Wenceslas Day: Long Weekend Day 2

Today, I finally went to the Praha Zoo. The zoo is 111 acres and has about 4,600 animals that cover 630 species. I was pretty impressed with the size of the zoo, and particularly surprised by the openness of the layout. In fact, the zoo has been named by Forces as the 7th best zoo in the world. (#1 is Animal Kingdom is Orlando, Fl., and #5 is the Bronx Zoo in NY.) Not too many cages or glass enclosements here... a lot of the animal exhibits were instead very open. Think open enough for bats to come flying into your hair...

Orangutan and monkeys

Polar bear!

Kangaroos

Zebras

Lion

Penguins

Seals - it's feeding time!

I planned on going to Petrin Hill in the evening to go up to the observatory, but it's another rainy and cloudy day in Prague, so there won't be too much luck seeing the stars tonight. I'll go another time during the day when I can enjoy the ride up more as well as the rose garden at the bottom.

And after a 5 day weekend, it's back to classes tomorrow!

Wenceslas Day: Long Weekend Day 1

I didn't have class this Monday, 9/27, or Tuesday, 9/28, because of Wenceslas Day or Czech Statehood Day. This commemorates St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech people and the Czech Republic, who was killed in September of 929 or 935.

It was nice to have some recovery time after the weekend in Munich, and also to explore a little more of Prague. In the afternoon, I met up with Laura and we shopped around Wenceslas Square and the local Palladium Mall. I had never been to this mall, even though it was surprisingly close by.

Afterward, I met up with Brandy and some others at a jazz club called Ungelt. The band that night was the Luboš Andršt Blues Band. The band was composed of 4 members who were on the electric guitar, vocal + hammond organ, bass guitar, and drums, respectively. They put on a good show. This country sure does love their jazz!

 The set at Ungelt

München, Deutschland: Day 3

On Sunday, 9/26, it was our last day in Munich. We had made plans with our new friends, Jon and Elissa, to go to the Sleeping Beauty castle in Schwangau, Germany, a 2 hour car ride from Munich. We had to catch a train at 5 pm, so we began the journey around 9 am. Driving there we took the autobahn! The advised speed is 130 kmh or 80 mph, but there is no actual speed limit. On the way we stopped at a McDonld's for breakfast, and if you ever wondered about the interesting items served at a Germany McDonald's, check out the picture below.

 Sausages on a bun... yum

Formally called the Neuschwanstein Castle, it is the inspiration for the castle at the Disneyland Park and also for the castle in the Disney logo. Built in the 19th-century, it is a Romanesque Revival palace on a hill above the village of Hohenschwangau. Across the road is the Hohenschwangau Castle. We unfortunately didn't have enough time to take a tour of both castles, because of the staggering schedule set up and limited English subtitle tours, but we took plenty of pictures of the Hohenschwangau Castle before beginning the tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle. I couldn't take any pictures of the inside, because of copyright laws. You'll have to take my word for it that the interior was very pretty.

Hohenschwangau Castle

The lake

Neuschwanstein Castle

View from the Neuschwanstein Castle

Exterior of the Neuschwanstein Castle

In case you don't recognize the similarity with the Disney logo... this is a picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle on a postcard

Neuschwanstein Castle from a distance

Afterward, they dropped us off at the Munich train station, and Laura and I waited for our train to arrive. We were able to get seats next to each other this time, and the 6 hour train ride back began. We had some interesting conversations with the Boston-ians and Bolivians in our compartment, and the ride went by. And 
by 11 pm we were back in home sweet Praha!

Interior of our cabin in the train

Goodbye München...

München, Deutschland: Day 2

On Saturday, 9/25, we had woken up early so we could make it into the Oktoberfest tents while there was still room. So, what exactly is Oktoberfest? It's an18-day festival held each year in Munich, and is the world's largest fair, with about six million people in attendance every year. Oktoberfest started on October 12, 1810 for the public commemoration of the marriage between Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds) in which they organized a great horse race. And, the tradition began. Oktoberfest is now one huge fair of tents, games, and rides. (Thank you, Wikipedia, for the information!)

We made it into the (already very crowded) Fischer Vroni Tent around 9 am. I really had incredibly different expectations walking into the tent, and it's nice to say that what I saw completely blew away anything I had in mind. I was picturing a white canvas tent with crowds of people standing around. Instead, the tent was more like an actual building with rows upon rows of wooden tables and benches. And the tents were huge.

