. Although we didn't do much, I've learned that traveling takes a lot out of you, even if you are just sitting on a train all day.
Wednesday morning we woke up early to get ready, eat breakfast, and then catch a free tour that left from the Old Town Square at 11:00 am. We arrived to the tour just in time. We also managed to stumble upon another random festival, this time it was for the Czech police forces. They had a stage set up, a band, lots of informational tents, and even a herd of baton twirlers! There was also a helicopter that was flying around Prague with a mysterious suitcase-looking thing for most of the morning. It was really odd.
Our tour took us all over Prague to see many different things. We were able to see all of the sights in the Old Town Square, including an old astronomical clock that does a dance every hour, and a church with two steeples (one smaller and one larger) to represent Adam and Eve (the towers are also named after them). Something random that I learned while we were at the clock is that apparently there are only 366 names that you are allowed to name your children if you live in the Czech Republic. Each name has a day associated with it, and on your name day you are expected to take all of your friends out and treat them to drinks! After this, we walked farther into the city, where we saw a theatre where Mozart premiered many of his most famous works. Apparently he loved playing in Prague because he felt that the people appreciated his music. We also saw a statue of Franz Kaftka, a famous Jewish writer from Prague. It is a statue of him riding on a man with no body or head and just a suit. Apparently Kaftka dreamt this one night, and this is where the inspiration for the statue came from. This statue marked the entrance to the Jewish quarter, which is where we went next. We were able to see the oldest practicing synagogue in Europe, along with the exterior of a building that houses a memorial to the Holocaust. Inside the names of each and every Czech Jew that was killed are painted on the walls (over 84,000). They also have drawings on display that were created by children who lived in the concentration camps.
The tour ended at Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge in Prague. Alex and I crossed the bridge and headed to the John Lennon wall, an attraction that many of our friends had told us about. The John Lennon wall is basically a wall in the city that you are allowed to graffiti and it is a tribute to John Lennon's life and values. There is a giant peace sign painted on it that says IMAGINE along with a faux gravestone with Lennon's face on it, many Lennons hiding throughout the wall, as well as lots of Beatles' lyrics. You are able to sign the wall, which I did, and overall it was just a really cool place. After visiting that, we ate lunch in a cafe behind the wall where I had a delicious chicken caesar salad and some chocolate mousse. Yummy.
Once we finished up lunch, we walked along the river to a giant metronome that the city had built where a statue of Stalin had once stood when the city was controlled by Communism. The metronome supposedly represents the time that the city lost to Communism, but there are many different theories as to what it means (the creator never revealed its meaning). The metronome stands up on a hilltop which has a beautiful view of the city. Alex and I walked up to the top and just enjoyed the view (Prague is a beautiful city, especially from above). The top of the hill was also apparently the cool place to hang out for middle-school skaters, as there were tons of skateboarding and breakdancing (yes, breakdancing) kids hanging out up there. Totally random.
We left the hilltop to have some dinner before heading out to a pub crawl we had heard about during the day. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and then headed to the first pub. Alex and I decided to try absinthe, which turned out to just be really potent alcohol and doesn't make you hallucinate like the stories suggest (or maybe we just didn't drink enough to hallucinate. Who knows). We then headed out to a couple of bars with the crawl, but got bored and decided to go home early. Many of the other crawls that we had been on had over 100 people on them, but this one only had about 15 people, so it was just small and kindof awkward. Plus, most of the people were creepers. Fun times.
