21 March 2009 - 23 March 2009
"But isn't there like a lot of water in between London and Amsterdam??"
Dad was rightly concerned about this unavoidable obstacle in my trek to Amsterdam. The English Channel is no match for technology though; the Chunnel not withstanding, there are no less than 5 ferry departure points in England headed for the continent, and the one we headed for is in Dover where ferries run every half hour to Calais in France. Now that we had one strategic problem solved... we had to get rides!
Before I begin the epic journey that included a fair share of slightly disconcerting and totally non-English rides on the 350 adventure to the land of wooden shoes and windmills, I should probably tell you why.
I got involved with an group on campus called Raising and Giving (RAG) early in the year. Basically their MO is self-explanatory: raise money, and give it away. They do stunts like skydiving, pub crawls, and hitch hikes - along with standing outside with buckets in busy areas - to get money for pre-ordained charities. Charities are chosen in the first meeting of the year by vote among the RAG constituents to ensure legal viability and some other stuff that I'm not totally sure about. Anyway, I approached RAG to do my Lose the Shoes Soccer (Football, here) Tournament and that's how I got involved.
When they declared a charity hitch-hike race to Amsterdam, there was no way I wasn't going to be a part.
My team was tri-national: I am American (duh), Jess is English, and Alison is French. From the beginning we were worried about a three-person team's chances versus our competition working in 2-man teams, but the rules of the hitch prohibit girls from traveling together because they're silly and weak compared to Us Strong and Intelligent Men. OK that was mean, but I think the real reasons are self-explanatory.
Great preparations were involved, including a list of cities on the way to Amsterdam, the creation of a giant banner, and a pre-hitch meal with multiple drinks at the local pub. Needless to say, we were more than prepared when it came time to stick our thumbs out.
Upon departure at 7:00am, I was quickly out maneuvered in strategy as the girls favored a train-based approach to our first destination. Charing Cross Rail Station employees were more than willing to let us hop on the next train to Dover, so we technically did not break the "don't spend any money" rule. Once at Dover, however, our problems became magnified.
Apparently we were not the only team that had opted for a train ride, and on the single road leading to the ferry docks, it suddenly became quite competitive. Our group size automatically precluded us from attracting the attention of cars with more than 1 person in them, but we managed to flag down a ride after nearly an hour and a half... just to see him pull over down the road and let our competition jump into the car! We were devastated, but it was still early and we were determined not to give up. It seemed at times that the higher we held our banner, the stiffer we made our thumbs, it would attract a ride.
Finally, Johann from Ghent picked us up and took us onto the ferry. He promised to take us all the way to Ghent - about 2 hours from Calais - if we couldn't find a better ride on board. He wasn't the greatest driver (which was apparent even in the 2.5 minute drive to the loading docks) but it was better than nothing and he turned out to be a nice guy. We loaded onto the ferry around 11:30 beginning to feel tired, but still with high spirits.
Early in the ferry ride, we were approached by a scruffy bearded man who apparently had seen our poster, asking if we were going to Amsterdam. We said yes, and he offered to take us to Antwerp - nearly 2 hours further than Ghent. Happily accepting his ride and our good fortune, lunch suddenly tasted much better.
It turned out that this bearded man who at first seemed creepy was probably the nicest guy that we met. He happened to be quite knowledgeable about Belgium, the Netherlands, and Europe in general, and being Belgian and Flemish, insisted many times that Belgium was much better than everywhere else - England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain being his main focus. In all he was quite the nice man, good for conversation, and he drove us for 4 hours all the way to Antwerp! Not too shabby.
Having been dropped at a service station we now faced the reality of finding a new ride, but we had such a good experience that our hope was boundless. In only 5 minutes we were approached by a car and asked, apparently in Flemish, if we needed a ride to Amsterdam. The guy in the car switched to English when I asked him to, and we asked if they could take us to Breda, the next stop on our list. He said they weren't going to Amsterdam, but they could definitely take us to Breda. Amazing.
Or not. Turks are not particularly liked in Germany - which we were quite close to - and I think we may have gotten an idea of one of the reasons why. The new car we were in had tinted windows, shiny rims, and two Turks inside. These men spoke very little English and struggled to talk to us in between their incessant babbling in Turkish. They reminded me of the guidos on the Jersey shore - another minority group not particularly well received by any but the most tolerant locals.