The inside of the Fischer Vroni Tent

A huge pretzel (Riesenbreze) that Laura and I shared for breakfast

We hadn't gone into the English tent, and coincidentally enough, in a tent full of Germans, we stumbled upon a table that had probably one of the only other English speakers in the building. There were 3 others, Jürgen, Jon and Elissa. Jon and Elissa graduated from college last May and have been married for a year. They are a month into a four month car trip all over Europe. They have been "couch surfing" this entire time and haven't stayed in one hotel or hostel! Their host in Munich was Jürgen, who has spent tons of time traveling himself. He is native to Germany and has spent months in South America and India. All 3 had such interesting stories to tell and we had such a great time in a festive atmosphere. Meeting our new friends was especially nice since we were absolutely sick and tired of Ben. (Alex, I don't know how you put up with him in Poland, but we found out that Ben is incredibly annoying, the way he speaks English is very confusing, and acts like a 5 year old). We managed to get rid of Ben when he found some of his friends, and we spent the rest of the day with our new friends.

Time for the band to start!

A roast chicken (hendl) for lunch - we ate this with our hands in true Bavarian style

With a side of potato dumplings (knödel)

The grounds is comparable to one huge carnival. There were at least 30 different rides and plenty of stalls selling snacks and German food. Other stalls housed "board walk" like arcade style games. I couldn't leave without trying out at least one ride, and we chose Cyber Space. The ride rose you 50 meters in the air and went as fast as 100 meters per hour. The ride also cost 7 euros... so after taking some more time walking around the grounds, we didn't go on any more rides.

Bavaria statue above the Theresienwiese

Cyber Space ride!

That night we joined our new friends for a home cooked meal of spaghetti and tomato sauce that they were nice enough to invite us to.

Just another day in Munich!

München, Deutschland: Day 1

Translation: Munich, Germany

On Friday, 9/24, I got up, bright and early (actually at 5 am) to finish up an English assignment. After e-mailing that over to my professor, showering, making breakfast, finishing up packing, and making a bagged lunch, I was finally ready to leave around 8 am. I met Laura at the train station, Hlavni Nadrazi, and we waited there until our platform number came up on the electronic board.

We boarded the 9:04 train, and all, for the most part, went smoothly. I had reserved my seat for an additional 3 euros since we didn't need anything else to go wrong after scrambling for the train tickets in the first place. Anyway, a young gentleman was in my seat with his friend in the same cabin. Long story short, I stood with my belongings in the hallway for about 10 minutes until he finally got out of my seat. The ticket taker was making her way down the compartment, so it was coming regardless.

We got to the Munich main train station at 3:00 pm and made our way to the bathrooms (1 euro each!) and to reserve our seats for the way back (which we couldn't do for some reason). On the way, we ran into our host for the weekend. It was pretty funny having this short, spiky haired blond kid run up behind us. "You're Jennifer right?" (Umm, yes, I am... Who are you, random kid who knows my name?) My friend Alex at Bucknell met him, Ben, last summer when she was interning in Poland for a month. Ben's friend has a work-study apartment in Munich, and was nice enough to lend us his floor to sleep on.

We walked to the apartment to drop off our stuff, and the apartment is in an amazing location. The place was about 300 cubic square feet, and right in the heart of the city. You could see the local Oktoberfest grounds from the balcony, which was 50 meters away.

The view from the balcony. That's St. Peter's Church in the center.

I wish I had more interesting things to say about my explorations of Munich of that day, but I really don't. Alex had arrived in Munich that morning with friends in her NYU in Florence program and they were taking a bike tour of the city so I couldn't meet up with her just yet. Instead, we explored St. Peter's Church, and walked around the city... taking a tour of all of the grocery stores. The church stands on Petersbergl, the only raised piece of land within the historic Old Quarter of Munich and is located in the spiritual centre-point of the Graggenauer district. As for the grocery shopping, Ben was hellbent on cooking us an authentic German dinner and apparently none of the stores had ingredients good enough for such a meal.

Laura and I with the church in the background

St. Peter's Church

Walking around the city, with all the crowds. Notice the traditional clothing?

He finally found something suitable and hours later he finally started cooking. Alex was taking forever to arrive, but we were starving. He basically threw all ingredients into pots of boiling water, no cleaning anything.. no seasoning.. You can imagine how tasty that was. But did I forget to mention, that we were starving? I ate everything in sight.

Food at last! Cloudy apple juice, cherry tomatoes, sauerkraut with pineapple, white sausages (Weisswurst), bread, and potatoes.

The night skyline from the balcony of the local Oktoberfest grounds.

That night we went to a local Italian cafe and had hot chocolate and plum cake. It wasn't as good as Prague's hot chocolate, but hit the spot - especially in the rain that was showering down!

