T R A I N S & P L A N E S

Alright, I feel like I can officially say that I did some back packing in Europe because of the amount of miles that I have put on my $19.99 Walmart backpack in the last couple of weeks.  And partially because I used it as a pillow on my overnight stay at the Rome airport.  Recently I have been to Dresden, Brno, Vienna, Venice, Rome and Malta.  But in this post I will focus on my experiences in Vienna & Venice.

V I E N N A

As I sit in my messy dorm room, bags still packed from our trip, Vienna feels like forever ago.
Although, I think I learned more on this trip than any other we have taken thus far.  While there we saw St. Stephen's which was as beautiful as ever.  I don't think I will ever get sick of visiting European cathedrals.  Our trip to Vienna taught a tremendous amount about the Habsburgs as well.  We went to a museum of their riches that were taken from them, and let me tell you,  I think they might of had more money than Google.  I really enjoyed going through the apartment of the Habsburg.  I was pretty nervous at first because it started off with pots and pans that they used, but it turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip!  Sisi Habsburg was a fascinating lady.  Not only did she use cocaine on the daily and have hair down to her ankles, but she lived a pretty fascinating life.  I really liked how the museum was set up like a story as you walked through it.  You learned a lot about her personal life and daily routine which I found very interesting.

While we were in Vienna we also went to an amazing art gallery that dabbled in a little bit of everything.  I am a little angry with my self for not brushing up on my art history before the trip.  But I felt I would have appreciated everything so much more if I could have remember more of my studies. Loved seeing the votive statues and stone scarabs throughout the Egyptian section.  However, the Klimt paintings decorating the hallways and ceilings stole the show for me.  I will never forget gazing up and admiring the architecture and then realized that it was paired with Klimt paintings.  I really just loved how lively the museum was as well.  Around every corner there was an artist working on a master's copy or children on an art field trip.  I can't help but to be a little jealous of the art resources people of Europe have.  Here art is all around you and is a major part of their history, and they take great pride in it.  Between this gallery and the one in Dresden I can die a happy soul.

Growing up I was a little obsessed with the Lipizzaner stallions, so it was pretty darn cool to be in their homeland.  But I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset that we didn't go to the barn.  But, I will take the blame for not doing my research ahead of time.  This trip has taught me a lot about the way I travel too.  I am extremely go with the flow, and like the roaming aspect of not having any plans.  But then it bites me in the butt a little when I miss out on things I would have really enjoyed.  Oh, I also learned that I don't do well with crazy people on drugs...

When we were at the groceries store a block from our hostel when Tara and I realized that: 1. we couldn't pay with our card and we didn't have Euros and 2. that they were trying to close as we were roaming around trying to read labels.  Next thing we know we look up and see a cracked out lady banging on the glass doors, yelling gibberish, and trying to get in.  We then excited out the other side, and she saw us and ran to that set of doors.  We were than trapped in an hallway hiding behind an ATM while she screamed and banged on that set of glass doors for about 7 minutes, the scariest 7 minutes of my life.  A lady that had a key to the building had no clue what was going on and opened the door for the lady.  The cracked out lady proceed to get in my face and yell at me in German.  After sarcastically yelling danke (thank you) and I am sure a couple cuss words she started banging on the next set of doors.  As you can image Tara and I took off at a sprint back to the hostel.  Needless to say we survived, barely.

V E N I C E

How cool is it that I am now able to say that I was a St. Marks on Palm Sunday?  In the moment it is really hard to take everything in that we are doing on these trips.  Literally touching history.  The first day we were their Jan took us to the Jewish Ghetto of Venice.  Not exactly what I expected it to look like, but it was probably very different than the Ghettos that we have been studying about.  When we were their discussing the history of it, an older lady in a huge magenta hat decided to join in the fun of our group.  She kept raising her hand to ask a question, and Jan would just proceed with talking.  Then.. a few seconds later she would raise her hand again.

The Basilica of St. Mark was one of my favorites of the trip to Venice.  The facade that faces the Piazzetta is like  none that we have seen so far on the trip.  The four famous horses that were previously at the entrance of Hippodrome in Constantinople were pretty cool to see as well.  While we were in their we also went to a museum and toured the prison sells.  The main thing that stood out to me at the museum was a child size set of armour.  Jan then went on to tell us that generally nobles would learn to fight at a young age, and compete in life threatening competitions.  After seeing that, and seeing how scary their prison was, I have came to the conclusion that I would never want to mess with an Italian.