Thursday morning we slept in a little bit and went out to get breakfast instead of eating it at the hostel. We went to a delicious bagel shop and had bacon, egg, and cheese bagels. I haven't had a good bagel since I've been in the United States, so I was really excited about this. Unfortunately, my wisdom teeth began to give me a migraine, so we went back to the hostel for a bit so I could lie down, and a few hours later we managed to start exploring again. We started off by seeing the astronomical clock go off (totally overrated) and then headed across the river to Prague Castle. This required us walking through a different part of the city that we had been in before, and it was really quite beautiful. We also accidentally stumbled upon the Czech State building which had really pretty gardens. We decided to explore for a bit, and the garden was full of really funny statues. Alex and I decided to play the "imitate the statue" game and take pictures, and when we found the perfect statue, we had to try to balance the camera on self-timer. The statue was of a man standing triumphantly and an mean little dog standing beneath his legs growling menacingly. Alex was going to be the man and I was going to be the dog, and we set everything up, and everything seemed to go well, but my camera decided to not self-focus. So, we tried again, but we got kicked out of the garden by Czech police because it was closing. Epic fail. After this, we headed to the castle which was stunning. The castle had a mix between modern and medieval architecture (apparently it's a big joke in Prague that Czechs never like to finish their buildings, and they just continue to add to them indefinitely). We finished walking through the castle's grounds and then found a little vineyard in the side of the mountain that the castle stood on. There was a really nice view of Prague from here. It even rivaled the view from the Communist metronome. We sat and enjoyed the view for awhile before heading back down to the city center.
Once we got down the mountain, we went on a wild goose chase for this really cool museum/pub place that we had been told about. We got really lost and ended up trying to find a really cool brewery that we had been told about which ended up actually being a sketchy bar full of old, fat Czech men. So, we walked back towards our hostel and finally found somewhere to eat dinner (most of the restaurants were really packed) at a Mexican style restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel, packed our suitcases as best we could, and tried to sleep as best we could (we had acquired some new hostel neighbors who were really loud and rude and were up for practically the whole night causing a ruckus. Ugh.)
Now I am (you guessed it!) on a train again on my way to Berlin, Germany. We will be there for three nights as well. Only an hour and a half left to go - I can't wait to arrive!
After checking in at the hostel and getting our room squared away, we went out for dinner at a cute restaurant near our hostel. Then, we walked around for a little while before getting settled and going to bed. Although we didn't do much, I've learned that traveling takes a lot out of you, even if you are just sitting on a train all day.
Wednesday morning we woke up early to get ready, eat breakfast, and then catch a free tour that left from the Old Town Square at 11:00 am. We arrived to the tour just in time. We also managed to stumble upon another random festival, this time it was for the Czech police forces. They had a stage set up, a band, lots of informational tents, and even a herd of baton twirlers! There was also a helicopter that was flying around Prague with a mysterious suitcase-looking thing for most of the morning. It was really odd.
Our tour took us all over Prague to see many different things. We were able to see all of the sights in the Old Town Square, including an old astronomical clock that does a dance every hour, and a church with two steeples (one smaller and one larger) to represent Adam and Eve (the towers are also named after them). Something random that I learned while we were at the clock is that apparently there are only 366 names that you are allowed to name your children if you live in the Czech Republic. Each name has a day associated with it, and on your name day you are expected to take all of your friends out and treat them to drinks! After this, we walked farther into the city, where we saw a theatre where Mozart premiered many of his most famous works. Apparently he loved playing in Prague because he felt that the people appreciated his music. We also saw a statue of Franz Kaftka, a famous Jewish writer from Prague. It is a statue of him riding on a man with no body or head and just a suit. Apparently Kaftka dreamt this one night, and this is where the inspiration for the statue came from. This statue marked the entrance to the Jewish quarter, which is where we went next. We were able to see the oldest practicing synagogue in Europe, along with the exterior of a building that houses a memorial to the Holocaust. Inside the names of each and every Czech Jew that was killed are painted on the walls (over 84,000). They also have drawings on display that were created by children who lived in the concentration camps.
The tour ended at Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge in Prague. Alex and I crossed the bridge and headed to the John Lennon wall, an attraction that many of our friends had told us about. The John Lennon wall is basically a wall in the city that you are allowed to graffiti and it is a tribute to John Lennon's life and values. There is a giant peace sign painted on it that says IMAGINE along with a faux gravestone with Lennon's face on it, many Lennons hiding throughout the wall, as well as lots of Beatles' lyrics. You are able to sign the wall, which I did, and overall it was just a really cool place. After visiting that, we ate lunch in a cafe behind the wall where I had a delicious chicken caesar salad and some chocolate mousse. Yummy.
