My apologies for getting so behind in updating this. Things have been quite hectic here with midterms coming up and all. We didn't go anywhere this past weekend, although we might take a day trip to Dresden, Germany this Saturday.
One thing that's been bothering me over the past few days is how, when I go food shopping, I can't seem to find certain things that I wouldn't ever have to worry about buying in the states. It's not that I want skim milk or soup or anything like that - I've more or less admitted that those just aren't going to happen here - but we went to Albert (our local supermarket) on Sunday, and not only could we not find ricotta cheese (which lead to some very improvised, although very good, lasagna) but I couldn't find baking powder or brown sugar - two things I wouldn't even need to think about buying back home.
I don't know. I just thought it was weird.
In other news, we're going to Italy for spring break, so I'm really excited about that.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
a camera-less weekend in Vienna
Rachel, Emily, and I headed over to Vienna this past weekend for Emily's birthday. It was the first trip that we planned ourselves, and it went off without a hitch, so I was pretty happy about that.
Overall, I liked the city a lot more than I liked Budapest. I'm not quite sure why, although (among other reasons) I'm sure the fact that we weren't traveling with half of the dorm had something to do with it. The city was beautiful though, and I really liked everything we saw.
We got there Friday afternoon and, after successfully navigating Vienna's public transportation system, checked into our hostel. Considering that we picked it somewhat-randomly off of hostelworld.com, I thought we made a good choice - apparently the one that some people from our dorm went to a few weeks back was run by a prostitute, or something like that. The only thing that I was slightly sketched out about was the fact that we had to pick up our keys at the cafe next door since the hostel staff was only on duty from 9-noon because it was the off-season. The lady who ran the hostel was really nice when we met her though, which is good, because I've heard that some hostel owners can be a little on the creepy side.
After that, we went for a very late lunch/very early dinner and then walked across town to see Parliament and City Hall. However, when we got to Parliament, I went to pull out my camera and discovered that I had managed to leave my memory card in Prague (more on this later.) The building was beautiful though, as was City Hall. In the winter, they turn the area in front of City Hall into an ice skating rink, so there were tons of people around, and it had a really cool atmosphere - it almost made me wish I could skate. After hanging out there for a little while, we got on the tram and went around the Ringstrasse - the street that runs around the Old City of Vienna. We got off about halfway around the ring and spent the next few hours hanging out in a cafe - Vienna has a big coffee/cafe culture, so we had really wanted to do that, and the place we picked wasn't touristy at all, which was really nice. By the time we were done with that, it was pretty late so we just headed back to the hostel.
Saturday was busy. We started off the day with breakfast and by checking out St. Stephen's Church in the center of town, which was pretty cool, and then we stopped and got some ice cream at a place recommended by some people in our dorm. Nutella ice cream is great, and I can definitely see how they wound up there four times over the course of the weekend, because I probably would have done the same thing. After that, we checked out another church, although you couldn't go inside this one, and then we went to the Naschtmarkt, this outdoor greenmarket and flea market that they have on Saturdays. We walked around and got lunch there, and then we headed to the Schonnbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburg Monarchs, which was incredible. It was probably my favorite thing on the trip, and I would definitely want to go back there if I ever go back to Vienna, which I definitely want to do at some point. After that, we went to another cafe and then got dinner for Emily's birthday. Sunday we got up early and got back to Prague around 4 in the afternoon.
I think the strangest part of this weekend for me was not having my camera. I was pretty upset that I didn't have a memory card with me at first. If I go anywhere, chances are there's a camera glued to my hand for most of the time - this is what I do, and at the very least, I had wanted some kind of documentation of my weekend - something that said that I was actually in Vienna, that I had brought some sort of physical evidence of it home, but it worked out well, in the end. Rachel said something to me at the beginning about looking at things differently when you aren't looking at them through a camera lens, and by the end, I could see what she meant. It was even a little more relaxing, in a way, although next time I think I'll remember to check that I have every part of my camera before I go anywhere.
Overall, I liked the city a lot more than I liked Budapest. I'm not quite sure why, although (among other reasons) I'm sure the fact that we weren't traveling with half of the dorm had something to do with it. The city was beautiful though, and I really liked everything we saw.
We got there Friday afternoon and, after successfully navigating Vienna's public transportation system, checked into our hostel. Considering that we picked it somewhat-randomly off of hostelworld.com, I thought we made a good choice - apparently the one that some people from our dorm went to a few weeks back was run by a prostitute, or something like that. The only thing that I was slightly sketched out about was the fact that we had to pick up our keys at the cafe next door since the hostel staff was only on duty from 9-noon because it was the off-season. The lady who ran the hostel was really nice when we met her though, which is good, because I've heard that some hostel owners can be a little on the creepy side.