In any case, the driver was going at a clip comparable to the space shuttle without paying particularly close attention to the road. And when we reached a fork in the road - the left side reading Breda and the right side reading Eindhoven - guess which we he took us? That's right, Eindhoven. Check your maps people, Eindhoven is NOT on the way to Amsterdam. Team Holy Herbs (that's us) were alerted of this course change about -10 seconds in advance. We were slightly upset, and also a little scared at this point, so we had them let us off at the next service station, somewhere in the Netherlands.
Bad move number two. This area of the Netherlands apparently has no automobile traffic after dark, and it was quickly approaching dark and looking less and less likely we'd find a ride. Luckily, after 45 minutes of harassing every single car that came to fill up, Jess convinced two Dutch kids to take us with them to Eindhoven. They also did not speak English, but were about our age and headed for the PSV Eindhoven football match, so you know they must be cool. And as an added bonus, they informed us that the train station was located only a short walk from the stadium. After the hour's drive it was quite late, and we were all quite tired, so we made the collective decision to ride the train the rest of the way, figuring a ride to Amsterdam by car would be a rare commodity at this hour. Again, the conductor was a nice enough fellow to let us on for the price of On the House, and we arrived in Amsterdam a little after 10 in the evening.
All told, a mere 15 hours to cross 3 borders and arrive in the Pot Capital of the World.
And yes, it really is the pot capital of the world. We opted not to party that evening in favor of the following nights, but I ventured out with my friend Ben (one of the other hitch hikers... there were 50 in total!) through the Red Light District and it was definitely an... interesting place. But the point I was trying to make was that marijuana is prevalent everywhere in the city; there are "coffee shops," which is a fancy way of saying "weed stores," in nearly every alleyway and you can smell pot on every street corner ostensibly coming from the apartment windows above you or even the people walking ahead of you. The Holy Herb, from which our team got its name, is everywhere.
Unfortunately, Amsterdam's two main attractions (besides the Red Light District) are both rather expensive and have insanely long lines you must wait in. We managed to get into the Van Gogh museum which was a real treat. Starry Night and Sunflowers are much better in person, and his numerous self-portraits and seemingly endless number of peasant-inspired works were all quite good to look at. Worth the 12 euros.
I did not get to the Anne Frank house because the line was simply too long, and I had a shorter visit than my cohorts because of my imminent travel plans. However, I did get to wander around Amsterdam which is a remarkably beautiful city. I feel it's gotten a bad reputation for its relaxed attitude towards drugs, but it really is one of the gems of Europe. Situated in the center of a number of concentric canals, the scenic bridges and walkways that lie under seemingly falling buildings is quite a sight to see. Because Amsterdam - indeed most of the Netherlands - lies below sea level, the houses and buildings are built on an angle and fitted with a giant hook on the roof. When the city floods, or flooding is imminent, these hooks provide to be a wonderful pulley to lift furniture from the lower floors into the upper floors... and because the building is "leaning," sofas and the like won't crash into the side of the building. Brilliant!
A closer inspection of the Red Light District simply got the lot of us invited into a number of different peep shows and sex shows that none of us was willing to pay for, but I must say that it was all quite professional and, actually, clean. Apparently the whole industry is regulated by the government and there are strict standards to prevent disease and STDs. While I can't say from experience, what I did see seemed like it was cleanly. Also, a man hopped out of one of the stalls and began walking in front of us, before turning and asking for a cigarette. I thought that was funny.
Amsterdam is a very, very interesting place. It is a beautiful city, and the home of some great museums, but it certainly wouldn't have been the same experience, and certainly not the same city without its less admirable traits. I liked it though, and I'd enjoy going back, especially in summer. It was a tad bit nippy while I was there, and I feel that if the whole city was in bloom it would add to the beauty.
Definitely go to Amsterdam. Maybe not to live permanently, but a visit is well worth it.