Once we finished up lunch, we walked along the river to a giant metronome that the city had built where a statue of Stalin had once stood when the city was controlled by Communism. The metronome supposedly represents the time that the city lost to Communism, but there are many different theories as to what it means (the creator never revealed its meaning). The metronome stands up on a hilltop which has a beautiful view of the city. Alex and I walked up to the top and just enjoyed the view (Prague is a beautiful city, especially from above). The top of the hill was also apparently the cool place to hang out for middle-school skaters, as there were tons of skateboarding and breakdancing (yes, breakdancing) kids hanging out up there. Totally random.
We left the hilltop to have some dinner before heading out to a pub crawl we had heard about during the day. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and then headed to the first pub. Alex and I decided to try absinthe, which turned out to just be really potent alcohol and doesn't make you hallucinate like the stories suggest (or maybe we just didn't drink enough to hallucinate. Who knows). We then headed out to a couple of bars with the crawl, but got bored and decided to go home early. Many of the other crawls that we had been on had over 100 people on them, but this one only had about 15 people, so it was just small and kindof awkward. Plus, most of the people were creepers. Fun times.
Thursday morning we slept in a little bit and went out to get breakfast instead of eating it at the hostel. We went to a delicious bagel shop and had bacon, egg, and cheese bagels. I haven't had a good bagel since I've been in the United States, so I was really excited about this. Unfortunately, my wisdom teeth began to give me a migraine, so we went back to the hostel for a bit so I could lie down, and a few hours later we managed to start exploring again. We started off by seeing the astronomical clock go off (totally overrated) and then headed across the river to Prague Castle. This required us walking through a different part of the city that we had been in before, and it was really quite beautiful. We also accidentally stumbled upon the Czech State building which had really pretty gardens. We decided to explore for a bit, and the garden was full of really funny statues. Alex and I decided to play the "imitate the statue" game and take pictures, and when we found the perfect statue, we had to try to balance the camera on self-timer. The statue was of a man standing triumphantly and an mean little dog standing beneath his legs growling menacingly. Alex was going to be the man and I was going to be the dog, and we set everything up, and everything seemed to go well, but my camera decided to not self-focus. So, we tried again, but we got kicked out of the garden by Czech police because it was closing. Epic fail. After this, we headed to the castle which was stunning. The castle had a mix between modern and medieval architecture (apparently it's a big joke in Prague that Czechs never like to finish their buildings, and they just continue to add to them indefinitely). We finished walking through the castle's grounds and then found a little vineyard in the side of the mountain that the castle stood on. There was a really nice view of Prague from here. It even rivaled the view from the Communist metronome. We sat and enjoyed the view for awhile before heading back down to the city center.
Once we got down the mountain, we went on a wild goose chase for this really cool museum/pub place that we had been told about. We got really lost and ended up trying to find a really cool brewery that we had been told about which ended up actually being a sketchy bar full of old, fat Czech men. So, we walked back towards our hostel and finally found somewhere to eat dinner (most of the restaurants were really packed) at a Mexican style restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel, packed our suitcases as best we could, and tried to sleep as best we could (we had acquired some new hostel neighbors who were really loud and rude and were up for practically the whole night causing a ruckus. Ugh.)
Now I am (you guessed it!) on a train again on my way to Berlin, Germany. We will be there for three nights as well. Only an hour and a half left to go - I can't wait to arrive!
European Extravaganza Days 3-5: Krakow, Poland & Auschwitz-Birkenau
We finally arrived in Krakow (spelled Cracow in Polish and pronounced "crack-ov") around 2:30pm. We caught a taxi to our hostel, where we were able to check-in right away. The hostel was really cute and only had about ten rooms, a little kitchen, and a reception desk. We had a double room to ourselves with our own bathroom, so that was nice. I've learned that I hate staying in large hostel rooms with other people because they are usually loud, smelly, and rude. Yuck.
