On The Road Again

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I have been away from my computer these last two weeks exploring Europe on spring break! Let’s see if I can get you caught up shall we?

We started off for our first stop, Vienna, Austria, in the early morning. As usual, it seems all of our trips start early in the morning and I usually have a significant lack of caffeine in me. Vienna was beautiful even though it rained the first day we were there. We dropped our bags off and went straight for a museum, and of course on the way it started to sprinkle, rain, then to come down in buckets. At this point we were again running like mad men through a German speaking country. I’m seeing a pattern here people.

                Since the weather wasn’t the best we went to see the Imperial Treasury of Vienna. This collection, which we had been told was one of the best, holds treasures from what was the Holy Roman Empire (So pretty much the majority of Europe). We saw the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, robes and traditional dress that the people would have worn, relics of saints and anything you could ever think of.  What I thought was really interesting was that all of the pieces with jewels and stones weren’t perfect. I mean, now a days everyone is obsessed with flawless jewels and symmetry and back then I guess the raw imperfections of the pieces were more beautiful and I think I would have to agree.

Another museum that I got to visit was the Museum of Natural History and Art. I honestly couldn’t tell you what my favorite part was. It was filled with Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman exhibits. Something that I did love was the sheer fact I was in the presence of works done by Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael and Caravaggio and so many other greats. It was more than amazing to just stand there and gaze at these paintings. I had a constant smile on my face and I would have been content to wander in these exhibits all day. My soul was happy J.

We also visited St. Stephan’s Cathedral which was gorgeous!  No matter how many churches and cathedrals I see I will always be impressed and in awe that they were created by man. That the men creating this image of beauty knew they would never see it completed in their life time but they still dedicated their lives to the creation, hoping others would follow the plan of their dream.

Something that I learned was that since Austria is a Republic they wrote into their constitution that no Habsburg may enter Austria. Unless…. They were to give up all claim to the Empire, their royal lineage, all of their royal artifacts, as well as their lands, titles and holdings. Most refuse to give up their claim just in case they have a chance to return (even though that will never happen) and to pass on that lineage to their children since it’s kind of all they have left. Walking around this museum we saw cradles and baby clothes for the child to be baptized, candles and portraits that this family can never pass on to their future generations. They had to leave everything behind and now all they have is a story in a history book to tell their families. So yeah, I feel a little sorry for them.

Now onto Venice! Woohoo!!!

Our trip to Venice consisted of a very long and boring bus ride. With me being a fairly tall person it was difficult to find a comfortable position to sleep in. I eventually gave up all pretenses of being lady like and just stuck my legs up in the air against the windows so my head wouldn’t be hanging off the edge of the seat like I was waiting for the chopping block. I was wearing pants so don’t worry about me potentially flashing unsuspecting passerby. I’m telling you the struggle was real.

Venice is an absolutely beautiful city! Very touristy but still beautiful. We visited the Doge’s Palace in St. Mark Square which was pretty cool. There was a large open area in the center and everywhere you looked was richly decorated. I think my favorite part of the tour was walking across the Bridge of Sighs and seeing it from this point of view rather than from the outside. The bridge is where prisoners would be transferred from their sentencing to the jail and where they could get one last glimpse of the outside world. They call it the Bridge of Sighs because those who were convicted knew this small glance may the last they ever see the sun and of their beloved Venice.

I was excited to see St. Mark’s Cathedral again after so many years it was still as beautiful as I remember it but I wish we could have been there in the morning, just to see the light hitting the golden tiles and making everything glow. What was really special was that we visited the church on Palm Sunday. A few of us donated what change we could to the church and received Palms (olive branches) and blessed them in Holy Water. I carried my branch around with me for the rest of the day and at one point an older gentleman approached me gesturing to the branch in my hands. He asked if I had visited the church and when I replied ‘yes’ he covered his heart with both hands then reached out and touched my cheek saying “Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful” and walked away. It may sound awkward but it was actually a really neat moment. This man wanted nothing from me (which is not a normal thing over here. Everyone wants something) but to share, and almost rejoice, in the fact that I had gone to church. For those who know me you know that I have never been a deeply religious person but the look on his face and the tone of his voice is not something I am going to forget.