Next Stop: Roma!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Moving on to Budapesht
7 January 2009 - 10 January 2009
Total time in transit, from Prague to Vienna and Vienna to Budapest, is 6 hours. Considering these are some of the oldest cities in the Western World, and three capital cities of modern states no less, this is pretty cool.
Budapest, pronounced "Boo-da-pesht" in Magyar (Hungarian), is made up of two distinct communities on either side of the Danube river. In the late 19th century, the two towns, Buda and Pest, merged to form the current city Budapest. Another history lesson for all of you!
First a bit about Hungary in general: they speak Magyar, which is an incredibly weird language that I didn't even bother trying to learn. It's closest related language is.... Czech. NOT! It's actually Finnish. Go figure. For those of you new to geography, Finland and Hungary have no less than 6 independent states between them. If that's not an indication of a weird culture, I don't know what is (Note: I have a Finnish guy on my hockey team, who despite being hilarious and a really nice guy, is just plain weird. So for Hungary to be weird is not necessarily a surprise).
That being said, the Hungarians, and especially Budapest itself, makes up for its weird language with one of my favorite things of all - delicious cake. And while I was there, I made a point to take advantage of the Budapest cake at least once per day. Again, food staples here were potatoes, bread, and meat, and again, it was all amazingly delicious. I had a meal outside the Synagogue (which I will get to) that was absolutely incredibly (and incredibly cheap!). I have NO idea what the sauce was made of, but it was like a thicker, bigger version of a matzoh ball slathered in delicious spicy sauce with pieces of steak in it that made me think of beef stroganoff except way way better. There's a photo in my Budapest album, so if anyone can identify it, please let me know.
Unlike Prague and Vienna, the skyline is not dominated by any single structure. Instead, Budapest has more modest buildings but many of them. For example, the Jewish Synagogue - second largest in the world to New York's - is plainly but elegantly decorated with geometric patterns on the front facade. In the back is the Weeping Willow, a holocaust memorial made out of steel in the shape of a willow tree. Each "flower" of the tree has a name inscribed into it, memorializing the 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed by the Nazis in the holocaust. It's quite a sobering memorial, especially when reading the inscriptions on the base of the tree, presumably from those who donated to its construction. One read "So our children will never forget." You get the idea.
Other sites in the city include the Parliament building, modeled after the British parliament but with a different stone and thus a different color, and the Buda Castle perched on a cliff just across the River Danube. But one of my favorite places was the "fake" Vajdahunyad Castle. Good luck pronouncing that one. Anyway, it was built for the millenium world's fair in the late 19th century based off an identical castle in Transylvania out of cardboard, but became so popular that they completed it with stone and turned it into a museum. Pretty awesome story. Now there is an outdoor ice skating rink just next door, but the real attraction is across the street on the opposite side: The Turkish Baths.
To be honest, in retrospect, this place was a little weird by my American cultural standards, but it was a lot of fun. The three of us, Anna Lilly and I, went with some of our new friends from the hostel we were staying at (Carpe Noctem - awesome place. If you're ever heading to Budapest I definitely recommend it.) One of them was Irish and the other Australian, and both hysterical. Anyway, Budapest was probably the warmest of the three cities we visited but still freezing cold, so going into the outside baths was a bit of an adventure that began with running barefoot across freezing cold pavement. But the baths were quite warm and steamy which made it seem like being in an Olympic swimming pool sized hot tub. One of the pools main attractions was a circular whirlpool with jets all pushing water in the same direction so everybody floated in a circle. Me and my new friends, while trying to wrestle each other out of the narrow entryway each time we passed, successfully splashed enough water to anger every single Hungarian in the pool (except one old lady who couldn't stop laughing) and got the middle part with the jets to ourselves. So that was fun.
On the way back from the baths to the hostel was Statue Park - an enclave of numerous Hungarian heroes depicted in gigantic statue form, and the Terror Museum. Even though it was closed for renovation while we were there, the story of the Terror Museum is compelling. After having conquered Budapest, the Nazis took this building and turned it into an SS Headquarters and torture chamber. When the Soviets came and vanquished the Nazis in Hungary, they discovered this building, along with the abandoned torture devices and memos on their use. Naturally, the KGB picked up the pieces where the Nazis left off, and continued nearly the same practices that the SS had employed earlier.
