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!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
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!!
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.
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.
Friday, March 13, 2009
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?
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.
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.
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.
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