[INSERT CLEVER TITLE HERE]

I got nothing. There are no clever puns that apply to Croatia or
Dubrovnik. I was working with something like, "A Crow-Ate-cha?", but
decided that it was beyond lame. Anyway...

We got to Croatia via a straight up Wright Brother aircraft. I was
expecting to see the pilot stroll up in a leather cap and goggles; but
alas, no goggles. No cap. But seriously, prop planes are ridiculous.
I feel like technology has progressed past the prop plane. What's
next: a hot air balloon to commute? Riding lawnmower for a joy ride?

We got picked up at the Dubrovnik airport by Pero, a friend of our
hotelier, who is also named Pero. He drove us to the hotel in his
"brand new, 4 month old Audi". Pero was quite the fan of his car, and
I must say, I was too. After 4 days of riding around in a 7-passenger
van with a Jackson Pollack windshield and no shocks to speak of, it
was heaven. Did I say, drove us to the hotel? Oh, no no no. There are
no streets in the Old Town of Dubrovnik; you have to walk everywhere.
This quirk is delightful when going downhill; significantly less so
when traversing back up. While scraping the Euros from the bottom of
our bags to pay Audi Pero, we were met at the car by the son of hotel
Pero [who is also named Pero] who led us down the hill to the hotel.
We dragged our bags up the stairs to the top floor and flung the
shutters open for some air. What a view!! We could see all of Old Town
and even the Adriatic in the distance. The warm air was blowing in the
window and the sun shined on the sill.

While walking to the hotel, I had noticed that there was laundry
drying on lines outside every window. "How delightfully quaint!" I
thought. Not so much. I desperately needed to do laundry, so I washed
out a few things in the sink and started to hang them up on the line
outside the window. I take my first pair of undies and try to pin them
to the line. Unfortunately, I do not seem to possess the skill set
needed to properly fasten undies to a clothesline. Down they go. Onto
the red tile roof of the next building, seven feet below my window. I
stare at the wet plopped heap, willing them to fly up and reattach
themselves to the clothesline. When my mind control fails to work, the
hysterical giggling begins. What are the owners of the building next
door going to make of a pair of pink undies if/when they find them?
But then, I get an idea! [/ Laura suggests]: get the umbrella from
downstairs and try to snag them. I stealthily pad down the stairs,
grab the umbrella and race back to the top floor. I lean halfway out
the window holding the pointy end, and fish for my undies with the
hook. After a minute or two of epic failure [plus some odd looks from
the neighbors], success! I do not try to reattach. I know my
limitations.

After that traumatic event, Laura and I explored in Old Town. The Old
Town is quite lovely, all built with the same pale stone that has
bleached pure white over the centuries. The main drag is called
Stradun, filled with lots of touristy shops and a truly excellent
bookstore. We grabbed dinner and headed to bed at 9:30.

The next morning, we walked outside the city walls to a park located
where the town moat once was. After reading for a while, we looked
into going to Mostar in Bosnia or Kotor in Montenegro for a day trip.
We decided that we had been in the car too much in the past week…and
I'll own up to it. The only reason that I wanted to go to Montenegro
was because Casino Royale was set there. I am a bit of James Bond
dork.

That afternoon, we discovered what was to be our base for the rest of
out stay. It is a tiny little bar that is located outside the walls of
the city on a tiny bluff overlooking the sea. You have an unobstructed
180 degree view of the Adriatic. The sea gently laps at the rocky
coast as you sit under umbrellas soaking up the sun and reading. Life
doesn't get much better. [Speaking of, I read four books during the
five days I spent there. Man, I can get stuff DONE on vacation!]

The next day, Laura and I took a boat tour of the Elaphite Islands.
These tiny islands make up a chain that lines the coast of southern
Croatia. While there is not a lot happening on the islands, the boat
ride was beautiful. This coastline is unlike anything I have ever
seen: no sand, just bleached white cliffs that fall into the clear
cerulean sea [yes, I did just use the word cerulean]. On every island,
there is a tiny chapel built of white stone on the highest peak of the
island. One wonders, how did the builders get up there?

On Tuesday morning, I decided to go back out to the café outside the
city wall with the amazing view of the Adriatic. I was the first one
there [or so I thought…] so I lumbered down the stairs to the furthest
point from the entry to I could read in peace. Little did I know that
this peace did not last for long.

I'm reading my book when I hear some splashes. Thinking nothing of it,
I casually glance in the direction of the water. I see the top of an
older man's head just as he spots me. He had obviously just come from
swimming since his hair was wet and he said to me, "the water is quite
cold!" as he walks up to the stairs. I am mid-polite reply when he
comes into full view.

Let me back up. While reading up on Dubrovnik, I ran across a mention
of some nude beaches on a few of the islands near Dubrovnik. I noted
where to steer clear so that I could remain in nudist free zone at all
times. The best laid plans…

Yep, he is nekkid. Ne-kkid. No clothes on. While every muscle in my
body locks into a catatonic state, I sharply jerk my head to look at
the sky, the cliff, my book, anything but him. He, on the other hand,
seems perfectly at ease with situation, not even reaching for the
towel draped on a rock nearby. He does not seem menacing or
threatening…he is not even near me, but I can't run away because he is
in my direct path to the exit. He looks for his belongings, bending
over, turning around, standing with hands on hips…I unwillingly see
this through my peripheral vision, even though I am trying my hardest
not to see ANY part of him. I quickly solve this problem my shutting
my right eye. Ha! No peripheral vision on that side!

I am vaguely hysterical trying to figure out what to do. He is still
trying to make casual conversation, despite my best efforts to ignore
him. Do I mention my large, tall, jealous boyfriend who will be here
any second? Do I pull out my iPod and pretend to have a "phone" call
spoken in loud Spanish? Do I jump off the cliff and take my chances?

As luck would have it, I am saved by an old Croatian lady who appears
to know Mr. Nekkid. She peers over the edge, sees him, then sees me,
and then proceeds to [I am assuming] tell him off in very angry
sounding Croatian. He grabs a towel and slinks off up the stairs as I
silently [and Puritanically] thank God that there are no nude beaches
in America.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get the Mr. Nekkid visual out
of my head.

On Wednesday, we took another boat trip, this time to Lokrum, an
island right off the coast of Dubrovnik. As soon as we got off the
boat, we ran into a peacock. Several peacocks in fact. Apparently they
were brought here a long time ago and have no natural predators. I
found a male and tried to startle him into spreading his plumage, but
no such luck. He just looked at me condescendingly, seeming to be
thinking, "Really? 'Boo' is the best you've got?" I was thoroughly
belittled by a peacock.

We walked through the centuries old botanical gardens that are still
recovering from being bombed during the war almost twenty years ago.
Who bombs a botanical garden? On the island, there are ruins of a
monastery that was founded a thousand years ago. It seems like an odd
place to found a monastery, out in the middle of nowhere on some
island in the Adriatic.

As we were walking along the path, we saw signs warning of a nude
beach up ahead. Still wary from the day before, I slowly backed away
and ran off.

Before leaving in Thursday, we popped by the bar outside the walls to
read for a bit. I had Laura to protect me from Mr. Nekkid…thank God,
we didn't see him. We lumbered back to the hotel [70 steps!!!] and had
Audi Pero take us back to the airport. Unfortunately, we forgot that
the rest of the world is not like Dubrovnik. When we got to Vienna, it
was freezing and we were in our resort clothes, looking slightly
ridiculous.

Today I didn't do much. Of course my last day in Prague was dreary and
overcast. That is…so Prague. I was too sad about leaving to try and be
a tourist, so I did some much needed repacking.

I am coming home tomorrow!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My
next email will also be my last [unless I think of more really clever
titles]. I hope to see all of you very soon!

Hungry for Hungary! [OK, that was just too easy]

I'm quite the fan of that title. I thought of it even before we left.

Anyway, Harris, Laura, and I hung out in Prague for a few days before
heading off on Tuesday for Budapest. [One fun story: while we were
still in Prague, Laura and I went to a string quartet concert near the
Charles Bridge. We sat down in the pews and waited for the concert to
begin. Someone had been in the seat before me, so it was a little
warm. I was chilly so I didn't mind. But I just kept getting warmer
and warmer. I thought that I was having some sort of episode, thinking
I was going crazy. My bum was really HOT!...Turns out there were seat
warmers. Not crazy. Good to know.]

Anyway, we had hired a Rick Steves recommended chauffeur company to
drive us all the way around Europe, so Jan picked us up to head to
Cesky Krumlov. Laura and Harris had wanted to go there since I wrote
my first email about it and even though it was my third trip, I was
glad to go. We just had time to wander around the little town and grab
a bite to eat before we headed back to the car. We switched drivers
[to Mike] and switched cars [to a ridiculously large van...for 3
people]. Mike is adorable. He is a small guy who taught himself
English by reading thrillers, therefore he uses the funniest phrases.
He says things like "he wet his beak", which is apparently a mafia
term. Also, he loved using the car microphone whenever he wanted to
say something. To three people. It was awesome.

