Czech This Out: A Weekend in Prague

I felt like we were barely back in London when we jetted off to Prague- quite literally, I got back from Barcelona on Monday night and left for the Czech Republic on Thursday morning. There was barely time to do laundry! I was particularly excited about this trip because A. our friend Catherine Anne was going to be traveling with us and B. I almost studied abroad in Prague and was curious to see how I would like it.

When we arrived at our hostel, we were pleasantly surprised. There were five of us in total so we ended up staying in one of the private apartments. It could not have been nicer- and it was the cheapest place we stayed! Not only did we have our own bathroom, but we had two huge bedrooms between the five of us and our own kitchen! If anyone is ever in Prague, definitely stay at the Czech Inn- everything was clean and the staff was so helpful!We got there pretty late on Thursday so we caught a bite to eat right on our block and hit the hay. The next morning, it was off to the races, but not without a quick bite to eat- our hostel served a great breakfast! My friends and I were sitting in a booth enjoying granola and yogurt when I looked over and saw Lindsey Gould, one of my high school classmates. She is studying abroad in Rome this semester and just happened to be in Prague the same weekend and staying at the same hostel! What are the odds?! After we finished breakfast, we were headed up the giant hill to Prague Castle. Here's Liz and I with the view from the Prague Castle courtyard. It was perfect timing! We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard!

And take a somewhat unsuccessful serious picture next to the guard!We were a bit confused upon arrival at the Prague Castle as it is not a single fortress, but instead a grouping of buildings including St. Vitus Church (pictured above), The Old Royal Palace, St. Georges Basilica, and Golden Lane.

Golden Lane is a cute street with lots of tiny houses where Kafka lived! Now each house is filled with a shop selling different Czech crafts and souvenirs. I felt like I was in a winter wonderland- half the stores were Christmas themed selling ornaments and handmade nativity scenes. Prague is also known for wooden puppets, but those stores scared me a little. After we were all shopped out, we stopped into a pub-like restaurant for some traditional Czech food. I had the gulash which was surprisingly good, but I think we were all so cold that anything warm would have been satisfying.

Prague Castle took most of the day, but we were able to hike back down the hill to see the famous Charles Bridge (pictured above).

And we walked through the Old Town Square where the castle that inspired Disney's Cinderella's Castle is located.

Pictured above is Prague's famous clock- on the hour it plays music, a skeleton goes up and down and the 12 apostles parade around the top. It is quite a spectacle. "Cinderella's Castle" at night. After several attempts to find a good Czech restaurant, we gave in and went to the American favorite, Hard Rock Cafe. I was tempted to order something for the sole reason of it having Hidden Valley Ranch in the title, but instead opted for the pulled pork- it was quite possibly in the top 5 BBQ sandwiches I have ever had! haha!The next morning we set off to find John Lennon's Imagine Wall. Tucked under a bridge, it's more difficult to find than you would expect- so ask for specific direction instead of just wandering around looking for it like we did. Although it's not a super popular tourist attraction, I recommend it. I thought it was really cool.

I signed my name in the g of "imagine" :)

London roommates in from of the peace sign.

Wake girls!

Being a hippie hahaAfter the Imagine wall, we adventured to the Jewish quarter of the city. Unfortunately, we didn't plan appropriately and went on a Saturday (the jewish sabbath) when everything closed. We were able to see the outside of the temple and the cemetary though!

On our last night in Prague, we went out with some of our Wake friends who are studying abroad there. We went to this cool pub located in an old wine cellar so you had to go down lots of stairs to get there.

Overall, I loved visiting Prague. The culture there is so different, the pace is much slower, and I had to keep reminding myself that communism ended there only 20 years ago. That being said, I'm sticking by my choice to study in London. While Prague was great for a weekend, it is so much smaller than the vast metropolis I've spent this semester exploring.

Roman Holiday and a Spanish Halloween

From Florence we continued our southbound journey toward Rome. My friend Catherine Anne is studying abroad there this semester and kindly offered to house us during our stay! Which made everything easier, plus it was so nice to see her! Here are a few pictures from our stay!

Here is Trajan's Column, one of the first sights we saw upon our arrival in the city.

We hit the ground running, stopping only for a quick photo shoot and some gelato on the Spanish steps before rushing to the top.

The view from the top of the Spanish steps- we climbed them Rocky style, and then headed back down. Completely by chance, we stumbled across the Keats, Shelley and Byron museum that is near the Spanish steps so we English majors popped in for a quick look at the house in which the Romantic poet John Keats spent his last days. (Speaking of, I really want to see Bright Star- the movie that just came out about Keats life and love affair with Fanny Brawne- has anyone seen it?)

