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 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?!

Mexican food and Germany, 9/9/10

Thursdays are the new Friday here. I have long weekends, so when I'm out of class Thursday at 3, I can officially say TGIF... or is that TGIT... or TGIČ? (Čtvrtek is Czech for Thursday). Anyway, what better way to celebrate the weekend than going out to dinner? Brandy, a couple of other Machova-ers and I went around the corner to a Mexican place called Las Adelitas. It's a pretty popular place and we ran into a bunch of other NYU kids there. (http://www.lasadelitas.cz/)

Quesadilla de tinga (minced chicken, tomatoes and onions) with rice, salsa, and black beans with tortilla chips

Afterwards, I met up with Laura where she is staying with her family near Old Town Square. And we unsuccessfully attempted to find transportation and lodging in Munich, Germany for a weekend trip at the end of the month. Right now we're hoping to go the weekend of September 24th, and meet up with Alex (my roommate at Bucknell who is doing NYU in Florence) and her friends in her program. More on the progress of the trip planning, later!