We called it an early night and set our alarm clocks. We had an early day to look forward to!

Germany trip

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said I was trying to plan a trip to Germany? Well, it's finally here. I've refrained from posting the details on my blog, because well honestly... I didn't really know the details until a couple of days ago!

It really looked like the trip wasn't happening, and no exaggeration, but I was incredibly disappointed. We seemed to be out of all options... no hostels available, not sure about camping, couldn't find a night trip back on trains or buses, and flights were out of the question. Well, luckily, everything fell together at the last minute. I ended up canceling a Student Agency bus ticket, since they charged me for the WRONG day (I am never giving this organization my business, ever again), and I bought a train ticket from the Hlavni Nadrazi station in Prague. And, I have a place to stay!

I leave from Prague at 9 AM Friday morning and will return sometime Sunday night. Good-bye for the weekend Prague, and hello Munich!

A Day of Gardens, Ice Cream, and a Jazz Concert

Summer has finally arrived in Prague. 3 weeks after arriving here in late August, the weather this week has been gorgeous. Temperatures in the 70s and sunny throughout the day. Yesterday, 9/22, Brandy, Fahima, and I decided to take advantage of the good weather and do a little adventuring after class. My Czech professor had told us about a little place near a garden where they sell "the best ice cream in Praha," and we set out to find it. Well, it took a little wandering around Wenceslas Square and the surrounding area, but we finally stumbled upon it. The garden is right in the middle of all the hubbub, but isolated from the crowds by huge enclosing walls. And the ice cream? She was right about it being the best.

Františkánská Zahrada: Franciscan Garden

Some flower beds

I plan on trying them all, slowly but surely...

A scoop of tiramisu over a scoop of dark chocolate

After my lunch of ice cream, I had an evening of jazz to look forward to. My English professor had arranged for us to see a jazz concert of Piotr Wyleżoł at the Poland Embassy in The Czech Republic. At the time I was still yet to go to a jazz club in Prague (besides the jazz show I had seen in Český Krumlov) so I was excited to go. Before heading across the river, I had an early dinner at Cafe Mistral with Kim. Cafe Mistral has the aesthetic of an art gallery: minimal with clean lines, muted colors, and lots of open, lighted space. It was no surprise to find that the location previously housed the Arzenal Design Lounge, which sold the art glass of Bořek Šípek.

Homemade quiche with bacon and onion served with mixed vegetable salad

The interior of Mistral Cafe. (Photo credit: Czech Out Channel, Blogspot)

The Embassy was only one metro stop away from Staroměstská (the Old Town Square metro stop), which was very convenient. I met the other 6 girls in my class and we took our seats to enjoy the show. The trio of musicians were definitely talented, intensely dedicated, and gave a great performance! We had some complementary hordeourves to enjoy, and then we headed straight back to Old Town Square. NYU had given us information on a "Czech Country Presentation," which was an event organized by the ISC (International Student Club) at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The aim was for everyone to meet students studying in Prague from all around the world. There was a funny presentation of the Czech Republic (presented by Czech students) and a mock trivia game on stage at the venue. And guess what... they also provided some free Czech food!

The room in the Embassy where the concert took place

Laundry and a Cultural Mixer

On Monday, 9/20, I finally decided to do my laundry. This wasn't exactly a choice of my own volition, but instead one made out of necessity. I had heard the horror stories about Machova's laundry room, and I was about to face them first hand. First of all, I live on the 5th floor, so to get down to the basement, it's about 6 flights of stairs... one way. Well, I must have gone up and down those stairs at least 10 times. I had to do one load of my sheets and towels, and another load of all my clothes. The clothes load is where I ran into some trouble. It wouldn't start. This happened, of course, after the machine ate up my 20 Kc. Well, I finally figured out that I had put too many clothes into the machine, and somehow, someway, the machine finally started it's cycle. Looks like I'll have to be doing laundry at least every 2 weeks from now on... (At Bucknell, I do laundry about every 2 months!) The machines are so incredibly tiny! Also, they take an incredibly long amount of time. It takes 3 hours for one load between the washing machine and the dryer - twice as long as back home! In short, laundry is quite the task over here.

Inside the laundry room

Inside of the TINY washing machine

 Yesterday evening, 9/21, one of the RAs had organized a "cultural mixer." We all met in Old Town Square and then she led us to a cozy coffee shop called Mama Coffee. The place was two stories high and had a warm atmosphere. We talked to and hung out with Czech kids our age about life, living in Prague, and just about anything! It was fun to finally meet "the locals," and they were incredibly nice. And despite their modesty, their English is quite good! Also, I discovered that the Czech version of a hot chocolate is basically melting a candy bar into a mug. I had to literally eat my hot chocolate with a spoon, it was that thick and delicious!