Of course no adventure of mine is complete without me getting lost at some point in time and this trip was no different! Let's just say that I saw more of the TRUE Venice rather than the touristy side than I thought I would. I tried to find my hostel and wound up wandering around the island for maybe an hour or so only to find out I was on the wrong side of the canal! For this I give all credit to Jan for the wonderful and overly exaggerated tour of Venice when we arrived. (To explain, our leader decided to take us the absolute longest way to get anywhere! Just to make us walk. And walk. And walk. As a prank. Be warned good sir, your time will come.) So yes, I got lost. Again. I felt I deserved a couple big scoops of gelato after that one.J

In front of the gardens and museum in Vienna! What a beautiful day to be out and about.

The courtyard of the Doge's Palace and the ceiling of a stairwell inside. Would it be acceptable for me to just lay on the floor and stare??

A peek outside from the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. "Goodbye cruel world! Hello dungeon!"

Just me chilling on a bridge over the canal.

Me on the Realto Bridge (aka the most photographed bridge in the world) with my olive branch from St. Mark's Cathedral.

Me again... Hi! Just sending my love from Venice, that's all :)

The Running of the Americans... and Two Czechs

          After being in the Czech Republic for a few weeks we finally went on a day trip to Dresden, Germany. Dresden is relatively new because of the bombing that took out nearly all of the city. The only thing that was left standing was the church, and even that had to be taken down because they feared it was no longer stable. You can see the darkened old stones of the church mixed with the newer brighter ones and the one tower that was strong enough to be left standing. We weren't able to go inside the church itself but we were allowed to climb to the top. These people over here have a mad obsession with stairs. Of course the work out to get to the top was great and the view was absolutely amazing. I also have to mention that earlier in the day I had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy a delicious and traditional apple strudel with ice cream. Be jealous.

The greatest story that I can tell you from my experience in Dresden can only be referred to as “The Running of the Americans (And Two Czechs).” Jan and Martin somehow mixed up the departure times for our train back to Prague, so instead of our ride home leaving at 4:20 as the expected, it was actually leaving at 4:06. Now the time that we found out about this little tidbit was around 3:58. We were on the other side of the city. At first we started off at a brisk walk, Martin and Jan walk crazy fast anyways so we thought at the speed we were going it would be just fine. After a block or two we saw them pick up the pace and finally break out into a run. When you see these guys run you know things have gone from bad to worse and quickly escalates to a level you don’t ever really want to reach. So of course we all take off like mad men. Running through street lights (which is a big no-no in Germany), barging into a break dancing battle, jumping over benches and small dogs alike. I might add that I was wearing a dress and combat boots that day so I am sure I was an entertaining sight to behold. At the moment I am still waiting for a video to be uploaded that shows the crazy American’s running through the streets of Dresden like the hounds of hell have been set on our tails. And for all of our hard work we missed our train by one minute. BY ONE MINUTE! So now we had an extra two hours to sit around, drink a German beer and eat food. Needless to say I was pretty okay with the change of plans J.

Here is one of the side streets that is just off the main square where the church is. You can see the top of it just over the buildings. P.S I climbed to the top of that tower!

I don't really know what this building was because a few of us got a little lost on our tour but I thought it was cool so I took a picture in front of it. Yup, me being a total tourist.

And here it is again! Why don't we build things like this back home? I would be waaay more proud to have this in my country rather than those ugly things they call skyscrapers. 

This was the art museum that a few of us went to. It used to be a "Chateau". In other words, it had more room than I would know what to do with. It was nice to just wander around and admire the art work though. I was in my happy place that afternoon :)

Now this ladies and gentlemen was my "lunch." That delicious German Apple Strudel with ice cream. I have said that I love the food in Europe yet? Because I do. I really, really, really do. Yummm.

Since the city was bombed to near nothingness the people who survived or moved here decided to rebuild on top of the rubble and what was left. Most of the time construction is started there is a chance of finding remainders of the old city like in this picture. When Dresden was rebuilt they tried to reconstruct it as it was before the war using whatever photographs they can find. So although the city itself is new, the architectural styles date back far longer than the reconstruction period.

I thought this was adorable and had to post it! They take traffic and pedestrian laws very seriously in Germany and yet they have these adorable people as their stop and go cross walk signs. How cute!