We got to Budapest about dinner time. Our hotel, also a Rick Steves
recommendation [well, sort of], was quite interesting. It hasn't
changed much since Communism...Rick Steves called it [and I quote] "a
dump" and I am inclined to agree. However, it served its purpose. I
can do anything for one night. We went to dinner [where Rick Steves
told us to go] and went to bed early. We had hired a guide [another
Rick Steves pick] and he picked us up at the hotel the next morning
for a quick tour.

[OK, here's the scoop. We are like heartsick thirteen year old girls
when it comes to Rick Steves. We love him. Love him. We are always
saying, Rick likes this restaurant. This is what Rick thinks. What
does Ricky say about it? It's a little weird. It turns out that our
guide, Peter, had met Rick Steves, even led tours with him. Needless
to say, we pestered him with questions about our heartthrob.
Apparently, he is just awesome as we hoped. Yes!]

Anyway...Peter took us to the top sights of Budapest since we only had
a few hours to see it all. Our first stop was St. Stephan's Basilica.
Hands down my favorite church that I have seen in Europe. It is a
Baroque church, but nothing like the opulence of St. Nicolas in Prague
or St. Peter's in Rome. It is a very tasteful Baroque church [not a
gold covered baby in sight]. Google it. It is awesome.

Peter was a great guide. He is a native Hungarian, so he could explain
all of the history, especially life under Communism. We stopped at the
Parliament, saw the castle, and all of the different architecture. The
architecture is the best part of Budapest...it spans centuries and
every different style possible. We ended up at the Szesheny Baths, a
historic spa in the center of the city park. It is NOT a nude bath [I
had been concerned]. The thermal waters underneath Budapest feed the
baths. There are several different pools with different temperatures.
It was such a great experience, floating in the natural water
surrounded by a beautiful building. Damp and prune-y, we got in the
van and headed to Krakow. The drive was beautiful. We drove through
Slovakia, a wild and unspoiled wilderness of a country. Driving
through the Carpathian mountains, it is easy to see why Rick Steves
[sigh] loves it so much.

I got sick in Krakow, so I am not the person to talk about it. I spent
most of the time in the hotel. I did make it to the salt mines. These
salt mines are famous in Krakow. They are the oldest operating salt
mines in Europe. The miners carved intricate sculptures into the rock
salt to create several chapels [Poland is the most religious country
in Europe], along with statues of national heros. They LOVE Pope John
Paul II. There is a huge salt statue of him in the biggest chapel.
They conduct weddings in there, so if you have a hankering to get
married 120 meters below the surface, this is your place.

We left Krakow the next morning to come back to Prague, but we stopped
in Auschwitz. It is an incredibly moving place and very difficult to
see. You actually stand in the gas chambers. You actually see the sign
that says Arbeit Macht Frei. It is hard to get your mind around such a
place. Even though it was so hard to see, it was definitely worth
going.

After a 5 hour bus ride [blerg], we got back to Prague. Harris is
flying back home this morning through Frankfurt. I am writing from the
Vienna airport. Laura and I are on a layover to Dubrovnik, where we'll
be for 5 days. I am super excited about Croatia. I am finally feeling
somewhat better, so I hope to make the most of this trip.

I'll be home in a week! I am so excited. For the past two weeks, I
have been craving a cobb salad from Charley's. Definitely on my list
of things to do list.

See you all soon!!

Prague-nosis: not quiiiiiite ready to come home.

But close.

Mom and Dad have just touched down back to Charlotte. We had a great
week. I went to the airport to pick them...they arrived with only 2
suitcases and two carry-ons...I was so impressed!!! The Parnells are
not light packers.

I haven't done a lot of the touristy things since the first month or
so, so I was great to rediscover Prague. We did some fun things that I
had done, like the Jewish Quarter, the Castle, Old Town Square, and
some new things that I hadn't done, like take an old car on a drive
through the city, go to two different concerts [strings + organ and
classical guitar duets], and took a lunch cruise on the Vltava. One
day, we took a day trip to Cesky Krumlov, a tiny city in southern
Bohemia that I had visited my first weekend in the CZ. It was very
different without the subzero temperatures, long underwear, and 6
inches of snow. It was a gorgeous day and the town wasn't overrun with
tourists. There is something magical about Cesky Krumlov...like living
in a fairy tale or a postcard. [I'm headed back there on Tuesday, and
I'm not complaining].

Harris and Laura arrived on Wednesday and we had a great dinner at
Kampa Park, one of the best restaurants in Prague. It was tres
awesome, right on the Vltava with an amazing view of the Charles
Bridge. The next morning, bright and early to catch the bus to Vienna.
I had already been to Vienna on Spring Break, but it is such a great
city that I didn't mind. We got to the hotel [which was right across
the street from the U...excellent!] and decided to do a quick bus tour
in the afternoon. We got a quick tour of the town. That night, we went
to a concert at the Kursalon, a famous concert hall in Vienna. It is a
classical music concert, plus dancing and fun costumes! Man, it
delivered like Dominos. They knew their niche, and they found it.
Super touristy, but totally awesome.

The next day, it was the National Labor Day in Vienna [read: lots of
protests and the like]. Mom and I headed to the Imperial Palace [I do
love me a good palace] while Laura, Harris, and Dad went to the
National Art Museum. We met them for lunch at a lovely little outdoor
cafe near the art museum. I had my first [and last...] wiener
schnitzel...redonkulous. After lunch all of us headed to the art
museum for some culture. This museum is incredible. It was built by
Franz Josef in the late 19th century near the end of the Hapsburg
Empire. It is amazing what you can build when you have unlimited
funds. The museum has a huge collection, from Roman sculpture to
Rubens to Egyptian hieroglyphs to Velasquez to Vermeer. The Vermeer
was my favorite...just incredible. We went to a locals place for
dinner which was a nice change from the generally tourist oriented
places that we had been going. The downside of going somewhere off the
beaten track is that NO ONE speaks English. Our poor waitress was
reduced to exaggerated hand gestures and speaking German really loud.
We eventually got our dinner [almost what we ordered] and headed back
to the hotel.

The next morning, we headed to the Belvedere, another art museum. I
didn't go in [I was feeling weird, plus I had already seen it], but
the grounds and exterior are beautiful. We got on the bus and headed
back to Prague. Mom and Dad left the next day and Harris, Laura, and I
started on our Eastern European adventure. I'll leave that for another
blog.

Czech-cellent.

Sorry I've been such a poor correspondent, but trust me, you haven't
been missing much. The semester wound down, which unfortunately meant
that I actually had to do work. I aced my beekeeping exam, a very
important accomplishment in my life. If you need any info on bees, I'm
your go-to person. Yesss.

I got an A in philosophy, Lit, and Czech as well. There you go Mom, I
know that makes you happy. I ended up really liking Czech. I think
I'll continue with it when I get home. I wonder if Rosetta Stone makes
a Czech version. Must keep up. Even though it is completely useless in
the US, how cool would it be to say that you spoke Czech?

The landscape architects has their open house on Wednesday. It is
really fascinating what they do. Their project was to redesign a
neighborhood in Prague that was designed by the Communists [read:
UGLY]. They all had different designs, incorporating different
landscape techniques [parks, graded green spaces, pedestrian walkways,
ponds, sculpture, etc.]. Very cool. I know that I'll look at "spaces"
differently now.

The fashion students also finished this week. Their assignment was to
make costumes for "Midsummer's Night Dream", stage a 10 minute play
and make a cocktail dress. The girls were starting to work on the play
and I offered my expert opinion and ... ended up
in the play. I was the narrator and had to make my own costume. I
think it turned out really well...I made a long black skirt with a
train that had blue petals [in graded colors and sizes] that looked
like a flower. I also made a headband and necklace. I am quite proud
of my little outfit, seeing that I've never sewed before. Last
Saturday, we had a photo shoot for the costumes. They hired a makeup
artist to make us look fabulous and then had a professional
photographer take our pictures. It was pretty awesome.

We had our fashion open house yesterday where we staged the play and
then the girls had a fashion show for their cocktail dresses. It was
super fun.

After, we all went out for a farewell dinner to the monastery where we
all went out the first night. Wait, let me back up. Earlier in the
day, someone decided that we needed to have a mustache party. See, all
of the boys have been growing out their beards [or trying to...] the
whole semester. So yesterday, they all shaved down to mustaches. Not
to be outdone, the girls constructed our own mustaches. Mine was made
out of blue felt. It was fabulous. Anyway, we all went out to dinner.
With the mustaches. We got some strange looks. The best part was that
someone had brought their eyeliner, so EVERYONE got a mustache,
including our professors, the assistant, and they head of the program.
It was AWESOME. Probably the weirdest thing I have ever done [and I do
theatre], but so awesome.