After that, we went for a very late lunch/very early dinner and then walked across town to see Parliament and City Hall. However, when we got to Parliament, I went to pull out my camera and discovered that I had managed to leave my memory card in Prague (more on this later.) The building was beautiful though, as was City Hall. In the winter, they turn the area in front of City Hall into an ice skating rink, so there were tons of people around, and it had a really cool atmosphere - it almost made me wish I could skate. After hanging out there for a little while, we got on the tram and went around the Ringstrasse - the street that runs around the Old City of Vienna. We got off about halfway around the ring and spent the next few hours hanging out in a cafe - Vienna has a big coffee/cafe culture, so we had really wanted to do that, and the place we picked wasn't touristy at all, which was really nice. By the time we were done with that, it was pretty late so we just headed back to the hostel.
Saturday was busy. We started off the day with breakfast and by checking out St. Stephen's Church in the center of town, which was pretty cool, and then we stopped and got some ice cream at a place recommended by some people in our dorm. Nutella ice cream is great, and I can definitely see how they wound up there four times over the course of the weekend, because I probably would have done the same thing. After that, we checked out another church, although you couldn't go inside this one, and then we went to the Naschtmarkt, this outdoor greenmarket and flea market that they have on Saturdays. We walked around and got lunch there, and then we headed to the Schonnbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburg Monarchs, which was incredible. It was probably my favorite thing on the trip, and I would definitely want to go back there if I ever go back to Vienna, which I definitely want to do at some point. After that, we went to another cafe and then got dinner for Emily's birthday. Sunday we got up early and got back to Prague around 4 in the afternoon.
I think the strangest part of this weekend for me was not having my camera. I was pretty upset that I didn't have a memory card with me at first. If I go anywhere, chances are there's a camera glued to my hand for most of the time - this is what I do, and at the very least, I had wanted some kind of documentation of my weekend - something that said that I was actually in Vienna, that I had brought some sort of physical evidence of it home, but it worked out well, in the end. Rachel said something to me at the beginning about looking at things differently when you aren't looking at them through a camera lens, and by the end, I could see what she meant. It was even a little more relaxing, in a way, although next time I think I'll remember to check that I have every part of my camera before I go anywhere.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Photos from Budapest
I've been a bit remiss in posting these, but here are some photos from this past weekend:
This is the castle we visited the first night after we walked across the Chain Bridge (the one that was in the last post.)
These are from St. Stephen's Basilica, which was easily one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.
The Parliament building. I would have really liked to go in.
This is the castle we visited the first night after we walked across the Chain Bridge (the one that was in the last post.)
These are from St. Stephen's Basilica, which was easily one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.
The Parliament building. I would have really liked to go in.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Eating Burger King in Budapest, and other things I did this weekend (part one)
I now officially have my second and third stamps in my passport - one each for entering and leaving Hungary. We went to Budapest this weekend - my first non-NYU planned weekend excursion, and the second country I've been to in Europe. The city is absolutely gorgeous - I don't know if any picture I took can really describe the things I saw this weekend. I'll post more photos tomorrow, but here's one to start with:
This is the view from the Buda side of the Chain Bridge over the Danube river. The city is split into two parts, appropriately named Buda and Pest (pronounced "Pesht"). Our hostel was in Pest, and it was definitely the more cosmopolitan side of the city - there was far more going on there, so we spent the majority of our time there, but on the first night, we walked over the bridge and up this hill to the castle, where there was a labrynth we went through with oil lamps. It was creepy at first, but a lot of fun.
After, we wandered around the Pest side of the city for a little while, and, strangely enough, wound up at a Burger King. Granted, there were sixteen of us and no one's phones worked, so we needed a meeting place, but it was a little strange to spend part of my first night in Hungary, a city with a great culinary tradition - including far better goulash than the Czech Republic - eating french fries in an American fast food outpost.
Saturday morning, I was dragged out of my bed at our very cute hostel to go see the Parliament building and a church. I was initially against this, as I was exhausted and really didn't feel like I needed to see another church, but it turned out to be the most beautiful one I've ever seen (and by this point, I've seen quite a few chruches.) The Parliament building was great too, although we couldn't actually go see the inside. We thought we would be able to, but then we got there and found it barricaded and guarded by a bunch of cops in riot gear, owing to some riots that had taken place a few months back.
After, we went for lunch and then to a Van Gogh exhibit at a museum and then the House of Terror - a museum documenting the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Hungary. It was fascinating, in a creepy sort of way. They did a good job of being objective about the whole thing, which I'm starting to learn is importing when it comes to tackling history.
The weather was much warmer in Budapest, which was kind of surprising to me, because I didn't think it was that much farther south. Customer service was also better, which I wasn't expecting, because, like the Czech Republic, Hungary is a post-communist country. Prices were pretty comparable to Prague, if a little cheaper, and I found it kind of funny that I was converting prices to Czech crowns as opposed to U.S. dollars, like I do most of the time when I'm here in Prague, although I've started to stop doing that now.
I'm also somewhat glad that I'm not trying to learn Hungarian. It's not an Indo-European language, which made it look far more complicated than Czech already is.