After checking-in, we headed out to the town to grab something to eat. After searching for an ATM, we finally settled down at a place that served Polish cuisine. I had some cream of broccoli soup and small potato dumplings (not pierogies like I had expected, but little buttery delicious dumplings). It was yummy. We headed back to our hostel after lunch to take a nap, and then went out to dinner afterwards. We ate at a pizzeria and they had some of the best pizza that I've had since I've been abroad. I also got a traditional Polish desert (I can't remember what it was called) that the waitress recommended that tasted like delicious apple crisp with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Yum yum yum.
On Monday, we woke up early, ate breakfast, got ready, and headed out into the city of Krakow. We reached the Old Town, explored a bit, and then walked to the castle in Krakow. We explored the castle for a little while, sat on a bench and enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the river. (The river in Krakow is the same one that runs through Warsaw - crazy!). After that, we did a little bit of exploring and then ate lunch at a really cute restaurant that had a wood-burning oven that they used to cook all of their food. I had the best pierogies there, which had potatoes, cheese, and onions in them. We also got an appetizer (fried sheep's cheese with cranberry jelly) that we had seen on a lot of menus, but I didn't like it. It tasted/squeaked like I was eating a balloon, which I found to be really unpleasant. However, Alex liked it, but without the cranberries.
After lunch, we high-tailed it back to our hostel to catch the 3:30pm trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. We managed to make it in time. Also on our tour were two older couples, one from Northern Ireland, and one from Ireland. They talked to us quite a bit about a variety of things including politics and culture. We took a van there, and the drive was a little over an hour. We watched a movie about the history of Auschwitz on the way there. We were lucky enough to have our own English-speaking tour guide for the six of us who brought us through each of the buildings and was incredibly knowledgeable. I learned so much about the Holocaust and Auschwitz that I had never known before. Despite how depressing the whole tour was, it was very eye-opening and intersting. I'm so glad I went because it was an important part of history that deserves to be remembered. I cannot go in to detail here about many of the things that I learned, but overall the experience was one that I am sure I will remember forever. If you ever have the chance to visit there, I highly recommend it. It really changes your views on humanity.
We did not return from Auschwitz until about 9:30pm, so we got dinner at a little restaurant/bar close to our hostel. We went back to our hostel and went straight to bed so that we could be up early to pack and catch our train to Prague, Czech Republic, which is where I am right now. We currently have about five hours left, but we are lucky enough to (so far) have an entire compartment to ourselves (think "Hogwarts Express" if you are confused as to what I mean by compartment). The seats are also big and comfy. Woohoo! More to come once we reach Prague!!!! :)
After checking-in, we headed out to the town to grab something to eat. After searching for an ATM, we finally settled down at a place that served Polish cuisine. I had some cream of broccoli soup and small potato dumplings (not pierogies like I had expected, but little buttery delicious dumplings). It was yummy. We headed back to our hostel after lunch to take a nap, and then went out to dinner afterwards. We ate at a pizzeria and they had some of the best pizza that I've had since I've been abroad. I also got a traditional Polish desert (I can't remember what it was called) that the waitress recommended that tasted like delicious apple crisp with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Yum yum yum.
On Monday, we woke up early, ate breakfast, got ready, and headed out into the city of Krakow. We reached the Old Town, explored a bit, and then walked to the castle in Krakow. We explored the castle for a little while, sat on a bench and enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the river. (The river in Krakow is the same one that runs through Warsaw - crazy!). After that, we did a little bit of exploring and then ate lunch at a really cute restaurant that had a wood-burning oven that they used to cook all of their food. I had the best pierogies there, which had potatoes, cheese, and onions in them. We also got an appetizer (fried sheep's cheese with cranberry jelly) that we had seen on a lot of menus, but I didn't like it. It tasted/squeaked like I was eating a balloon, which I found to be really unpleasant. However, Alex liked it, but without the cranberries.