Mom and Dad are arriving tomorrow! I am so excited to see them. Harris
and Laura arrive next week and then we all take off for Vienna. After
we get back, Laura, Harris, and I are heading to Budapest and Krakow,
and then Laura and I are flying to Dubrovnik for almost a week. Life
is not too bad.

I'll be home on May 16th. It seems very close and very far away at the
same time. Three weeks!! However, you may not see me for a while even
after I return. See, I was crazy and booked my flight to Frankfurt at
6:00 AM. Which means I have to be at the airport at 4:30 AM. Which
means I have to leave the hotel at 3:30 AM. Which means I have to get
up at...oh I don't even want to think about it. Blerg.

Apart from being pooed on, it was an awesome day.

Last Wednesday, I went to the zoo [were you thinking something
else?]. The Prague Zoo is one of the best in the world, or so
Fernando, the State professor over here with us now, says. I love
zoos, so I was super eager to go and it did not fail to deliver.
Besides the poo.

It was a really beautiful day: 70 degrees, sunny, slight wind. I saw
the lions, tigers, bears, [oh my], giraffes, gorillas, weird birds,
emus, yaks, antelopes, and unfortunately, bats. Yes, bats.  I have
never been a fan of flying rodents, and this incident did nothing to
quell my fears. I innocently went into a dark room with
lizards.....AND BATS. Bats. And, of course, I got pooed on. Poo. On
my dress. Poo. POO!!! I do not wish bat guano on anyone. It was
horrible. I think that I have become less prissy during my time
here, but really. Poo. On my clothing. Veto.

I had an amazing weekend. I got to do all of the things that I
hadn't done...Petrin Hill, funicular railroad, mirror maze,
observatory tower, Wallenstejn Palace and Gardens, Kampa Park, and
my fav, wandering. I followed Parnell protocol and took naps in
three public places.  I brought my towel and zonked out. It was
lovely to sleep in the sunshine. It sounds like I didn't do much,
but it was good to relax.

On Sunday, my philosophy teacher took the class to a small town
called Lany about an hour away by train. We [unexpectedly] walked
two kilometers to see the summer house of the Czech presidents. The
gardens were beautiful [I wanted to take a nap there, but the armed
guards deterred me]. The house was an incredible early Baroque
mansion...I could learn to deal with it. There were huge fountains
and statues. Oddly enough, it reminded me of the gardens of a
plantation near Kiawah...Magnolia maybe? Anyway, I could have stayed
there all day, but we had to visit a fairly boring museum on
Maseyrk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. We made our way home
after a delicious lunch at a local tavern.

Yesterday was Easter. I was homesick because it was the first time I
had ever been away from home for Easter. I had this picture in my
head: Daddy in a seersucker suit, Mom in her lavender outfit going
to church ...of course I talked to them later and they were NOT
wearing these outfits...oh well. They'll be here in two weeks.

Here in the CZ, they have the oddest Easter tradition. Men chase
around women with these decorated birch whips and hit them. To
retaliate, the women throw water on the men. The only way the men
will stop is if the women give the men a painted Easter egg. It's a
pretty bizarre tradition, and it actually happens!! I saw several
instances today. Clearly a man came up with this tradition.

The semester is ending and I actually have to do work now! What a
thought. I'll write soon!

I petted bees yesterday.

I am not kidding. They are rather fuzzy.

Yesterday, the Bees and Beekeeping class went to the Bee Institute, where our professor works. To get there, we had to take a train to the middle of nowhere and then take a boat to cross the Vltava. I was pretty excited to take the boat trip... unfortunately, it took about 30 seconds. Oh well, what can you do.

The Institute has millions and millions of bees on their site. Dalibor, our professor, took us to the hives to show us the bees. Its rather odd to approach a bee hive on purpose, but we were armed with smoking machines, plus Dalibor assured us that they were 'nahce behs' as he says. He pulled out combs and showed us the bees. Bees just covered the combs. It was like the combs were moving...yech. I wasn't sure how I was going to react...some of you may know that I have a debilitating fear of large bugs. They make my skin crawl and I unintentionally flip out. Luckily, the bees past the size test and I was fine. In fact, I found them really interesting [as long as I stayed three feet away from them.

It was the most beautiful day that we have had in Prague: 70 degrees!!!!!!! I have never been happier to be outside. The sun was shining and we wandered around the Institute before heading back to Prague.

I got up late Saturday and went to Bohemia Bagel for lunch with some of the people from school. While I was eating my quiche, I ran into a girl I went to Country Day with. It is a small world. Last year, I ran into a girl I debbed with in the Colosseum. Let's see if I meet anyone else I know in Prague.

That afternoon I headed over the river to check out the Little Quarter. It is the part of town that the Charles Bridge connects with Old Town. My first stop of the day was the Church of St. Nicolas. It is the finest example of Baroque architecture in Prague. The dome is so high that it looks fairly unstable. The inside is covered in frescos from top to bottom. There isn't a single bare surface...everything is covered in gold or frescos or marble. It is one of the few places that I have ever been where I have been overwhelmed. It is honestly unbelievable. It looks like a movie set. I kept closing my eyes to see if the beauty would diminish.

The best part of Prague is wandering. I wandered all over Little Quarter, turning down charming little streets, poking my head into shops. I stopped on several parks just to take the view in. It is my favorite thing to do. I find all sorts of fun things, like the John Lennon Wall, a section of graffitied wall that is emblazoned with his face and peace symbols. I found the tiny bridge to the tiny island in the Vltava . I found an 11th century church. Indeed, I even found an anti-Obama protest!

I had been wandering for a while when I ran into tons of police officers. I remembered that Obama was in town [and realized that I was at the American embassy...the American flag really should have tipped me off sooner...]. I assumed that he was going to be visiting the embassy so I waited around for a while. Instead of Obama, I got to see the anti-Obama protest. They were protesting the proposed radar system. They were yelling, "Yankee go home!". I wanted to correct them and tell them that he is actually a midwesterner, but I refrained.

I wandered a bit more and headed home.

Oh, I haven't mentioned my adventures at the post office!! So, if you didn't know, my beloved computer died while I was on Spring Break, so I had to replace it. Apple doesn't have any stores here, so I had to order it from America. Anyway, it took forever to get to Prague because it was insured, but that was just the beginning. I got a note [in Czech of course] telling me that the government was going to charge me 19% tax on the computer. Um, veto. Jakub, one of the assistants who works at the Institute, wrote me a letter explaining the situation and sent me off to the post office.

Now, most people will tell you that everyone in Prague speaks English. This is a lie. A big fat honker of a lie. I was sent to three different offices [and going in at least four wrong ones before I found the one I was supposed to be in], getting a different stamp on my mail slip at each, before I got the package. Lots of hand gestures and over-enunciation of English [and Czech on their part] was involved. Two hours after entering the building, I had it in my hands.

But that doesn't matter now! My new computer is lovely. Plus, I got to upload all of my pictures [finally!]. Attached are some of my favs, from the very beginning.

It has just hit me that I'll be home soon. I mean, by soon, a month and and week, but that seems like small change now. We only have two weeks of class left.  I can't wait and I'm dreading coming back all at the same time. Is that normal?





Retiro Park in Madrid





Cesky Krumlov





St. Nicolas Church in Old Town Square





Our Lady Before Tyn Church in Old Town Square





Jewish Cemetery





Castle from Vltava




Karelskirche in Vienna





Big Ben





Sony Center in Berlin

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Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome....to Berlin!!

Springtime for Laura-Nelle and Germany!

...okay, I'm done with musical references...for now.

I got back from Berlin yesterday, and I had a great time! Berlin is a very cool city, but very different than any other European city I've ever been to. I thought it was interesting to see what happens when you can start a city over.

We got up early on Friday morning to catch the train to Berlin. It is a 5 hour train ride through some lovely country. We went through Dresden, a very modern city. Since it was flattened during WWII, there are ZERO old buildings. We arrived at the Berlin train station around 2 and headed to the hostel in East Berlin.

Pegasus Hostel was not super amazing. Although it was cute on the outside [painted blue and yellow, big courtyard] the actual hostel part of it was not awesome. We had to walk up 5 flights of stairs to get to the room and we had to share the bathroom with a bunch of Spanish teenagers. The bathroom was quite the adventure. Let's just say that I never had felt the need to wash my hands after getting out of the shower before. Gee-ross.

