Carnevale de Venezia: When in Italy...Drink Limoncello!

Okay, so obviously we've all learned that I suck at blogging since I'm about three weekend trips behind in my posts. I also suck at corresponding with friends, so here is my shout-out to Maureen to make up for the fact that I still have not e-mailed her back. Oops..


So anyway, February 12-14 (yes, that was a while ago) I spent an absolutely amazing weekend in Venice for Carvevale. I was so excited to be returning to Venice since it had been my favorite city after Siena when I had spent two weeks traveling in Italy with a friend's family two summers ago.  One of the best parts of the trip was that my friend from NYU, Mallory, who is studying at NYU in Florence met us there and it was really great to see her. Maria and Lisa came as well. So we arrived in Venice on Friday afternoon after a pretty seamless journey and took an 80 minute boat ride to Dorsoduro, the district where our adorable hotel was located. The ride was long, but we saw beautiful scenery along the way. And the greatest thing was how warm and sunny it was, so different from Prague!

After arriving and basking in the warmth, we checked into our hotel, and after a few mishaps located Mallory. We wandered around a bit and saw a gorgeous sunset on our way to the Rialto Bridge. The bridge and the Grand Canal at night are just as amazing as when I saw them during the day a few years ago.

For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended to us by our hotel's owner. It was really hard to find and filled with locals, which was quite a feat since Carnevale was swarmed with tourists. This restaurant works where you pay for a drink (about €3-8) and then eat all you want at the buffet for free. Pretty good deal!

We all spent a long time trying to find the perfect masks for the night and some of us didn't even find one until the next day; they were all so beautiful, but also a bit expensive. In the end I purchased two, the one I wear in these pictures and another small orange eye mask. After dinner, we headed to San Marco for the main event. When we arrived there was a drag costume show going on and the mobs of costumed people were crazy. Everyone was so drunk and happy! We tried our first Bellinis, which ended up getting us free drink coupons for a nearby club.

We somehow managed to get up early the next morning and went to see the Galleria dell'Accademia, an art museum with mostly religious works. Our original plan was to head over to the Basillica next, but instead we wandered through the districts of Venice and ended up circling the entire island! We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but it had been well worth it. Along the way we had delicious pizza, yummy pastries, saw spectacular views, and got our faces painted for free!

By the time we made it to San Marco, it was quite late and the crowds had arrived. There were even more people than the night before if that's possible! We were starving so we tried to find a restaurant, but everything was so crowded. Eventually we decided to go into the first affordable place we saw and it ended up being delicious. We brought along a bottle of Limoncello and spiked out drinks in the restaurant, classy I know. 

We went back to San Marco, but unfortunately everything was ending. We still got to see lots of crazy costumes though, everything from traditional gowns to Facebook to the Ghostbusters. We then headed to Campo Santa Margherita where a huge street party was going on with hundreds of younger people. We went into a bar and tried a shot that was vodka, grenadine, and Bailey's; it was interesting to say the least.

We were all sad to leave the next morning, our trip had been amazing and we all promised to go back soon!

So that's Venice Carnevale in a nutshell! Check back later today for a recap of my weekend in Budapest! And coming this weekend...Berlin!

And they doubted us...

Upon realizing that we would be on trips almost every weekend in February, we set out to fill this weekend with Prague sites and adventures. Thursday night we went out to a club for the third night in a row. This time it was Radost FX because it was Ladies/Hip-Hop Night and it was a lot of fun, so much better than Mecca Wednesday. Friday was spent exploring the local malls, an important attraction that often gets overlooked when visiting a foreign country. Luckily, Maria and I know how to keep our priorities in order. After two malls, three pairs of shoes (yes, I'm an addict) and Tesco (heaven, basically, and the only place i can find Italian cheeses), we headed home to plan the next days more popular tourist sites.

Saturday started out with brunch at a local pub/hostel/whatever you need it to be. After that we headed to Petřín Hill to see the views of Prague we have heard so much about. After a few mishaps we managed to find the funicular and rode it to the top. We went through a mirror maze that showed me what it would be like if I was tall. It was magical. After that we climbed to the top of the mini Eiffel tower for some slightly grey, but still beautiful views of the city like this one here:

Then we headed across Prague to the Žižkov Television Tower, often referred to as the baby tower because of the huge baby sculptures installed by controversial artist, David Černý, crawling up it:

Next, we trekked over to Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) for a lunch of Prague sausages and fried cheese. 

We spent the rest of the day napping and gearing up for the epic night we had planned. 

Let me start by telling you that when Maria and I shared our plan with friends we received many skeptical looks and doubtful words. They thought we were crazy, that we wouldn't even make it a few hours. How wrong they were. When we set out to accomplish something, we get it done. We've been told that the best way to see the Charles Bridge is at daybreak when the massive crowds have all disappeared. Even the guidebooks suggest staying out all night until the trams begin running again (they stop at midnight) and then walking across the bridge at 5am before heading home. We did a little research and learned that sunrise would be at 7:27am and decided that we were going to see that sun rise even if it killed us. So here's some details of the night:

21:30- We head to Pivovarský Dům, a restaurant known for its flavored beers, with a group currently numbering 6 (Me, Maria, Lisa, Siya, Susan, Lauren). We get a few samplers and try flavors like banana, sour cherry, nettles, and coffee. My favorite is the dark beer, which has a hint of coffee taste. I absolutely hate the nettles and banana beers. 

23:30- We head over to M1 Lounge, but it's too early for much to be going on. We then walk over to Roxy, but decide not to go in due to the large cover charge.

00:00- It's now about midnight and we head over to our tried and true spot Chapeau Rouge. Along the way our group has gotten smaller, only Maria, Lisa, and I remain. Chapeau is the place to be on Tuesday nights and we never miss it, but we figured we'd see what was going on on Saturday. Maria and I tried shots called B52s, which are a bit frightening as they consist of one part Kahlua, one part Baileys, and one part Absinthe (fun fact: Prague is the only country where it is still legal to produce Absinthe). Luckily in the dark I didn't notice how green the shot was, or I might not have been brave enough to try it!

2:00- Lisa headed home while we were still at Chapeau, leaving just me and Maria to accomplish our goal. At this point we decide to head over to see what's going on around Wenceslas Square. Along the way we found what may have been the only open food establishment aside from the street vendors and went inside for some really crappy pizza. We eventually found our way to Lucerna Music Bar, a place I had heard a lot about, and decided to check out 80s/90s Night. Lucerna may have been one of the randomest, but best, clubs I've been to yet. The music they were playing was mostly 80s music that I have never heard before and the crowd was mostly older Czechs who were loving every minute of it. There were about 40 drunk guys dancing together on stage without shirts and a quite a few rather sketch older men prowling for hookups. But all in all, it was great and we stayed until closing time. 

After we leave we walk to Old Town Square and on the way encounter really drunk Irish boys. Thinking Maria and I are Czech girls who don't speak English, they begin to call out inappropriate things like "How much for an hour." You should have seen the shock on their faces when Maria turned around and told them we were Americans; they were so embarrassed! The rest of our walk was kind of terrifying, since we were some of the only people out on the dark and narrow streets surrounding Old Town.

3:30- So we still have 4 hours until sunrise and we are slightly exhausted from Lucerna, so we decide to take it easy and head to Bombay Bar. We sat at the bar for a while, laughing at the incredibly drunk older crowd the bar had drawn in and waiting for the Metro to start running again at 5am. 

5:00- Maria and I head to the Metro, feeling pretty good about ourselves for making it at least until public transportation starts up, even though we are starting to look and feel a bit disheveled.

5:45- We decide its time for breakfast and head back over to the only place you can get food in Prague at 5am, Wenceslas Square, for a less than typical morning meal of hot dogs, fried cheese, and hot wine.

6:00- At this point we are finally starting to feel the cold and since nothing is open in all of Prague, we sit on the Metro for a while, waiting for dawn.

7:30- We made it! We found our way to the Charles Bridge to experience the moment we'd heard so much about. Both of us are so cold and tired that it was hard to really appreciate how beautiful and perfect the bridge was at daybreak with no one in sight but us. We quickly take some pictures and set back out to find a tram and our warm beds.

And that was our night. 10 hours of drinking, clubbing, eating, and freezing, all for the Charles Bridge. So will we do it again? Definitely, just not in the winter...

For more picture of our night check out this album.

This weekend promises to be just as exciting because I get to see Mallory in Venice! Maria and I are planning to smuggle back as much food as possible, because apparently Italian foods are not widely embraced in the Czech Republic! Check back next week for details of our trip to Carnevale! 

Český Krum-LOVE

NYU in Prague does this lovely thing where they plan weekend and day trips to places around the Czech Republic and we get to go on two for FREE. Well, we pay enough tuition so really it's not free, but at least we have the illusion that it is. So anyway, Maria, Lisa, and I decided to go on the first trip to Český Krumlov with about 25 other students, which was the best decision. It was the most beautiful town I have ever seen, even with all the snow. If things look a bit familiar to you, it's because this is the town that Dulak in Shrek was modeled after! As always, here are some photo highlights:

View of the town from the castle.

Me, Lisa, Alissa, and Maria; we roomed together.

This is the castle, we got to go on a private tour even 

though it was technically closed for the winter.

We toured the amazing Baroque theater and got 

to see the original sets and costumes that are 

300 years old. 

We tasted some traditional hot mead, which was

gross and made even worse when I accidentally added 

salt instead of sugar!

That night a large group of us checked out a few

local bars, including the creepy Horor Bar where I discovered

my two new favorite drinks, Becherovka Lemond and 

a Diesel (a mix of coke and beer).

 

The next morning we took a tour of the Eggenberg Beerfactory, where

we even got to taste the beer straight from the tanks where it 

is pasteurized. 

After that we headed back to Praha and decided to check out Cross Club that night. It's a place that I can't even begin to explain. It feels like you are inside of a computer and there are more people with dreadlocks than I have ever seen in my life, but we had a lot of fun and will definitely be going back soon! Next time I'll take some pictures so you can see what I mean.

In other news, we have booked quite a few trips for the upcoming months. Next weekend we will be venturing off to Venice for Carneval and I am incredibly excited because not only will experiencing the holiday there be amazing, but I get to see Mallory too! The following weekend we are going to Budapest along with our friends Siya and Susan. And finally, mid-March we will be embarking on our amazing 10-day spring break to London, Athens, Cyprus, and Abruzzi! Trips to Berlin, Vienna, and Brussels are in the works as well.


I'll keep you posted on everything as it happens, hope those of you back in New York are enjoying the fact that as cold as you are, I am so much colder here. Czech back soon for more. ;)