Ok so they have these "bubble people" all over! And yes I am 22 years old and I still like to play with giant bubbles. You wish you were as cool as me.

                                            

And here is the church! Notice the sliver of dark stones on the far left of the structure. That is the only part of the church they left standing. All of the dark spots along the walls are stones that the builders reused from the old church when they rebuilt it.

This is a view of the choir room in the upper part of the church. The whole in the middle allows the sound to travel down into the church proper and believe me when I say it is a very long way down. At this point we were about 13 floors up. I would absolutely love to have heard a choir sing in this place, the sound must be incredible.

Kait and I on top of the church!

There were some parts of the walls on our way up to the top that were exposed to the bricks underneath. For some reason I thought this was cool and I don't know if it was just a way for them to show their work or some symbolism. In my mind I took it as a reminder and a symbol of strength. That even though the church and city were destroyed, the people here are resilient and will not just disappear. Ok, fortune cookie moment over.

The church from the square with the one and only Martin Luther looking on.

Home Sweet Czech Lands!

              One of my goals while I am studying abroad is to buy a flag from every country that I visit so that I can hang them up when I get back to the states. I did not realize how difficult this would be here in the Czech Republic. The Czechs are not patriotic people. At all. It’s not like back home where everyone and their dog has a flag. The only time these people display their flag is if it’s hanging from a government building or their hockey team won a national championship, which I’m told is rare. I also tried to talk our fearless leaders, Jan and Martin, into helping me steal a flag but that didn't go too well. They said they could toss me up to grab one hanging from a building but the catching part on the way down wasn't a sure thing. Thanks guys. But no worries because I finally found a flag! And no I didn't steal it so no worries about that either or else I would probably be hiding out somewhere rather than writing this post.

                A few of us also stumbled upon the American Embassy! Woohoo! At first we were really excited because it was the closest we had been to ‘home’ or American soil since we left the states. Of course we wanted to take pictures of it and in front of it and were being very loud and ‘American like’ in stating our intentions when a guard slowly sauntered up to us and stated that pictures weren't allowed. Out of all the embassies in Prague there are only two that have guards outside their doors. The Americans and some country in the Middle East that I can’t remember right now. Which in my opinion was very self important of them, I mean, from what I have noticed since being here is that the Czechs are passive aggressive and are more likely going to sit and discuss what to do rather than take violent action. Plus the dang building is on a hill in a pretty building and completely out of the way. What if I am running for my life and I have to run up this hill to get to my embassy? It would  be more likely for me to get myself lost running through random streets than to find it, and the guard in front probably wouldn't even let me in! Thanks America. It is pretty safe to say that after this encounter we were not happy travelers. (Grrrrrrrrr!)

Favorite Memory

         Ok so this is a little side note so bare with me please and thank you! Some of you who are reading this blog know that this is my second trip over seas. I had the amazing opportunity to travel with the Nebraska Honor Choir after I graduated from high school and one of the places that we performed was in Prague. One of my absolute favorite memories from being in Europe was when our choir visited a small church, nothing too glamours or extravagant. towards the front of the chapel there was this arching bridge that we ended up fitting our entire group on and of course our director had the wonderful idea for us to sing... The church was packed, not even room to lift your arms from your sides to take a picture so it was a little more intimidating and nerve wracking than we wanted for a performance, especially one that wasn't planned or expected. The song we chose to sing was Amazing Grace and I honestly thought no one but us would know what it was. I could not have been more wrong. everyone inside of this structure started to sing in their own language, literally filling the place to its rafters with music.

          I still get chills thinking about it but when I got home I couldn't remember where this memory had actually happened. When we visited Prague Castle this past weekend we went to a side church that was mostly for the women inside the castle grounds. Low and behold it was the same church. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy this made me. I am pretty sure I was walking around with a stupid grin on my face a mile wide. The past few weeks I have been trying to adjust to living in a  new country with a language I don't understand and small things that through me through a loop and here is this one tiny memory from years ago that smacks me right in the face.
          It helped remind me that even though I am an outsider here in this country, I nearly butcher the language every time I try to speak it, and I stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd, that we are all connected in some way. No matter where we come from or what language we speak we are more alike than any one of us may realize. Knowing this made me feel better and a little more confident about my adventures here in the Czech.