That afternoon after we settled in, the entire group headed out to a local park. Since the trip was headed by Fernando, a land arc professor at State, this was the first of many parks that we visited. This park was very unusual. It is adjacent to where the Berlin Wall stood and is on the land of an old train station. There was a no-man's land around the Berlin Wall, so this station was completely abandoned for the entire period that the wall stood. When the wall fell, landscape architects came in to create a public park. They decided to create a very natural space...no plantings, just letting nature take over. They filled in the train tracks with fine gravel to make perfect walkways through the park. We saw our first sculptures of the trip placed throughout the park [they wouldn't be the last...Berlin is big on sculpture in public spaces]. 

We continued walking through the city, studying landscape architecture. We went to the Sony Center, one of the coolest buildings that I have ever seen. I have attached a picture... how awesome is it? We got dinner at the food court because we were desperately hungry and headed back to the hostel for the night. On the way back to the hostel, I saw a prostitute, the first one I had ever seen. I then proceeded to see my second, third, fourth, all the way up to my twenty-second. Yes, I saw twenty-two prostitutes on one street. It's legal here, in fact they are in the process of creating a union! They seem to have a uniform: a puffy coat [can't get cold while a-walking], drawn in by a corset, leggings, knee-high patent leather boots and long straight hair extensions. Seeing them was quite the experience.

The next day, we headed to the longest section of the Berlin Wall that still exists, about 1.8 kilometers. Halfway down, there is a little shop that sells Berlin Wall memorabilia. I bought a little piece of the Berlin Wall, which I have always wanted to do. I felt a little naughty. We continued to walk through "spaces" as the landscape architects call them, wandering down a bridge and through some residential neighborhoods. We ended up at the Jewish Museum, the most unique building I have ever seen. Actually it is two buildings. The original is a Baroque building that houses the Jewish history in Berlin up until the Holocaust. The Holocaust Museum is in a separate contemporary building, connected through an underground tunnel. The building itself is wild. I can't really describe it; I am attaching a photo of it. We didn't have time to go through it...I really wish we had gone. We had lunch at the Museum of Modern Art, again, we didn't go into it...notice a pattern? We walked around for a few more hours, looking at lots more SPACES. 

The highlight of the day was the Holocaust Memorial. It is a grid of rectangular blocks of granite that all have different heights, but they seem to be about the same size due to the extensive grade changes [see all that land arc has taught me?]. I have attached a picture, but it can't really show it well. We walked through the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most famous sites in Berlin [an important landmark very close to the wall].  We finally went back to the hostel and went to dinner down the block. It was a typical German restaurant, i.e. delicious. I got chicken and potatoes...yum!

On Sunday, we got off to an early start and headed to the Pergamon. The Pergamon is a museum that houses Greek monuments that have been reconstructed. No, really. The building was built to house an ancient Greek temple...very cool. I really like Greek sculpture, so I really enjoyed this museum. Afterward, we decided to get lunch at a bratwurst stand. Yum! Now I know why they are famous. Delish. The bratwurst stand was at one end of a flea market, so we wandered through. 

After looking at some more "spaces", we ended up at Checkpoint Charlie, the most well known checkpoint in the Berlin Wall. There was a cool exhibition about it, explaining how people escaped. It was a pretty intense place. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I didn't understand the complexity of the Wall's implications. When it was built, no one thought it would be both a physical manifestation of the Communist regime and a symbol of hope of what was on the other side. We went to a museum about the wall, where they have not only kept the wall up, but kept the no man's land and a few of the watchtowers. It was pretty sobering to see the incredibly defined "Us vs. Them" mentality of the wall. Next to the museum was a memorial church. See, there was a beautiful cathedral close the wall. In the early eighties, the Communists tore it down just to show that they could. This new church has earthen walls, made from the rubble of the cathedral. It is stark and beautiful. 

After the Wall museum visit, we went to a famous park [I forget the name] that had a playground at one end. Clearly, we were drawn to this playground. We found a merry-go-round...you can guess what ensued. After, we walked along the Spree, the river that goes through Berlin, looking at the new architecture. This is such a cool city! The architecture is so rocking... juxtaposing 18th century buildings with contemporary buildings in a seamless way... it should be the model for cities with lots of new growth [ahem...Charlotte]. 

For dinner, we went to another German restaurant. Unfortunately, the menu was only in German, so we had quite the adventure deciphering the dishes. Every time we encountered a word we knew, we would shout it out to the table...Shockingly, this approach didn't work so well, so we ended up ordering things with not a clue to the ingredients. It ended up fine though, we all got some good German food.

On Monday, we had to catch our train, so we had a short day. We got up early and went to the Bauhaus museum. The Bauhaus is an art school that focuses on basic art training to create everyday items. Everyone [except me] knew that the Bauhaus philosophy is the basis of the NCSU Design School. A lot of the art exercises that were on display at the Bauhaus are exercises that State students do in their introductory classes. Pretty cool!

We took the bus to the center of town to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church that had been bombed in WWII. The Germans decided to keep it as is, bombed out and all to show the horrors of war. It was pretty powerful to see how Berlin must have looked after the war. I have attached a picture. 

We got Italian food for lunch and headed back to the train station to go home.

Final Berlin wrap-up:

1) I have been saying 'danke shern' for the past week. In Prague. I have serious issues.

2) Berlin was different from any other European city I have ever been to. The contemporary buildings are so well designed that they aren't an eyesore compared with the older buildings.

3) German food is awesome. No lie.

4) In Germany, they choose the best design bid for a new building. In America, they pick the cheapest. You can tell.

This week's adventures up next!

 

Sony Center

Jewish Museum

Holocaust Memorial

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Blue sky? Sunlight? How I have missed thee...

Yesterday was a lovely day. I decided to go to the Castle [I can't believe that I hadn't been there yet...] and it turned out to be the prettiest day that we've had since I got here. Blue sky, not a single cloud, but still freezing. Oh well, you can't have it all. I took the metro to the Lesser Quarter stop even though my guidebook told me to take the tram... I figured how bad can it be? Answer: 200 wide, sloping, steep steps to the Castle entrance. It was quite the workout, but the view was worth it. The Castle is on the only hill in Prague so I could see the entire city from the top: the Vltava, Tyn Cathedral, even out to my neighborhood in the suburbs. Most buildings have red tile roofs so the entire city looks perfectly picturesque.

I went to Vitus's Cathedral first. It is the recognizable landmark that you see all around Prague. It is a huge Neo-Gothic church, but with older architectural elements that are a thousand years old. The stained glass is spectacular. The windows vary from Renaissance designs to a twentieth century Mucha design. The crowning element is the Rose window over the entrance. The sun hit it perfectly while I was inside so the colored light flickered over the entire sanctuary. Charles IV [the Czech's fav Czech] is buried here, along with centuries of other Czech nobles. St. Wenceslas is said to have died here. There is a St. Wenceslas Chapel  that is incredible. The walls are decorated with huge precious stones like wall paper. There is a hutch [...type thing] that holds the wine and wafers made of solid gold. It was a sight to see. The outside of the Cathedral was even more beautiful than the inside. There are ginormous flying buttresses and unusual  architecture  that made the Cathedral seem to be straight out of a fairy tale.

After the majesty of the Cathedral, I went to a very boring exhibit about the history of the Castle. They tried to make it as interesting as possible, but how interesting can ninth-century clay pots be? Anyway, after the boring museum, I went to St. George's Basilica, a name that makes it seem much grander than it actually is. It is the oldest Romanesque building in Prague, built in the eighth [or ninth...my memory isn't perfect] century. Then I went to Golden Lane, a small little street where the craftsmen of the castle lived. It was private homes for a while and now it contains cute little shops. Franz Kafka lived  there for a while, so I had my picture taken with his house. I got some gifts and headed back to the stairs of death.

I wandered around Lesser Town since I've only been over there a few times. A few days ago, I went to the Franz Kafka Museum over there. If you have read Kafka, you have to go to this museum. So cool. But I digress. Yesterday, I found an English bookstore near the Kafka museum!! I have started to read more since my computer died [one positive outcome] and I was getting desperate for reading material. I bought Midsummer's Night Dream. The fashion people are designing costumes for it and I realized that while I have seen the play and the movie, I have never read it. I'm remedying that now.

Once I saw the view of Prague from the Castle, I decided to walk all the way back to Old Town across Lesser Town and the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge is lovely on the weekends. Of course, it's full of tourists, but tourists here are good natured and friendly. The bridge is lined with artists with their wares. There are photos of the bridge in the snow, water colors of Old Town Square, wood carvings, clocks and other pretty things that aren't super touristy. The Bridge itself is gorgeous. There are statues that line each side and huge towers at each end. You may remember it from Mission Impossible...at the very beginning it is the bridge that Tom Cruise jumps off.

