Vienna was absolutely fantastically beautiful! It’s true what they say- Vienna is a smaller, fancier Prague!
We started off really early on Friday morning and took a lovely, relaxing train ride through the countryside. I slept, but I’m sure there were at least a few cows and goats passed.
When we arrived in Vienna, we checked in to our hostel, the West End City Hostel, which was very clean but a little cramped. 8 girls on bunks in one room…eeek. After we checked in and ate at a very cute café (Viennese coffee= soooo good), we went for a walk through the city center with our fearless leader, Professor Holub, who bears a striking resemblance to Professor Lupin. We walked down Maria Hilfer Straβe, which is the “5th Avenue of Vienna”, which I would say is an accurate description if 5th Ave had more stores selling Mozart balls. Then professor took us to the historic city center, where we saw giant, beautiful buildings, museums, and a statue to commemorate the Black Death. It was actually gorgeous and gold. Speaking of gold, Vienna is populated by more costumed characters than is necessary for such a tiny place. Everywhere you look there are gold Mozarts, caped guys selling concert tickets, CLOWNS, and all other sorts of unnecessary creepers. They molest tourists then ask them for money. It’s really not cute at all. After Professor wandered away, we went to see Stephansdom, which is a giant, very shiny Gothic-style church. There happened to be a concert that day, and we got there just in time to hear Shalon Havarim- it was a very interesting rendition.
Then we hit up Centraal Café, on Zuzana’s recommendation. Centraal Café is one of the historic landmarks of café culture and it is very elegant. There is a piano player, velvet couches, plenty of coffee, and most importantly, STUDEL. The most amazing strudel in the world, actually.
After strudel, we wandered the streets for a while until we discovered Barfin, which was a great little hookah bar with a very friendly waiter eager to practice English. He recommended some great white wine and even played Britney Spears music in our honor. Austrians seem to like American tourists as much as Czechs hate them.
Post- hookah bar, we grabbed some street falafel and called it a night.
Saturday morning we woke up super early to tour the government area with Professor. This was also an epic day in terms of weather as it was 60 DEGEES AND SUNNY. Note facebook photos for evidence that I took off my jacket outside! After a long walk and discussion about architecture, we found a lovely Easter market and had a lunch time smörgåsbord of homemade treats: cheese, bread, beer, pastry, etc.
Then we jumped on the metro to see the Shoenbrunn palace, former home of Maria Teresa, Emperor Franz Josef, and entourage. The palace has 2,000 rooms, one of which Sisi used for the sole purpose of brushing her ankle-length hair. Just one tidbit from the tour. After seeing just a tiny fraction of the palace, we went outside to stroll the beautiful gardens and lay in the grass to soak up the sun. Unfortuantly, a very angry Austrian came riding through on his bike pointing at a sign that implied sitting on the grass is not allowed… the ultimate BIKE COP!
Saturday night we went to a really delicious italian restaurant called Vipiano, which was like a gourmet dining hall on crack! They gave you a swipe card and then you went to the counter of your choice and swiped to order. When the food and wine magically appeared, it was delicious! After dinner we went to hear some quailty live jazz and passed out from walking exhaustion.
Sunday we woke up for some museum hopping and rain-trudging. It rained the entire day and was absolutely freezing, but Professor still wanted us to see lots of architecture that was very, very out of the way. Then we went to two of the best museums in Europe: the Belvedere and the Kunst. Both had incredible art and even a mummified crocodile! After more rain trudging, it was confirmed that absolutely everything is closed on Sundays in Vienna, so we had more falafel before getting back on the train to Prague.
This week, I have only 3 days in Prague to get all my work done before I leave for Budapest Thursday morning. I’m also battling a cold, which is really making me feel gross and icky. However, I finally won the battle with the printing system at school today and I am finally able to print! 1 point for Jo!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
There is a Dunkin Donuts in Berlin
Just got back from Berlin last night after a really busy week.
I had Judd here visiting so I got to play tour guide again and we did some good sight seeing and some excellent eating. We also went to a Sparta Praha futbol game- Prague kicked Brno’s ass!
Wednesday night, my Alternative Literature and Underground Culture class went to see a mini concert by The Plastic People of the Universe, Czech Republic’s most popular rock band… of the 1960s. We had a Q&A with the bass player and saxophone player who both confirmed the stereotype that Czechs value women and beer above all else.