          Sorry for the side note but I just had to add it in here.

So here is an awkward picture of me on the bride at the church. And yes that is the goofy, happy grin I had plastered on my face.

The bridge and alter.

Back to Prague

This last weekend I was able to return to the beautiful city of Prague! We left early on Thursday morning and I can honestly say that the highlight of the several hour train ride was that the guy sitting across from me looked like the old man from the movie ‘Up’, suspenders and everything. I tried to be sneaky and take a picture of him but he kept glaring at me any time I raised my phone higher than my lap so needless to say I wasn't brave enough to take one.

                Being back in Prague was great! I love the personality of the city and there is so much to do and see that will quickly occupy your time. This time around I finally got to see the Lennon Wall, a long stone wall that is covered in art and messages of love, hope and encouragement for all that read them. There are so many reasons as to why I love this place, and not because it looks pretty. This wall used to be a thorn in the side of communist regime in Prague because the youth of the city would come here to write their disagreements with the government across its surface. Every so often the authorities would come to paint the messages over, but within a few days the wall would be covered again without fail.

                Another thing I learned in Prague that day is to always make sure you know where you are going. Major landmarks are a great thing to memorize because I, and the people I was with, got lost twice in one day. The first time we were trying to find a specific restaurant that a few people had been to the last time we were in Prague and they kept drooling over descriptions of this crispy duck meal. We ended up walking the same few blocks for probably twenty minutes until we found it. This is also the time that I found out that Czech waiters don’t have to be nice to you like the servers back home do. Our server was a total jack ass, excuse my language. He yelled at me for trying to order something and even talked me out of ordering more food. Who does that? Yeesh. The second time I got lost my roommate Kait and I were trying to find our hostel and it got a little too dark, and the streets and buildings all looked a little too similar so we decided to go back to the main square, get a coffee, and wait for everyone else. So mom, dad, friends and family, be glad I didn't get totally and completely lost in the red light district of Prague, which is where we had accidentally been wandering for over half an hour…. Oops.

                On a happier note, we went back to Prague Castle and this time I got to go inside the church, St. Vitus as well as the castle itself. The inside of the church is absolutely beautiful. There are some parts that are extremely old and some that are relatively new because of the random halts in construction. We learned that the main hall that we saw inside the castle held tourneys and little shop stands where people who came to visit the king could shop while they waited in line. There was even a specific entrance for the knights in the tourneys to bring their horses into the hall. Yay for bringing pets inside! We also got to see the changing of the guard ceremony which I thought was pretty cool, but I like the whole traditional pomp and circumstance thing sometimes. I also ended up being that annoying tourist that is 5’10’’ and still pushes their way to the front to see better. Yup, not sorry. After the tour of the castle a few of us climbed further up the hill and went back to the monastery I mentioned in my last post. This time we ordered the pivo (beer) and food and it is safe to say that I am in love with this place! I had a chicken steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables that was to die for and for desert I shared a plate of pancakes with caramel beer ice-cream and whipped cream. It was so delicious I never wanted to leave.

Back in the main square when I was walking around shopping with some of our group I stumbled upon a shop called Manufaktura. Everything in this shop is from the Czech Republic and made by Czech people. A lot of the pieces sold here are handmade too which I thought was really cool. I ended up getting a coffee cup with a bag of loose tea, a really neat steeper and some pretty rock candy. Some of us want to go back to look at more of their cosmetics and bath salts.

And now for pictures!!!

Me standing in front of the Lennon Wall!

Yes I am nerding out here. Shout out to the Whovians and the "Bad Wolf"

;)

Thought this part of the wall was cool and I loved the message.

The changing of the guard at Prague Castle. They even had their own band!

The outside of St. Vitus church.

A sneak view of the Wenceslas chapel inside of St. Vitus. In the Christmas song there is mention of a door with seven locks, inside this chapel there is a door with seven locks that leads up a flight of stairs to another door with seven locks, and behind that door are the real crown jewels of Bohemia and the Czech Republic. How cool is that?

Here is a view of the main area inside the church.

My amber beer at the monastery. :)

Foooooooood! Pretty much my new obsession.

And this, my friends, is the glorious dessert that I am in love with and the main reason I will be climbing that damn hill again.

And finally.... Czech out this view! I love living in Europe!