I walked back though Old Town to get to the Metro stop. On the way, I stopped at the market near the Institute. The market is very near Wenceslas Square, so the streets on either side are full of the touristy mini-Wings stores full of shirts that say "Czech me out" and "Prague Drinking Team". Class act. Anyway, the market, while catering to tourists, is delightfully empty of these cheap trinkets. Instead, it has cute Czech crafts like marionettes, wooden carvings, blown glass, and handmade jewelry. It really is charming. I wandered down the street buying nothing at all and headed back on the Metro to go home.

Last night, we were craving Mexican food. I'm usually not the biggest fan, but since it's rare here, it makes me want it more. We found a delish Mexican place near the penzione. I've never had a better quesadilla. Who'd a thought I'd find good Mexican food ...in Prague. After the movie, some people ran to go see an Imax movie about whales and dolphins, while the rest of us wandered around until our movie started. We wanted to see the epic "He's Just Not that Into You", clearly an Oscar contender already. While we wandered, we ran into the dolphin movie people. Turns out, it was only 40 minutes long...and in Czech!! We had a good laugh about that. See, most movies here are in English with Czech subtitles. It was a fun movie, but the best part is that the movie theatre is exactly like American movie theatres!! I found that oddly comforting.

I'm at studio now, about to make dinner. Daddy, my roommate Eleanor is playing the Stan Getz CD that you have in your car and it makes me think of you.

Tomorrow, we are going the opera! We are seeing Smetana's "The Bartered Bride". I've never heard of it, but I'm sure it'll be great.

I'll write soon!

So about that whole spring thing...

Didn't happen. It has snowed the past two days. I had to dig out my boots and long johns. I miss the sun.

Anyway, Harris reminded me that I didn't mention a brewery that I went to last week. It is called U Fleku and it's a bit of a tourist trap, but not in a bad way. The brewery has been open since 1499 but the restaurant is ONLY two hundred years old. They serve traditional Czech food in addition to their very dark beer. I got onion soup and split a chicken dish, which was MORE than enough. Czech do enjoy their big portion sizes. It was a fun environment: there are only tables of eight [so you might sit with people you don't know], there are musicians [accordion and tuba] who wander around the huge dining area, and [Daddy, you'll like this] you get served very quickly.

Today, we went on a random field trip to a little town outside of Prague to visit a museum that details life in Bohemia in the nineteenth century. The best way I can think to describe it is a really creepy Old Salem. Instead of real life people telling you about the museum, we got scary scary mannequins with signs we couldn't read in Czech. A little odd.

When we got back to Prague, I ran back to the Institute to stalk my computer shippage. Still not here. Boo.

As I mentioned last time, Czech is a ridiculous language. There are very few vowels, so sometimes consonants turn into vowels. For example: zmrzlina. This is a real word [it means ice cream]. You add an 'e' onto the 'm', so you pronounce it :zmerzlina...so much easier. There are also extraordinarily difficult  consonants.  What is this ř thing, you ask? Oh, simply roll an 'r' [like Spanish] while making a 'sh' sound. Try it. It's harder than it sounds. But don't get it confused with ž [pronounced like the 's' in treasure]! Then the words take  on a whole different meaning.  Funny/awkward story Czech mispronunciation story:  When we first got here, Art [the asst. dean] took us around Prague and gave us some vocab to get around. We quickly learned  'Nazdraži' [Cheers!]. Unfortunately, we were mispronouncing the  word ever so slightly. The word wasn't 'nazdraži', but rather 'nazdravi', a small but crucial difference. Instead of saying 'cheers!' while we were toasting, we were saying 'train station!'. Yeah. No wonder we got some odd looks.

Tomorrow, I am going to the Castle. It is the last big thing that I haven't seen in Prague. I am super excited to see St. Vitus' Cathedral which is situated within the Castle walls. It was founded by Charles IV [the most famous Czech king] on the place where St. Wenceslas [the patron saint of Prague] died. The Castle is the largest castle structure in the world and the seat of the current Czech government. I'll let y'all know how it is!!

Prague has been invaded by Italian teenagers.

Not kidding. Yesterday I got caught in a mob and thought I was going to die from inhaling all of the hair products.

Anyway...

Spring has sprung!

Well, sort of. I have now graduated from my heavy wool coat bought for this trip to my heavy coat that I wear in the dead of winter in NC. Hooray! [Except that it got cold again today. But I refuse to wear the wool coat again. I will persevere!]

Final wrap up from London:
1) I have gotten spoiled by Prague prices. Everything here is cheaper, so when I got to London, it was a bit of a shock.
2) Black snot. Gross.
3) I felt so much more in my comfort zone than I have anywhere else in Europe. I mean, obviously the language makes a huge difference, but I really love the English culture as well. I still love Prague the best, but London is a very close second.
4) Amazing theatre. Amazing. How hard do you think it would be to audition for some shows there?
5) I want to move here after I graduate. Oops, did I say that out loud?


Last Friday, I went to Terezin, a small town north of Prague that served as a concentration camp during WWII. I studied this camp last year in my Music and Politics class. This camp was the "model camp" that the Nazis showed the Red Cross. They doctored up the town to look like the prisoners were treated fairly for one week, putting on jazz performances, hosting a soccer tournament, giving the prisoners lots of food...Unfortunately, their deception worked and the Red Cross was fooled, leaving the concentration camps unchecked.

This was the camp where the Nazis sent many musicians, actors, directors, and other artists, therefore, the arts flourished at Terezin. Several operas were written and performed, jazz music was played in secret and children were instructed in drawing. The museum showed many of the children's drawings depicting their life in Terezin. These broke my heart...below the pictures was their birth date, death date and the camp where they died.

On a slightly less somber note, I learned today in Czech language that Czech is the hardest language in Europe. Harder than Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, and even Russian. No wonder we aren't progressing very quickly. But now I can say things in the past tense! Yay! Improvement! I now have the language capabilities of a three year old!

Sorry for the jumbled mess that is this email. It has been written over several days on several different computers [mine is coming soon!!] so everything is running together. Talk to y'all soon!


PS: Do y'all have any requests about stuff that I talk about? Are you intrigued by Czech food? Wish to know more about the museums? Long for school details? Let me know.

Londontown is calling my name...

Let§s dive back on in.

I flew to London on Thursday to meet Katherine. I got in, took the Gatwick Express into to London, and then took the Tube to Katherine§s friend§s work. The first thing I thought when I got off the plane was "People speak English here!! I can communicate without awkward hand signals!! I will be able to read the signs so I§ll go into the right bathroom!!!". Not that I have had a problem with the last one...ahem...anyway... We were both tired so we decided to only go to the British Museum. Heh. Only the British Museum. Only one of the largest museums in the world. We decided to only do a small section so we went to my favorite stuff, the Egyptian artifacts. (Yes Sarah, I did pretend to be Amelia Peabody. I looked for Emerson and Ramses, but they were not to be found). Anyway, we got our fill of mummies and hieroglyphics and headed to the hotel. I was going to see Grease that night, so we went out for a quick bite to eat at an Italian restaurant near the hotel.

Y§all know me, I love me some musical theatre, so clearly I had to visit the West End while I was in London. My first show, Grease, delivered like Dominos. It was everything I wanted it to be: bubbly, cheerful, and super fun. I was mouthing the words and bouncing in my seat the whole time. It was the definition of the feel good musical. I bought a program and was slightly distressed to learn that the actor playing Danny is two years younger than me. I§m already behind. Oh well.

On Friday, we met up with Katherine§s friend from Duke who showed us around an open air market. It was huge and full of fun things like 3 foot long monkfish and rhubarb. We got breakfast at the market, deciphering the menu full of words like "bap" and "bubble". Crazy Brits. After breakfast. we wandered across the TOWER bridge. Not the LONDON bridge. Apparently, these are two different things. And unfortunately for her, Katherine gave me the navigating job. I guided us in the right direction...but from the wrong bridge. Whoopsies! We finally got to the Tower of London and took a tour with a pretty darn hilarious Beefeater. We saw the ravens, the green where Anne Boleyn  was decapitated, and ... the Crown Jewels. So sparkly. I continue to formulate my plot to become queen of England so I could wear a crown and fun jewelry. How hard do you think it would be to trick Prince Harry into marrying me?

 

We got lunch at an Americanish restaurant near the West End and then headed to Trafalgar Square for more touristing. We saw the pigeons at Trafalgar Square and then walked down the street towards Parliament. On the way, we ran into a large crowd of cops surrounding one alley. Turns out this alley was actually Downing Street, and they were preparing for the Prime Minister to do something. I gawked through the iron gates, but Gordon didn't come to greet me. Oh well. We kept on walking until we got to Big Ben and Parliament. Incredible.  There is a reason that they are tourist sites; they are so exquisitely gorgeous. Seriously, America, why don't we have office space like that? Let's get on that.

 

We wanted to see Westminster Abbey, but it was closed. Boo. But we made up for our disappointment through retail therapy at Harrods. After not buying anything at all [ha], we headed back to the hotel because that night I was seeing Billy Elliot.

 

Run, fly, steal a car to drive to New York to see Billy Elliot right now. RIGHT NOW! The. best. play. I. have. ever. seen. Hands down. I treated myself to a good seat [hey, it was my birthday] so I was on the fifth row. Awesome. The basic plot is a boy [Billy] is living in North England during the mining strike. He is unhappily taking boxing lessons, but accidentally takes a ballet lesson one week. He turns out to be a natural, but struggles with the preconceptions that ballet comes with. There are four boys who alternate playing Billy [ages 12-13] and the boy that played my night was phenomenal. He blew the roof off with his passion for the character. Is it odd that my new acting mentor is 12? Anyway, GO SEE IT. RIGHT NOW. I AM NOT KIDDING. I would go see it right now if I could.

 

We got up early the next day to get down to breakfast at the hotel. Ahh, full breakfast. Here, I am used to either yogurt and a piece of bread, or a slice of ham and a piece of bread for breakfast. Not in England. While I steered clear of black sausage, baked beans, and stewed button mushrooms, I definitely hit up the omelet station. Delish! We went down to the West End to get tickets for a show for that night and then headed to Buckingham Palace for The Changing of the Guard. It was a good thing that we got there early because there were gobs of people by the time it started. If it's this bad in early January, how is it in July? Anyway, The Changing of the Guard is a very solemn event with the bear fur hat dudes marching very precisely and seriously. Which is why I was surprised that the guard band played a rendition of ... Livin' la Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. Followed by Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias. I am not joking. I have recordings of the performances. Ridiculous. I kept waiting for the Queen to appear, but she must have heard that Steinmart is having a pantyhose sale and wanted to stock up. Can't knock her for wanting to save a few quid. [See the fun new vocab I learned in England?]

 

We met up with Robin, another of Katherine's friends from college to have lunch at a local pub. There I tried mushy peas. As the name indicates, it was pretty much peas...that were mushed up. Some food trends don't need to cross the pond. After lunch, we headed to Pax Lodge, a WAGGGS [World Association of Girl Guides/ Girl Scouts...yeah, I'm that good.] center. It is a place that girl scouts or guides can come visit [or even stay] while they are in London. The volunteers there were my age, and we asked how you apply to work there. I am definitely looking into that for after I graduate.

 

That night, we saw Zorro. While it was the least favorite of the shows that I saw while in London, I still enjoyed it. The music [not the lyrics] were Gypsy King songs and the story was kind of like the movie. It was very different from the musical theatre that I am used to, but not in bad way.

 

The next day, Katherine left early in the morning, so I wandered around by myself. I couldn't go too far because I didn't want to let my laptop out of my sight. Oh, have I not mentioned that? Yeah, my computer is dead. Dead DEAD dead. I opened it up when I got into the hotel the first night and the screen had shattered. Into thousands of pieces. I looked into replacing the screen back in Prague, it's not worth it. At least my hard drive is fine. Epic fail.

 

Anyway, I got safely back to Prague on Sunday night [after doing some damage in the Harrods in the airport]. I have had a quiet week in Prague, settling back in and worrying myself to death over my computer.

 

Sorry for the ridiculously long post--I had to make up for lost time!

 

Vienna: home of fashion mullets, falafel sandwiches, and opera lovers.

Sorry I haven§t written recently, I§ve been having computer issues...more on that later. Oh, and as a precursor, I am tzping on a Cyech kezboard, so several letters are switched and some don§t even exist. I§m sure it§ll make for exciting reading!!§

When I left off last time, I was on spring break in Vienna. On Tuesdaz, we went to the Belvedere, a famous art museum. Rarely does an art museum building compete with the art inside of it, but the Belvedere does just that.  It was a Hapsburg palace back in the day, and you can certainly tell. It is Baroque in the extreme. There is a breathtaking two story ballroom that has marble floors, marble WALLS, and a frescoed ceiling. Louis XIV was probs the consulting interior designer.

Oh, the art was good too.

There were lots of 20th century artists like Monet, Pisarro, Van Gogh, etc, but the crowning jewel was the collection of Klimt, including the famous "The Kiss". It is quite large and just as beautiful as I imagined it. It was a great museum in a fabulous building with extensive gardens. Well worth the redonk entry fee.

That night I wanted to go the opera, but no one else wanted to go. Shocker of the century, apparently most 21 year olds aren§t big opera buffs. Who§da thunk it? Anzway, there was an American girl from the hostel that we met the night before who was going so we walked together. That night, the Viennese State Opera House was performing "La Boheme". I already knew the story line and some of the music, so I was super excited to go. Plus, my standing room ticket only cost 4 Euros!

Yeah, when the say standing room, they MEAN standing room.

Standing for 2 and a half hours isn§t super duper fun. There are chest high railings about 18 inches apart that you are herded into and you can§t leave. It§s a bit like being in jail.

Apart from that, it was a lovely night. The opera house is incredible, huge and ornate. The singers were phenomenal and music was beautiful. An excellent first opera performance.

The next day. we wanted to go to this carnival type place we had read about. The ad said there was a ferris wheel, rides, booths, and yummy food! What§s not to love?

We didn§t take into account the fact that it is the middle of winter over here. Whoops! This place was empty so the fun looking rides and booths took on a decidedly creepy feel. There were lots of oversized  clown heads and sketchz merry=go=rounds. It was like the beginning of a horror movie, I swear. "Four friends enter, but no one returns..." I think I§ve seen one like that actually. Anyway, we got creeped out and quickly left. We wandered around the historical area, seeing Parliament, the National Theatre, and other important looking buildings. We left Vienna by bus and headed back to Praha.

Final thoughts about Vienna=
1. It is much more diverse (racially, ethnically, religiously) than Prague. Rather, I fully realized how undiverse Prague is.
2. It is much more "Euro" than Prague. I mean, people dress much trendier, the fashion mullet has a following, etc.
3. I am now mixing German into my language mix. Now I speak gerspanczechlish. It§s not great for communicating with...well, anyone, really.
4. Vienna is much...grander than Prague. There are more palaces and huge cathedrals, but I think that Prague has more charm. Maybe I§m a bit biased.

This is alreadz reallz long...I§ll leave London for next time.

Vi-enna a different country!

Ho-kay. Here goes.

We [Rima, Terry, Gennie, and I] headed for Vienna early, EARLY Friday morning to get there by noon. It wasn't a bad bus trip...the countryside that we past was lovely. It is super easy to tell when we crossed the border into Osterreich [aka Austria, just learned that today] because all of the advertisements change from Czech to German. We got into the bus terminal and got on the the U, the Viennese subway system.

Our first hostel was nice, clean and really big. That day, we wandered around the shopping area of Vienna [or Wien, as they say in German] and poked our heads into a quaint church. But by that afternoon, we were exhausted and frustrated by the culture and language change. Plus, it started to rain. And then it started to sleet. Fun times! We headed back to the hostel and zonked out.

The next day, we headed out early to the Imperial Treasury and Palace. We couldn't find the building we were looking for, so we walked around the entire compound. The Habsburgs knew what they were doing when it came to architecture. The compound is incredible, very grand and imposing. Many of the palaces have been transformed into other uses, like the National Library and various museums, but others are in use as government buildings. We went to the Silver Collection and Sisi Museum inside the compound. Mom, you would have died over this silver collection. The collection included several sets of solid gold place settings for 250 each. Because really, who doesn't need over a thousand gold place settings?

The Sisi Museum is in the royal apartments of Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elisabeth. For some context [and to show what I learned] Franz Josef's heir and successor was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination essentially catalyzed WWI. Anyway, their apartments are well preserved to show the lavishness of their lives. Redonkulous.

Yesterday, changed hostels in the morning. We wanted to stay in this hostel one night because of the views of the city [in fact, if you wikipedia Vienna, the panoramic picture on the page was taken from this hostel!]. We took the metro to the end of the line, then hopped on a bus up the hill. We finally got off at this beautiful building on top of the hill. Seriously, this place looks like what I imagine Pemberly to look like. There is a hotel sign and we don't see any other buildings. Clearly, this must be our hotel! We go in to check in, and quickly the charm wears off. There is NO one here. It is like the Shining. I half-expected Jack Nicholson to come wandering into the lobby. We finally find the receptionist. She sees our backpacks, laughs, and points down the hill. We walk some more and then find our hostel. Slightly less grand, but we still have that great view.