I also had my first tutoring English lessons both at the high school near my dorm and with my one-on-one student, Sarah. We discussed antonyms and the politically correct way to distinguish between dot-Indians and feather-Indians.
And then I went to Berlin really really super early on Friday morning. When we arrived, we checked into our hostel which was a really cool converted factory building in the Turkish neighborhood of Kriesburg. Then we had a guided walking tour of the city center from a very tall Brit named Neil. He filled us in on Berlin’s history and pointed out a few key facts: Berlin is the 3rd gay-est city in the world (after San Francisco and Sydney, Australia) and the 3rd bridge-iest city in Europe (after Amsterdam and Hamburg). He took us to Bebelplatz, the square next to the city library and university where the Nazis staged massive book burnings, the remaining section of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie in the former American sector, the site of Hitler’s secret bunker, the Holocaust memorial, the Brandenburg gate, and lots of other cool shit. Later, after some quality German food and grapefruit beer, we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which tells the story of what lengths East Berliners went through to try to make it to the other side. In true tourist trap fashion, they also have a “Charlie” soldier dressed up in the street who will stamp your passport with the old East Berlin stamp. Then we had some drinks and called it a night.
On Saturday, we drove to Potsdam, which is about an hour outside the city. We took a tour through the palace where the Big 3 met to discuss the Treaty of Potsdam after the end of WWII. Then we headed back to Berlin and went to the Story of Berlin museum. The museum also included a tour of a nuclear fall-out shelter built in the 1970s under a parking garage. It was super creepy. We then proceeded to walk approx 800 km through the zoo and Tiergarten to see “Chick on a Stick”, which is what Berliners affectionately call the giant victory memorial in the center of Berlin. The chick is really shiny. After that, I had the most delicious falafel ever before visiting the dome of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. Given some of the shady politcs that happened there before, all government buildings that were re-built after WWII are now all glass as a symbol for transparency of governemnt. The dome of the parliament building had a great view of the entire city, and you could really see the mix of old, communist, and new architecture.
Sunday, we spent some time on Museum Island, seeing as this is the only part of the city actually open on Sundays. We went to the DDR museum, which is a really fun, interactive museum about life in East Germany during communism. There were lots of things to touch and open so obviously I liked this museum a lot. I learned that communist coffee is awful, the jeans were made of plastic, and garden gnomes were totally hip. They also had a display of a typical communist flat, complete with a bathroom that is identitcal to the one I have in my dorm here in Prague. Then I had Dunkin Donuts coffee, and I was very very very happy.
On the way back from Berlin, we stopped in Dresden, which is the capital of Saxony. In Dresden, the neo-Nazi party is so strong that they actually have seats in the state parliament. Scary shit. We didn’t see any neo-nazis, but we did see some beautiful old churches and an opera house that supposedly has the best acoustics anywhere in the world. After dinner, we headed back to Prague where I shall do nothing but school work for the next week.
I had Judd here visiting so I got to play tour guide again and we did some good sight seeing and some excellent eating. We also went to a Sparta Praha futbol game- Prague kicked Brno’s ass!
Wednesday night, my Alternative Literature and Underground Culture class went to see a mini concert by The Plastic People of the Universe, Czech Republic’s most popular rock band… of the 1960s. We had a Q&A with the bass player and saxophone player who both confirmed the stereotype that Czechs value women and beer above all else.
I also had my first tutoring English lessons both at the high school near my dorm and with my one-on-one student, Sarah. We discussed antonyms and the politically correct way to distinguish between dot-Indians and feather-Indians.
And then I went to Berlin really really super early on Friday morning. When we arrived, we checked into our hostel which was a really cool converted factory building in the Turkish neighborhood of Kriesburg. Then we had a guided walking tour of the city center from a very tall Brit named Neil. He filled us in on Berlin’s history and pointed out a few key facts: Berlin is the 3rd gay-est city in the world (after San Francisco and Sydney, Australia) and the 3rd bridge-iest city in Europe (after Amsterdam and Hamburg). He took us to Bebelplatz, the square next to the city library and university where the Nazis staged massive book burnings, the remaining section of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie in the former American sector, the site of Hitler’s secret bunker, the Holocaust memorial, the Brandenburg gate, and lots of other cool shit. Later, after some quality German food and grapefruit beer, we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which tells the story of what lengths East Berliners went through to try to make it to the other side. In true tourist trap fashion, they also have a “Charlie” soldier dressed up in the street who will stamp your passport with the old East Berlin stamp. Then we had some drinks and called it a night.