Finally we made it to our main tourist attraction of the day, the Trevi Fountain. In the picture above, my friend Madelyn captured my excitement as I tossed my coin into the fountain for good luck.

Above is another view of the fountain. After we all tossed our Euros away (apparently over 3,000 euro are thrown into the fountain daily!) we headed over to the Bishops' Office for United States visitors to the Vatican to pick up our tickets for the general audience with the Pope. If you are traveling to the Vatican, I highly recommend getting in contact with this office- they are so helpful. All you do is email them 2-3 weeks before your visit and ask if they can help you secure tickets to go to an audience with the pope. The woman we spoke at the office to was exactly like Whoopi Goldberg in sister act. She was so nice and gave us tips on how to get the best seats to see the Pope- she even showed us this secret chapel in the building!We made a quick stop in the Pantheon where we saw Raphael's grave. We grabbed a some quick take-away pizza and had a picnic dinner in the Piazza Novona which houses the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi otherwise known as one of the Alters of Science in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Then it was off to bed as we had an early start at the Vatican planned for the next day. Every Wednesday, the Pope addresses the public is Saint Peter's Square around 10:30. (Above is a picture of the Papal Swiss Guard who are in charge of guarding Pope Bennedict and get to wear funny outfits) We had reserved tickets beforehand, but it's all general seating so we had to get in line at 8! It was so worth it though- we got seats right on the edge, the Pope drove RIGHT past us!

Basically how the service works is the Pope drive all around the square in his Pope-mobile and then goes up to the front of the square. He then addresses the audience in 7 languages reading a bible verse and giving a homily in Italian and then summarizing it in the other languages. I was so impressed by his ability to speak so many languages! After he's fininshed, they recognize the different church groups and choruses that are present. It's so funny- people go absolutely crazy when their group is recognized. Overall, this was one of the coolest parts of my trip to Italy- I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Rome, Catholic or not. Here's a picture of the two Catholics on the trip in St. Peter's. I really can't even describe it- it is just huge and beautiful with so much art everywhere.
Here's another picture of the inside of St. Peter's.Then we climbed ALL the way up to the top of St. Peter's.
More pictures of the VaticanOutside the museum- The Vatican Museum is absolutely unreal. They have so much artwork, you have to pick and choose what you want to see (obviously the Sistine Chapel) or you could just stay there forever. Unfortunately though, they don't allow pictures :(In front of this weird orb thing outside the Vatican Museum.

The next day we saw more of the historic parts of ancient Rome- Here is the Arch of Constantine.

The Colliseum is absolutely massive. So large it was hard to believe- It was a little expensive and touristy, but worth it to see.

Here's our group infront of the colliseum!

With our tourguide!

Because it's so close (only an hour train ride away from Rome) we opted to spend a day in the Ancient city of Pompeii. The city was completely preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and covered the city with ash.

There were also lots of dogs there hahaPreserved pottery.

Madelyn and I with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

Preserved person trying to escape.

After Pompeii, we headed back to Rome for the night and then jetted off to Barcelona. After being in Italy for so long, it was nice to somewhat speak the language. While Barcelona's primary language is Catalan, my Spanish helped immensely in trying to communicate with people. While we were in Barcelona, we were split up and were able to stay with two of our friends from Wake, Marina and Aveen. Their apartments were in a great location, only a few streets over from the Sagrada Familia, a huge church designed by the famous architect Gaudi that looks like similar to a drip sand castle. It's been under construction since the 1800s and won't be finished until something like 2030. Some parts of the church look semi normal, like the picture above of Jesus on the cross, but there are some strange parts with a Christmas tree and fruit incorporated into the architecture.

Above is another view of the famous Sagrada Familia
Sight seeing was cut short in Barcelona, but we did manage to make it to Park Guell, a beautiful Park overlooking the city. Designed by the famous Spanish architect, Gaudi, the cluster of buildings resembles a gingerbread neighborhood with mosaic tiling and surreal rock formations.

Above are the London girls in the Municipal Garden overlooking Barcelona.

I would be lying if I didn't say the main reason we went to Barcelona was to see our other friends from Wake. On Halloween (see above picture for my costume- we were the spice girls and I was Posh) our friends studying in Barcelona organized a big group dinner and over 80 people showed up, all from Wake Forest. Pretty much everyone I knew studying abroad in Europe was there. It was so great to catch up with everyone on such a fun holiday in Spain. Pretty much we just went to dinner (most people dressed up which was fun) and then went to an American style club.

Overall, it was the trip of a lifetime. I can't believe how much we packed into 11 days! I promise I'll try to catch up with my posts this week- my semester here has flown by, I can't believe I come home is less than 3 weeks!

Three trips and one count of stomach flu later...