Overall, this weekend was great. Next time, I would much rather travel with less peoplek which is why I'm glad that next weekend's trip to Vienna is going to be much smaller, but it was fun none the less. More pictures will be posted tomorrow.
This is the view from the Buda side of the Chain Bridge over the Danube river. The city is split into two parts, appropriately named Buda and Pest (pronounced "Pesht"). Our hostel was in Pest, and it was definitely the more cosmopolitan side of the city - there was far more going on there, so we spent the majority of our time there, but on the first night, we walked over the bridge and up this hill to the castle, where there was a labrynth we went through with oil lamps. It was creepy at first, but a lot of fun.
After, we wandered around the Pest side of the city for a little while, and, strangely enough, wound up at a Burger King. Granted, there were sixteen of us and no one's phones worked, so we needed a meeting place, but it was a little strange to spend part of my first night in Hungary, a city with a great culinary tradition - including far better goulash than the Czech Republic - eating french fries in an American fast food outpost.
Saturday morning, I was dragged out of my bed at our very cute hostel to go see the Parliament building and a church. I was initially against this, as I was exhausted and really didn't feel like I needed to see another church, but it turned out to be the most beautiful one I've ever seen (and by this point, I've seen quite a few chruches.) The Parliament building was great too, although we couldn't actually go see the inside. We thought we would be able to, but then we got there and found it barricaded and guarded by a bunch of cops in riot gear, owing to some riots that had taken place a few months back.
After, we went for lunch and then to a Van Gogh exhibit at a museum and then the House of Terror - a museum documenting the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Hungary. It was fascinating, in a creepy sort of way. They did a good job of being objective about the whole thing, which I'm starting to learn is importing when it comes to tackling history.
The weather was much warmer in Budapest, which was kind of surprising to me, because I didn't think it was that much farther south. Customer service was also better, which I wasn't expecting, because, like the Czech Republic, Hungary is a post-communist country. Prices were pretty comparable to Prague, if a little cheaper, and I found it kind of funny that I was converting prices to Czech crowns as opposed to U.S. dollars, like I do most of the time when I'm here in Prague, although I've started to stop doing that now.
I'm also somewhat glad that I'm not trying to learn Hungarian. It's not an Indo-European language, which made it look far more complicated than Czech already is.
Overall, this weekend was great. Next time, I would much rather travel with less peoplek which is why I'm glad that next weekend's trip to Vienna is going to be much smaller, but it was fun none the less. More pictures will be posted tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
rain, rain, go away
It rained here today, and when I was walking back to the subway I was reminded of being in New York. It was like when it snowed. There's something about weather that equalize, cities. No matter how nice, or how historic, or whatever they're like, the second it rains or snows, they're all exactly the same, and I'm suddenly caught between wanting to experience Prague in the rain and my urge to get inside and get out of the cold and do everything I do when it rains in New York.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
dear U.S. health food stores: lower your prices
I just spent approximately $19.50 on GF food that would have run me at least $40, if not more in the states. I'm going to get back to the U.S. and cry.
I'm also starting to notice how ridiculously cheap I've become since I've gotten here. I've found myself saying things like "I don't want to pay 120 crowns for lunch!" (that's about $6 American, for the uninitiated.) It's a little sad, but I'm enjoying the fact that the standard of living here is slightly lower.
I'm also starting to notice how ridiculously cheap I've become since I've gotten here. I've found myself saying things like "I don't want to pay 120 crowns for lunch!" (that's about $6 American, for the uninitiated.) It's a little sad, but I'm enjoying the fact that the standard of living here is slightly lower.
Monday, February 5, 2007
castles and hiking and monasteries, oh my
This weekend we went on a NYU-sponsored (read: "paid for") trip to Western Bohemia, another area of the Czech Republic. We went to Karlovy Vary, a spa town, and Loket, a town with a historic castle, among other places, and in theory, this should have been a great trip, but our tour guide was a bit of a dictator. He didn't believe in sticking to the planned itinerary (a.k.a the reason I woke up at 7 a.m. on a Friday morning to sign up for this trip) so there was a lot of hiking, because this trip was clearly about what he wanted to do. One of the first things he saw was my favorite though. We hiked up this mountain to see the ruins of this old castle, and that was pretty exciting (minus the couple falls I took at the end, of course).
We hiked up the mountain to see the ruins at the top (mostly obscured by fog here)
Ruins
The view.
I'll post more photos later, but if I don't get around to it, there will definitely be an update about our upcoming trip to Budapest.
We hiked up the mountain to see the ruins at the top (mostly obscured by fog here)
Ruins
The view.
I'll post more photos later, but if I don't get around to it, there will definitely be an update about our upcoming trip to Budapest.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
"Do you see the end yet?" "Maybe it's just a mirage..."
Next time I go on an 8 km hike, it's going to be my idea, and it's going to be much warmer out.
We went to Western Bohemia this weekend. There will be a real update with pictures when I'm less frustrated with the world.
We went to Western Bohemia this weekend. There will be a real update with pictures when I'm less frustrated with the world.
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