Budapest was the center of the Hungarian revolution against the Soviets in 1956, resulting in 3000 civilian casualties, so you can imagine that the building housing the Terror Museum got some use during this particular time period. The Soviets also gutted the Buda Castle and destroyed all its contents.
Soviets and Nazis definitely left their mark on Budapest, a city that hasn't belonged to a distinct Hungarian state for most of its history. Partly because of the history, partly because of the awesome hostel I stayed at, and definitely because of the cake, I enjoyed Budapest the most out of the three cities I visited on this New Year trip. And since there was SO much I did not get the chance to do and see in the city, it stands to reason that I MUST visit it again in the future.
And that's the end of my three-city quasi-Eastern European New Year's tour. Next up: The Grande European Spring Break Adventure!
Total time in transit, from Prague to Vienna and Vienna to Budapest, is 6 hours. Considering these are some of the oldest cities in the Western World, and three capital cities of modern states no less, this is pretty cool.
Budapest, pronounced "Boo-da-pesht" in Magyar (Hungarian), is made up of two distinct communities on either side of the Danube river. In the late 19th century, the two towns, Buda and Pest, merged to form the current city Budapest. Another history lesson for all of you!
First a bit about Hungary in general: they speak Magyar, which is an incredibly weird language that I didn't even bother trying to learn. It's closest related language is.... Czech. NOT! It's actually Finnish. Go figure. For those of you new to geography, Finland and Hungary have no less than 6 independent states between them. If that's not an indication of a weird culture, I don't know what is (Note: I have a Finnish guy on my hockey team, who despite being hilarious and a really nice guy, is just plain weird. So for Hungary to be weird is not necessarily a surprise).
That being said, the Hungarians, and especially Budapest itself, makes up for its weird language with one of my favorite things of all - delicious cake. And while I was there, I made a point to take advantage of the Budapest cake at least once per day. Again, food staples here were potatoes, bread, and meat, and again, it was all amazingly delicious. I had a meal outside the Synagogue (which I will get to) that was absolutely incredibly (and incredibly cheap!). I have NO idea what the sauce was made of, but it was like a thicker, bigger version of a matzoh ball slathered in delicious spicy sauce with pieces of steak in it that made me think of beef stroganoff except way way better. There's a photo in my Budapest album, so if anyone can identify it, please let me know.
Unlike Prague and Vienna, the skyline is not dominated by any single structure. Instead, Budapest has more modest buildings but many of them. For example, the Jewish Synagogue - second largest in the world to New York's - is plainly but elegantly decorated with geometric patterns on the front facade. In the back is the Weeping Willow, a holocaust memorial made out of steel in the shape of a willow tree. Each "flower" of the tree has a name inscribed into it, memorializing the 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed by the Nazis in the holocaust. It's quite a sobering memorial, especially when reading the inscriptions on the base of the tree, presumably from those who donated to its construction. One read "So our children will never forget." You get the idea.
Other sites in the city include the Parliament building, modeled after the British parliament but with a different stone and thus a different color, and the Buda Castle perched on a cliff just across the River Danube. But one of my favorite places was the "fake" Vajdahunyad Castle. Good luck pronouncing that one. Anyway, it was built for the millenium world's fair in the late 19th century based off an identical castle in Transylvania out of cardboard, but became so popular that they completed it with stone and turned it into a museum. Pretty awesome story. Now there is an outdoor ice skating rink just next door, but the real attraction is across the street on the opposite side: The Turkish Baths.
To be honest, in retrospect, this place was a little weird by my American cultural standards, but it was a lot of fun. The three of us, Anna Lilly and I, went with some of our new friends from the hostel we were staying at (Carpe Noctem - awesome place. If you're ever heading to Budapest I definitely recommend it.) One of them was Irish and the other Australian, and both hysterical. Anyway, Budapest was probably the warmest of the three cities we visited but still freezing cold, so going into the outside baths was a bit of an adventure that began with running barefoot across freezing cold pavement. But the baths were quite warm and steamy which made it seem like being in an Olympic swimming pool sized hot tub. One of the pools main attractions was a circular whirlpool with jets all pushing water in the same direction so everybody floated in a circle. Me and my new friends, while trying to wrestle each other out of the narrow entryway each time we passed, successfully splashed enough water to anger every single Hungarian in the pool (except one old lady who couldn't stop laughing) and got the middle part with the jets to ourselves. So that was fun.