On Saturday, we drove to Potsdam, which is about an hour outside the city. We took a tour through the palace where the Big 3 met to discuss the Treaty of Potsdam after the end of WWII. Then we headed back to Berlin and went to the Story of Berlin museum. The museum also included a tour of a nuclear fall-out shelter built in the 1970s under a parking garage. It was super creepy. We then proceeded to walk approx 800 km through the zoo and Tiergarten to see “Chick on a Stick”, which is what Berliners affectionately call the giant victory memorial in the center of Berlin. The chick is really shiny. After that, I had the most delicious falafel ever before visiting the dome of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. Given some of the shady politcs that happened there before, all government buildings that were re-built after WWII are now all glass as a symbol for transparency of governemnt. The dome of the parliament building had a great view of the entire city, and you could really see the mix of old, communist, and new architecture.
Sunday, we spent some time on Museum Island, seeing as this is the only part of the city actually open on Sundays. We went to the DDR museum, which is a really fun, interactive museum about life in East Germany during communism. There were lots of things to touch and open so obviously I liked this museum a lot. I learned that communist coffee is awful, the jeans were made of plastic, and garden gnomes were totally hip. They also had a display of a typical communist flat, complete with a bathroom that is identitcal to the one I have in my dorm here in Prague. Then I had Dunkin Donuts coffee, and I was very very very happy.
On the way back from Berlin, we stopped in Dresden, which is the capital of Saxony. In Dresden, the neo-Nazi party is so strong that they actually have seats in the state parliament. Scary shit. We didn’t see any neo-nazis, but we did see some beautiful old churches and an opera house that supposedly has the best acoustics anywhere in the world. After dinner, we headed back to Prague where I shall do nothing but school work for the next week.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A Very Czech-y Day
Today I realized just how valuable accent-less English is.
This afternoon I went to a meet a high school student who I am going to be tutoring in English. Sarah is the daughter of Zuzana’s friend and is trying to transfer to an English-speaking high school so she can go to Harvard like her brother. She is a very smart Czech cookie and we’re going to practice reading comprehension and such every Thursday in her fancy family flat. And I get paid in apple cake and krowns. Bam!
After meeting Sarah, I went to meet up with some friends who just happen to be Czech military officers. To backtrack, last week I randomly met Carl, a Czech air force IT specialist in a pub. He told us about an intensive English class he is taking with a bunch of other military officers. Then he facebooked my friend and invited us to a party tonight. 5 American girls to practice English with- what could be better!
So English is a marketable skill, but no one will practice Czech with me…
This afternoon I went to a meet a high school student who I am going to be tutoring in English. Sarah is the daughter of Zuzana’s friend and is trying to transfer to an English-speaking high school so she can go to Harvard like her brother. She is a very smart Czech cookie and we’re going to practice reading comprehension and such every Thursday in her fancy family flat. And I get paid in apple cake and krowns. Bam!
After meeting Sarah, I went to meet up with some friends who just happen to be Czech military officers. To backtrack, last week I randomly met Carl, a Czech air force IT specialist in a pub. He told us about an intensive English class he is taking with a bunch of other military officers. Then he facebooked my friend and invited us to a party tonight. 5 American girls to practice English with- what could be better!
So English is a marketable skill, but no one will practice Czech with me…
Monday, March 9, 2009
Mozart's Balls and Skiing the Alps
Just got back from an EPIC WEEKED in Austria!
I was originally signed up to go to Linz and Salzburg with a school tour this weekend, but they cancelled it on Wednesday because they suck. So a few of the girls in my apartment and I decided we were still going to go, and we were going to do it even better. After assigning appropriate Captain duties (train captain, snack captain, hostel captain, etc), we did research and decided to conquer Salzburg and Innsbruck.
We left the kolej in Prague at the ripe hour of 5 am on Friday and arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon after 6 hours on a train reminiscent of the Hogwart’s express. Salzburg is the 4th largest city in Austria, which makes it pretty damn small. But they have a few claims to fame that they exploit shamelessly. One of these is Mozart. We visited his birthplace and museum, and heard his music everywhere. We also sampled his balls. According to a guidebook, “Mozart first requested to have his balls dipped in chocolate at Café Tomacelli”…. Now there are these delicious round candies all over the city with his face stamped on the foil wrapper. They are the best candy ever.