I'm finally back to blogging. It's been a crazy month so stay with me- I'll try to put in as many pictures as I can in this post so it's not so boring! (remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

Fall break 2009 was quite an undertaking. My roommates and I started out for Milan on Friday October 23rd. Honestly most of Milan was a blur. As flight was early Friday morning we left for the airport at 3:30 a.m. Wanting to make the most of the day, we dropped off our bags at the ABC budget hotel and headed into the city. Our first order of business was to find food, so we checked our collective library of guidebooks and found what came to be the best food I ate all trip. My friend Madelyn's book suggested a bakery right near the Duomo (a duomo is the general Italian word for a cathedral- we saw a few during our time in Italy) for good Italian food that didn't cost a fortune. It couldn't have been more right. The place itself was tiny- standing tables only. I got a huge slice of pizza- the best I've ever had in my life for less than 3 euro.The place was packed so we ate in the piazza in front of the Duomo. Pizza in the piazza haha. The rest of our time in Milan was spent climbing to the roof of the Duomo and taking a hop on/hop off bus tour of the city. We also went on a wild goose chase to see Carravagio's still life. Just for future reference, Pinacoteca does not mean a museum named after pina coladas and discotecas, instead it means picture gallery and more than one museum in a city could be known as a Pinacoteca. That would be something the guidebooks neglected to mention. In retrospect, saving a few dollars and taking the earliest flight possible was not worth it. I was so sleep deprived that I couldn't fully appreciate the city. However, I do feel Milan is a city where great and beautiful things are produced, but there is not as much to see there. Our taxi driver one day joked with us that Milan is a city to visit when you have a husband who will take you shopping. Perhaps I will have to come back. For any readers who are planning a trip to Milan, DO NOT stay at the ABC hotel. It gets decent reviews on Hostelworld.com and our room was fine and decently clean, but the entire building was lacking hot water. It was the coldest shower I have ever taken in my life.

We only stayed in Milan for one day- I would've liked to spend more time there, but we were on a tight schedule so Saturday the 24th we set out for Florence. Due to some difficulties while booking train tickets, I ended up in a different compartment than my travel mates for our journey from Milan to Florence. This mishap turned into my most interesting encounter with Italian culture all trip. I boarded the train early and waited to see who I'd be sitting with. As my train companions filed in, I couldn't have been more happy. There ended up being 5 of us total in our compartment- a couple who were in their late 60s early 70s, a 40ish year old man, a 30ish year old woman, and myself. Even though I don't know more than five words in Italian we all managed to communicate through broken English and hand gestures. By the end of the trip we were all sharing food, showing pictures of our families and having a great time. As I got my stuff to exit the train in Florence, the older woman wished me luck in Italian and I was off.

The difference between Florence and Milan was immediately apparent. Florence is a much smaller town, cleaner and more quaint. It is also MUCH warmer than Milan. First stop, drop our bags off at our hostel, Hostel Greci. Not only was it cheaper than our hotel in Milan, but it was much nicer, felt less sketchy, AND had an awesome Melrose Place board game! Direction in Italian couldn't stop us from having a good time as evidenced by the pictures on the right. I highly recommend it. After dropping off our bags, we headed toward the museums. The two most famous museums in Florence are the Uffizi and the Galleria Accademia. We had plans to do both in one day. While I feel like I got a lot out of going to the museums and highly recommend seeing both, doing them both in the same 24 hour period is tiring and you can really only take so many pictures of baby Jesuses before everything starts to blend together. The Accademia is essentially three rooms with Michelangelo's Statue of David in the center. It take an hour tops to see everything. The Uffizi is different. It's absolutely huge and you could probably spend a whole day there if not longer. My favorite piece we saw was Botticelli's Birth of Venus (<--).

The next day we took a train ride to Cinque Terre which is a cluster of five towns on the coast of Italy. It was quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. There's really not much else to say- I'll let the pictures do the talking:You can hike between the towns- one of the hikes is known as the "Lover's Walk" where couples attach locks with their initials onto the fences- there were easily thousands of these all along the trail.

After our day at the beach, we headed back to Florence. The next day we climbed to the top of our second Duomo, visited the markets and just explored the city in general.

Pictures all of the sudden stopped working and I have to finish up a paper but I haven't posted in so long so I'll go ahead and throw this up on the blog. Hopefully tomorrow I can at the least finish posting about fall break. If anyone has any EASY Thanksgiving recipes- throw them my way. We're attempting to have a taste of home on a very non-British holiday!

Fall Break

I promised a blog post right when I got back, but I've barely had a chance to breathe and I'm headed to Prague this weekend. If you have facebook you can check out all of my pictures from fall break on there, but if not- here are a few to keep you tied over: