The End of the Line

I'll be brief because I still have SO MUCH WORK TO DO, but I leave Prague in just 25 hours. That's right, it's over. I'm really sad to be leaving, especially since I haven't gotten to do so many things that I wanted to. I have no regrets, it's been a great semester full of adventure and new people, places, and things. I've loved almost every minute of it and promise to be back in Praha again someday. Tonight is going to be one for the books, I can guarantee that. When I get back to New York I'll take some time to write a little about my last trip a few weeks ago to Brussels and to give some great lists about Prague, New York, and life in general.

Talk to you from the other side of the ocean I guess...

A Peaceful Weekend in Wien

It's finally coming to a close. In less than two weeks and two days I will be leaving what has now become a beautiful and warm city. I am going to miss Prague and living in Europe a lot, but I'm ready to get home to New York and reality. I'm currently searching desperately for a job since I managed to blow through ALL of my savings this semester. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

So over Easter weekend Lisa, Alissa, and I went to Vienna. Vienna was beautiful and cultural, really different from most of the other cities I've been to. It was incredibly clean and quite, I guess that's why they have the highest living standard in the world! Unfortunately, on our last day there the weather was pretty crappy, but the second day was beautiful and we spent most of it wandering the grounds of the Schönbrunn Palace, which is of course a UNESCO site. The Gloriette on the hill behind the palace was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We also rode the Ring Tram to see the main sites in the town center and had much better Asian food than you could ever find in Prague. The first night we went to a Turkish restaurant and it was surprisingly delicious and bought strawberries to soak in vodka which was surprisingly gross. The last day, after Alissa had abandoned us to go back to Prague, Lisa and I saw the Belvedere Palace, the Hofsburg Palace, and wandered through the city center until it was time to head back home. Here are some pictures:





Lisa and I also decided to challenge the two famous sacher torte cafes in Vienna to see which had the best cake. The two places had a lawsuit to determine which was the "original sacher torte," but no one ever mentioned which cake tasted better so we decided to find out. We settled on Cafe Demel as the better cake, but Hotel Sacher had the nicer atmosphere.



And finally, I got to see the Prater, a ferris wheel that has been standing since 1897. For some unknown reason I've always really wanted to ride the Prater. I didn't ride it this time, but seeing it was enough for me.



The following weekend Lisa and I went on an NYU sponsered trip to Brno to see some caves, which was nice, but you don't need to hear about it really. Check out the pictures though!

This weekend is my last trip. We are going to Brussels to celebrate Maria's birthday. I can't wait for the waffles and fries and chocolate! I'll write about that early next week (maybe)!

Spring Break 2010: Europe From Top to Bottom

So. We departed from dear old Praha on March 18th. Our first destination was London, where we confirmed that we all miss NY and people who speak English. I stayed with Imran, which was a lot of fun. That city was definitely not conducive to sleeping. We saw all the important things...Westminster, Tower of London, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, Buckingham, and of course, Platform 9 3/4... The second night we went to this great Spanish bar near the NYU dorm. Another thing I realized in London...the dorms in Prague are amazing. In London they have tiny little rooms with communal kitchens and strange locked cabinets in the fridge. Some pictures...

NEXT, we headed down south to Athens. We decided that since we were arriving at 4pm and leaving the next morning at 7am that we shouldn't get a hostel. We went into the city and started by wandering around the Zappio gardens. We noticed some columns in the distance and upon trying to find them we wandered through a tennis match. After we went into Psyrri, the best district to party in. We started at this great hookah place where we smoked and tried this amazing Greek drink that's hot wine with honey. So good. Then we bar hoped until 2am when we headed back to the airport for a few hours of sleep on benches.

                                      

 

After a very uncomfortable sleep we flew down to Larnaca, Cyprus. Cyprus is absolutely beautiful. And tiny, only about the size of Connecticut! It was super warm and we got to go to the beach. Our hotel was right on the beach and everything important in the town was within walking distance. We rented a car, which was quite an experience! They drive the British way in Cyprus, so it was kind of terrifying to watch Alissa and Maria driving on the left side of the road. We drove across the island to Pafos, where we went on a glass-bottom boat ride. We also hit up two UNESCO sites. One morning Alissa and I woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise on the beach. It was gorgeous. Pictures...

Then we headed back up to Athens for two amazing nights. We took a walking tour of the city and marveled at the Parthenon on the Acropolis. It was actually Greek Independence Day on the day we left so we got to see a little bit of the festivities. Many of you know that I have some issues with food because well...I don't like anything. So I was actually really surprised to learn that I enjoy Greek food quite a bit. All the restaurants we went to were delicious. Athens managed to top even Berlin in my book and is now my favorite place I've visited. I can't wait until I get the chance to go back to Greece someday.

Our next destination was Calabria in Souther Italy. We stayed in a beautiful resort owned by Maria's family in Borgia. Her cousins took us around to see castles and fortresses and even the family olive farm! It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Our final stop was Milan, but we were only there for one night so there is not too much to say about that. This is the Duomo...

So that was my spring break adventure in a nutshell! 12 days. 8 flights. 4 countries. A million memories. It was wonderful and fun and I loved all the places I got to see. 

Next up: my Easter weekend in Vienna!

Before I can mention spring break...

So I realized just how big of a slacker I am because I never mentioned two of the sites I recently visited in the Czech Republic. At the beginning of March I went on an NYU trip to Terezín, a transport camp during WWII. It was really sad to see and we got to hear the story of a man who survived both Terezín and Auschwitz. The next day a few of us decided to go see Kutná Hora, or the Bone Church. This church contains different items constructed entirely of human bone. It was really crazy and pretty creepy. The structures were created by monks from over 40,000 bodies that had been buried in the nearby cemetery during the Plague. Here's a picture so you get an idea of what I'm talking about...

THEN, right before break, Mallory visited! 
Despite having midterms while she was here, we had a lot of fun and I finally had a reason to take the free walking tour in Prague. Who knew I was walking past so many important things every day. I took her to the amazing Hungarian restaurant and we got creeped on at Karlovy Lazny, the five story club. It was so great to see her, but it made me miss New York and being all together at NYU so much more. ALSO, I got to experience Mallory's first ever really drunken experience and it may have been the funniest moment of my life. We went to Chapeau Rouge and she tried absinthe, that can do anyone in. 


More recently, Mike came to visit with two of his friends from Madrid. Once again, I had a midterm, but it was fun and we made truffles! This time it was Lisa who was drunker than ever. Good times. I finally went to Futurum and saw the crazy czechies dancing to American 90s music. 

Well that's all for now! This weekend I'll actually be in Prague so I'll write the overdue spring break post! Also coming up, my recent weekend in Vienna. If you are feeling impatient use the links on the sidebar to see some pictures from all my trips on Picasa. Check back soon!

My Never Ending Saga

The dilemma has returned. As we all know, I had some trouble with packing for Prague. This time, the trouble was packing for spring break. A girl needs her clothes, and more importantly, her shoes! My little duffel just wasn't cutting it for me. Between clothes appropriate for weather ranging from 40 to 75 degrees, shoes, hygenic supplies, a towel, and the extra space that will be filled with cheese from Italy, we had a serious problem on our hands. Upon inquiring next door, I learned that Maria was having a similar issue. Luckily, we are smart girls, and realized that we could pack one big bag and one little bag between us and have just the right amount of space. Packing crisis averted! How's that for putting our Stern educations to work?

So I leave tomorrow right after class for an epic spring break adventure. We start with two nights up in London where I'll be staying with Imran. Saturday we head down to Athens, but we are only there for 16 hours so we aren't even booking a hostel. Sleeping in the airport is not beneath us. Then it's further south to Cyprus, where we've rented a car so we can drive across the Connecticut-sized country and maybe even venture into North Cyprus (scary idea, North Cyprus is so sketchy only Turkey actually recognizes its existence as a country). Tuesday it's back up to Athens. On Thursday we fly over to Calabria in Southern Italy to visit Maria's family there. Then up to Milan for a day in Sunday, and finally we head home to Praha Monday morning.

Wish us luck! When I get back I'll blog about Mallory's recent visit to Prague (so much fun!) and SPRING BREAK!

Berlin: "I touched the bus...!"