After lunch, we high-tailed it back to our hostel to catch the 3:30pm trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. We managed to make it in time. Also on our tour were two older couples, one from Northern Ireland, and one from Ireland. They talked to us quite a bit about a variety of things including politics and culture. We took a van there, and the drive was a little over an hour. We watched a movie about the history of Auschwitz on the way there. We were lucky enough to have our own English-speaking tour guide for the six of us who brought us through each of the buildings and was incredibly knowledgeable. I learned so much about the Holocaust and Auschwitz that I had never known before. Despite how depressing the whole tour was, it was very eye-opening and intersting. I'm so glad I went because it was an important part of history that deserves to be remembered. I cannot go in to detail here about many of the things that I learned, but overall the experience was one that I am sure I will remember forever. If you ever have the chance to visit there, I highly recommend it. It really changes your views on humanity.
We did not return from Auschwitz until about 9:30pm, so we got dinner at a little restaurant/bar close to our hostel. We went back to our hostel and went straight to bed so that we could be up early to pack and catch our train to Prague, Czech Republic, which is where I am right now. We currently have about five hours left, but we are lucky enough to (so far) have an entire compartment to ourselves (think "Hogwarts Express" if you are confused as to what I mean by compartment). The seats are also big and comfy. Woohoo! More to come once we reach Prague!!!! :)
Monday, May 10, 2010
European Extravaganza Days 1-3: Warsaw, Poland
Wwwwwwase3!
Haha. I’m currently on the train from Warsaw to Krakow, and I accidentally dropped Alex’s computer, caught it with my legs, and typed that. Success.
Anyways, yesterday marked day 2 of my European Extravaganza. We left London on Friday morning SUPER early (flight departed 6:36 am), which required us leaving our flats at 3:30 am. Boo. We made it to Warsaw around ten, caught a cab to our hotel, tried to check-in early but were denied, and then had lunch. We went to a place called ‘Polski Pub’ that served us a set-menu lunch. It was absolutely delicious. It was mango (or orange? Or Tang?) juice, some kind of tasty vegetable soup, bright yellow rice, salad, and fish cooked really weirdly (but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t delicious). It reminded me a lot of a home-cooked dinner, which was nice. It was also super cheap, costing only 14pln (3.3 pln= $1, so basically divide any pln price by 3 for the dollar value – woo!).
After lunch we got some coffee at this really adorable café next to our hotel that was called greencoffee. There were comfy couches everywhere and people hanging out. The only thing that sucked was that the guy that served us basically hated us. Not sure if this was because we only spoke English or because we were American or just because he was in a bad mood, but he was incredibly unfriendly. Boo.
After getting coffee, we checked into our hotel, took a much-needed 5-hour long nap (finals week + departing at 3am can leave you pretttyyy tired), and then went out to dinner. We ate at a restaurant next to our hotel that served Polish food, but had an English menu (and English-speaking wait staff). I had some kind of chicken in a tomato-based sauce, wrapped in a potato pancake, and topped with a mushroom sauce and mushrooms. It also came with cabbage and sauerkraut (as does everything thus far in Poland). It was really good, but really rich in flavor, so I couldn’t finish it all. I also tried a Polish beer (spelled something like Tzgzchi….) and it was really good and came in a funny-shaped little mug. Weeeee!
On Saturday we woke up early for breakfast in the hotel, then we got ready and set out to explore Warsaw. Our cab driver on the way to the hotel told us that we had to see the Old Town, so that is where we headed first. It was about a 30-minute walk from our hotel, but we were able to enjoy some sights on the way, including St. Anne’s church, which has a beautiful view of the city from it’s viewing platform. The really cool thing about Warsaw is that it was mostly destroyed in World War II when it was occupied by Nazi Germany. They rebuilt it afterwards (mostly between the 50s and the 80s), but they did so according to the architecture that had existed in the pre-war years. Therefore, it looks like an old city, but renovated. It was really cute and beautiful.
One thing that surprised us was that we managed to stumble upon a festival while we walked to the Old Town. We couldn’t quite figure out what it was, as all of the signs were in Polish, but we do know that it had something to do with celebrating Poland and their connection with the European Union. Everyone was wearing blue and gold (EU colors) and there were lots of tents, live music, and other random things (people riding giant bikes, stilt walkers, etc.). We sat outside to enjoy this for awhile and just watch everything happen. Then we ate lunch at a restaurant called the Sphinx which was Egyptian-themed and had good food. Wo0t.