The culture of Italy I really enjoyed as well.  It was amazing how easy it was to get lost in Venice, and how easy it was to enjoy being lost.  I feel like that is how a majority of the time there was spent, but it always lead us to extremely friendly people or a great ice cream shop.  In the last couple of days I have been checking this off left and right from my bucket list.

Pasta in Italy... check!  Scuba diving... check!  Sleeping in an airport... check!  Seeing a Michelangelo... double check!  But I will have to save all that fun stuff for next time!  Thanks for reading.

 

P R A G U E

If you would have told me how much I would love this city, I wouldn’t have believed you.  This was the best started city to our European tour that you could ask for.  Old towne was breathe taking.  The freedom that comes with being in a city that nobody knows you is unmeasurable.  We originally flue into Prague prior to Olomouc, and then we ventured back last week with the school.

When we arrived the first time, the first night there we went out to eat at a true Czech restaurant.  Of course while being in Czech the first thing they do when you arrive is bring the PIVOS!  Our lovely waiter brought their original beer, which was to die for.  Dark beer is officially my go to for drinks.  He also brought two kinds of shots, one which waste their version of Fire Ball, and another that was a honey wine called “Sweet Honey.”  Molly of course proceeded to call our waiter Sweet Honey the entire night, and even went back after him the following night to try to get him to go clubbing with us.

Mosaic, the host that we stayed at put on a tour of the city our first day there.  Rob, our tour guide pictured below in front of the St. Nicholas Cathedral gave us the low down on all the historic building and myths behind them.

Above you can see the view of the castle from the Charles bridge.  One of my favorite things from the trip thus far.  You can also see two detailed photos of the Cathedral inside. It amazes me that attention to detail in every aspect of the city.  The artist made sure every aspect was not only ascetically pleasing, but near perfection.

You can definitely tell that Prague is a tourist attraction on comparison to the other cities that we have visited.  With this come pros and cons.  Personally, I love the art and the history behind the city, but I could do without the over crowded streets.  I did wildly enjoy the town square tho.  The smell of fried bread with sugar filled the air, rather than the smell of meat and cigarettes like most other places in Czech.  And the people their seemed to be more alive.  In the picture above you can see the HUGE bubble that were blown, and the young children amused by them.  For the older generations live concerts played American 90s music.  On a side note, few people here speak English, but EVERY store, restaurant, and student only listen to American music!

We one of the days we hike to the top of the Petrin tower.  The view on the way up and the view from the top were both like none I have seen before.  They say when you travel you learn a lot about your self.  That is so true in my case.  I found that I am terrified by stairs.  On multiple occasions I have thought I was going to pass out on the way to the top of buildings, however this Petrin tower takes the cake on the most scared I have ever been.

Forever Prague will be my home away from home in Europe.  It marks the start of the journey, the start to the friendships, and the start of the reality of this trip.  How extremely horrible the Holocaust was.

Yesterday was an extremely emotional day of me.  For our lecture a Jewish man came and spoke with us on the Jewish past, present and future.  It's hard to really explain the Czech culture and my observations in the past couple of weeks.  The place in general is just very cold and reserved.  And I was astonished to find that a country with SO MANY beautiful churches didn't have God in their lives.  But after hearing this man speak of the holocaust, I understand why they drink their days away.

In my mind the Holocaust was so far away in both time in location.  Because of the horrors we learned about yesterday and how false my thoughts on the matter are, lets just say I am running off about 20 minutes of sleep.  The man who spoke with us Grandparents had met in Terezin and been Holocaust survivors.  The horror of that alone would be to much for me to handle, knowing how many times my Grandparents were near death.  I will never fully understand the hardships that came from the holocaust, and are still effecting people in this region today.  And for that I will count my blessings twice.

Pictured above is a shot from a Jewish cemetery in Prague.  It hard to tell from the photo but the ground is elevated about 6 feet higher, this is because the bodies were buried on top of each other over and over again.  The most chilling factor about this part of Prague was Hitler's plan for it.  Prior to entering the cemetery we went through the Jewish Museum.  The Nazis systematically burned synagogues all over.  But as the story goes, they chose to leave Prague's Jewish quarter intact so that when the finished their plan of murdering all the Jews this would be the "Museum of the extinct race".  A chilling concept to grasp.

I will leave you with a preview of my experience in Dresden.  Next Blog will be full of Brno, Venice, Vienna, Rome, and Malta!  Hoppy (early) Easter!!