On the way back from the baths to the hostel was Statue Park - an enclave of numerous Hungarian heroes depicted in gigantic statue form, and the Terror Museum. Even though it was closed for renovation while we were there, the story of the Terror Museum is compelling. After having conquered Budapest, the Nazis took this building and turned it into an SS Headquarters and torture chamber. When the Soviets came and vanquished the Nazis in Hungary, they discovered this building, along with the abandoned torture devices and memos on their use. Naturally, the KGB picked up the pieces where the Nazis left off, and continued nearly the same practices that the SS had employed earlier.
Budapest was the center of the Hungarian revolution against the Soviets in 1956, resulting in 3000 civilian casualties, so you can imagine that the building housing the Terror Museum got some use during this particular time period. The Soviets also gutted the Buda Castle and destroyed all its contents.
Soviets and Nazis definitely left their mark on Budapest, a city that hasn't belonged to a distinct Hungarian state for most of its history. Partly because of the history, partly because of the awesome hostel I stayed at, and definitely because of the cake, I enjoyed Budapest the most out of the three cities I visited on this New Year trip. And since there was SO much I did not get the chance to do and see in the city, it stands to reason that I MUST visit it again in the future.
And that's the end of my three-city quasi-Eastern European New Year's tour. Next up: The Grande European Spring Break Adventure!
The Long Awaited Return
4 January 2009 - 7 January 2009
It's been an absurdly long time since I last posted. Turns out I'm lazier than even I thought I was.
I left off after Prague - which I visited literally months ago - but I failed to report on both Vienna and Budapest, so I will try my best to recount the tales here, albeit in an abridged version.
Vienna is the capital of Austria, and retains much of the splendor it enjoyed during its time as the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Loved by the Hapsburgs - the dynasty of rulers that at some point or another seemed to have had control over each of the many regions of Europe - Vienna was and perhaps still is the cultural capital of the world. Richard Strauss, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, and Franz Schubert are only a few of the famous that have called Vienna home.
That being said, one of the very first things we did in Vienna was, naturally, to get a slice of the famous Sacher Torte: superb chocolate/raspberry cake. It was exquisite, and as far as I know can only be found in Austria. The other culinary delight of Vienna has been exported a little further, this of course being Wiener Schnitzel (which in German means 'Viennese schnitzel). In addition, we tried Kasewurst - a sausage with cheese inside of it which was marvelous. The Austrians, like the Czechs, eat mostly meat and bread but damn do they do it well.
Vienna's architecture is breathtaking if for nothing other than the sheer magnitude of it (check out my photos). But despite the palaces I will speak of shortly, every building in the city seems to conform to a certain architectural standard, as if each individual building is made of the same material, or has been built as part of a larger plan. This gives a sense of uniformity, and the light colors - mostly yellow - that define the buildings gives the city a light and airy feel, even in the freezing cold dead of winter.
Like I said, this was the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire and a favorite city of the continents most rich and famous personalities. In addition to the TWO lavish palaces within the city limits are numerous other buildings that ostensibly look like palaces in their own rights but are now museums, as well as the magnificent opera house, home to the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra.
We visited a number of these museums, most notably the Belvedere which houses Gustav Klimt's famous portrait The Kiss which is actually quite mesmerizing. My companions did not want to join me for the journey to another museum, the Haus der Musik (House of Music) so I went alone. Sucks for them, because this was one of the best museums ever. Not only did I get the whole place nearly to myself, but it was incredibly interactive and held my attention for nearly 5 hours. I got to compose my own song, attempt (and fail miserably) at conducting the Philharmonic via an electronic baton, and play with a ridiculous number of things that you get to bang on and make weird noises with. My two darling sisters would have loved it.