We eventually managed to reach the Old Town, which was really cute and exactly how you would picture a little Polish town. It had cobblestone sidewalks, narrow streets, outdoor cafes, and town squares. From there, we headed towards Pawiak, an old Gestapo jail. When Warsaw was occupied by the Nazis, there was a huge Jewish ghetto (somewhere in the vicinity of 200 acres, though I can’t remember the exact figure). Many of these Jews died of starvation in the ghettos, and those that weren’t were sent off to a concentration camp to be murdered. Those who fought against the Nazis were sent to Pawiak prison to be killed. The prison itself was destroyed in WWII by bombs, but part of its outer walls still remain along with one section that has been turned into a museum. We arrived after the museum had closed, but we were still able to view the memorials and the exterior of the complex. Near the Pawiak prison was also a marker that showed where the original walls of the ghetto existed from 1940-1943.
Once we finished at the Prison, we were exhausted from a long day of exploring, and we headed back to our hotel to relax for a little bit before dinner. When we got there, I decided to call down to Reception to request another pillow, which resulted in my getting into a language-barrier filled conversation with the cleaning lady who only knew Polish. Lots of shouting and gesturing ensued, before she finally figured out that I wanted an entire pillow, and not just a pillowcase. Oy vey. It’s amazing what a difference language makes. (Another example: whenever I ordered water the server would ask me “do you want glass?” to which I would respond “no, that’s okay.” When they returned with a bottled of water and a glass, I was always confused, but didn’t really care, because I had kindof wanted a glass anyways. As it turns out (and I finally figured out after the fifth or so restaurant), they were asking me if I wanted gas, as in, if I wanted still or sparkling water. Whoops.)
After relaxing, figuring out our itinerary for Sunday (when our trains leave, when we had to leave the hotel, how to get to the station, etc.) we went out for dinner at a Pierrogeria near our hotel. Alex had the mixed meat pierogies and I had cheddar, broccoli, and mozzarella with tomato sauce to dip in. I must say, I love pierogies, but the pierogies here make me love them even more. Yum.
And now, I am sitting on a train on the way to Krakow, the second stop on our journey. We will be there for two nights, and hopefully will be able to get to see some of the city, as well as the remains of Auschwitz concentration camp.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
London: The Conclusion
So, my final weeks in London have been crazy hectic and I haven't been able to post.
For the next 21 days, I'm traveling around Europe and probably won't have Internet access. Then I will probably mass-blog when I return to the United States on May 29th. So you have that to look forward to!
Also, here is a rough itinerary in case you want to follow my journeys:
5/7-5/9: Warsaw, Poland
5/9-5/11: Krakow, Poland
5/11-5/14: Prague, Czech Republic
5/14-5/17: Berlin, Germany
5/17-5/19: Zurich, Switzerland
5/19-5/2l: Venice, Italy
5/21-5/24: Florence, Italy
5/24-5/27: Rome, Italy
5/27-5/28: London, UK
5/28: NYC, USA!
5/29: HOME AT LAST!!!!! :) :) :)
I will miss London terribly and can't begin to express what an amazing semester that I've had here. I will miss this city more than I can even imagine right now.
So, this is goodbye.
Goodbye London!!
For the next 21 days, I'm traveling around Europe and probably won't have Internet access. Then I will probably mass-blog when I return to the United States on May 29th. So you have that to look forward to!
Also, here is a rough itinerary in case you want to follow my journeys:
5/7-5/9: Warsaw, Poland
5/9-5/11: Krakow, Poland
5/11-5/14: Prague, Czech Republic
5/14-5/17: Berlin, Germany
5/17-5/19: Zurich, Switzerland
5/19-5/2l: Venice, Italy
5/21-5/24: Florence, Italy
5/24-5/27: Rome, Italy
5/27-5/28: London, UK
5/28: NYC, USA!
5/29: HOME AT LAST!!!!! :) :) :)
I will miss London terribly and can't begin to express what an amazing semester that I've had here. I will miss this city more than I can even imagine right now.
So, this is goodbye.
Goodbye London!!
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