After having many Mozart balls and hiking up to an intense castle on Friday afternoon, we retired to the excellent Hotel Turnuit just outside the city center. It smelled much nicer than my dorm in Prague and it very nice and very cheap so I was very happy to stay there.
On Saturday we got up at 5 am again to take a train to Innsbruck, which is a town in the Alps. We arrived with the intention to ski, but had no idea how to actually execute this idea. Thankfully, Austrians are 10000 times nicer than Czechs. Everyone from waiters to train conductors to dirty teenager skiers were very helpful in helping us to find our way. Three of us decided to go up to the ski mountain so we took a bus to Axums, which was one of the sites for the 1968 Winter Olympics. We rented skis and got passes and then hoped on the closest lift. (Side note about my skiing skills: I have been skiing approximately twice. The last time was in the 8th grade and it was in Maine, where the mountains are significantly smaller than the fucking Alps.) This lift took us up past the cloud line to what the sick Austrian ski maps call an “intermediate trail”. I would rename it “the steepest ski trial in the universe”. But I made it down with only a few epic falls as I tried to remember how to ski. I spent the rest of the day both terrified of plummeting to my death and also extremely proud of myself for being adventurous. I even took a covered lift to one of the trails used for the Olympics that was at a height of over a mile. The clouds were so thick that I couldn’t even see 10 feet in front of me- I just watched my own feet and skied blindly into the abyss…
After being very ballsy in Innsbruck on Saturday, we returned to Salzburg on Sunday for some good ol’ musical fun- aka The Sound of Music Tour. Our guide Carlos led my group in a little red van for about 4 hours of sing-alongs and sightseeing. It was awesome. We saw all the houses, castles, and mountains used in the film and also saw the lakes of Salzburg which are just really beautiful. Mam rada The Sound of Music.
After all of that touring and waking up early, we took the 6 hour train back to Prague with lots of Austrian beer and snacks to keep us happy. When we got back to Prague, we got on the Metro from the main train station, where a gypsy proceeded to take my money out of my bag in the hubbub of the busy station where everyone had luggage. Said gypsy took 4000 CZK, which is $200 US, which was my eating money for the rest of the month. FML.
I was originally signed up to go to Linz and Salzburg with a school tour this weekend, but they cancelled it on Wednesday because they suck. So a few of the girls in my apartment and I decided we were still going to go, and we were going to do it even better. After assigning appropriate Captain duties (train captain, snack captain, hostel captain, etc), we did research and decided to conquer Salzburg and Innsbruck.
We left the kolej in Prague at the ripe hour of 5 am on Friday and arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon after 6 hours on a train reminiscent of the Hogwart’s express. Salzburg is the 4th largest city in Austria, which makes it pretty damn small. But they have a few claims to fame that they exploit shamelessly. One of these is Mozart. We visited his birthplace and museum, and heard his music everywhere. We also sampled his balls. According to a guidebook, “Mozart first requested to have his balls dipped in chocolate at Café Tomacelli”…. Now there are these delicious round candies all over the city with his face stamped on the foil wrapper. They are the best candy ever.
After having many Mozart balls and hiking up to an intense castle on Friday afternoon, we retired to the excellent Hotel Turnuit just outside the city center. It smelled much nicer than my dorm in Prague and it very nice and very cheap so I was very happy to stay there.
On Saturday we got up at 5 am again to take a train to Innsbruck, which is a town in the Alps. We arrived with the intention to ski, but had no idea how to actually execute this idea. Thankfully, Austrians are 10000 times nicer than Czechs. Everyone from waiters to train conductors to dirty teenager skiers were very helpful in helping us to find our way. Three of us decided to go up to the ski mountain so we took a bus to Axums, which was one of the sites for the 1968 Winter Olympics. We rented skis and got passes and then hoped on the closest lift. (Side note about my skiing skills: I have been skiing approximately twice. The last time was in the 8th grade and it was in Maine, where the mountains are significantly smaller than the fucking Alps.) This lift took us up past the cloud line to what the sick Austrian ski maps call an “intermediate trail”. I would rename it “the steepest ski trial in the universe”. But I made it down with only a few epic falls as I tried to remember how to ski. I spent the rest of the day both terrified of plummeting to my death and also extremely proud of myself for being adventurous. I even took a covered lift to one of the trails used for the Olympics that was at a height of over a mile. The clouds were so thick that I couldn’t even see 10 feet in front of me- I just watched my own feet and skied blindly into the abyss…
After being very ballsy in Innsbruck on Saturday, we returned to Salzburg on Sunday for some good ol’ musical fun- aka The Sound of Music Tour. Our guide Carlos led my group in a little red van for about 4 hours of sing-alongs and sightseeing. It was awesome. We saw all the houses, castles, and mountains used in the film and also saw the lakes of Salzburg which are just really beautiful. Mam rada The Sound of Music.