And any visit to Vienna isn't complete without trips to Schonbrunn Palace and St Stephens Cathedral. Schonbrunn, the "summer home" of the Hapsburgs could fit an inane number of my family's "regular home" inside of it. I forget how many rooms it has - we went on a tour of 45 that saw only a fraction of the mansion - but standing at the front gate, my camera could just barely cover the entire facade. The summer gardens the in "backyard," complete with the oldest zoo in the world, weren't exactly picture worthy in the winter cold, but were nonetheless worth walking through. In all, several small villages could easily fit into this "garden."
St Stephens cathedral is by far the largest building in the city and easily dominates the skyline as seen from Schonbrunn's gardens miles away. Last time 'round, its spire was under construction which served as a blight in my photos, but this time I got (or at least tried to get) the structure in its entirety. Unfortunately it still retains its medieval heating system (i.e. nothing) so it didn't provide much shelter from the bitter cold, but we did venture into the crypt to see the tombs of cardinals and other important people, along with a ton of human bones neatly stacked and arranged into piles.
Vienna is still one of my favorite cities in Europe, even though my friends didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did. Perhaps the cold didn't do it justice, but I enjoyed myself quite well and hopefully will be able to get back in the heat of summer someday. If you're into classical music, delicious food, or architecture (or all three!) this is definitely the place for you.
It's been an absurdly long time since I last posted. Turns out I'm lazier than even I thought I was.
I left off after Prague - which I visited literally months ago - but I failed to report on both Vienna and Budapest, so I will try my best to recount the tales here, albeit in an abridged version.
Vienna is the capital of Austria, and retains much of the splendor it enjoyed during its time as the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Loved by the Hapsburgs - the dynasty of rulers that at some point or another seemed to have had control over each of the many regions of Europe - Vienna was and perhaps still is the cultural capital of the world. Richard Strauss, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, and Franz Schubert are only a few of the famous that have called Vienna home.
That being said, one of the very first things we did in Vienna was, naturally, to get a slice of the famous Sacher Torte: superb chocolate/raspberry cake. It was exquisite, and as far as I know can only be found in Austria. The other culinary delight of Vienna has been exported a little further, this of course being Wiener Schnitzel (which in German means 'Viennese schnitzel). In addition, we tried Kasewurst - a sausage with cheese inside of it which was marvelous. The Austrians, like the Czechs, eat mostly meat and bread but damn do they do it well.
Vienna's architecture is breathtaking if for nothing other than the sheer magnitude of it (check out my photos). But despite the palaces I will speak of shortly, every building in the city seems to conform to a certain architectural standard, as if each individual building is made of the same material, or has been built as part of a larger plan. This gives a sense of uniformity, and the light colors - mostly yellow - that define the buildings gives the city a light and airy feel, even in the freezing cold dead of winter.
Like I said, this was the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire and a favorite city of the continents most rich and famous personalities. In addition to the TWO lavish palaces within the city limits are numerous other buildings that ostensibly look like palaces in their own rights but are now museums, as well as the magnificent opera house, home to the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra.
We visited a number of these museums, most notably the Belvedere which houses Gustav Klimt's famous portrait The Kiss which is actually quite mesmerizing. My companions did not want to join me for the journey to another museum, the Haus der Musik (House of Music) so I went alone. Sucks for them, because this was one of the best museums ever. Not only did I get the whole place nearly to myself, but it was incredibly interactive and held my attention for nearly 5 hours. I got to compose my own song, attempt (and fail miserably) at conducting the Philharmonic via an electronic baton, and play with a ridiculous number of things that you get to bang on and make weird noises with. My two darling sisters would have loved it.
And any visit to Vienna isn't complete without trips to Schonbrunn Palace and St Stephens Cathedral. Schonbrunn, the "summer home" of the Hapsburgs could fit an inane number of my family's "regular home" inside of it. I forget how many rooms it has - we went on a tour of 45 that saw only a fraction of the mansion - but standing at the front gate, my camera could just barely cover the entire facade. The summer gardens the in "backyard," complete with the oldest zoo in the world, weren't exactly picture worthy in the winter cold, but were nonetheless worth walking through. In all, several small villages could easily fit into this "garden."