Lauren, Lisa, and I decided to spontaneously go to Berlin two weekends ago. The city was absolutely spectacular, my new favorite place! I loved the street art and culture of Berlin. We arrived Friday evening and decided to try traditional German food, which was not delicious like Hungarian food. I was rather disappointed. Our hostel was nice, I'd definitely recommend the Wombat City Hostel line. We were in a four person room with our own bathroom. On the first night it was just the three of us, but the second night we were joined by Bruno from Brazil. Saturday morning we went on the free walking tour and saw a lot from Berlin's history including the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and Museum Island.

I could keep adding more of my favorite pictures, but I'll stop there. Make sure to check out my picasa album for more! After that we went to a small flea market where I bought some cool art.

Interesting fact, in Berlin the pedestrian lights have this cute little guy called the ample man, he looks like this...

That night we decided to do something a little different... By chance we stumbled into the Babylon Theater, a movie theater built in the 1920s that still has its original silent film screen. We learned that they were showing a silent film, Metropolis, with a live orchestra and decided to go. It was a really cool experience, although a bit hard to follow since all the words were in German!

After that we went to White Trash Fast Food, a super amazing indie club that I wish I could go to whenever I want! It was made even better by having an American restaurant upstairs!

Sunday morning we originally planned to go to Potsdam, but since it was raining we stayed in Berlin. We started the day at a huge art flea market that had some really great stuff. At the end was a hill with a graffiti wall and swings.

Then we went to see the East Side Gallery which was probably my favorite thing in Berlin. It's all paintings done directly onto what's left of the Berlin Wall.

So that's the abbreviated version of Berlin. I highly recommend going there some day, it's wonderful. 

Before spring break my goal is to write a post about Terezin, Kutná Hora, and Mallory's visit to Prague! I leave for London, Athens, Cyprus, and Borgia on Thursday so look for another post before then!

"Szia, Siya...it means hello!": NYU takes over Budapest

Two weekends ago Maria, Lisa, Siya, Susan, me, and about half of NYU in Prague went to Budapest. It wasn't planned this way, but apparently around 60 people from NYU went that weekend. Talk about taking over the city. So I should start by mentioning that I was quite sick this entire trip with a sore throat and a fever, so it was slightly less adventurous than it would have been, but amazing nonetheless. 

We arrived in Budapest Friday evening after a 7 hour bus ride that seemed about double as long without an iPod. Upon checking into Central Backpack King we learned that we had been upgraded to an apartment owned by the hostel a few blocks away. It was a three bedroom apartment with a bathroom, kitchen, and balcony for just the five of us. Needless to say, we were happy. We started our night with dinner at Lugas, a delicious traditional Hungarian restaurant. It was some of the most delicious food I've ever had, and coming from Miss Picky that means a lot. After that we did a little shopping since we were located right in the middle of the main fashion avenue. That night we decided to start by wandering about looking for a good bar to pre-game at. Along the way we met three very drunk Hungarians who asked us to take pictures with them and a statue and invited us to their work party; we didn't go. We then stumbled into Cheers, where we discovered a really good Hungarian liquor that I cannot remember the name of. We spent some time and quite a bit of money there before heading to Instant, a crowded club that was a lot of fun. Sadly, after a little while there I had to head back to the apartment because I wasn't feeling good.

The next day started with a long, but worthwhile, free walking tour. We saw sites such as the Chain Bridge, Fisherman's Bastion, "The Budapest Penis," and the Buda Castle, while also learning a lot about Budapest and how the city is still trying to recover from the effects of Communism. 

Afterwards, we went to the House of Terror, a museum that depicts the fascist and communist regimes in Hungary. The museum was pretty scary and really sad. It's definitely worth going to if you are ever in Budapest.

For dinner we went to Menza, another delicious restaurant, and I got to have steak and amazing wine. Everything there was so good!

On Sunday we decided to trek out to Monument Park, a dumping group for the old communism statues that used to be throughout the city. Now the sole purpose of the statues is for people to mock them.

So that was Budapest!

The city briefly reigned as my favorite visited, but then this past weekend Berlin just blew past everywhere else. A post about that trip soon to come!