The best hot chocolate with whipped cream I've ever had

A Weekend in Prague

Have I mentioned how much I love long weekends? Especially since I wasn't traveling this weekend, I was really able to make use of the 3 day weekend. I could leisurely explore the city and enjoy everything that is here in Prague, and also still have time at the end of all of this to sit down and do work. Usually I don't like Sunday's at all since they're my work/catch up day (and that still holds true here), but the long weekend is the right length to balance everything I want to do versus everything I have to do.

On Friday, 9/17, I went to Rainer Maria Rilke Restaurant (named after the poet) with Kim. Another place with a great atmosphere! We unfortunately came right at the end of the time frame for the lunch menu, but the rest of the menu had a large selection and I enjoyed my meal.

Part of the interior

Chicken breast stuffed with smoked Norwegian salmon, served on chilli mango chutney, with mashed potatoes and fried parsley

Afterward, we met up with Brianna and took the metro to Prague 8 (I spend basically all my time in Prague 1 and 2, so this is pretty much the boonies for me!). We went to a hemp fair that was taking place in Prague this weekend. It was interesting, to say the least. We walked around for a while, and made use of some bean bag chairs to sit down and hang out at.

A tall plant at the fair

On Saturday, 9/18, I went shopping in Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí in Czech) with Brandy. This is a really tourist-y area so unfortunately I did not end up making any shopping purchases that day. This won't be the last of my European shopping days though, don't worry... (Anyone know where to find a good, inexpensive cross body??!) The square was also fun to walk around in, because there actually was a fair there that day! This was a nice little surprise. It was too bad I already had lunch, but I'm sure I'll be making my rounds at these stalls at future fairs and squares soon enough (although I have already tried the smažený sýr and trdelnik). We also checked out the national museum. We didn't see the exhibits, but I will be going back the first Thursday of next month since that day is free admission! Before leaving the area, we went to Marks & Spencer. The top floor has a bakery and grocery section, and I pretty much loved it. The baked goods all looked delicious and fresh. As for the grocery part, there were a ton of items such as spices and sauces that I've never seen at any Tesco or Alberts, and would only be found in an import grocery store in Prague. Needless to say, I left with a packet of 2 plain naans, a jar of potted chicken, and crushed red peppers, among other things. I'll be going back in the future to try out their frozen entrees, which looked surprisingly fresh!

Some good ol' roasted meat

Some stalls across part of the square

The National Museum

Afterward, we went to the Lesser Quarter (Malá Strana in Czech). The name comes from it's location as it's by the left bank of the Vltava river. It took some walking around, but eventually we were able to find our desired destination: the Lennon Wall, a wall commemorating the musician after his death with Lennon inspired quotes and Beatles lyrics.

Česká filharmonie opera house

A long shot of the Lennon Wall

Me in front of the peace sign

Today, Sunday 9/19, I started the day off by going to the gym. It had been quite a while since visiting my old friend, and believe me when I say it felt incredibly good to finish an actual workout again! Workout buddies are always an extremely motivating factor also!

Afterward, I treated myself a bit to some good food after a good workout. I met up with Laura, and we went to Radost FX for brunch! Radost FX is located close to Machova within walking distance, and actually has multiple functions as a cafe, club, record store, and vegetarian brunch place.

The interior of Radost FX cafe

Eggplant mafioso: eggplant, mozzarella, parmesan and marinara omelette served with garden side salad, home fries and toast

And then it was back to reality for the rest of the day. And by that I mean work, work, and some more work. Some trip planning, Prague planning, and skype sessions in between - well actually, a lot of trip planning in between. But, don't worry, I took a study break in the evening that started off as a quick dessert run with Shraddha to a full on sit down 2 hour dinner at Baifu, a Chinese restaurant nearby in the Vinohrady neighborhood. I didn't have a camera with me since I wasn't initially planning on eating dinner out, but I do have a picture of my leftovers! Enjoy.

Entree: Spicy chicken with carrots and bell peppers with steamed rice. Dessert: Fried bananas drizzled with honey.

And that was my weekend in Prague. The first not in orientation, but during classes, and fully in Prague for the whole time without trips anywhere. After all of my trip planning, it seems like I don't have too many of those to spare...


PS: I have officially booked my bus tickets to Munich, Germany! I leave Thursday 9/23 and come back Saturday 9/25. Can you tell that I AM SO EXCITED?!