St Stephens cathedral is by far the largest building in the city and easily dominates the skyline as seen from Schonbrunn's gardens miles away. Last time 'round, its spire was under construction which served as a blight in my photos, but this time I got (or at least tried to get) the structure in its entirety. Unfortunately it still retains its medieval heating system (i.e. nothing) so it didn't provide much shelter from the bitter cold, but we did venture into the crypt to see the tombs of cardinals and other important people, along with a ton of human bones neatly stacked and arranged into piles.
Vienna is still one of my favorite cities in Europe, even though my friends didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did. Perhaps the cold didn't do it justice, but I enjoyed myself quite well and hopefully will be able to get back in the heat of summer someday. If you're into classical music, delicious food, or architecture (or all three!) this is definitely the place for you.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Photos!
Good news folks, I loaded up a whole bunch of photos onto my Google-Picasa online web albums. I also added a little slideshow of the photos from Budapest onto the toolbar on the side of my blog. I think if you click on that, it should take you directly to the online album. On the top left, there should be a link that says "Alex" somewhere, it will be blue. Click that and it will take you to the rest of my photo albums, which are conveniently named as per the country of origin.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
My Bonkers Trip to Eastern Europe: Prague
1 January 2009 - 4 January 2009Well, it was more Central than Eastern Europe, geographically, but right on the border so I'm going to go with Eastern cause it sounds more intense. Also, 2/3 of the cities were, in fact, Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War so that's good enough for me.
First stop: Prague, Czech Republic
I was traveling with my good friend Anna, who is also a study abroad student at the LSE from Boston College, and our friend Lilly, a Canadian masters student at LSE. Everyone knows that Canadians are silly, and Silly Lilly is no deviation; she introduced the word "bonkers" to us, and since Anna is SO CRAZY I decided Bonks would be an appropriate nickname for her from now on. So if I refer to Silly Lilly or Bonks for the rest of this post, now you know who they are, kind of.
The first thing we saw in the Old Town of Prague was a statue of King Wenceslas. You may know Good King Wenceslas from the Christmas Carol: "Good King Wenceslas looked out/ On the Feast of Stephen." I think Hugh Grant sings this carol to those little English girls when he goes knocking on Doors in Love Actually. But that's neither here nor there. The fact is that Wenceslas, or Vaclav in Czech, was never actually a King; he was only a Duke and didn't do anything particularly notable in life, besides getting tricked and killed by his brother. A cult formed around Wenceslas to the point of legend becoming confirmed as fact - by the Pope no less - and his canonization as a Saint. Now, his statue - the one I saw - is, according to legend, supposed to come to life and lead an army to defeat the enemies of the Czechs in the case of war. Pretty awesome tale.
Clearly, I got my fix of medieval history on this trip and I'll try my best to spare you most of the stuff that isn't a big deal. Prague itself is a gorgeous city, I'd say the most beautiful of the three I visited on this trip. Miraculously, it was untouched in the Second World War, which means that its buildings and bridges are still intact and most are incredibly old. One such building is the Old-New Synagogue, and while its name leaves much to be desired in the way of creativity, it was quite interesting to step into a structure built in the 10th century and still functioning. It wasn't an architectural masterpiece to be sure, but it is rumored to hold the remains of the Golem in the attic. When Prague was under attack sometime in the Middle Ages, the rabbi summoned the Golem - a creature made of brick and clay - to defend the temple and the Jewish community of Prague, which it successfully did. In addition, legend has it that the foundation stones of the synagogue were brought by angels following the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, but they have to be brought back upon restoration of the Temple.
The synagogue is right in the center of the Jewish quarter, and directly around the corner is a medieval cemetery. Because the Christian rulers would not sell the Jews more land to bless as a cemetery space, they were forced to bury people on top of one another, up to 12 deep. When you first look into the cemetery space it's shocking, because all of the gravestones seem to have been slammed into the ground wherever there was space. They literally stick out in every direction and cover nearly ever last inch of the ground. Bonkers.