We unpacked and went back into town to the National Art Gallery and the Natural History Museum which face each other near the Palace. The National Art Museum has a large collection of Egyptian art, which I LOVE so I wandered around for a good bit. They also had lots of Roman sculpture and Italian paintings, so I had a great time.

Later, we went to the Natural History Museum. Lots of dinosaurs, lions, and bugs. I particularly enjoyed the gem collections. To each her own.

Today [my 21st birthday!], we switched hostels once again. This time, we're in the center of town. We met up with some other people from the Institute and went to Karelskirche. This is a beautiful church and monastery, very Baroque and ornate. They are in the middle of renovations, but instead of closing down for the renovations, they are making the best of it. Amid the scaffolding, theyhave a glass elevator that goes all the way to a platform at the base of the dome. This platform is a metal mesh, so you can see all the way to the bottom. The platform is 35 meters high, but that wasn't high enough for the evil people who designed this platform. Oh, have I not mentioned that I am deathly afraid of heights? Yeeeaaah. Anyway, there are stairs that go all the way to the top of the dome, six stories worth. Is that enough? Oh no. There is a spiral staircase that went into the steeple of the church. I have attached a picture of the church [not mine...I haven't seen blue sky in a while]. I went all the way to the top of the dome to the skinny windows.  It was quite cold up there but the whole vertigo thing has me sweating profusely. Lovely.  I'm sure that in all of the pictures of me up there, I'll be pale and terrified. Oh well.

After that, we went to celebrate my birthday at a restaurant called Delicious Monster. I got some soup and pasta and a glass of wine to celebrate. We went to St. Stephen's Cathedral after lunch. It is the Gothic church in the very center of Vienna. There is an elevator to the top and apparently my first trip up to the top of a church gave me confidence to do it again. Unfortunately, this elevator dumps you out outside on one of the spires of the church onto a platform made of mesh metal. Awesome. I quickly went back down.

We wandered around Stephenplatz for a while and then went to Billa for some groceries. We are cooking dinner at the hostel. The hostel is super cute and everyone is really nice.

We are leaving Vienna on Wednesday and then I fly to London on Thursday to meet Katherine. Still have a week of spring break! Of course, when I go back to school, I'll be in Prague. Life is not bad.

My Czech is making Prague-gress.

On Monday, I went to the Jewish Quarter after class. The synagogues
in Prague are outstanding, so I purchased a ticket that I could see
all of them in one day. I started in the Old-New Synagogue. It is the
oldest remaining synagogue in Europe, built around 1270 and is the
center of the Jewish Quarter. It was very beautiful and small, with
Gothic peaks and architecture. As one of the oldest structures in
Prague, it is amazing that it is still in such good condition. Next,
I went to the Pinkas Synagogue, the second oldest synagogue in
Prague. However, this synagogue has been converted into a memorial
for the Czech and Moravian people killed in the Holocaust. The names
were written on every vertical space in the synagogue...It was very
haunting to see the names keep going and going. Upstairs was a
collection of children's drawings from Terezin, a concentration camp
north of Prague. I studied Terezin last year in my Music and Politics
class so I really wanted to see this exhibit. I didn't count on the
exhibit being so hard to get through. It was hard to see the
children's drawings along with their photos and birth and death dates.
I went to the Jewish Cemetery next. For hundreds of years, Jewish
people could only be buried in this 1 and a half acre plot of land in
the center of Prague. My book said that over 100,000 people are
buried there. All of the gravestones are slanted or at odd angles. It
was moving and beautiful.
The next day, we went to the Museum of Decorative Arts to go to the
Artel exhibit. This commune of sorts from the turn of the 20th
century dedicated themselves to making practical, usable art. My
favorite was a Cubist tea set. Google it. It's pretty cool.
Last night, we went to the "Amerika Restaurace" for some American
food. Yeah, that was an epic fail. The menu had no english, and only
a few of the words were in our little guide books. So, we guessed. A
guy got "Mexike buritos". Unfortunately, this did not mean "Mexican
burritos" but rather rye bread with ketchup, beans, and onions.
Excellent! I stuck to "spagety" and fared better. We got "palcinky"/
crepes for dessert. Yum!
Yesterday was Mardi Gras, or here Carnival. There was a Carnival
celebration last night near the penzion. This was a slightly tamer
version of Mardi Gras [no beads] ... super fun! Cough...PLD...cough.
Whoopsies!
I am getting ready for Spring Break! I'm leaving for Vienna on
Friday morning and get back on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, I'll be
meeting Katherine in London for four days! So excited! I'll have my
computer with me, so I'll keep in touch.

Spring break deets and more!

Dobry Vecer!

Now I can make it official. For Spring Break, I am going to Vienna
and London! I am so excited. I am going to Vienna [by bus...eek!]
with two friends for six days and then I'm going to London by myself
for four days. I am really excited about both trips. In Vienna, I
plan on seeing lots of opera and in London I'm going to hit up the
West End. I'll be turning 21 in Vienna...I'm sure I'll have lots of
fun! Let me know if y'all have any suggestions for either city.

On Thursday, I did a lot of research for Spring Break. I've been
compiling plans of stuff to do in Vienna and London... travel plans,
sites to see, public transportation, etc. I want to make sure that
I'll know what I'm doing. For dinner, we went to a Czech restaurant.
They are REAL big on pork and potatoes here. I hadn't had Czech food
in a while, so it was nice to get back to the local food. That night,
we went to a bar called Kross. It was super cool... decorated with
things like hard drives hanging from the walls, car parts lit by
colored lights...awesome in a weird way. We met some Americans from
College of Charleston! What are the chances?

Friday morning, we got up late and meandered to the Institute. My
desk is in the fashion studio, so I saw them making their first
dresses. I really want to make a sun dress [I'm sure it's because I
am longing for sunlight!] and they said that they'd help me. I'm
going to the fabric store soon to but my materials...yay! My friends
Jessica and Katelyn and I went to a restaurant near the penzion
called Sudichka. It was hands down the best meal I have ever gotten
in Prague. Jessica and I split the mix grill. They brought a hot
plate to the table and brought us a tray with raw chicken, pork, and
beef and vegetables on it...we got to cook our own dinner! All of us
split the fruit fondue for dessert. It was so much fun...a very
interactive dinner. I'll definitely take y'all there when you come!

Today, we went to lunch and then climbed the Old Town Hall tower. It
was my third time, but my justification was that it was snowing
really heavily and I had never been up there when it was snowing.
Later, we went to Vysehrad, a ninth century castle that the Czechs
view as the birthplace of their nation . In Lit, we read legends
about Vysehrad, so I was really interested to see the mythical origin
of Prague. The cemetery was incredibly beautiful. It is the official
national cemetery, like Arlington in Washington. All recent famous
Czechs are buried there, including Jan Neruda, the famous 19th
century poet. All of the monuments were covered in snow...it was very
eerie, but not in a bad way. There was a lovely Gothic church, but we
couldn't go inside.

Prague fun fact: The penzion is located in Vinohrady, a residential
area of Prague. It was built at the turn of the twentieth century,
but it looks much more modern [it is the Functionalist style]. Right
next door are buildings from the same time period, but they are much
more ornate and detailed. The penzion only three Metro stops away
from Mustek, the stop for Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, and the
Institute. The Institute is in a great location: right smack between
of Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square [that's not the correct
spelling of Wenceslas and 'spell check' isn't giving me any
suggestions. I can spell it in Czech though. It's Vaclav.]. Anyway,
Prague is a fairly small city. There are only three Metro lines, so
it is super easy to get around. I have been looking at the London
Tube map and getting a little intimidated!

We are going to dinner at the Czech restaurant around the corner. I
went there my first night in Prague but I haven't been back since.
It's super yummy, so I'm pretty excited.

P.S.: The high for tomorrow is 24 degrees. 24.

Czech, Czech, Czech it out!

Ahoj!

Sunday afternoon, Eleanor and I went to breakfast at the American
breakfast place, Bohemian Bagel. We go there whenever we crave
American food. I had a bagel sandwich. It was delish! After we went
to studio to do school work. Monday and Tuesday followed suit.

Today [Wednesday], I didn't have class until 3, so I touristed in the
morning. I went to the Church of Our Lady before Tyn. It's the church
with the distinctive steeples on the Old Town Square. This was a
beautiful, but rather odd church. Not that I know anything about
architecture, but felt that this church was built during the Gothic
period, but was renovated during the Baroque. The architecture is
beautiful and simple with lots of stained glass. But the alters don't
seem to match the structure of the church; the alter pieces are
incredibly ornate and detailed....LOTS of gold leaf. It was def worth
going though. After that, I went to a branch of the Narodni Muzeum
[National Museum], dedicated to Czech landscapes. I don't have much
to say about it... I guess that says it all. At least it was free.
For my final venture of the day, I went to the Mucha exhibition in
Old Town Square. Mucha was an artist at the turn of the century. He
created masterpieces with very stylized female figures...Google
him...you'll know who I mean. I loved this gallery. Mucha designed
everything: festival posters, stamps, postcards, Czech crowns [the
money], theatre advertisements...and on and on. I bought some
postcards there. It was well worth the trip!