After all of that touring and waking up early, we took the 6 hour train back to Prague with lots of Austrian beer and snacks to keep us happy. When we got back to Prague, we got on the Metro from the main train station, where a gypsy proceeded to take my money out of my bag in the hubbub of the busy station where everyone had luggage. Said gypsy took 4000 CZK, which is $200 US, which was my eating money for the rest of the month. FML.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
1 month
So now that I’ve been in Prague for a whole month, I am completely fluent in Czech.
My sister Audrey and her friend Nisha arrived on Thursday so I had fun being their tour guide and taking them to all of my favorite places to eat (yes, I ate at Bohemia Bagel twice this weekend). We also had tickets to a Laterna Magika show called “Grafitti”. The show combines modern dance, video projection, lights, and screens that make an overall really trippy and amazing show. They have other shows too so I really want to go back and see more from this company.
On Saturday after I shipped Audrey off to Vienna, my friends and I took a day trip to Melnik, which is a small town about an hour outside of Prague. We climbed a church steeple all the way up to the belfry and had an incredible view of the rivers and countryside. We also took a tour of a Castle that has been recently restored. Owing to the fact that it was a disgusting, rainy, freezing February day in Czech Republic, no one else was in the castle except for us which was nice. We also had a wine tasting included in our ticket so we walked around the wine cellars and saw the giant barrels. For the actual wine tasting, I kind of expected a little explanation and taste of each of the wines they make at the vineyard. Instead, we were sent into a cellar where there were 10 bottles of wine. Then the woman from the ticket desk said “30 minutes, ok?” and we proceeded to drink as much as we could in thirty minutes. It was swell.
Today was a chill Sunday- grocery shopping, running, Bohemia Bagel and finally schoolwork. Ech. I don’t really like this having to read and write papers so much, but I guess its worth it to be in Prague.
Tonight we also had a meeting with Zuzana about being English tutors at the high school near our dorm. I hope I’ll be able to fit it in my schedule and do some quality Jr. Drama games with trendy Czech teens. I think they’ll like woosh.
This was my last weekend in Prague for a while… next weekend I’ll be in Austria!
My sister Audrey and her friend Nisha arrived on Thursday so I had fun being their tour guide and taking them to all of my favorite places to eat (yes, I ate at Bohemia Bagel twice this weekend). We also had tickets to a Laterna Magika show called “Grafitti”. The show combines modern dance, video projection, lights, and screens that make an overall really trippy and amazing show. They have other shows too so I really want to go back and see more from this company.
On Saturday after I shipped Audrey off to Vienna, my friends and I took a day trip to Melnik, which is a small town about an hour outside of Prague. We climbed a church steeple all the way up to the belfry and had an incredible view of the rivers and countryside. We also took a tour of a Castle that has been recently restored. Owing to the fact that it was a disgusting, rainy, freezing February day in Czech Republic, no one else was in the castle except for us which was nice. We also had a wine tasting included in our ticket so we walked around the wine cellars and saw the giant barrels. For the actual wine tasting, I kind of expected a little explanation and taste of each of the wines they make at the vineyard. Instead, we were sent into a cellar where there were 10 bottles of wine. Then the woman from the ticket desk said “30 minutes, ok?” and we proceeded to drink as much as we could in thirty minutes. It was swell.
Today was a chill Sunday- grocery shopping, running, Bohemia Bagel and finally schoolwork. Ech. I don’t really like this having to read and write papers so much, but I guess its worth it to be in Prague.
Tonight we also had a meeting with Zuzana about being English tutors at the high school near our dorm. I hope I’ll be able to fit it in my schedule and do some quality Jr. Drama games with trendy Czech teens. I think they’ll like woosh.
This was my last weekend in Prague for a while… next weekend I’ll be in Austria!
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