The Jewish quarter of Prague is in the Old Town, along with other less than notable places, but each building was architecturally beautiful. Actually, one place I should note is the Sex Machines Museum. Yeah, don't ask me what it entails because the girls absolutely refused to go in and I felt that going alone might be slightly creepy and/or damaging to the image I hold of myself so, unfortunately, I have no good stories from that particular museum. Definitely notable though. Anyway, we made our way toward the main tourist attraction across the river: Prague Castle. However, in order to get there, you have to cross a bridge (obviously) so we went over the famous Charles Bridge. It was the first bridge across the River Vltava in Prague, and it is now adorned with ornate statues about every 10 meters on each side. Most of them are of Jesus or the Saints, but I'll comment on two. The first is a statue of Jesus on the cross. Sometime in the 17th century, a Jew was punished for blaspheming the cross, and his punishment was that he had to etch into the statue a phrase, displayed now in Hebrew across the front of the statue. The translation reads "Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts" which seems to be a rather offensive punishment, though I suppose it could fit the "crime" as it was at the time. The second statue is of St John of Nepomunk, one of the patron saints of the city of Prague. In the 14th century, as legend states, John, a priest, received the confession of the Queen but refused to break the seal of confession to the King, Wenceslas (not Good King Wenceslas, this is an actual king and 300 years later). Becoming enraged, Wenceslas had John thrown off the bridge to his death. In reality, St John of Nepomunk was just a legal scholar who happened to get himself into the middle of a power struggle between the King and the Archbishop, and was thrown into the river because he ultimately sided with the Archbishop whom he worked for. Anyway, his statue has a picture of him being pushed into the river on it, and you're supposed to rub it for good luck. It obviously has been taken to heart, because while the rest of the statue is as green as Lady Liberty, this one spot is shining a beautiful bronze. The photo at the top of this post is me, getting in on some luck.
Prague Castle is amazing. It dominates the skyline; you can see it looming on a hill in the distance from nearly anywhere in the city. It consists of a number of residences and buildings within a walled structure, and St. Vitus' Cathedral lodged directly in the center. We were lucky enough to happen across the changing of the guard, which was probably not as good as the one at Buckingham (I wouldn't know, haven't been there yet!), but we got into the cathedral as soon as we could because it was incredibly cold. The cathedral itself was built in the early 20th century so it's not as old as many of the others in Europe, but it is equally spectacular, the stained glass especially. It has all the normal features of a Gothic cathedral, but an incredibly ornate and elaborate shrine to St John of Nepomunk sits just under the altar and is made entirely out of silver, which was original and cool. At this point I've been in so many cathedrals that it's easier to see the original parts of each, and indeed that's what I focus on. Next to the cathedral is the Prague City museum, which includes a detailed history of the city with interactive exhibits and the crown jewels on display. Also in the vicinity is St George's Basilica, an 8th century structure that you can visibly tell is from the 8th century. As we walked out, I noticed a shrine that seemed to contain the bones of a saint. Perhaps it's St. George, but I'm really not sure.
The castle was by far the most exciting and most interesting part of the city, but we also made our way to the Franz Kafka museum which was weird enough to get me to want to read his books. Outside there was a sculpture of two men urinating into a pond, and their hips and penises moved in different directions so if you text the number on the side of the pool, they pee your name into the pond. So that was pretty cool. But the rest of the museum was downright weird. We also wandered around the city aimlessly for an entire day and stumbled across the old Citadel, which included another cathedral and an extremely ornate cemetery.
Before I sign off for this post, I have to comment on the cuisine. Czechs are used to eating copious amounts of meat and potatoes - in part because that's all they could get under Soviet rule, but I must admit they've gotten quite good at it. We visited an "authentic" Czech restaurant with one of Lilly's college friends who is now working and living in Prague, and it was delicious. I think I had a plate with 3 types of meat, bread dumplings, potato dumplings, and a healthy amount of sauer kraut drenching everything. SO GOOD. Seriously, I felt as if my heart would explode with joy, and my arteries explode with... crap. And of course we had to follow up with a thick dose of Pilsner Urquell, the Czech beer that they are extremely proud of. The only downside was that there are no smoking laws - the only place you're NOT allowed to smoke is on the public transportation. So when you go into any building in Prague, or Budapest for that matter, prepared to inhale a ton of smoke and leave smelling entirely of cigarettes. It's disgusting, but for three days in an awesome city, a small price to pay.
Check back soon for the Vienna edition of "My Bonkers Trip to Eastern Europe." Until then, ciao!
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