My classes are going really well. Not to brag [who am I kidding, I'm
tooting my own horn], but I am pretty darn good at Czech. Of course,
being good in an introductory language class means being able to say
"I am Laura-Nelle. How are you? I am fine. I would like hot
chocolate". But I can say those things pretty well. My class is full
of land arc students who haven't taken a language course since their
sophomore year of high school, so the class moves pretty slowly. I
really like it. At this rate, I'll be somewhat okay at conversing by
the end of the semester.

We are studying Czech poetry in Literature. I find it really
interesting that in a country of 10 million people where Czech has
been widely spoken for less than a hundred years, there are such
incredible writers. Macha is the most famous poet; we are reading his
famous "Maj" right now.

I'm trying to include some details of life here in Prague in every
email, so here goes. The snow is starting to wear on me. Sure, it's
beautiful and picturesque, but it's really annoying when I have to
walk to the Institute with snow blowing directly in my face. We got
three inches of snow on Monday morning. We were so excited that
morning, but when we walked home, we realized that the snow had
gotten compacted into and inch of solid ice. Yeah, that was a fun
walk home. The cold doesn't really bother me anymore. We were looking
at the weather for the next week and we got so excited by a 38
degrees high one day...then we realized how sad that is.

Naskladano!

More adventures in Praha

On Wednesday, my literature professor took us to a branch of the
National Museum, the Convent of St. Agnes. They had a special
exhibition on St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech people. It
was pretty interesting, with various portraits of Wenceslas from over
the centuries. The exhibition also had some items purported to be
owned by Wenceslas. The Czech people are VERY into St. Wenceslas...it
was packed, not with tourists, but with Czech people. It was really
interesting...I'll take y'all when you come.

The highlight of Thursday was that a tourist thought I was a local.
Some Americans came up to me and said [with an awful accent],
"Mluvite anglitski?" [Do you speak English?]. I said that I was
American and they said that they thought I was Czech. Yesss. I am so
cool.

Friday was laundry day! I had done a load of underwear and socks in
the sink last week, but the rest was getting a little dank [soooo
much smoke]. I washed every piece of clothing that I brought that
wasn't dry clean only. Here I came to a conundrum... what to wear
when I go? My roommate and I decided to wear our dress clothes
because we hadn't worn them. We looked a little silly at the
Laundromat wearing our nice clothes, but what can you do? It was
lovely to have clean clothes. The little laundromat is super cute,
plus you get "gratis caj a kava", free tea and coffee! Excellent.

That little adventure took over three hours, but they had wi-fi, so
I got some stuff done. Later, we went to the Institute to work on our
valentines. The group had decided to do secret valentines. We picked
names and made each other cards and fun stuff. I made my valentine a
card, some homemade crafty flowers, and some chocolate. From the
person who had me, I got homemade cookies and a card. The whole event
was pretty adorable.

Yesterday, We decided to be tourists. We went to the Communist
Museum in Wenceslas Square. It detailed the Communist rule in
Czechoslovakia from after WWI to the Velvet Revolution. It was more
of a reading museum than an... I don't know...looking museum, but it
was very informative. I'll definitely use what I learned for my final
project. Fun fact: the Communist Museum is in the same building as a
casino and next door to a McDonalds. Oh irony.

After the museum, some of the girls wanted to go to up the Town Hall
Tower. I've already done it, but I loved so much that I wanted to go
again. The view was even better than the first time I went; it was
clear for miles. After the tower, we went to a Salvador Dali exhibit.
It was pretty cool, but there were only a few originals...most
everything was prints. The cool part was the photography interspersed
with the paintings. A Czech photographer did a photo series of Dali--
among the series is the famous photo of Dali holding an egg to his
eye. It was very interesting to see the artist himself...He was a
weird dude. There is a Mucha exhibition next door...we are going to
do that next weekend.

Since it was Valentine's Day, the girls and I decided to get dressed
up and go to dinner. I had bought a dress that I was eager to wear.
As it turned out, over half of us were wearing the same thing!
Apparently, a black knit turtleneck dress and leggings is all the
rage. It was fun to have a girls night out!

My stay in Prague has made me want to get a dog, even though I am
vaguely allergic. Everyone has dogs here. Even though it is so cold
here, people walk their dogs everyday without leashes. All of the
dogs here are very well-behaved: they don't bark or jump or anything.
Plus, dogs are allowed everywhere: on the tram, on the metro, in
restaurants...Here at the penzion, all of the employees bring their
dogs to work. We have two miniature poodles, a whippit [sp?], a
ginormous sheepdog, and some other little dog that hang out during
the day.

I'll write again soon!

Dobre rano! [Isn't my Czech getting good?]

Hallo everyone. I have recently learned some distressing news and I
feel the need to share it with you all.

It was 72 degrees in Charlotte.

This news spread like wildfire through the Institute. Because it was
SEVEN degrees here last night.

Yeahhhhhhhh...

Anyway,

While I have been recovering from the horrible sickness that
infested me, I have been trying to take it easy so I don't bring it
back with renewed force. But, all bets were off on Monday morning,
when I escaped the prison disguised as the penzion. I have never been
happier to be outside. That morning I had Literature and Philosophy.
I really enjoy Lit. We discussed their creation legends, kind of the
Czech version of the King Arthur legends. Their founders lived in a
fortress called Vyshrad, about 500 AD. The structure still exists, so
our Professor is going to take us to Vyshrad one day [when it gets
warmer]. Today during our class time, she is taking us to a branch of
the National Gallery in St. Agnes Convent in Old Town. This gallery
focuses on the earliest Czech artworks, from the time of Vyshrad. I
am really excited to go!

In Philosophy, we are discussing Hume's views on religion [to be
compared with today's lecture on Kant's views on religion.] It is a
very cool class and I'm glad I'm taking it.

Yesterday, I had Czech language and Beekeeping. I am beginning to
get why Czech is the hardest language in Europe. All of the nouns
change forms, there are WAY too many consonants, and no rule works
100% of the time. It is frustrating for me to be missing so many
basic words and phrases. When I don't know what to say, I blurt out
the phrase in any [and all] languages I know.

Recent incident: [What I meant to say: where is the bathroom?--->
Kde jsou toalety?] I walk up to the register at a coffee shop...ok it
was Starbucks...what can I say, it reminds me of home. Anyway:

LP: Dobry den!
Barista: [small laugh] dobry den! [I had already ordered my coffee,
so this was the second time I had said dobry den to him]
LP: Kde je...um...uh....kde....donde....um...el bano...donde esta el
bano? I mean, I'm sorry.

It was just sad. He spoke English, thank God.

Back to school. Beekeeping is interesting. Since honeybees are small,
they fall outside of my debilitating fear of bugs. A+! The professor
doesn't speak great English, so that might be difficult, but I think
it'll be OK.

On Monday, the whole group went bowling. It was so much fun, but I
forgot what a bad bowler I am. Oh well.

And last night, we all went to a jazz performance. I have always
thought of jazz as a very American art form; Duke Ellington, BB King,
MJQ. At first it was odd to see pasty Eastern Europeans jamming out,
but they were awesome! I plan on going back to another jazz club soon.

It is snowing right now, but I am still at the Institute. It seems
odd to do stuff while it is snowing. Don't they know that you sit at
home do nothing every time it snows?

I'll write again soon!

Well, that wasn't the WORST weekend of my life...

But it was close.

On Friday I woke up feeling rotten. I went to the Institute to talk
to Anael, the assistant. It turns out she was sick, so I had to wait
for Dana. She made me an appointment at the clinic for ex-pats, but
she couldn't come with me. So I got to experience European healthcare
all on my own...

It was quite the adventure.

After taking the metro to the end of the line, riding the tram two
miles, and then walking down a ginormous hill, I found the clinic
[after going in the wrong building...twice], I went into the the
English speaking [hallelujah!] clinic. The doctor listened to my
lungs and determined that I had bronchitis, which I already
suspected. He gave me 4 prescriptions, told me not to breathe cold
air, and to rest for three days. Hmmm...does he know where we are?
Walking is necessary to do anything, and it is super cold. He told me
to go home and stay there for the weekend.

I stayed inside. All weekend. Going stir crazy. And feeling awful.

This morning, walking to the metro, I have never been so excited to
go outside in my entire life. Ahh fresh air. Plus, I feel much
better. YAY!!

Sorry for the boring post, but I didn't do a whole lot this weekend.
but now I'm free!